{"id":10541,"date":"2012-06-20T10:40:05","date_gmt":"2012-06-20T14:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me.html"},"modified":"2017-11-08T13:34:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T18:34:00","slug":"happy-birthday-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Birthday to… ME!"},"content":{"rendered":"

What’s my favorite thing about my birthday every year? Believe it or not, it’s not the presents or the birthday wishes but rather it’s the fact that every year my family comes together and puts aside their busy lives to spend dinner with me at the restaurant of my choice.
\nEach year is different depending on my mood. Many years I spent my birthdays at Augie’s in Ballston Spa, last year I chose Hibatchi but this year I was ready for something more relaxed and laid back. My original choice was to go to Harvest and Hearth, the place famous for their wood fired artisan pizzas and comfortable atmosphere. Unfortunately, since this year I once again shared my birthday with all the fathers in the world (happy belated father’s day dads!) the restaurant was booked and I was left with one of my least favorite things, decision making.<\/p>\n

After about an hour of deliberation, I chose to go to The Publik House. Why might you ask? Well, for starters, I’ve never been able to get in there because it’s always PACKED and on this occasion it was not. Also, I really wanted pizza, but not traditional pizza, something a little different.<\/p>\n

Looking at the menu, they are jam packed with probably 20 or more different “specialty pizzas”, all unique in their own way.<\/p>\n

Here’s the pepperoni and mushroom pizza, definitely the most plain combination of pizzas we ordered. This pizza was the epitome of a greasy, hot pizza. It was almost too cheesy where the cheese would slide off as you tried to grab a slice. Nonetheless, the pizza was good.<\/p>\n

\"pepperoni<\/p>\n

Next up, the white broccoli special. This white pizza was drizzled in olive oil, rich in cheese and full of flavor between the garlic and the broccoli. Sometimes I forget how awesome broccoli is on a pizza, and this certainly made me remember.<\/p>\n

\"white<\/p>\n

Finally, we tried the Shel’s Choice, as recommended by the waitress. This white pizza is topped with fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, artichoke hearts and garlic. Definitely the most creative pizza out of the bunch and it was a great combination of flavors.<\/p>\n

\"tomato<\/p>\n

\nThe Publik House is now one of my favorites in the area and here’s why. When you’re in the mood for a thick crust, hearty pizza, they’ve got it perfected. Their pizza is borderline deep dish and there are few places in the area that can actually make a decent thick crust. I also give them kudos for their selection of specialty pizzas. Sure, a lot of them are white based, but I love white pizzas, so it works for me!<\/p>\n

If I had to critique, I’d say that the more the toppings, the more gooey and greasy the pizza is. It would be nice to be able to pick up the slice and eat it without worrying about toppings falling off, but then again, how many thick crust pizzas allow for that?<\/p>\n

