Stella Pasta Bar has gone to the big city. Well, compared with its old location at the Fo’Castle Farms Country Store in Burnt Hills, the Schenectady Stockade district is indeed a livelier place. Its new home is that Union Street institution, the former Van Dyck restaurant and lounge, equipped with a long, handsome bar and comfortable double-height main dining room paneled in dark wood.

The focal point may be its fireplace, but it’s got competition from the glass skylight way up above and the second-story railing that’s decorated now with white lights. The Van Dyck opened in 1947 as a jazz venue. It’s a classy joint.