troy

CAP Region 5: Vegan / Vegetarian Spotlight

March 1, 2022 By Susie Powell

Susie Davidson Powell | Food Writer and Times Union Dining Critic
Special to the Upstate Alliance for the Creative Economy

The plant-based food industry has boomed in recent years with myco-protein chik’n and beet burgers that bleed, branded with names like Beyond and Impossible suggesting we’re scaling new heights. The pandemic only sharpened growth with renewed interest in health conscious eating, efforts to reduce animal consumption (hello, meatless Mondays), and awareness of strained farm-to-table supply chains coupled with new direct-to-consumer options. Suddenly, plant-based options surged on mainstream restaurants’ simplified, post-pandemic menus and customers continue to feed the demand for meatless options when dining out.

Downstate, we’ve seen a Michelin star and James Beard award nominations for a vegan restaurant, chef and veg-driven hospitality group. Upstate, the Capital District is enjoying its own share of the action with more growth in the vegan/vegetarian dining scene in two years than the last ten. And they aren’t they aren’t doing it lightly. From the growing vegan list, we’ve picked five eateries putting flavor, fermentation and local farms at the forefront of their plant-based creations.

This article is presented through a content collaboration with ACE and CapNY.
Visit us on Instagram at @upstatecreative and @gocapny!

BAR VEGAN | Center Square | Albany

From Lark St. Poke to the Loft 205, sibling owners Will and Mary Phan have opened downtown spots that earn a loyal crowd. But after closing their popular college bar, LAX, during the pandemic, Will was inspired by vegan restaurant Avant Garden in Manhattan and reinvented the LAX space as a vegan restaurant, including an entirely vegan bar. Partnering with a local florist, the place has been beautifully transformed with shiny white subway tiles, leafy planters and trailing vines, and the menu offers shareable plates that won’t break the bank. From a kitchen carefully separated to avoid cross contamination with the Loft restaurant upstairs, try the sweet potato tempura sushi roll, edamame potstickers filled with a luxurious edamame puree (choose steamed or fried), stuffed avocado and bang bang cauliflower florets. All wines and spirits are vegan or organic.

Bar Vegan | 205 Lark Street | Albany NY | Phone: 518.818.0833

TAKE TWO CAFE | Schenectady

Take Two picks up where much missed Shades of Green on Lark Street left off years ago. Owner Chelsea Heilman has created a gorgeous garden-inspired oasis on Schenectady’s State Street where foot traffic is high and it’s hard to miss her hand-painted sidewalk tables. An avid traveler, Heilman serves a chickpea curry, inspired by one from Iceland, along with a replica avocado-pesto-feta-walnut toast and a tofu scramble breakfast burrito with chorizo, chile, and homefries both inspired by cafes in Melbourne, Australia, and Colorado.

Among the most labor intensive ingredients is Heilman’s faux lox salmon. Carrots are given a 32-hour bath in a seaweed, soy and caper brine for umami bite – perfect to pile on a bagel with vegan cream cheese. Stop by and join an all-day crowd pouring in for sandwiches and vegan pastries. Fix your coffee as you like: A counter refrigerator is jammed with all the plant milks from oat to almond.

Take Two Cafe | 433 State Street | Schenectady | Phone: 518.280.9670

Meadowlark @ Troy Beer Garden | Troy

As if this stylish, leafy, downtown cocktail bar could get any greener, Meadowlark Catering – from the team behind Wizard Burger (Albany), Burrito Burrito and Takk House (Troy) – has taken over the kitchen reins at Troy Beer Garden. Upping the spice stakes with Nashville Hot Cauliflower, their much loved sticky, battered General Tso’s cauli rivals the namesake original in chili-garlic sauce and white sesame seeds.

But this short menu is designed for sharing so order up Cajun-spiced loaded pub fries smothered in chickpea cheeze sauce, smokey sweet BBQ, and pickled jalapenos and try their seasonally evolving taco trio, mac-n-cheeze or chickpea “all flat” wings. Who cares if the wings look more like fat fingers than boneless chicken when it’s packed with 15 herbs and spices and drizzled in green goddess sauce. While you munch, sip a Fakin’ Bacon Manhattan made from Bulleit bourbon, maple, Antica amaro and capped with a fake bacon spear.

Troy Beer Garden | 2 King Street | Troy NY | Phone: 518.244.5215

WIZARD BURGER | Downtown Albany

It’s hard to overstate the craftiness behind the Wizard’s vegan creations. If you visit the Wiz on social media, you’ll find burger abominations flying off on intergalactic, space odysseys. Go in person and this purple-hued counter service spot has added a line up of boozy and non-alcoholic cocktails and an additional room in which to enjoy them surrounded with curios from plant terrariums to crystal balls.

