Fellow Albanites, I have an imperative for you: Check out the BamBoo Diner.

This is a new Asian restaurant on First Avenue downtown. It's actually been open for awhile now, but last week was their grand opening, which meant two-for-one dinner specials, and Eric scored take-out on the way home from work.

Now, take-out is good anytime. Even though I love cooking, a dinner that I don't actually have to cook is such a treat. But when it's yummy, fresh, spicy, tangy Asian food that you could never replicate in your own kitchen? Even better.

This restaurant is owned by Matt and Janel Bennett, Albany's own restaurant moguls. They own Sybaris, Clemenza's, Boccherini's (They bought it and re-opened it after it closed!), and now Bamboo Diner. If they own the restaurant, you know it will be good. I've never been disappointed at one of their eateries.

Now, a word of explanation. This is not your typical American Chinese place. No orange chicken or sweet-and-sour-pork or beef-and-broccoli. I love those things, but that's not what you'll find at the Bamboo Diner. It's a "pan-Asian" restaurant. More reminiscent of Thai food than Chinese, in my opinion. We're talking chicken with peanut sauce, coconut sticky rice steamed in a banana leaf, bowls of spicy-sweet curry. The prices are I think slightly higher than you'd find at other Chinese places in town, but not unreasonable. Their dinner entrees range from $11-15 and include a main dish and some kind of starch. And it's not just a side of rice with each one--there's different selection to complement each different entree though. Everything from fried rice to curried mashed potatoes to pan-fried noodles. The portion I got was big enough to fill me up for one dinner and have a slightly smaller amount left for lunch the next day.

So next time you're in Albany and you want to try someplace just a touch exotic for dinner (and dining options in Albany tend to be sorely lacking in the "exotic" department), go to the Bamboo Diner. If you're looking for something fresh and different, you won't be disappointed.