Susie's spotlight: You won't pass these plates up
Susie's Spotlight is an occasional feature that showcases some of our restaurant critic Susie Davidson Powell's can't-miss dishes. Her regular reviews will return next week.
The dish: Wood-fired pizza
Where: Flatbread Social, 84 Henry St., Saratoga Springs. flatbread.social
Susie says: "No surprise their thin crust (ergo, flatbread) pizza is the main attraction. Sourdough given a full 48-hour ferment before firing in the 800-degree radiant heat of a Le Panyol oven results in beautifully bubbled, lightly charred, chewy crusts no matter what you put on top. There's humor among the pizza presets: We love the prickly heat of chorizo, chile flakes and pickled banana peppers in the Kick in the Pants pie, though the sweet-salty union of caramelized onions, bacon and pickles wallowing in the luminous yolk of a sunny side up fried egg in Sonja's Pizza is hard to beat."
The dish: Wings
Where: M&M's Tap and Tavern, 501 Route 20, New Lebanon. mmtapandtavern.com
Susie says: "You'll have plenty of time to roll your eyes at a page of wings named for glamorous actresses (hot chicks, geddit?). The Jessica Ray — a fusion of garlic-Parmesan and house Buffalo sauce — hinges, as written, on a fantasy involving Rachel Ray and Jessica Biel. Given that 'hotness rating' is how Facebook got its start, and M&M's wings are memorably good, we let it go. Requesting saucy Reese Witherspoon (spicy-sweet) or flaming hot Mila Kunis is awkward only during ordering. Liking ours extra crispy, sauce baked on, we exult in the brittle skins and juicy contents of 'twice baked' Jessica Rays (par-fried and wood-fired) and strip mild Betty Whites to piranha-clean bones."
The dish: Baingan bhartha, or...
Where: Madina Sweets and Restaurant, 295...