Jacob, left, and Alejandro Griffin-Diaz moved the Troy location of their Jacob Alejandro coffee shop to a larger, more stylish space in May of this year as they were in the final months of work on JAJA Natural Wine Bar in Albany.
Jim Franco/Times Union
JAJA Natural Wine Bar opened last week on Madison Avenue in Albany near Washington Park and Lark Street.
@baristaonthestreets/For JAJA Natural Wine Bar
The latest restaurant news:
JAJA Natural Wine Bar, the next venture for Jake and Alejandro Griffin-Diaz, owners of the Jacob Alejandro coffee shops in Albany and Troy, opened last week at 466 Madison Ave. in Albany, contiguous with their Albany cafe and in the footprint of the former Downtube Bicycle Works. The overall space is about 3,000 square feet, Jake said, but not all of it is in use at the moment; it seats 10 at the bar, 16 in the dining room and 12 more in the lounge.
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Open 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 to 9 p.m. Sunday, the bar features natural wines — obviously — mostly from Spain to start, with a large by-the-glass selection, and difficult-to-source Mexican wines to come. Vermouth is also available, from Spanish and some regional producers, including Klocke Estate outside Hudson, Stable Gate Winery in Schodack and Uncouth Vermouth in the Finger Lakes. Glasses run from $12 to $22.
The menu of what they call “little plates,” priced from $7 to $14, is influenced by Spanish and Latin cuisine, with local ingredients when possible. For example, Jake said, they serve Spanish jamon Iberico but also chorizo from Jacuterie in Columbia County, boquerones (white anchovies) with salsa matcha and roasted beets with romesco. Food and wine menus are not yet online.
Check out instagram.com/jaja_natural_wine_bar for a brief look.
The wine bar took more than a year to develop and open, but the couple was also moving their Troy location from 274 River St. to 9 First St., in the former Slidin’ Dirty/Twisted Fiddler space, and a fire-alarm system they hadn’t known would be needed added time and a $40,000 to $50,000 expense to the Albany project, Jake said.
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Also, Tang Dumplings opened in mid-September in the former Smashburger space in a plaza at 46 Marion Ave. in Saratoga Springs that is also home to Gennaro’s Pizza Parlor, Kru Coffee and Thorn + Roots.
It is the second location of a new-this-year brand that launched in January in Hummelstown, Pa., with another Pennsylvania restaurant under development, according to published reports.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with a menu of soup dumplings, pan- and deep-fried dumplings, a small array of dim sum, eight kinds of ramen, stir-fried noodles and fried rice and three desserts. Visit tangsaratoga.com or call 518-886-1003.
Elsewhere in the Spa City (or on the outskirts), King Kielbasa reopened recently at 588 Lake Ave. following regulatory problems encountered after an initial debut over the summer. According to published accounts in Saratoga Living and elsewhere, owner Gerard Bialek’s Polish-immigrant parents moved to Schuylerville two decades ago, and he is a Schuylerville High School grad.
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The menu showcases kielbasa from the Bacik brand in New Jersey, which, Bialek says on a page on his restaurant’s website, is the “gold standard of authentic Polish charcuterie in North America.”
The sausage is available on Rock Hill rye bread or Nino’s rolls, or sliced and sauteed with onions. The menu also includes latkes (Friday to Sunday only), pork-and-beef-stuffed cabbage rolls, the hunter’s stew called bigos and kluski slaskie (Polish gnocchi). Prices are $8 to $15.
King Kielbasa is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday. The building previously was Kaleidoscope Cafe. Visit kingkielbasa.com or call 518-844-2418.
In Albany, the downtown steakhouse 677 Prime will host its second annual benefit dinner for the Double H Ranch, a camp in Lake Luzerne for seriously ill children. Scheduled for the evening of Friday, Nov. 13, the event will feature a six-course dinner with cocktails and wine. Tickets, available online, are $162 after tax. The restaurant is at 677 Broadway. Info and ticket link at 677prime.com.
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Los Amigos Mexican Kitchen held its grand opening on Oct. 2 in the former Union Inn space at 515-517 Union St., Schenectady. The owner, Josue Recinos, also operates Los Chamos, a Venezuelan restaurant on Schenectady’s State Street.
There appears to be only an AI-heavy Facebook page so far, with the enormous menu available via Google and DoorDash.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday, until 9 p.m. Sunday. Call 518-280-3718.
Finally, the former Real McCoy Beer Co. building at 20 Hallwood Road in Delmar has been redeveloped as Tap20, which calls itself a “small-town taproom featuring 12 rotating taps of carefully selected craft beer, along with specialty cocktails and wine.”
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The grand opening starts at noon Saturday, Oct. 10, with bands from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 10 p.m. and food by the nearby Stacked Grill, which has partnered with the new bar to be its food provider.
It opens at 4 p.m. Monday and Wednesday to Friday, and noon on weekends. It’s closed Tuesday. The Tap20 website, tap20delmar.com, is a placeholder for now. Keep an eye on instagram.com/tap20delmar for developments.
According to the State Liquor Authority, the license is issued to Evan Marsh, Jeffrey Young and Matthew Young. The company describes the partners as owners of small businesses in Bethlehem who are making their first venture as hospitality proprietors.
Dining and Cooking