St. Regis Cafe, Paul Smith's College, NY

Call me crazy for pointing out this secret, but it's just too juicy to keep. What happens when you get a restaurant with no overhead, no salaries, no benefits etc. You get the St. Regis Cafe at Paul Smith's College run by the Hotel and Restaurant Management students. You want cheap but classy? We are talking formal servers, cloth napkins and for dinner cloth table cloths. The Cafe overlooks beautiful St. Regis Lake.

How about lunch with nothing on the menu over $3.25 (including beverage). Today I had a real nice pan-fried Atlantic salmon patty served open-faced on a toasted sourdough round with caper aioli and lettuce chiffonade vinaigrette for 3 bucks (beverage included). My dining partner (my mother, I'm a good son) had the "Plat du jour" - sweet and sour pork with a side of rice also for 3 bucks. Total bill at the end of lunch - $6.00. Other lunch choices included Romaine Heart Salad - romaine hearts with oil-cured olives, albacore tuna, and garlic croutons topped with shaved pecorino and served with a lemon-oregano vinaigrette ($2.75). Or, roasted top sirloin sandwich served with an onion mustard relish and grilled peppers on a toasted Kaiser roll (3.25).

We will be going to dinner there tomorrow night. On the menu, nothing cost more than $7.50. I'm looking at the Grilled Hand-cut New York strip steak served with fried potatoes, grilled tomatoes and a garlic parsley hollandaise for $7.50 or maybe the Braised duck legs cooked with Kalamata olives, raisins and capers served atop
semolina gnocchi rounds for $6.75. How about the Chicken breast, hand breaded in panko and cinnamon, pan–fried with a tomato tarragon coulis, baby spinach and potato puree for $6.50?

The Cafe serves lunch on Tue - Fri from 11 AM til 1:30 PM. Dinner is Tue - Fri from 5 PM til 8 PM. (during PSC academic calender)