Here's the report on two lunch places we visited recently — New York Sub & Deli in Potsdam, a newcomer to the restaurant scene there, and The Cottage in Lake Placid, which has been around for years.
Both are open into the evening, but their menus remain basically the same for lunch and dinner.
NEW YORK SUB & DELI/
O'MALLY'S PUB & GRILL
29 MAPLE ST.
POTSDAM, N.Y.
265-0290
New York Sub & Deli has opened in Potsdam in the space most recently occupied by The Riverbend Restaurant and before that California Rotisserie and before that any number of different eateries.
The new business is attached to another new business in the same building under the same ownership, O'Mally's Pub & Grill. There are no seats in the deli part, so you go through an archway and order and eat in the pub.
And where the deli has no seats, the pub has no beer. They're awaiting their liquor license, even though it was applied for months ago.
All the food comes out of the same kitchen, visible behind the counter on the deli side. I guess the deli side is there for those wanting to drive up and grab food to go — easy parking right out front.
The pub is clean and bright with new carpet and lighting. The small bar looks pathetically bare, awaiting bottles and taps when the folks in Albany say go.
Kelly was our waitress. We wondered if an Irish name was required to work there. Or if everyone who worked there had made-up Irish names.
Anyway, she was good. We had predetermined that we were going to order as much food as possible so we'd be able to give you an accurate report on the place. She just about ran out of space on her little order pad as we rattled off one item after another.
We skipped over the sampler platter with wings, mozzarella sticks and poppers in favor of O'Mally's bloomin' onion ($5.99). One person would have a tough time finishing this monstrous appetizer, a huge onion sliced in place and covered with a crisp, tasty batter and deep-fried. Two dressings accompanied for dipping: zesty ranch and a house original, "The Dublin," made with horseradish and cayenne pepper and colored green.
Right about now we were ready to run across the street to the mini-mart and smuggle back a six-pack of brewsky, but we didn't think they'd appreciate that.
The deli side has absolutely no food display cases like you'd see in a real New York (City) deli, but the menu offers homemade cole slaw and potato and macaroni salad sides for $1.29 each.
The cole slaw was creamy and on the sweet side. The mac salad was OK, but needed something. The potato salad was spoiled so we sent it back to the kitchen.
For something more pub-like than deli-like, I got the "homestyle" hot turkey sandwich ($7.49), sliced processed deli turkey between a step-higher-than-hamburger-bun but not-quite-Kaiser-roll, drenched with good-quality canned gravy.
"Succulent" sirloin wrap ($6.49) sounded interesting. It was quite tasty, a wrap filled with sautéed onions, green peppers, unfresh mushrooms, lots of shredded lettuce and some A-1 steak sauce.
Kind of a new twist on a Philly. They should have named it "O'Philly."
We got sweet potato fries rather than regular fries (add $1) and added Swiss cheese for 49 cents. We really liked the fries.
After a slightly testy discussion initiated by a guy who looked like the manager and our waitress over what was available for homemade desserts, we ended up with a piece of carrot cake and a slice of banana cream pie, priced at $3.49 each.
The carrot cake was very good, with plenty of cream cheese frosting. Banana cream pie appeared to be fresh that day. Excellent flaky crust. Lots of just-ripe bananas. Yummy.
Although I don't associate them with a New York City deli, there are 21 different subs available that can also be made as wraps. In fact, in New York City they wouldn't know what you were talking about if you ordered a sub. It's called a hero down there and is made with crusty Italian bread.
But the sign out front doesn't say New YorkCityDeli. I just assumed with a picture of the Statue of Liberty on it they meant to imply it was going to be arealdeli.
Maybe they should have called the placeNorthernNew York Sub & Deli.
New York Sub & Deli and O'Mallys are open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
THE COTTAGE
77 MIRROR LAKE DRIVE
LAKE PLACID, N.Y.
1 (518) 523- 2544
Over the years, one of my favorite spots in Lake Placid for predictably good casual food is The Cottage.
The Cottage is downtown, on the shore of Mirror Lake in front of the majestic Mirror Lake Inn. It's part of the food operation at the inn, and quality definitely trickles downhill from the main kitchen.
The Cottage is small and intimate, with wood walls and high ceilings with lots of hanging plants. Floor-to-ceiling windows allow for a panoramic view of the mountains in the distance. The full bar offers an impressive selection of wines by the glass or bottle and looks like it could bang out a mean martini.
The kitchen is about the size of a broom closet and always turns out fantastic food: homemade soups and appetizers, creative salads, hot and cold specialty sandwiches as well as hot and cold coffee drinks.
We enjoyed a delightful lunch, starting with broccoli soup, freshly made and just slightly thickened.
Huge overstuffed sandwiches that were being served caught our eye on the way in, so we knew they were in our future even before seeing the menu.
Pastrami on homemade thick-sliced marble rye toast ($8.25) was wonderful — thinly sliced spicy pastrami along with melted Swiss, sauerkraut and Russian dressing.
Apricot chicken salad sandwich ($6.75) was served on hearty grain bread — fresh chicken salad with dried apricots and sliced almonds, sesame ginger mayo, lettuce and tomato. A nice creation.
Children are welcomed. There's a menu for them. Cell phones are not welcomed. There's a sign for that. Hooray for The Cottage.
They're open seven days a week, serving food from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and cocktails "until the wee hours ..."
TIDBITS
■ Just past Lake Placid in the small village of Elizabethtown, we discovered a marvelous restaurant called Deer's Head Inn.
A former chef at Mirror Lake Inn has taken over the kitchen, turning out impressive and well-executed dinners like grilled diver scallops, Caribbean pork tenderloin, pan-seared ahi tuna and butternut squash ravioli.
We loved the pan-roasted duck breast with cinnamon-apple demi-glace and stuffed chicken breast with prosciutto, spinach and fontina cheese.
View the lunch and dinner menus at www.deersheadinn.com
■ I'm big on overnight getaways. We recently discovered Shore Acres Inn and Restaurant in Vermont, just north of Burlington.
Dinner was terrific. We had steamed mussels with chorizo and onions in a garlic white wine broth, mustard-glazed organic raised salmon with a lime-soy drizzle and slow-roasted rack of lamb with a garlic-port rosemary sauce.
Check out www.shoreacres.com
You can contact Walter E. Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.
