The Point

What exactly is The Point? Don’t worry—I’m not about to get all existential on you. The Point is a new restaurant located at 1100 Madison Avenue in Albany, New York. For those of you who love Café Madison, you’ll be happy to know that The Point is owned by the same owners and that the chef of Café Madison is also supervising the kitchen of The Point.

I recently met up with fellow foodie and friend, Jon, to check out this new restaurant. To start off we ordered cocktails. The cocktail and martini list were extensive and filled with interesting and intriguing concoctions, but I opted for About Thyme. It’s described on the menu as “aromatic. botanical. refreshing,” and it’s composed of Hendrick’s gin, Pimm’s #1, muddled cucumber, a splash of lemonade, a splash of soda, and fresh picked thyme. This lovely cocktail was certainly aromatic, botanical, refreshing, and absolutely loaded with thyme—definitely a delightful libation.

We also ordered the Trio Sampler appetizer, which came with eggplant napoleon with five cheeses and a spicy red sauce; a crab cake with sweet lump crab meat, bread crumbs, red pepper, herbs, and served with a lemongrass-ancho chili remoulade; and green breen fries. The green bean fries were nice and crispy and served with what seemed to be a wasabi mayonnaise dipping sauce, but they were a bit heavy for an appetizer. And while I appreciated the nice chunks of crab meat in the crab cakes, the star of the trio was definitely the lightly breaded eggplant napoleon. Next time I’d probably just opt for the eggplant or try out one of their other delicious sounding appetizers.

 

For the entrée Jon ordered the Duck-Duck-Goose Risotto. This dish consisted of duck leg conft, on the bone, on top of Arborio rice risotto with duck sausage, poached pears, goat cheese, and garnished with a gooseberry demiglace. I snagged a bite, and the duck tasted great with a little bit of crispy skin complemented by the creamy but slightly al dente risotto. And the gooseberries added a nice pop of sweet flavor to the dish.

I ordered the Bolognese with wild boar and beef, slow-cooked in a Chianti wine, tomato, vegetables, and fresh herb sauce. I love a good Bolognese, and I was not disappointed by The Point’s preparation. The sauce was garlicky with just a hint of sweetness. But what really caught my eye when reading through the menu was the use of wild boar. I’ve been re-watching season one of LOST (back when they were still concerned with things such as food) with my newly addicted parents, so I’ve been seeing a lot of boar hunting lately. As I’ve never tried boar before, it seemed like fate. Or maybe coincidence. But either way, I had to try it. The cut of boar used in the Bolognese was similar to bacon, but it was leaner and less salty. I could taste the rough and rugged environment the boar must have lived in—running around, foraging for food in the wilderness. Well, not exactly, but it was still delicious. All in all, a successful Bolognese.

If you’re in the Albany area and looking for some fine dining or interesting cocktail, you should definitely check out The Point.