As much as I like to write about restaurants that are exciting and/or unusual and/or new — I work for a newspaper, after all — I also recognize the value of dependable old-timers. My email, online comments and things people have told me over the years make it clear that a large percentage of the restaurant-going public prefers dining again and again at their regular spots, not least for their reliable predictability. That also partly explains the popularity of chains: If you like Olive Garden or Cheesecake Factory or even Taco Bell, they’ll be the same whether you’re in the Capital Region or Calgary.
Which is how I ended up at Ralph’s Tavern in Colonie for a Saturday lunch with my mother after a shopping trip to the Central Avenue Aldi supermarket. Open for about 90 years — the business was incorporated in 1933, according to staff, but they weren’t sure if it opened that year, because Prohibition didn’t end until December — Ralph’s is in an inconspicuous building on a busy commercial strip of Central with an auto-glass company on one side, a private home on the other.
Bisected front to back by a wall between the dining room and bar, each with a separate door from the vestibule, Ralph’s is part sports bar, part neighborhood haunt, part source for a menu of more than 100 items, many of them Italian. Unless one of your dining party is adamant about having sushi or a mango lassi, most people will be able to find something appealing at Ralph’s. You want veal, chicken or scallop Parm, Ralph’s has them. Ditto for prime rib, broiled haddock, a 1-pound serving of lasagna or a sandwich with egg, pepper and provolone…