Chris' Cafe

I've been meaning to stop at Chris' Cafe in Valatie, which has been on my radar for quite some time. I've been through the area several times (on Sundays) and the place was closed each time and I ended up eating at the nearby diner on 9H. Chris's Cafe is open for lunch and dinner Mondays-Saturdays. I made a special trip to Valatie for Saturday night dinner at Chris' Cafe.

This casual restaurant is tucked away in the Valatie Village Plaza next to Cumberland Farms. Enter the restaurant through an ordinary looking black door with knob. Not a fancy place, the dining room is cozy with rows of booths and tables, green, black, & white color theme, black & white checkerboard floors, and framed pictures on the walls, with the crowded takeout counter in the back.

The menu offerings include pizza (slices or pie), calzones, salads, homemade soups, sandwiches, wraps, subs, a good selection of pasta dinners & skillets, chicken, seafood, and desserts (cakes, pies). The prices here seem reasonable, subs/sandwiches & calzones under $10 and dinners priced $10.95-$15.95, which include salad or soup and bread.

I arrived here around 6:45 PM and I sat myself in a booth. The place had a few customers already dining and not as busy as the nearby diner. I started out with an ice water with lemon (small amount of ice cubes on top) while I was deciding what to order. I decided to go with the Caribbean Clam Sauce over Linguini ($11.95) with a cup of Cajun Ribeye Chowder and Garlic Bread. The Chowder was served piping hot, which had a semi thick creamy spicy broth with smalls bits of veggies and steak, oyster crackers on the side. The hot baked garlic bread loaf was strategically cut & sliced long and across for easy breaking off, crusty outside and soft and buttery inside.

The main entree was served very hot, a generous portion of pasta, which had whole baby clams, pineapple chunks, roasted red peppers, hot cherry peppers, fresh basil, & garlic in a white wine sauce over soft linguini. The flavors of this dish were great and worked well and can be described as where sweet meets very spicy. There was enough pasta for two meals, so I decided to get my food boxed up and passed on the offer for dessert, perhaps next time. I already had plans for froyo later on that evening.

The dinner check with tax and before tip was $12.91, which was actually very reasonable.  The service here was very good and the pleasant waitress checked up on my table periodically. I would definitely eat at Chris' Cafe again, which is IMHO, ANOTHER STRIP PLAZA GEM!

(4.25/5.00)

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