By Jill Nagy
An early May opening is planned for the
new Pavilion Grand Hotel at 30 Lake Ave. in
Saratoga Springs and its restaurant, Mingle
on the Avenue.
The Pavilion Grand Hotel, still undergoing
some construction, will be a 48-room luxury
boutique hotel.
The eatery within the hotel will be a Korean
fusion restaurant, said Jose Filomeno, who will
be the managing partner, responsible for day-to-day operations.
Filomeno owns a similar restaurant, named
Mingle, on Delaware Avenue in Albany, that
opened about three years ago and will continue
to operate.
Brian Bowden will be executive chef at the Saratoga restaurant. Bowden, according to Filomeno, “has cooked Asian dishes for years” and also trained with Filomeno’s mother, Un-Hui Filomeno, the chef at the Albany restaurant.
Bowden has cooked at several well-known Saratoga, Albany and Troy restaurants. Un-Hui Filomeno has no official position at the new Mingle, but Filomeno expects her to check in from time to time and keep an eye on things, he said.
The restaurant will be on the ground floor of the new building, with indoor seating for 111 and a patio seating 50. Dean DeVito, a principal in Prime Companies in Cohoes, owner and developer of the hotel, said Mingle is part of a “full-service hotel concept.”
The new restaurant will offer locally raised produce and grass-fed chicken, beef and pork and a menu including gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan and pescatarian (vegetarian plus fish) selections. The accent will be Asian, including Korean, Vietnamese and Thai, with some Caribbean flavors thrown in.
Filomeno plans to have a staff of about 40. Key people are already in place and he is currently hiring support staff, he said.
“We are going through a vetting process,” he said, “to find the proper fit and people who will work well together.” Staff from the Albany restaurant will be called in to help train the Saratoga employees.
Filomeno can be reached at 466-4519.