Whether you go for lunch or happy hour, the team behind Wizard Burger has all their nighttime cravings on the menu. Get the Mumbo Jumbo – an Impossible burger topped with house chili, battered onion rings, tater tots and jalapeno-garlic crema – or a crispy chik’n Raptor, but don’t forget battered pickles on the side. Those with a sweet tooth might choose the Impossible Strawberry Snail with an Impossible patty and raspberry jelly on a glazed donut by tiny Strawberry Snail vegan bakery. Go ahead and sip zero-proof cocktails like the hibiscus-based Unbound, but keep in mind purple margaritas are 2-for-1 every Thursday.

Wizard Burger | 74 N. Pearl Street | Albany NY | Phone: 518.250.9440

THE JUICE BRANCH | Catskill & Hudson | Black-Owned Business

Painted all the colors of a tropical island, it’s no surprise George Salter’s juice bar is an uplifting place to hang out whether you visit his Warren Street, Hudson location for an antioxidant packed smoothie or hop the Hudson river to Catskill. In Catskill, you’ll find Salter whipping up his lunch du jour, teased a day ahead on social media. It might be crisply fried oyster mushroom sandwich or plant-based Smack-n’Cheez. Sink into a barrel chair in the window, dip into a book on juicing or the benefits of tea, and Salter will hand deliver plates. Pick from more than twenty-four smoothie combos, add boosts from ginger, elderberry or MCT shots. Munch on nutella and banana or avocado toast topped with hard-boiled egg, hemp and chia or fuel up with an acai or peanut butter banana bowl. (Note: Cash or Venmo only in Catskill)

Susie Davidson Powell | Food Writer and Times Union Dining Critic
Special to the Upstate Alliance for the Creative Economy

This article is presented through a content collaboration with ACE and CapNY.
Visit us on Instagram at @upstatecreative and @gocapny!

Hart Cluett Museum’s Starlyn D’Angelo

August 4, 2021 By Maureen Sager

Hart Cluett Museum’s Executive Director Starlyn D’Angelo definitely likes a challenge! On March 30, 2021, she took on the head job at the Museum when it was unclear how the world would be moving forward. “I seem to work well when things are hard,” she said. Starlyn talked to ACE about how the Museum’s role has changed in the past year, and the unique opportunities and challenges they’ve faced.

Hart-Cluett’s Annual Holiday Greens Exhibit

How did the Hart Cluett Museum react to the pandemic?

When the pandemic hit, we initially had to lay off staff. But after a short time, they were back, and immediately began to document the events as they were happening. We asked people to document their experiences during the pandemic, about what life was like, what kind of challenges they had. That’s still up on our website now, for anyone who wants to share their story.

We also started documenting the Rally for Black Lives. It is unusual, in the museum world, to document current events. We’re trained not to focus too much on anything that’s happened in the past fifty years, mainly because we do not yet have perspective. Recently, though, there’s been a major shift toward thinking about documenting current events. We may not be interpreting them right now, but we certainly need to be collecting those stories before we lose them. This is a very exciting development for the Hart Cluett Museum

Also, our educator, Kathy Sheehan, was able to reach many more students during Covid by using remote learning. She did a program for 25 students in the room, and then another 700 students remotely. Ordinarily, transportation is expensive and becomes a barrier. The staff here has taken lemons and made them into lemonade.

What kinds of educational programming does Hart Cluett do?

Hart Cluett Education — Hart-Cluett’s In-School Education Program

Our core K-12 programs focus on the Underground Railroad and another on the Civil War. Generally, these classes are based in schools. Kathy Sheehan is a dynamo. She not only serves as our educator, and she is also the city historian and the county historian. Her adult education walking tours around Troy sell out all the time. They focus on all different topics, such as Life in the Gilded Age, Uncle Sam, Industry and more. She’s a fabulous engaging storyteller.

Hart Cluett Signage — Hart-Cluett’s Collection

Our Drinking History programs are really popular, and they continued online during the pandemic. Pre-Covid, people would gather in a bar, and Kathy would give a short program. While learning a little bit about history, they’d have a historic cocktail.

We also have exhibits at the Museum. Our current exhibit, “The Way We Worked”, was developed with the Smithsonian’s traveling exhibit program. Also, our curator mounts special exhibits each year. Next year’s exhibit will be on Protest and Reform. Amazingly, this topic was actually conceived of before the pandemic and the Rally for Black Lives.

