Thursday, March 7, 2013  You Think You Are Better Than Me?
(Table Hopping Post Got Me Thinking About All Good Bakers and
The Cheese Traveler)  So a while ago ol' Steve Barnes at the
Times Union Table Hopping blog put up a post entitled "Quality
Restaurants where you don't fit in." This opened a flood gate of
comments as locals -- seemingly delighted with the opportunity
-- let fourth a stream of vitriol. Two establishments that
caught a bit of (to me, unexpected) flack were All Good Bakers
and The Cheese Traveller (adjacent each other, Delaware Ave,
Albany). As over-positive as I usually am about our great
Upstate NY homeland (and the Capital Region in particular), this
whole kerfluffle gave me cause to examine a sort of unsavory
aspect of the local culture.   Many of the comments concerning
The Cheese Traveller were geared towards the staff being rude,
condescending, or otherwise making people feel unwelcome in the
shop. Before going further I should state that I have only had
two direct experiences with the