Feed Me
The dish on Long Island's restaurant and food scene
Erica Marcus
Erica Marcus has covered food for Newsday since 1998. She has written features about the origins of Grandma pizza, the controversy over matzoh brei, the mystery of the soft-shell lobster and many many articles that attempt to justify the hundreds of dollars she spends every year on knives and knife-sharpening. Since 2005 she has written a weekly column, Burning Questions, in which she answers readers questions. In 2002 her article, “A Knish is Still a Knish,” was nominated for a James Beard award, and in 2003 she won the New York Newswomen’s Club Front Page award for her “Food Without The Fuss: a history of TV Dinners.” After graduation from Swarthmore College, Erica took a job at Crown Publishers, first in production and later in editorial. She rose to the rank of Senior Editor and worked on a wide range of books, including many award-winning cookbooks. She left book publishing for newspaper journalism the same year she left Manhattan for her ancestral home of Brooklyn, where she still lives. She eats most of her meals on Long Island.
Best seafood on Long Island: Top 100 restaurants, Part 10
Photo credit: Doug Young
This week exploreLI.com publishes the final entry in a 10-week series of stories picking the Top 10 restaurants on Long Island in 10 different, popular categories. They are: Asian, Italian, Cheap Eats, International, Asian-fusion, steak, New American, sushi, Mediterranean / Middle Eastern and seafood.
But we're not quite done. Next week we'll publish a list of 10 great restaurants that didn't...
Read more »Nassau County's culinary time warp
Photo credit: Bethpage State Park
Is there an invisible dome over Nassau County that shields it from current food trends? I am so very tired of being served dinners that would have seemed dated 15 years ago.
Balsamic reduction drizzled with abandon; mesclun deployed wherever a leaf is required; clunky, complicated platings; pink tomatoes; cottony, soulless bread; out-of-season strawberries flanking every dessert.
Chefs,...
Read more »Braking for clams in Smithtown
Photo credit: Newsday Erica Marcus
When I’m at the beach, I want clams on the half shell. I’ll take them when I’m on the bank of a river or by the side of a lake. Also, in the vicinity of no water at all.
Today driving along the treed splendor of Route 25A in Smithtown, I passed Nick’s Pizza and Clam Bar, a seasonal place that always seems to be closed when I’m in the neighborhood. Today I hit the brakes and settled in for...
Read more »C.J. Gourmet in Greenport celebrates New York State
Photo credit: Newsday Erica Marcus
It used to be the pride of a gourmet market was how far-flung were its wares — caviar from the Caspian, cheese from the Pyrenees. But the trend nowadays is to source locally. C.J. Gourmet doesn’t draw from quite as small a circle as Taste of the North Fork (which recently relocated from Peconic to Southold); the Greenport store, which opened in May, sells candy, coffee, beverages, condiments, granola,...
Read more »Old Westbury Diner opens
Photo credit: Newsday / Erica Marcus
It’s been months since the Seacrest Diner closed at the intersection of Glen Cove Road and Jericho Turnpike. Shortly thereafter the building was taken down almost to its studs and entirely rebuilt. Last week it opened, christened Old Westbury Diner.
The new Old Westbury is owned by the same team that runs the Williston Townhouse diner in Williston Park, and the menu is essentially the same....
Read more »Long Island restaurant reviews: This week’s picks
Photo credit: Jin Lee
In this week’s Newsday, Joan Reminick reviews Stango’s at the Orchard, the Glen Cove landmark recently relaunched by a group of investors led by former Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi. Reminick praises the “first-class red sauce” and the “straightforward Italian repertoire melding the skills of chef Gabriel Massaro with the culinary legacy of 96-year-old restaurant matriarch Stella Stango Cocchiola,...
Read more »Provisions & Ingredients come to Peconic
Photo credit: Newsday Erica Marcus
Provisions & Ingredients is the very accurate name of a new venue in Peconic. The little store stocks a mix of artisanal goods from both near (sausage from Deep Roots Farm in Orient, pickles from Brooklyn Brine, dried beans from Upstate) and far (mostly pasta, tomatoes and specialty items from Italy).
A refrigerated case displays cheeses and cured meats that can be purchased by the pound,...
Read more »Trattoria Diane, Roslyn oasis
Photo credit: Newsday Erica Marcus
There’s a feeling of calm that comes over me when I sit down to dinner at Trattoria Diane in Roslyn Village. The restaurant opened in 1993, and though the menu has changed in the ensuing decades — evolving from French to Tuscan to Roman to its current Roman-pan-Italian-New-American fusion — it remains one of the most satisfying, consistent venues on Long Island.
Here’s what hasn’t changed:...
Read more »Long Island Hospitality Ball: Restaurants converge on June 3
Photo credit: Rob Rich
The third annual 2013 Long Island Hospitality Ball will be held on Monday, June 3 at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury.
The event, which benefits the American Cancer Society, showcases food and drink from hundreds of local restaurants and wine and spirit companies, among them: Rare 650 in Syosset, Tellers and Verace in Islip, Vero and Vittorio’s in Amityville, K. Pacho in New Hyde...
Read more »New restaurants at JFK’s Terminal 4
If you’re flying out of JFK’s Terminal 4, don’t bother to eat before you leave the house. The Delta-anchored terminal, which underwent a complete renovation a few years ago, is now launching an ambitious new food program.
Among the new offerings are Shake Shack, the cult burger-custard stand (whose sole Long Island location is in Westbury); Blue Smoke, Danny Meyer’s Manhattan barbecue mecca;...
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