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 sushi on Long Island: Top 100 restaurants, Part 8
Photo credit: Johnny Simon
This week exploreLI.com publishes the eighth in a 10-week series of stories picking the Top 10 restaurants on Long Island in 10 different, popular categories. They are: Asian, Italian, International, Asian-fusion, steak, New American, sushi, Mediterranean/Middle Eastern, seafood and a more general one, Cheap Eats.
This week: Sushi. Click here to see our picks. The favorite: Ginza in Massapequa.
To...
Read more »Artie’s in Island Park: High-frying fish
Photo credit: Newsday / Erica Marcus
Whole grilled fish, it’s the hip, cool, Mediterranean way to go. But last night I took a stroll down memory lane with a whole, deep-fried fluke at Artie’s South Shore Fish & Grill in Island Park.
It’s hard to imagine any cooking method that wouldn’t succeed with Artie’s fluke ($26): Proprietor Artie Hoerning caught them himself the day before. My dad went the heart-healthy route (possibly...
Read more »Hamptons cooking classes at Loaves & Fishes
Photo credit: Handout
If you are heading to Hamptons this summer (or if you live there) and you want to brush up on your cooking skills, check out what’s being offered by Loaves & Fishes Cooking School in Bridgehampton, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
Recreational classes are offered on select Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings, last 3 hours and cost $165. Classes are devoted to farm stand...
Read more »Greenport’s new food openings
Photo credit: Keith Luce
Keith Luce, former chef-partner at Jedediah Hawkins House in Jamesport, has launched his new venture: a multi-venue compound at Stirling Square in Greenport.
“The Square” is anchored by Main, which takes over the former North Fork Oyster Company and retains that restaurant’s oyster-centric menu. There will be about a dozen oysters every day, from both the East and West Coasts as well as Europe....
Read more »Buoy One Seafood Restaurant opens in Huntington
Photo credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
Once I knew that Buoy One was up and running in Huntington Village, it was just a matter of figuring out how soon I could stop in for a doubleheader of fried clams and steamers. I rarely drive by the fish restaurant’s first location, on Route 25 in Riverhead, without braking for a clam fix, and, as of Thursday, those clams had moved much closer to my office in Melville. Friday, I pounced.
I...
Read more »Long Island restaurant reviews: This week’s picks
Photo credit: Jeremy Bales
“Fuego Picante means spicy fire,” writes Peter Gianotti of the newest establishment from the Singh Hospitality group. “But the restaurant isn’t so hot.” The “Mexican smokehouse and cantina” is the latest resident of this seemingly cursed location. Previous short-lived Singh tenants include RUB BBQ, Long Fin, BeSi and Kansas City Smokehouse.
Joan Reminick has much better luck at Millennium...
Read more »Soprano’s star to cook in North Babylon
Photo credit: WILL HART / HBO WILL HART
Joe Gannascoli, who played Vito, the doomed gay mobster on HBO’s “The Sopranos,” will be helping Salpino III Italian Market celebrate its 13th birthday.
On Saturday from noon to 2 p.m., Gannascoli, a trained chef who recently had a gig at Il Luogo in Lynbrook, will be cooking with Boar’s Head products and giving away samples of new items such as hummus and blackened turkey.
Salpino III...
Read more »Fried Chicken Night at Snaps in Wantagh
Photo credit: Newsday Erica Marcus
Wednesday evening is Chicken Night at Snaps American Bistro in Wantagh. For $5 you get four pieces of fried chicken (breast, wing, leg, thigh). Sides are also $5, so you can put together a very economical dinner.
I wish I had enjoyed my bird more, but it tasted more sweet than chicken-y. Snaps’ chef-owner Scott Bradley told me that he added brown sugar to the seasoned flour mixture into which...
Read more »Papa Razzi Westbury replaced by Dilettos
Photo credit: handout
Papa Razzi, the sprawling restaurant at the intersection of Glen Cove Road and Jericho Turnpike, has been transformed into Dilettos.
In February, the lone Long Island branch of a Boston-based chain, Westbury’s Papa Razzi, was bought by its general manager, Michael Barbosa. The restaurant never closed, but last week, the Papa Razzi signs came down and the Dilettos signs went up.
The name,...
Read more »Italian food that's friendlier in Woodmere
Photo credit: Newsday Erica Marcus
I know full well how cautious friends are about suggesting where we should dine. So when a South Nassau resident of long and affectionate acquaintance asked me to meet her at Friendlier Trattoria & Pizzeria in Hewlett, I knew she must be pretty confident of its merits.
Friendlier first opened in 1976 as a pizzeria. In 1991 the owners added a dining room — and, thus, the right to call itself...
Read more »
