Featured Restaurant

The Standard
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Normally, mall restaurants are something to be avoided. When I would get hungry at the mall, I would immediately think of Ruby Tuesdays. I would then think of the millions of people picking at the salad bar, breathing on the food, and I would eat at home. Fear no more! Crossgates Mall has set the standard in in-mall dining! A restaurant called The Standard has opened where Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse used to be. The Standard offers American dining with gourmet flair. The restaurant itself is styled in 40s and 50s fashion. The restaurant takes reservations over the phone or on the website, standardalbany.com.

The Standard has an excellent beer, wine, and drink list. On my first visit to the restaurant, I had The Standards take on a steak sandwich, appropriately named The Standard Steak Sandwich. The sandwich uses marinated skirt steak, Gorgonzola cheese, mushrooms, onions, and fresh baked bread. The skirt steak is tender, smoky, and so flavorful. The addition of Gorgonzola instead of processed cheese food makes all of the difference. The Standard takes a simple sandwich and adds complex flavors that you will not be able to forget. This sandwich is Iron Chef worthy.

If you can stuff a dessert in your face after eating the rich, flavorful appetizers and dinners—I recommend the warm donuts with bananas foster. I thought that I would be getting a couple mini donuts covered in bananas foster, and I was okay with that. I thought wrong. Three regular sized donuts were stacked on top of one another, then doused in creamy bananas foster, and topped off with sliced bananas. This dessert can be split with the table IF you can decide on just one dessert!

Plates at The Standard range from $10-$15. Sure, that doesn’t sound as wallet pleasing as the $1 hamburgers you could grab upstairs before your movie, but your stomach will thank you if you choose The Standard.

Review by Kelley Imbody (Chief Culinary Consultant)

Photography by Bryan Case