What role did Hart Cluett have in preserving the Rally for Black Lives materials?

Our curators worked with the NYS Museum to collect some of the murals, and we also got a NY Humanities grant to fund the process of documenting the Rally for Black Lives. We’re in the process of doing this right now.

This is a different way of approaching historic documentation, so we’re learning our way, and making mistakes about how you have these conversations with parts of the community we haven’t engaged with previously. Our mission is to recognize every face and every story, which is very ambitious. So, we have to learn to make these conversations really comfortable and safe for every person that was involved.

How do you make sure that you hear from everyone?

The rally was about a problem we have in our communities that needs to be recognized. We want to hear from all of the people who organized the rally, not just the artists who painted the murals.

Some of the panels are now at the New York State Museum. They present a real challenge for preservation because of the type of materials involved. They have what conservators would call an “inherent vice”, in that they self-destruct and the materials will break down over time.

We’ve taken high quality images so that they can be saved for the future. We can’t store all of them. I don’t know that we’re going to store that many panels because of limited space and it’s very difficult to preserve them. But it’s equally important to preserve the oral account of what was done to organize the event, and perspectives on what the event was like.

It’s important that the documenting be comprehensive, so that it’s not just the artists, or the politicians, or the march organizers. One of the thing that I learned recently was that there was an effort to register people to vote, and the organizers specifically didn’t want that to happen at the rally, for several reasons. It’s important for us to present a comprehensive story, regardless of whether things are conflicting or contradictory. We may have completely different perspectives depending on who we’re talking to.

Can you tell us how filming of “The Gilded Age” helps make the case for historic preservation?

Hart Cluett Exterior — The Hart Cluett Mansion on historic Second Street in Troy

The filming of “The Gilded Age” took place right outside our doors. It spotlights just how special this place is. You just don’t have architecture like this everywhere – it’s special and unique to Troy. It helps us have a pride. It’s special and unique to Troy. It’s an obvious economic benefit, but the quality of life impact is also really important. We all want to be part of a community and feel like it’s a special place. The architecture in Troy gives us that.

When you tear down these buildings, you’re creating a needless environmental hazard. In many cases, you can’t reconstruct them. You can’t get the wood in these dimensions anymore, you can’t get the artisans to do the ironwork and woodwork. This creates another opportunity for us. If we train people to maintain these historic buildings, we’re creating jobs in the trades. There’s such a multitude of reasons to concentrate on historic preservation.

Learn more about Hart Cluett via its website, FB, and IG.

Freelancers Need Flexible, Affordable Skill Development Options

October 12, 2020 By wordpress

By: Gabby Fisher, Senior Producer

Let’s jump straight to the numbers…

Yes, you read that right.

More than half of freelancers do not take skill training trainings or courses they want or need because they cannot afford it.

Also…though freelancers largely attribute positive value to their college education, freelancers find skill-related training more useful to the work they do now when asked to compare the two.

The HVCC Career Launchpad is right on the mark with what freelancers are looking for…flexible, affordable, non-degree education options. The goal: to enhance skills, learn new ones, and to increase earning power and marketability.

How the Program Started

Penny Hill, HVCC’s Dean of Economic Development and Workforce Initiatives and her team have been offering professional development and training for people, businesses and organizations throughout the Cap Region for a long time.

When the pandemic hit, they jumped into action to develop the HVCC Career Launchpad.

Flexibility

Penny said one of the main priorities of the program was flexibility. A lot is uncertain at the moment. People don’t necessarily want to commit to or pay for college degrees. The Launchpad offers credit and non-credit courses, a first for the college.

HVCC knew this program had to allow all required work to be done digitally and on the individual’s own time, within one year max.

They understood that many of the individual’s would have other responsibilities – jobs, kids, etc. so all of the flexible program attributes were important in its development.

Affordability

Affordability was also a main priority for Penny and her team. The program was intended to be an option for those unemployed due to COVID-19. The idea was to get them trained and/or industry-certified and back out into the job market quickly.

If you’re a freelancer like me, chances are you relate to some of these circumstances and like most freelancers, value professional development.

Get in Touch with HVCC today!

Opportunities for tuition funding may be available. Invest in yourself. Invest in marketplace stability. Let’s launch!

