After completing a day of working remote in Saratoga Springs, I took off to explore the downtown area while waiting for my hosts to arrive. After having a really enjoyable pint at Whitman Brewing, I wandered along Broadway doing some liht window shopping and looking at both cocktail and dinner menus. One place that drew my eye was a relative newcomer to Saratoga Springs, Rhea. Seeing folks enjoying bowls of ramen and some nicely-composed cocktails, I decided it would be on my short list for dinner, and when my hosts arrived, they agreed. So we headed back to Rhea and managed to score three seats at the bar, despite the relatively busy Friday evening.
Rhea is the younger sibling to the more established Seneca restaurant a few blocks west, and aside from a small outside patio, the dining area is mostly centered on the large central bar. The menu at Rhea is primarily based upon fresh-made noodles like ramen and lo-mein, mixed with innovative fusion flavors and served up with some craft cocktails.
Being a Friday on a long week, we were all looking forward to some good cocktails. I went for the Moonrise Kingdom: Roku gin, sake, Italicus bergamot liqueur, cucumber, lime, and watermelon. I really liked this, a nice herbacious drink with a lot of nice Asian flavors. Liz went for the Kentucky Caribbean: Bourbon, orange, pineapple, lemon, housemade grenadine, demerara simple, and aromatic bitters, which basically delivered a slightly fruitier and fresher variation of an Old-Fashioned. Wes rounded it out with a Pear Spritz with thyme.
Next up were some appetizers we were sharing, starting with a bacon and kimchi fried rice. Made with nice chunks of thick-sliced Nueske bacon, house kimchi, edamame, egg, sweet chili mayo, pineapple teriyaki, and furikake, this was a very bacon and spice forward fried rice, cooked to the point the rice had a nice crunch starting to form, and the kimchi nicely balanced the smokiness and fat of the bacon. A good, strong start.
Next up were some arancini, served with a gochujang vodka sauce. The arancini themselves were a good classic rendition, but that sauce really made the dish, the gochujang adding a really good spice and smoke note to the basic vodka sauce. This was a tasty enough combination I should try it again sometime at home.
I ended up going for a fairly classic ramen: spicy chicken. A very nice execute chicken katsu of nicely pounded and perfectly breaded chicken breast, with charred baby corn, bok choy, chili oil, sriracha, and pickled jalapeños over a nice spicy shoyu broth with house-made noodles, this was excellent. The noodles were cooked just to the perfect level of toothiness, and the katsu breading firm enough to survive its short dip into the broth. I really enjoyed this.
Wesley was a bit more adventurous and went for one of the fusion concepts: a birria ramen, combining the basic ingredients of a birria taco with ramen: braised short rib, red onions, sliced jalapeno, cilantro, radish, and cheesy tortilla wedges served over a very rich and spicy ancho and achiote chile broth. The smell was particularly fantastic.
And Liz rounded things out with the Mexican Street Corn Lo-mein. The same wok-roasted baby corn as my spicy chicken ramen, served with an achiote gochujang sauce, queso fresco, yuzu ponzu, and cilantro over a nice bed of house-made lo-mein. I didn’t actually sample this, but it looked fantastic and both Liz and Wes gave it high marks.
With some friendly service, a nice bar space, and some really tasty and innovative cocktails and noodle dishes, I can see why Rhea is popular, and hope to give the, some return visits on future trips.
