A Requiem For The Brown Derby

Ms. Garlic and I were sad to see the news that The Brown Derby was closing.  Sometimes, even a restaurant you were once a fan of closes after it's seen its best days.  The Brown Derby, though, after an uneven opening was really hitting its stride, with cuisine that matched what was widely acknowledged as a beautiful redesign of the space.

 We still had a gift card to redeem (Ms. Garlic was impressed enough by our earlier visit to get it as an anniversary gift), and we had an excellent meal this week.    Most impressive was the marinated pork chop Ms. Garlic ordered.   I'm a dissenter in the foodie rush to embrace pork -- unless it's smoked, cured, or (sometimes) barbequed, I generally find it bland.    But the pork, served with an flavorful chutney and the too-little seen Utica Greens as a side, was good enough that even I would have ordered it again.    My veal with potatoes, lobster, and asparagus was also a winner.    They had finally put together a high-quality, reasonably priced menu, and poignantly it seemed like the word was getting out -- every table was filled by 7 on a Wednesday.    I only wish it had happened earlier, and I hope somebody else will try to make the space work.

I was happy to see that the Mallozzi Group is opening a new restaurant in Schenectady; after our increasingly successful Brown Derby experiences we'll definitely give it a shot.