#CapNYRedAlert Profile: Jon Elbaum, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall

September 17, 2020 By Maureen Sager

Like many venues in the Capital Region, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall cancelled or postponed their Spring and Fall 2020 concerts series. Further, Executive Director Jon Elbaum is feeling “pretty questionable” about Spring 2021. The impact of that loss is shared by many. “We won’t be hiring stagehands, caterers, and doing our usual marketing and media buys,” Elbaum said. “That’s 50,000 fewer patrons coming to Troy, where they’d be shopping and dining.” Their annual budget used to be $2 million, and it’s now shrunk to a small percentage of that.

Troy Savings Bank Music Hall Executive Director Jon Elbaum

Despite these challenges, TSBMH was able to put on drive-in concerts this summer. Additionally, 20 outdoor shows brought entertainment to nearby al fresco restaurant patrons. “The artists were so thankful for the chance to perform,” Elbaum said. This winter, they’ll be streaming performances from the hall. “This won’t make up for lost income, but it will help our patrons and supporters to see these performances and stay connected with us”

Jon Elbaum’s Recommendations

ACE asked Elbaum what would help TSBMH, and he mentioned the following:

Federal relief legislation, including Senator Chuck Schumer’s Save Our Stages bill
Grants, rather than loans. (“The loans were helpful, but we need more.”)
Clear communications and guidelines regarding reopening. (“Rules, timeline, health criteria, and more,” Elbaum stressed.)

The biggest unknown is whether audiences will be comfortable coming back inside the nation’s venues, Elbaum said. “There is so much riding on that.”

Troy Savings Bank Music Hall is located at 30 2nd St, Troy, NY 12180-3292.

Support TSBMH and our other local creative businesses and organizations by participating in #CapNYRedAlertNov1. Click here to register today.

A Freelancer & An Activist: Jade Warrick, “TrashKid”

June 11, 2020 By wordpress

Jade Warrick is a powerhouse artist and freelancer. Known in the art world as “TrashKid,” you may remember her from our “Freelancer February” series. Jade is not only a Cap Region icon because of her creative graphic design & energetic spirit, but because of her active voice in the communities she’s a part of and her passion for making art accessible for everybody. We sat down with Jade to ask her what she’s been up to over the past few months – especially during the COVID-19 crisis and the Black Lives Matter movement.

So much has changed since we last spoke in February. How has your business/work changed?

Business has been decent for me. I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of marketing and graphic design work and I’m enjoying that. I think a lot of people are getting businesses off the ground and working on things they never had the time to. I’ve been working with a few podcasters, Didi Delgado being one. I’ve also done some commission work with Healing While Black, LLC, an amazing black voice. I’ve been wanting to do more TrashKid stuff – doing more comics and drawings – but it has taken a backseat due to the commission work.

I have some side projects going on. I’m working on building a website that helps promote the work of people of color. I’m also working on a COVID-19 graphic novel with Noelle Gentile, a local actor and children’s author. The book is geared toward youth — it talks about what the pandemic means, missing your friends, etc. It’s a living document and is being changed all the time due to new information, events taking place, etc. We’re hoping to release that in mid-June.

Can you tell us a bit more about the website you’re building to help promote the work of black artists and artists of color?

I’ve been wanting to build this website for a while, but never had the time until now. I want to give my friends and creatives – especially those who aren’t very good at marketing nor have a website — a place where people can see their art and contact them if they’re interested in commissioning them for work. This is a resource for all people, but the idea is to promote artists of color. It’s a place where people can find under-looked black artists and support their business. The logo will consist of a pigeon. Pigeons are looked down upon and seen as gross, but they’re very smart birds. I think it’s an interesting reflection of how people see urbanized black culture.

I regularly see you on social media using art to build community. What’s your latest community building project?

I’m working on mural at YouthFX in downtown Albany today (on Friday, 6/5) while youth in the community will hold a protest and have the floor to speak about how they feel about the current state of the world. I’m also going to be working with Albany Barn, Albany Center Gallery, D. Colin, and others to encourage our black youth to paint murals downtown. Youth are going through a lot right now, not only the protests, but there is still a pandemic going on. People are still struggling and unemployed, kids aren’t going back to school. Kids are angry about a lot. I would’ve loved this type of opportunity as a kid. I wasn’t around art as much as I would’ve liked to and I would’ve been a stronger artist if I had been. I never really got the opportunity, my parents were too busy raising their kids and trying to get by.

Any last words of advice you’d like to leave for our readers?

The world is really negative right now. I’ve been trying to help as much as I can and help people feel less alone. I’ve found positivity through connecting with my community – getting in touch with people who feel the same way as me. If you reach out, many organizations will welcome you in with open arms and provide you resources to join workgroups.

Connect with Jade!

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