Regent, the restaurant at the new hotel Brookmere in Saratoga Springs, serves a classic French dinner omelet that’s stuffed with crab, bathed in rich lobster sauce and topped with caviar.
Susie Davidson Powell/For the Times Union
The bar at Regent offers a small bar menu starting midafternoon, part of the hotel restaurant’s approach to serving from breakfast through late night.
Susie Davidson Powell/For the Times Union
The menu says yellowfin tuna crudo but the eyes and palate say ceviche in an appetizer at Regent.
Susie Davidson Powell/For the Times Union
Salade Mentonnaise as served at Regent.
Susie Davidson Powell/For the Times Union
The foyer of the new hotel Brookmere, which replaces the former hotel and conference center Longfellows on Union Avenue.
Susie Davidson Powell/For the Times Union
Lamb loin is served with blackcurrant compote, romanesco puree, harissa sweet potato and onion soubise at Regent.
Susie Davidson Powell/For the Times Union
Salmon with coconut emulsion at Regent.
Susie Davidson Powell/For the Times Union
Interior design ranges across styles at Regent and includes rattan-backed booths.
Susie Davidson Powell/For the Times Union
The beet cake at Regent looks and tastes like a decadent brownie.
Susie Davidson Powell/For the Times Union
Two miles east of Saratoga Race Course, the $30 million transformation of the former Longfellows hotel and conference center into Brookmere, a new luxury hotel and spa, is complete. The project, by Sonny and Julie Bonacio with investment partner Mark Haworth, is run by Hay Creek Hotels and Restaurants, which also operates the Bonacios’ The Lodge at Schroon Lake in its portfolio, looms large in its modernity even with Longfellow’s 100-year-old dairy barn baked into the design.
Regent is the hotel’s restaurant, with seating for 110 and the unenviable task of being all things to hotel guests, event attendees and walk-ins for meals spanning breakfast, brunch, lunch, happy hour, bar food and evening dinner. By the beginning of June — in time for the Belmont Stakes — the Regent “will be open all day, every day, 365 days a year, from breakfast to night,” according to Food and Beverage Manager Patrick Toomey, who joined Brookmere from his role as director of restaurants role at The Adelphi Hotel in downtown Saratoga.
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Regent at Brookmere
Address: 500 Union Ave., Saratoga Springs
Hours: 8 a.m. to late daily
Price: Dinner entrees, $42 to $64; brunch fare, $12 to $32
Info: 518-241-4000 and hotelbrookmere.com
Parking: Lot parking. ADA-accessible.
To top it off, the owners decided the culinary theme would be French. I’m grateful for that, given the abundance of Italian and new American in Saratoga. Classic French cuisine has been enjoying a revival of its elegant old-world charm from San Francisco to New York City, with the slow-dining pleasures of foie gras, oysters, caviar and beef tartare alongside comforting steak frites and cassoulet.
Regent’s dinner menu does the job with snacklets like ham and comté croquettes and duck fat frites, and soups and salads reading like cafe menus dotting the French Riviera, with raclette-topped onion soup taking liberties with duck broth and a deboned, stuffed and trussed chicken ballotine among les plats principals. A wine list will let you pick a few French wines by the glass, while cocktails could use more R&D. Strawberry gin and Pimms No.1 in my guest’s choice of The Mayflower tastes better than expected, but my creamsicle-adjacent, nonalcoholic Shangri-Na separates quickly into an overly thick no.
Seattle-born executive chef Christopher Smith is in charge, having helmed restaurants in Washington and Oregon, including Willows Lodge in Woodinville, Washington, where he was named one of Zagat’s “30 Under 30.” He has a passion for local ingredients, a reputation for calm leadership and an experienced local team in chef de cuisine Kyle Henderson (Salt & Char, Panza’s, Druthers) and pastry chef Hunter Horne. The sourdough and focaccia are made in house, while Haux Nest Bakery in Glens Falls produces their demi-baguette.
I’m not sure Smith is hellbent on classics as much as applying Francophile sentiment to accessible plates. I say that since there’s no escargots or frog legs, no roast quail or crepes Suzette. A loose interpretation of a salade Mentonnaise with soft artichoke hearts arranged like spears over balsamic-citrus-dressed lettuce leaves has pine nuts and supremed orange segments but no cascade of shaved fennel or lemon brightness characteristic to the dish.
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Interestingly, you enter straight into the dining room from the parking lot, not the stylish marble-staired lobby. Outdoor tables on the patio porch will soon offer dining in view of the cars, so the rear courtyard might be more congenial. Like so many hotels, Regent has to be comfortable for brunch and stylish for dinner, but the rectangular space struggles to hide its hotel vibe. Much as I get the effort to tie in the rustic feel of Longfellows, it means whitewashed barnwood contrasts glossy dark herringbone in the ceiling; blonde click-lock floors contrast the dark curves of the bar; and natural rattan banquettes sandwiching pale wood tables feel like a wholly different design spec than the generic high-top bar tables with bronzed leather chairs. Cow art and a wall arrangement of chopping boards give competing butcher-block vibes to the modern silver flashlights dangling at the bar. And some grooved partition glass walls on the bistro side have the confusing appearance of steel elevator doors. Without curves or separations, the room reads smart new hotel, but high lighting and blocky seats strip any shot at intimate dining. Gray pleather bar stools say $30 million wasn’t spent here.
My colleague Steve Barnes raved about a weekend brunch where he shared pain perdu with savory custard, avocado, Moorish spices and tomato jam and requested the dinner crab omelet for breakfast. I ordered it for dinner, too, thinking it a curious inclusion on the evening menu, but it’s a perfect rendition of a Jacques Pepin French omelet, with firm folds and soft center. Packed with crab, it’s served just warm to balance the cooked egg and cool seafood, and is bathed in rich lobster demi with herbs and optional briny Kaluga caviar on top. There’s a Boursin version on the brunch menu, but this seems the one to beat.
Some dishes are adventurous, some puzzling. A foie-gras mousse served with brioche shingles, blackcurrant jam and duck cracklins is a fun play on peanut butter and jelly, and I love how much flavor is condensed in a beet cake with beet reduction, transforming it into a jammy, earthy, brownie dotted with meringue. Of course, the $85 ounce of osetra caviar is on trend with housemade chips and dunking creme fraiche (not that we ordered it). I barely recognize our yellowfin tuna crudo when it arrives, not thinly sliced but diced as ceviche and tossed with yuzu, chile and salty sea beans as something tasty, if not the expected plate, though a densely pressed black and white sesame tuile adds a delicious crunch.
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The new menu pits herb-crusted halibut against stuffed sole paupiettes. Grilled lamb loin is beautifully seared, its middle rare, with black currant compote, romanesco puree, harissa sweet potato and onion soubise for a riot of nicely communicating tastes. I made an unusual choice of salmon for its coconut emulsion poured tableside around le puy lentils and diced mirepoix. The salmon fillet is a jaunty beret on top, despite being too thoroughly cooked to super firm.
It’s clear there’s a Danny Meyer service mindset in prioritizing customer experience. Wedding reservations are pouring in, and by track season you can expect the bar to be a hotspot. Being able to drop in for a meal at any time of day is a win for Saratoga, and a new Regent burger-and-beer happy hour special at the bar is both a nod to a Longfellows’ long-term burger-and-beer special and an egalitarian move to welcome locals in. Go for lunch or an overnight stay. It might not be the best for date night, but the staff is sure to welcome you in.
Dining and Cooking