In the latest restaurant and bar news:
The former owner of the Park View Pub and floating Riverfront Bar & Grille, both in Albany, has a signed a lease with an option to buy the building at 125 Southern Blvd. in the city, which was home for 50 years to Sam’s Italian American Restaurant.
It will be called The Boulevard, which owner Cheri West describes as an “American grill with a taste of Italy.” The latter will be supplied in part by some favorite dishes and recipes from Sam’s, including its marinara sauce and possibly desserts, said Carmela Daubney, who with her brother Paul Rappoccio owned the cherished neighborhood favorite that was opened by their parents in 1971.
“I’m giving (West) some of recipes and will show her how to make them,” Daubney said.
A fall opening is projected.
West, who lives within blocks of the restaurant, said her vision for The Boulevard is of a family-friendly spot where people can go for a quality Italian meal or a burger and wings while watching sports. The menu will also include items like seafood chowder from Riverfront Bar & Grille, open on a barge moored on the Hudson River at the Corning Preserve for more than 20 years until it closed at the end of the 2017 summer season. West started working there as general manager in 1997, she said, and became owner in 2009. She also owned Park View Pub, across from Washington Park at the beginning on New Scotland Avenue, from 2011 to 2017.
She said she hopes to buy The Boulevard/Sam’s building within a year or so. One wall of the new restaurant will be devoted to photos and other memories of of Sam’s.
“I really want to do right by (Daubney and Rappoccio),” she said. “They’re legends.”
In news from nearby, a former combined location of KFC and Taco Bell at 278 Delaware Ave., next to Scene One Spectrum 8 Theatres, is being renovated to become the potato-themed eatery Mash More.
The quick-serve restaurant could be open by the end of August, said owner Jia Hui Guo, who goes by Andy G. and said he is based in New York City. He’s leasing the Delaware Avenue building, he said, and is also developing a coffee and tea concept in Manhattan.
A large, colorful mural on the south side of the building depicts toque-wearing cartoon potatoes frolicking, french fries and a red circle with a segment that suggests pepperoni pizza.
Guo said the menu remains under development but will include various preparations of potatoes as well as sandwiches and other fare. He hopes to be open from breakfast through late dinner hours daily.
Finally, Hana Japanese Steak House, which opened on Western Avenue in Guilderland in May 2008, is working on a second location, due for a fall opening in Latham. A note on its website gives the address as “579 Troy-Schenectady Road Unit # 5,” in Latham Farms; a representative of the management company for the shopping campus confirmed the space is two doors down from Dick’s House of Sport, on the south side of Latham Farms.
Dining and Cooking