There are two principal reasons to recommend La Gioia. The food’s good, and it’s inexpensive.

As you know, it’s getting harder to get a meal out for $29 and under, so I was glad to find a new place that seemed to fill the bill. La Fiesta Mexican restaurant opened this summer in the Shopper’s World Plaza, the one with the Price Chopper. I dutifully checked it out on the Internet, clicked on a link, and thought I found the place.

In the old days, going out to dinner was a rare treat, as I was working full time and paying my way through grad school. A night out at a real restaurant with my friend Judith was an experience to be savored. Quintessence was a favorite because the food was tasty and affordable, even on my budget, and the bustle of the restaurant on the weekend was a welcome contrast to my usual quiet nights at home.

Got a hankering for bangers and mash, washed down with a pint of Guinness? You can find it at the Irish Times Pub & Restaurant on Phila Street. It’s a handsome new establishment that opened in June on two floors on the site formerly occupied by the Original Saratoga Springs Brew Pub.

The Grog Shoppe in the Wedgeway building at State Street and Erie Boulevard has been doing business in the same location for many years, and it remains a popular spot for lunch, dinner and late-night crowds.

This place is outrageously stylish. And the food is as lively as the decor.

Arizona Pizza, a chain restaurant that specializes in wood-fired pizza and casual food, has opened its first restaurant in this area exactly where you would expect — in a shopping center in Clifton Park. Mom and I went to visit the other day to see what was up.

Hickory Barbecue and Smokehouse, on Route 28 in the Catskills between Kingston and Woodstock, is rightly proud of its smoked meats, and you can find it all here — St. Louis-style spare ribs, barbecued chicken, turkey thighs, sausages, pulled pork and sliced brisket of beef.

The inviting aroma of freshly baked bread delights your nose as you walk into Sweet Home Catering Pizza and Bakery. Whether it’s actually bread or pizza you’re smelling doesn’t really matter, the immediate impression is that there are good things to eat in this place.

Well, he’s done it again. Angelo Mazzone has a hit with his new restaurant in the meticulously restored and gracious Glen Sanders Mansion in Scotia. Somehow his modernizing the place makes it more venerable.

They don’t make them like this any more. At the Burnt Hills Cafe, meals come with a side of friendly chatter and a warm smile. The unpretentious restaurant, more diner than cafe, is charming.

The Little League World Series was playing on the big screen TVs at TJ’s Flight Line Pub and of course we got absorbed in the game as we waited for our appetizer. Not so absorbed, mind you, that we didn’t turn away from the screen as soon as Tamara, our server, delivered a big plate of deep-fried cheese ravioli in marinara sauce.

As has been pointed out here in the past, it’s probably not a good idea to order a hot dog at McDonald’s. So why do I wish I’d ordered a cheeseburger at the Harbor House Fish Fry?

>I was eating a marvelous dinner with a group of new friends, waiting to see a play called “Old Love,” and I thought, “What a treasure is the Lake George Dinner Theatre.”

It was almost the end of dinner at the new Dale Miller restaurant when my companion Mary leaned forward across the table and whispered, “Can you find anything wrong yet? I can’t.”