Try out The Publik House in Malta and let me know what you think!\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What’s my favorite thing about my birthday every year? Believe it or not, it’s not the presents or the birthday wishes but rather it’s the fact that every year my family comes together and puts aside their busy lives to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-restaurant"],"yoast_head":"\r\nHappy Birthday to... ME! - Eat Your Heart Out: A Saratoga Restaurant & Dining Blog By Ashley Dingeman<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happy Birthday to... ME! - Eat Your Heart Out: A Saratoga Restaurant & Dining Blog By Ashley Dingeman\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What's my favorite thing about my birthday every year? Believe it or not, it's not the presents or the birthday wishes but rather it's the fact that every year my family comes together and puts aside their busy lives to...\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eat Your Heart Out: A Saratoga Restaurant & Dining Blog By Ashley Dingeman\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-20T14:40:05+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-08T18:34:00+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2012\/06\/photo283129.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1113\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1113\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ashley Dingeman\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ashley Dingeman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/\",\"name\":\"Happy Birthday to... ME! - Eat Your Heart Out: A Saratoga Restaurant & Dining Blog By Ashley Dingeman\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2012\/06\/photo283129.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-20T14:40:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-08T18:34:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6a91db59a24e480ce15393c60fed2f62\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2012\/06\/photo283129.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2012\/06\/photo283129.jpg\",\"width\":1113,\"height\":1113},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Happy Birthday to… ME!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/\",\"name\":\"Eat Your Heart Out: A Saratoga Restaurant & Dining Blog By Ashley Dingeman\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6a91db59a24e480ce15393c60fed2f62\",\"name\":\"Ashley Dingeman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/08f035c428f58fd7f665d29cbeb8acde?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/08f035c428f58fd7f665d29cbeb8acde?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ashley Dingeman\"},\"description\":\"My name is Ashley Dingeman and I am in love with food. A recent SUNY Geneseo graduate and Saratoga Springs native, it has always been a dream of mine to have the opportunity to do the two things I do best: eat & write. Just like in a Disney movie, I guess dreams really do come true. First off, can I just say that my passion for food goes way beyond simply loving to eat. For some, eating is eating and food is food, but to me, it\u2019s so much more. Every element of the food experience, I love. Perhaps the profound effects of growing up in an Italian family have rubbed off on me. If there was one thing I learned in the process, it was that food brings people together, and where there\u2019s food, there\u2019s family. No, I didn\u2019t grow up in The Olive Garden, but I did grow up privileged to have an incredible Grandmother, and the best cook I\u2019ve ever known. To this day no one will ever be able to replicate her Sunday \u201cgravy\u201d, even though all grandchildren have come close (and some closer than others [me]). It was she who inspired me to begin cooking in the first place, and it is in her honor that I continue on in hopes of inspiring others the same way. So I invite you now to revel in my words, devour my descriptions, fantasize over my photographs, and maybe just maybe, you\u2019ll be move enough to go out and try something for yourself. Project \u201cEat Your Heart Out\u201d starts now.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/author\/ashleydingeman\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Happy Birthday to... ME! - Eat Your Heart Out: A Saratoga Restaurant & Dining Blog By Ashley Dingeman","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Happy Birthday to... ME! - Eat Your Heart Out: A Saratoga Restaurant & Dining Blog By Ashley Dingeman","og_description":"What's my favorite thing about my birthday every year? Believe it or not, it's not the presents or the birthday wishes but rather it's the fact that every year my family comes together and puts aside their busy lives to...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/","og_site_name":"Eat Your Heart Out: A Saratoga Restaurant & Dining Blog By Ashley Dingeman","article_published_time":"2012-06-20T14:40:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-11-08T18:34:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1113,"height":1113,"url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2012\/06\/photo283129.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ashley Dingeman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ashley Dingeman","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/","url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/","name":"Happy Birthday to... ME! - Eat Your Heart Out: A Saratoga Restaurant & Dining Blog By Ashley Dingeman","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2012\/06\/photo283129.jpg","datePublished":"2012-06-20T14:40:05+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-08T18:34:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6a91db59a24e480ce15393c60fed2f62"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2012\/06\/photo283129.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2012\/06\/photo283129.jpg","width":1113,"height":1113},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/2012\/06\/happy-birthday-to-me\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Happy Birthday to… ME!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/","name":"Eat Your Heart Out: A Saratoga Restaurant & Dining Blog By Ashley Dingeman","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6a91db59a24e480ce15393c60fed2f62","name":"Ashley Dingeman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/08f035c428f58fd7f665d29cbeb8acde?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/08f035c428f58fd7f665d29cbeb8acde?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ashley Dingeman"},"description":"My name is Ashley Dingeman and I am in love with food. A recent SUNY Geneseo graduate and Saratoga Springs native, it has always been a dream of mine to have the opportunity to do the two things I do best: eat & write. Just like in a Disney movie, I guess dreams really do come true. First off, can I just say that my passion for food goes way beyond simply loving to eat. For some, eating is eating and food is food, but to me, it\u2019s so much more. Every element of the food experience, I love. Perhaps the profound effects of growing up in an Italian family have rubbed off on me. If there was one thing I learned in the process, it was that food brings people together, and where there\u2019s food, there\u2019s family. No, I didn\u2019t grow up in The Olive Garden, but I did grow up privileged to have an incredible Grandmother, and the best cook I\u2019ve ever known. To this day no one will ever be able to replicate her Sunday \u201cgravy\u201d, even though all grandchildren have come close (and some closer than others [me]). It was she who inspired me to begin cooking in the first place, and it is in her honor that I continue on in hopes of inspiring others the same way. So I invite you now to revel in my words, devour my descriptions, fantasize over my photographs, and maybe just maybe, you\u2019ll be move enough to go out and try something for yourself. Project \u201cEat Your Heart Out\u201d starts now.","url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/author\/ashleydingeman\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10872,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10541\/revisions\/10872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/restaurant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}