Garden Bistro 24 – Latham, NY

Digging way back, Garden Bistro 24 in Colonie was one of the very first derryX Dines posts. Now, GB24 in Colonie doesn’t exist any more. Long before that location closed, they opened another in Slingerlands. Then Colonie closed and Latham opened. It’s pretty close to my house. (It’s always nice when decent restaurants are close to home.)

The menu has expanded considerably since my very first visit. The menu expansions are logical considering all they had way back were steaks, mussels, salads, and desserts. Now, they also offer a handful of burgers, crepes, appetizers. It’s a menu that hits a lot of tastes without getting carried away.

On this visit, I wanted to try a burger.

I went for the Classic Bistro Burger (Caramelized onions, local goat cheese, baby spinach, tomato, roasted garlic and rosemary aioli) [Prices have crept up a little since my visit.]

Aside from the cliché slate “plate”, it is an impressively presented dish. The huge cone of fries. The mound of simply dressed spring mix salad. And the hulking burger that immediately makes you question how to bite into it. It plays well into their bistro theme, too, as the burger is like a swap for one of their classic steaks.

Ordered without statement of a preference, it came cooked medium rare, which is exactly how I want this kind of burger. All of the toppings are deftly applied so as not to distract from the quality of the beef and bun. To say it’s impressive is putting it lightly. It’s great.

The fresh salad and crispy shoestring fries are great accompaniments to the burger, and have barely changed over the years.

I prefer the layout of the new location better than the Colonie location. Having dined there multiple times, I found the Colonie spot to be like an elegantly dressed food court. The layout in Latham is much more comfortable; there are multiple connected dining areas that are almost like separate rooms.