©2018 Saratoga Photographer.com
By Susan E. Campbell
The Mercantile Kitchen and Bar is a new restaurant that co-owner and managing partner Chris Luriea hopes will “fill a gap” among the eateries on Broadway in downtown Saratoga Springs.
“The Merc” offers “a fun diner menu” from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at night. It serves breakfast all day, and boasts “a bar that can make any drink,” Luriea said.
It is in the space that was once Cantina restaurant and for years operated as Professor Moriarity’s. The business opened Nov. 9.
The idea of a modern diner had been percolating in Luriea’s mind for many years when he got a call in June from Jeff Ames, owner of the restaurant Cantina, which relocated a few doors down on Broadway and where Luriea had been bar manager for about six years.
Ames indicated he was making some changes at his restaurant and presented the prospect of collaborating on something new. Cantina was relocating from 430 Broadway to number 408.
Luriea and Ames are partners in the Mercantile Kitchen and Bar with Luriea managing day-to-day operations. The two restaurants share the same culinary director.
“I realized the northeast is home for me,” Luriea said, and coming back to New York would mean co-owning a restaurant for the first time … I probably worked at 20 places or so since I was 19 years old, tending bar, waiting tables, or managing restaurants,” Luriea said. “As a youth I aspired to be a chef. But when I got into the front-of-house scene, I loved the variety.“
Luriea spent a number of years at Max London’s where he was “very happy with the staff and learned a ton,” he said. His experience there “opened a lot of doors” for him, including the door to Cantina and a friendship with Ames.
Luriea’s first decision was to create an establishment reminiscent of the diners he went to growing up on Long Island. He knew a restaurant like that would fill a niche in the offerings on Saratoga’s main drag. And the historic building provided the atmosphere and amenities that could give his old-fashioned diner concept a modern twist.
“This building goes back to the 1940s according to the archivists in town,” said Luriea. It has original tin ceilings, which reveal how the space at first had been several separate businesses until walls were moved, creating the open space it is now.
At some point a hand-carved bar was brought in. Luriea believes it came from Europe via New York City.
Luriea wanted to name his place the Mercantile Kitchen and Bar from the beginning to reflect a place that was, like an old mercantile or exchange, “a one-stop shop selling just about anything, from a bag of nails to a bag of flour,” he said. “I wanted to create a place with an extensive and well-rounded menu that appeals to everyone.”
The next decision Luriea made was to be open daily for a full 12 hours and even longer on weekends.
“It is hard to pull off the long hours but I am passionate about this,” he said. “After 15 years on Broadway I knew what it was missing. You have to give the community what they’re asking for.”
That means breakfast all day, every day, and any cocktail one can imagine, just like a classic Long Island diner.
Luriea said he “couldn’t have a better location. There is never a lull in the traffic on Broadway,” he said. “The room has been the same for decades and people love sitting at that bar.”
Learn more at www.themercsaratoga.com.