Displaying items by tag: Nicholas M Cook

Restaurant At Pavilion Grand Hotel To Intermingle Unique Cuisine With Local Tastes

By Colette Linton

SARATOGA SPRINGS— With about a month to go before opening in May, Jose Filomeno’s Korean fusion-styled cuisine restaurant will be the first floor installment of the Pavilion Grand Hotel, offering a unique taste and way of business to mingle and mix with the local palate two blocks from Saratoga Springs’ bustling Broadway.

The restaurant is not only to catch the eye of passerby, but it is to also function as part of a full-service hotel concept. This means that the appetites of the 17 events currently booked at the boutique hotel, as well as the fifth-floor patio dining, the 48 suites and 111 indoor restaurant seating could be fulfilled by Mingle.

“As far as our restaurant goes, it has many different faces,” Jose said, Mingle on the Avenue’s owner.  “Whether you’re on the roof or on the first floor, it’s the sexiest bar in Saratoga Springs.”

Mingle’s appeal is not just about flair; however, it has utility too.  Broad windows along the perimeter will bring in natural light in the dining area as well as providing for air and ample space for the working core of the restaurant, the chefs. With a large open kitchen visible from the dining area, “you’re right there, and you’re part of the show,” Jose said. “You’ll see the fire kicking up and the world is open right here.”

Korean fusion-styled cuisine is an adapted flavor that took shape over the course of Jose’s life when moving with his parents between military bases around the world. His mother, Un-Hui Filomeno, is Korean and cooking became an art of adding a local variety to her already well-versed culinary repertoire.  This intermingling of culinary characteristics is the mainstay of Jose and Un-Hui’s first restaurant established three years ago in Albany and includes entrees from Five Cheese Mac, Chicken Jambalaya, meatloaf, pork schnitzel, Roasted Jerk Wings and Korean Style Bulgokee, to name a few.

“We make it our own,” Jose said. “It’s taking something you’ve known and adding our twist to it. We’re known for our big flavors as well as spice.”

“When speaking about foods, it’s a canvas, and in order to appeal to different people you need many different paints,” he said.

Each visit is intended to create a different experience for locals and visitors alike from the two-tiered row seating, the varied area lighting and colors around the restaurant, a thirty three-foot long bar, discretely placed outlets beneath the bar top for visitors to recharge their appliances to the year-round pricing on food and drinks. 

“We want to be the neighborhood place with different cuisine, different feel and different vibe,” Jose said. “Our goal is that we will not raise prices for the season. It is absolutely do-able if you make a year-round business. We’re a restaurant of a busy street.

“We’re going to be the place where the bartender knows your favorite drink,” he said.

“Every corner of the restaurant will have a different look and feel,” Interior designer Valerie DeLaCruz.

“We (DeLaCruz and Jose) are trying to have it stand out from other restaurants not only in Saratoga,” she said. “[..] And mingle is going to have a combination of some really luxurious finishes as we as more natural and rustic finishes, and rustic metal juxtaposed with crystal and chrome.”

“We’re doing some amazing things,” she said. “Some touches that give a feel of historic Saratoga just like with the rest of the hotel: modern with a touch of history.”