TIMES UNION, Albany, NY

By RUTH FANTASIA, Food and home editor
First published: Sunday, May 09, 2004

Whoever said "you can't please all the people all the time,'' never met Tony and Julie Abeel. Since last summer the couple has taken over a local watering hole in Milton, about six miles west of Saratoga Spa State Park, and transformed it into a neighborhood restaurant with a split personality.

The front section of the building is a rustic tavern with a large wooden bar, wood tables and beer signs. Not a rowdy watering hole anymore but a fairly quiet place, perfect for having a few beers and some noshes with friends. While the adjacent dining room also has rustic touches, linen tablecloths and candlelight give the area a more formal atmosphere.

But true evidence of the restaurant's versatility lies in Tony Abeel's menu. The offerings range from nachos to grilled breast of duck with Chambord and toasted-walnut sauce.

It was the menu that drew us to Abeel's the first time. An ad listing the whole menu in a weekly newspaper caught our eye and hung on the refrigerator for a few months before we ventured out there to meet a friend for dinner and a few beers. Since then, we've been back a couple times, each occasion venturing further and further into the menu. Here are some highlights and lowlights:

Items on the lighter fare menu are generally what you'd expect, fried haddock dinner, burgers, nachos, etc. The portions were large … I had enough nachos leftover to have lunch the next day … and nicely cooked. But there was nothing to differentiate this food from similar offerings at other restaurants, and the french fries, although made fresh, weren't crispy.

The appetizer menu includes French onion soup au gratin, steamed clams, stuffed mushrooms and tortilla chips with artichoke and spinach dip. Here again, most items are served exactly as you'd expect, but the exception is the Oriental pot stickers ($5.59). These deep-fried crescents stuffed with pork come with a soy-based sipping sauce and side of ``slaw.'' Remarkably bright and flavorful, the slaw is actually a melange of cabbage, broccoli, rice, black olives, red onion and tomatoes held together with a sauce similar to Chinese hoisin. From the entree menu, we've sampled the prime rib, barbecued ribs, pan-roasted pork chop and rainbow trout Francese. Of the four, the prime rib and pork chop entrees were fine but not memorable. The trout and the ribs were, on the other hand, quite special.

Splayed open on the plate with head and tail still attached, the trout was fried in a light batter with a touch of lemon. Moist and flaky, our daughter had no trouble finishing off the fish, once the head and tail were removed from the plate. She even proclaimed it to be better than a similarly prepared trout she had last month at a restaurant in Boston's North End.

The ribs are so good they're one of those menu items you get stuck on and order again and again no matter how good the special sounds or what else on the menu you'd like to try. Glazed in a thick, slightly tangy, slightly sweet sauce, the slab of baby back ribs were melt-in-your-mouth tender, on two occasions.

Entrees come with freshly baked rolls, your choices from a serviceable but not plentiful salad bar, potato or rice and the vegetable of the day. Given the fact that nothing on the menu exceeds $19.99 … in fact, most entrees are priced between $14 and $17 … dinner at Abeel's is a remarkably good value.

The beverage menu includes a nice array of foreign and domestic beers, some of the more popular wines on the market and, best of all, freshly brewed iced tea.

Dinner for three from the light menu and five beers cost us about $60, dinner for two with appetizers, entrees and a shared dessert came to $60, and dinner for three with two appetizers and one dessert came to $90. All prices included tax and gratuity.