Long Island Restaurants

Sweet Mama's

Sweet Mama's (NEWSDAY PHOTO/KEN SPENCER)

Even on a cloudy day, Sweet Mama's seems washed in sunshine. Quartered in a historic old house, this breakfast and lunch eatery has been decorated to state-of-the-art cheeriness. Walls are covered with yellow- and-white striped paper; wood floors are painted slate blue. Seating is in three dining rooms, one with a counter and stools. Everything virtually gleams.

The owners, Dean Philippis and Thomas Abraham, are the people behind Piccolo in Huntington and Mill Pond House in Centerport, two highly regarded dining spots. Their new venture has been crowded from the outset.

One morning, I enjoyed the rich, creamy, slightly sweet oatmeal dusted with cinnamon sugar. Another day, I was less impressed with the French toast, which was dry when sampled in both thick and thin varieties. Pancakes were thick and doughy. I saw promise in the mango coconut crepes, a blackboard special, but they came to the table lukewarm. Much better was a Belgian waffle, its batter infused with malt flavor. What really excited me was a special of biscuits with gravy. The biscuits, sliced in half and warmed on the griddle, were light and flaky, accompanied by a lush sausage cream gravy. A more virtuous choice was a very good egg white omelet called Phil's South Beach, made with onions, mushrooms, ham, Cheddar and tomato. True, the golden and oniony hash browns sharing the plate would be considered off-limits on the South Beach diet, but when my husband asked to substitute lettuce and tomato for those spuds, he was told he would also have to forgo his whole wheat toast. Rules are rules.

The kitchen showed itself to be in top form at lunch. Soup standouts included a creamy tomato spinach, a hearty beef barley and a thick, peasanty black bean and sausage brew. I was pleased with the traditional Cobb salad, greens topped with cubed grilled chicken, avocado, hard-cooked egg, tomato and crumbled blue cheese. A sliced sirloin Gorgonzola salad featured rosy slices of tender steak atop greens with crumbled cheese in a sweet (but not too sweet) bourbon vinaigrette.

The highlighted menu item called "Chef Matt's favorite sandwich" was a warm and sumptuous combo of deli turkey, sauteed fresh spinach, melted Muenster cheese and ranch dressing grilled on marble rye. It came with the first-rate house potato salad, peppery and not too mayonnaise-y. A winning sandwich special of freshly roasted turkey with cranberry sauce, stuffing and mayonnaise amounted to Thanksgiving on bakery rye. Half of the enormous "Johnny A" hero -- roast beef, melted mozzarella and grilled onions on toasted garlic bread -- was sufficient to handsomely feed more than one. As someone who almost always denudes my hamburger of its bun, I appreciated the "good burger" -- a generous char-grilled 5-ounce burger topped with melted Cheddar and plated over grilled Portobello mushroom with avocado over field greens.

For dessert, I tried the chocolate mousse cake, cream-cheese-iced carrot cake and chocolate peanut butter cheesecake (none house-made) and found them all passable but, after such hearty fare, superfluous.

There is usually a long wait for a table and, often, for food. On one occasion, when I tried to play mix and match with an order -- something our obliging waitress had no problem with -- a manager came by to give me a hard time. Once those in command learn to be more flexible and the kitchen gains efficiency, this otherwise charming restaurant should live up to its name.

Reviewed by Joan Reminick, 2/3/06.

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