Copper Crow Dine-Around
Article By: Vice Chargée de Presse Ilona Weisman
Photos By: Bailli William Harris and Vice Chargée de Presse Ilona Weisman
On February 19th, 31 members and guests of the Albany Chaîne met for a Dine-Around at Copper Crow, an upscale eatery in the city’s historic warehouse district where Executive Chef Pedro Gonzalez tests the limits of even the broad expanse of fusion cooking. Unlike the chapter’s formal tasting dinners with paired wines, Dine-Arounds are casual weeknight get-togethers at a designated restaurant. Members and guests make their own reservations to meet for dinner, everyone orders off the menu and pays their own check.
The restaurant’s name honors owner Jason Pierce’s ancestry—the Crow family—and the Tennessee Copper Basin where they toiled in 19th century America. The building at 904 Broadway has a long history, too. It began as the celebrated Andrew Kirk Brewery in 1832, which established Albany’s importance as a source of pale and amber ales. By the early 20th century, the city’s beer industry had faded, and a succession of businesses occupied the place, including cabinetmaker George Spalt, Fort Orange Radio Distributing, and Scott Office Interiors. In recent years, however, an active nightlife has emerged and the neighborhood’s old commercial buildings now house restaurants, bars and brewpubs.
Members and guests of the Albany Chaîne gathered at Copper Crow’s 42-foot amply stocked bar where busy servers prepped craft cocktails. Live music played in a lounge elevated from the bar and circled by ancient wrought iron railings. Dark beadboard paneled the interior, oversized booths were finished in red leather, and stained glass windows hung on a brick warehouse wall. Pierce and wife Kayleigh commissioned local artist Samson Contompasis to create murals that reflect the building’s story. As you approach the restaurant, you see giant crows depicted on its exterior walls, and inside two large paintings framed in copper show brewery workers as they might have appeared in the building’s first incarnation.
It’s a giggle to call the menu eclectic. Bailli William Harris ordered the South American staple chimichurri, this one paired with duck. Chevalier Michael Nofal and Professionnel du Vin Mark Harris went with a traditional crab-stuffed halibut which they deemed moist and delicious. Ever the adventurer, Vice Chancelier-Argentier Holly Katz chose Nepalese chicken and shrimp stew, and Dame Melanie Greenspan had the classic Vietnamese sandwich duck banh mi, a Copper Crow favorite. Your humble scribe ordered tom yum shrimp spaetzle—shiitake mushroom, bok choy and beansprouts in creamy lime coconut broth atop Bavarian noodle. Thailand, meet Deutschland. Dame Anita Morin ordered one of the small plates, mozzarella-stuffed wonton rolls with a side of harissa tomato sauce, a riff that unites culinary traditions of Tunisia, China, and Italy. If only world peace were that simple. A group of crows is called a ‘murder,’ though it’s not a term you would associate with this welcoming restaurant and its talented kitchen. Thirty-one members and guests enjoyed food and beverage from the Copper Crow’s eye-popping menu that night, and I promise there were no casualties.
