Hot posts from our daily blog
Shack APPEAL
A beachy surf-shack motif and an inexpensive burger-centric menu draw a family crowd to KB's Burger Shack in Patchogue, a new restaurant in a century-old, bi-level house. Its previous occupant was Mickey Felice's.
On a recent evening, dinner began with house-fried potato chips, a weakness of mine. Something else I can never resist: a pig (hot dog) in a blanket. This one ($5.95) was rolled in puff pastry, served with mustard and sauerkraut. It was wicked good stuff, as was the mac and cheese, kicked up with ham, peas and a crown of fried onions.
I also was impressed with the thick, juicy, beefy Santa Fe burger ($10.95), served on an English muffin and topped with avocados and caramelized onions in a balsamic garlic chipotle reduction. Too bad the fries served on the side were the previously frozen sort.
KB's Burger Shack is at 411 W. Main St., Patchogue, 631-627-6677
-- Joan Reminick
A TASTE OF HAVANA
A promising new restaurant has opened its doors on Manorhaven Boulevard in Port Washington, formerly home to Livorno and, before that, Nick and Pedro's. Ay Que Rico! ("Oh How Rich / Good / Delicious!") bills itself as both Cuban and Latin.
The well-priced menu (the most expensive entree is $16.95) also updates these traditions with dishes such as watermelon-mint soup and a vegetarian portobello sandwich. Chef Eduardo Bover is a veteran of, among others, Café Fuego in Manhattan and Mojito in Brooklyn.
Owner Chris Brower, who has lived in Port Washington her whole life, said she has three goals for her new venture: "One, we wanted to do something different for Port Washington. Two, it was important to make it affordable for families and, three, we wanted a casual, relaxed, Caribbean atmosphere where there could also be music and dancing."
AQR has a particularly lovely garden, the walls of which are painted to evoke Old Havana. (I've never been to Havana, Old or New, but for me the garden successfully evoked the scene in "Guys and Dolls" in which Marlon Brando lures Jean Simmons to Havana and then gets her drunk on Bacardi rum.) Ay Que Rico! is at 95-97 Manorhaven Blvd., Port Washington, 516-944-2730.
-- ERICA MARCUS
Bedell's dedicated staff
Bedell Cellars in Cutchogue has uncorked a new tasting style. You now can get table service at the winery's outdoor pavilion.
You'll have a "dedicated server" to bring the wines and cheese plates. The plates are prepared by the Village Cheese Shop in Mattituck. On Saturdays, local oysters from North Fork Oysters in Jamesport will be available.
The tastings are $18 and include two wines. The cheese platter is $18, too. A local cheese platter, with Catapano Dairy Farm goat cheese from Peconic and Mecox Bay Dairy cow's milk cheese from Bridgehampton, is $16. The Peconic Bay oysters go for $8 a half dozen; $15 for a dozen.
Bedell Cellars is at 36225 Main Rd., Cutchogue; 631-734-7537.
-- Peter Gianotti
