Chipotle at Stuyvesant Plaza opens Tuesday
Between Trustco and Peaches near the Fuller Road end of the plaza.
Updated Monday evening with porky details.
The Capital Region's fourth Chipotle opens in Stuyvesant Plaza on Tuesday. We stopped by today to check it out -- and in the five or so minutes we there, six people were turned away from the not-quite-open-yet location. (Exclaimed one girl into her mobile right after, "Tomorrow!?!?!")
There's no opening day free food this time around. The friendly guy we talked with today said the crowds on previous free burrito days had been overwhelming.
He did let us in for a quick peek. A handful of photos for the curious are after the jump.
The style of this location is similar to that of the other local (and non-local, for that matter) Chipotles -- big windows, finished plywood, stainless steel, concrete. We haven't seen one set up in this configuration, though -- it's a little softer and almost has a library feel.
Two of the people who were hoping the location was open. They did end up with two of the last few tickets to the invite-only soft opening (basically a trial run). We got two tickets, too.
Albany Jane has already eaten at this Chipotle. She went to the media preview. She went to the invite-only lunch preview.
Update: So we stopped by the soft opening. Everything was as you'd expect from Chipotle. Except for the carnitas -- which were fantastic. Just really good.
We'd had sort of sworn off the pork because it always seemed dry at the local Chipotle locations. But this was tender and moist.
So we mentioned how good the carnitas were to the Chipotle people working the door. And they said there was a reason for the porky goodness: the meat was heated up sous vide.
The Chipotle rep we talked with said the Stuyvesant Plaza location is one of the first in the nation to get a kitchen that can heat the carnitas and barbacoa under vacuum in water (that's basically what sous vide means -- the regular method involved cooking it in pot, from which a lot of moisture evaporated). That should mean more succulent pork and not-as-salty barbacoa. Or so the story goes.
Whatever the reason, the outcome was good in this case.
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Comments
What was there before? My tastebuds are super excited about this but my hips scream in fear.
... said KatherineSass on Aug 30, 2010 at 7:03 PM | link
Hopefully I didn't cause any confusion (I usually do). I went around lunch time during the day-before-invite-only type thing. Although I'm totally up for any media events that let me put food in my mouth (for future reference).
Editors: More like a lack of reading comprehension on our part. We clarified it above.
... said Albany Jane on Aug 31, 2010 at 8:55 AM | link
Well this just made my week a little better! :)
... said Kelly Kramer on Aug 31, 2010 at 10:14 AM | link
I believe that was the former location of "Different Drummers Kitchen" which has moved to Latham.
... said Jeff on Aug 31, 2010 at 12:43 PM | link
@Jeff: Different Drummers just moved to the other end of the plaza, near EMS.
... said Greg on Aug 31, 2010 at 1:14 PM | link
I had no idea of the opening, just happened to see the Chipotle sign, and did a U-turn! (Chipotle being from my home state of CO). I saw the Grand Opening...tomorrow sign, but saw people inside eating so went up to the door anyway. A nice lady just inside the door explained about the 'soft-opening' and asked if I had a ticket. I didn't, but since they weren't slammed at the moment, she let me in anyway, and said lunch was on them! Score :) Very happy to see that my beloved CO Chipotle fosters people-friendly business practices even all the way across the country!
P.S. you can definitely eat healthily here with no worry for your hips if you order correctly. Further proof is a little bit silly, but it exists...search the net for the Chipotle Diet.
... said Seneca on Sep 1, 2010 at 10:14 PM | link