Photo by: Chris Shields

Heart on Lark
By B.A. Nilsson

DeJohn’s Restaurant & Pub
288 Lark St., Albany, 465-5275. Serving dinner Sun-Thu 4-11, Fri-Sat 4-midnight. Sunday brunch 11-3. AE, MC, V.
Cuisine: eclectic American
Entrée price range: $11 (Vegetable stir-fry) to $20 (blue cheese-crusted sirloin)
Ambiance: handsome and festive
Clientele: handsome and festive

"People can go anywhere to get a good steak, or pizza and wings, or to have a beer. So I have to give them a reason to come to DeJohn’s,” says John DeJohn. “The reason is hospitality. I make this restaurant an extension of my home, and that’s why I put my name on the building.”

A former waiter and restaurant manager for many years, DeJohn took the plunge into ownership when the former Lulu Café was offered for sale. After extensive remodeling, most of it designed by Monika DeJohn, John’s wife, the place opened last August.

Although the three-level design is unique enough to remind you of it former incarnation (not to mention its even older days as 288 Lark), the change is otherwise sweeping. The downstairs bar area feels comfortable and intimate even as the room sweeps back along windowless walls. Beyond it is an outdoor-dining patio.

Upstairs, the walls are red, interrupted by a giant mirror that gives an illusion of greater space. Even so, the tables are roomy, the room uncramped. What used to be the third-floor gallery is now a banquet and music room, with tall, dark green walls and a stage at one end. Coming soon is an outdoor dining deck that should offer a spectacular view.

The staff couldn’t have been friendlier on the two visits I paid. It’s got to be tough monitoring a two-floor operation, but we never felt neglected.

Chef Noel Goldberg offers two menus: one for the fine-dining patrons, the other offering lighter fare. The latter comprises burgers (veggie or beef, $8), a couple of fancy chicken preparations and even a hoagie of pulled pork, all in the $8-$10 range, fries a buck extra.

Fine-dining patrons, who typically choose the second-floor room, have a short list of items to consider, an excellent mix that ought to provide something stimulating to your palate. Two of the clear winners, assuming this can be viewed in a wholly unnecessary competitive fashion, are the shrimp and andouille sausage cakes ($10) and the brie bruschetta ($8).

A twist of the familiar crab cakes recipe, the shrimp-sausage cakes pack an unexpected and delightful flavor into the breaded patties, a generous enough portion to give you a take-home snack. Garlicky red pepper-laced mayonnaise fills out the flavor; a side of coleslaw adds crunch.

Baked brie usually strikes me as silly (and way too gooey), but this presentation adds a sprinkling of roasted garlic cloves, guaranteed to win my affection, and a not-too-sweet raspberry sauce. Best of all, the thick toast points stand up to the heft of the cheese while also supporting the flavor.

Ginger chicken egg roll ($8) gives another original spin on a popular Asian dish; the filling is much more dramatic than typical egg-roll ingredients, which is welcome, but the item struck me as being more greasy than necessary. Greens and beans ($6), another garlic-rich mainstay, has added roasted red peppers and, although the portion is small, the flavor is terrific.

French onion soup ($5) is a mainstay, while the soup of the day changes; we sampled tomato-basil ($3.50) and were very impressed with its freshness of flavor.

Salads aren’t offered as entrée adjuncts, but there’s a range of them available, beginning with a $3.75 house salad (field greens, tomatoes, cukes, you get the picture) and topping out with the large Oriental steak salad ($9), mixing sliced tenderloin with greens and veggies in a soy-ginger dressing. Caesar, spinach, and soba noodle salads also are available.

Seven entrées and five pasta dishes complete the menu. The lone beef item is a small sirloin crusted with blue cheese and black pepper ($20), which, if you’re restricting yourself, is probably the most toothsome cut of beef. And it pairs its flavor with the blue cheese and pepper so nicely that it’s hard to imagine enjoying a sirloin any other way. My only problem with the entrée was that it was cooked past medium, rather than the medium-rare I requested. I pointed this out to our server, who instantly offered to exchange it for a properly cooked cut, but I declined.

Here’s why: The offer itself was satisfying, and there wasn’t anything unpleasant about the meat. I was enjoying the dinner, and didn’t think it was worth the fuss. The meat sits on a serving of duchess potatoes (essentially mashed potatoes with a tremendous fat content that are then baked—in other words, they taste really good) and spears of fresh asparagus.

Pasta jambalaya ($17) isn’t my favorite combo—I’m a rice traditionalist—but my friend John approved, and the flavors were more authentic than many a rice-based version I’ve sampled. Fat shrimp, chunks of chicken and sausage and vegetables. More of the promised asparagus would have been nice, but the sauce was fabulous and the penne pasta picked it up nicely.

Farfalle, or bowtie pasta, features in the smoked chicken carbonara ($14), in which added bacon pieces and a sherry-based sauce round out the flavors. Another chicken approach is to roll it and stuff it, and the roulade ($16) has a spinach and red pepper filling, brilliantly complemented by a Thai green curry sauce.

For meat-free dining, a vegetable stir-fry ($11) might suit you, but the sesame encrusted tofu ($13) is more interesting, and certainly delighted my wife, who gloried in its sweet soy glaze and slab of excellent polenta.

Daily specials complement the menu, and the staff is eager to hear what you like and what you think. General manager Ryan Weber deserves much of the credit for the welcoming atmosphere, and DeJohn can’t praise him enough. Looks like Lark Street continues to thrive as the area’s only true restaurant row.

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