All Over Albany

A look around the new Vintage House in Albany

The new Vintage House tapas bar/gastropub on Broadway next to Wolff's in Albany's Warehouse District had its grand opening this past weekend. The project -- in the works for more than two years -- is a remarkable transformation of what had been had been a rough, old warehouse and garage space.

Here's a little bit about what's up, and a photo tour....

Photo tour

It's at the top in large format -- click or scroll all the way up.

A few bits

+ Vintage House is backed by Mike Graney, the owner of Stout (across the street) and Graney's (on New Scotland Ave in the Helderberg neighborhood), along with Scott Lawson and Rich Szesnat.

+ Operations are being headed up by the husband and wife team of Sean Comiskey and Corey Comiskey -- Sean's the executive chef and Corey's the general manager. They were both part of the launch of the Druthers, and have experience at other local spots.

+ Said Corey Comiskey of the goal for Vintage House: "We want to offer approachable food and wine at an affordable price." Here's the menu.

+ The restaurant space -- which includes a sort of indoor courtyard in the front -- is beautiful. And it really is a remarkable transformation of the space. That video embedded above is a 2015 real estate listing clip that shows what the warehouse/garage space looked like then. Comiskey said it took 2.5 weeks to pressure wash the roof of the space, revealing the wood beneath decades of gunk. She said converting the space and fitting it out has been the part of opening the restaurant that's been the most fun.

+ The transformation also marks another step in the ongoing evolution of the Warehouse District neighborhood from light industrial to a place with more residential, retail, and entertainment. The path of that evolution has been smoothed by changes the city made in the zoning for the neighborhood, which eliminated the need for variances for these sorts of new uses.

Starting this Wednesday, Vintage House will be open 11:30 am-midnight (kitchen closes at 10 pm) Sunday through Thursday, and Friday and Saturday from 11:30 am-1 am (kitchen close at 11 pm).

Earlier

+ A little bit about this project when it got approval from the planning board in February 2016.