The flu took me out of commission for a good full week with little to no appetite. Now that I am on the road to recovery and don't feel like death, my taste buds are ready to tackle everything in sight. What a better come back to the dining scene than a little bit of everything with dim sum. We decided to check out Rain Modern Chinese, crossing off one of many new local eateries from our 2014 to eat list.
If you've ever been to Shogun, its sister establishment located just around the corner, you'd be familiar with its modern and chic decor. The same atmosphere is echoed at Rain and the sleek renovations from a former clinic to contemporary restaurant is very impressive. We appreciate a beautiful space but the food is where it's at. Dim sum is only served on the weekends and we wanted to take advantage of that. Greeted by the owner himself, Mr. Lee made sure to tell us that since dim sum here is made to order, not to order too much at once so our food wouldn't get cold. Mr. Lee doesn't know how much we can eat in one sitting.
Looking over Table Hopping's List of 2013 Restaurant Opening and Closings made me reminisce about some pretty good eats and salivate over those I haven't gotten around to checking out yet. Since the end of the year is a time to reflect, here are our "Best of" lists for 2013:
Best new restaurant openings:
- The Hollow Bar + Kitchen: We can't rave enough about this place. It's by far our favorite new restaurant of 2013 and home to the best 518 burger. In fact, J and I both agreed at once that the Hollow Burger was the best bite of 2013 when All Over Albany approached us asking what was our favorite local thing to eat this year: AOA's Favorite Local Foods 2013.
- La Empanada Llama: Fried edible pillows of heaven. The savory empanadas are just as good as the sweet dessert ones. Don't forget to ask for the green sauce--it's a magical blend of garlic and cilantro that elevates each delicious fried bite. It's hard to pick our favorite empanadas but the spinach and cheese and nutella with banana are pretty awesome.
- Kim's Vietnamese Restaurant: There's no doubt that we're pho-natics and while we didn't quite see eye to eye with the TU's review, we still stand by that it's one of best pho in the Capital Region, at least from a Vietnamese perspective.
