One Caroline Bistro

One Caroline Bistro Restaurant Review:

For about 15 years, this funky, stone-walled-cellar establishment has been a year-round mainstay in the seasonally-mad horse racing city of Saratoga Springs. Owners David and Diane Pedinotti insist on several things---pleasant and efficient service, imaginative food locally sourced as much as possible, and music, music, music. Live entertainment is highlighted nightly, and it’s not unusual for David to doff his toque and head to the dining room with his guitar---often to be joined by daughter Sarah, who headlines here every Friday fronting her group Railbird. But this is not a place that relies on entertainment to mask mediocre food. There’s a definite Louisiana bent to the menu (the Pedinottis also own the Mouzon House, another Saratoga spot specializing in Creole/Cajun fare): crab Louise, gumbo, West African chicken and merguez-style sausage skewers, jambalaya, sticky chicken and dirty rice, grillades of thin beef with a mushroom Marsala sauce over creamy grits, crawfish etouffée, organic pastas---this is good eatin’.