One Dozen Oysters, Please
BY MORRIS GUT – Oyster aficionados can’t seem to consume enough of them and more eateries throughout Westchester are serving these slippery delicacies than ever. Here’s where I have been indulging.
Dubrovnik, 721 Main Street, New Rochelle (914-637-3777), offers a popular Bar Menu daily featuring oysters on the half shell for $1.50 each with all the sides. This restaurant, the first to specialize in Croatian cuisine, excels in fish and seafood so you won’t go wrong here.
Kee Oyster House, 128 E. Post Road, White Plains (914-437-8535), has a daily raw bar chocked with oysters from all over the region. They are most popular during daily happy hours when they are priced at $1 per piece, some varieties in the $2 range. The blackboard lists the daily catch. And they are pristine, served with house made cocktail sauce, ground wasabi root and Champagne sauce.
Artie’s Steak & Seafood, 394 City Island Ave., City Island (718-885-9885), lists big Blue Point oysters on their daily blackboard and they are terrific served with all the accoutrements. Priced at $11 for six, $19 for a dozen. Wash it all down with one of the house specialty cocktails.
Saltaire Oyster Bar and Fish House, 55 Abendroth Ave., Port Chester (914-939-2425) has a Wine & Brine weekday Happy Hour from 4 to 6 p.m. featuring Buck A Shuck $1 oysters (chef’s choice), along with a discounted selection of wines and beers. Oyster shooters, too. Bar room only.
Bread & Brine, 119 Main Street, Hastings-On-Hudson (914-479-5243), where ‘summers in Maine’ is the theme and fresh oysters are served in abundance for $1 each on Wednesday nights; happy hours, too.
Sandwich Month at City Limits, White Plains
August is National Sandwich Month and City Limits Diner in White Plains is participating with a special sandwich of the day every Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to closing. Patrons purchasing one of these sandwiches will also get a complimentary dessert from the on-premise bakery. City Limits is located at 200 Central Ave., White Plains. Open for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch 7 days a week. Phone: 914-686-9000. www.citylimitsdiner.com.
A Great Fresh/Local Tomato Salad
One of my favorite treats this time of the year is fresh tomatoes. Once they start harvesting, I just crave them. Nick DiCostanzo, proprietor of Mamma Francesca Italian Restaurant in New Rochelle (914-636-1229), has a major green thumb. He grows his own and offers them at the peak of freshness in his delicious refreshing tomato salads right into the fall. His Ischia Salad, named after the island where he grew up off the Coast of Naples, is simple and very flavorful with its tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, olives, onions and fresh basil. Combine it with Mamma’s fresh pizza bread, a glass of wine and a seat out on his enclosed deck facing L.I. Sound and you’re in summer heaven. www.mammafrancesca.com.
Summer Happy Hours at La Bocca, White Plains
Chef/proprietor Tony Spiritoso of La Bocca Ristorante, 8 Church Street, White Plains is offering reasonably priced summer Happy Hours Monday through Friday from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Included are a selection of tasty ‘Piatti Piccoli’, small plates such as: Arancini, baby rice balls; baby Meatballs in fresh tomato sauce; Zucchini Flowers; authentic Sausage & Peppers; Grilled Mozzarella & Spec Prosciutto; Focaccia Pizza; Fried Calamari with dipping sauce; Mussels Posillipo; Pork Wings; and Beef Short Ribs wrapped in bacon. For information call: 914-948-3281. www.laboccaristorante.com.
Food-themed ‘Delicioso’ Stamps
The United States Postal Service has published a new series of culinary-themed postage stamps called: ‘Delicioso’ highlighting Latin/American influence on the foods we love. The 49 cent stamps are now on sale at your local post office and online. They are fun and colorful. I have been using them on my correspondence hoping they will bring a smile to someone. Yes, I still use the mail!
A Taste of Westchester at WCC
Beginning in September, the Westchester Community College Division of Continuing Education is taking its classes on a food crawl with visits, culinary demos and tastings at some of the county’s most popular food venues: Coffee Labs Roasters, Tarrytown; Stangioni Pizza, Ardsley; Zwilling J.A. Henckels Cooking Studio, Pleasantville; Birdsall House, Peekskill; Hilltop Hanover Farm, Yorktown Heights among others. Dubrovnik Restaurant, New Rochelle, kicks off the October schedule. Registration is necessary. For further information, dates and registration fees go to: www.sunywcc.edu/ce, or call: 914-606-6830.
Morris Gut is a restaurant marketing consultant and former restaurant trade magazine editor. He has been tracking and writing about the food and dining scene in greater Westchester for over30 years. He may be reached at: 914-235-6591. E-mail: gutreactions@optonline.net.
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