Click to tour the LIE exit-by-exit

For those who live here, Long Island's most salient feature is not its windswept beaches nor its pine barrens nor even its shopping malls. It's the Long Island Expressway, the route that runs most of its length and is the all-important boundary between what's North Shore and what's South Shore.

It is omnipresent, the butt of a thousand jokes and - what with the traffic and the construction - a regular source of driving frustration. Yet most people know very little of what lies beyond the exit ramps other than their own.

Which is a big problem when they're hungry.

And so, in preparation for the summer driving season, here is a compendium of where to eat within about a mile north and south off every exit of 495 in Nassau and Suffolk counties. (If it took driving an extra quarter of a mile to uncover a clutch of eateries, so be it. Where driving a mile and a half still revealed nothing, so noted.)

Exits 37 (Mineola/Willis avenues) and 55 (Motor Parkway) have been accorded "Blue Ribbon" status because they boast a wealth and variety of good places to eat.

Please bear in mind that restaurants open and close with alarming speed. And while some of these eateries are specifically recommended, a venue's mere inclusion is not an implicit endorsement - only an assurance that it serves food.

Happy motoring, and bon appetit.

EXIT 33

Northbound Lakeville Road Seven Seas Diner, 607 Northern Blvd., Great Neck; 516-482- 0980. A Great Neck institution, this expansive diner has an equally expansive menu.

Burton & Doyle, 661 Northern Blvd., Great Neck; 516-487- 9200. This plush steak house offers a traditional carnivore's menu, plus sushi, sashimi and a good assortment of fish entrees.

Morton's, The Steakhouse, 777 Northern Blvd., Great Neck; 516-498-2950. The Great Neck outpost of the well-regarded Chicago-based national steak-house chain.

Northbound Community Drive

Antonino's, 997 Northern Blvd., Great Neck; 516-627- 0660. Order a pizza to go, or have a proper sit-down dinner at this pleasant pizzeria-restaurant.

Pearl East, 1191 Northern Blvd., Manhasset; 516-365-9898. One of the North Shore's most dependable and attractive Chinese restaurants, Pearl East does well with both the Chinese-American classics - such as General Tso's chicken, moo shu pork and chow mein - and more authentic fare such as sesame noodles, sauteed Chinese broccoli and spicy "Ma Pao" tofu with minced pork. A selection of dim sum is available at all times, and the Peking duck (with either pancakes or Chinese blini) is recommended. There's even a sushi bar.

Southbound Lakeville Road

Pisces I, 271-02 Union Tpke., New Hyde Park; 718-347-8052. A full-service restaurant specializing in Greek-accented seafood dishes.

Subway, 271-06 Union Tpke., New Hyde Park; 516-326-3384.

Mr. Lo, 271-11 Union Tpke., New Hyde Park, 718-343-9888. This Chinese restaurant shares quarters with Fresco Tortillas. Eat in or take out.

Fresco Tortillas, 271-11 Union Tpke., New Hyde Park, 718- 343-8222. Fresco Tortillas, a Tex-Mex taco-and-burrito purveyor, shares quarters with Mr. Lo.

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