Top 100 'Eat Here Now' restaurants: 10 runners-up
Apricot-glazed short ribs with chorizo and fingerling potatoes is ready to eat at Swallow in Huntington. Credit: Jesse Newman
After 10 weeks reporting the best 100 restaurants in 10 categories, we come to the finale of the 2014 "Eat Here Now" series: the runners-up.
These all are highly recommended restaurants. Several could have been included in other features in the series. But most just didn't fit into the classifications chosen for 2014. They do have their own tasty niches and are worthy of a visit. The restaurants were selected by Newsday's food critics, Peter M. Gianotti and Joan Reminick, and food reporter Erica Marcus.
100 South St., Greenport, 631-333-2200
Every neighborhood needs a First and South, where the food is good, the beers flow, and the mood makes you want to come back. City and country style meet in a big old house. Try the chowder with smoked cod and clams, applewood-smoked bacon and potatoes. Go nouveau with the raw striped bass accented with dried watermelon and herbs. Be traditional and pick the juicy burger. The whole, fried porgy is recommended, cucumber-and-onion salad on the side. Fine fries merit a dip in mayo, either sriracha or black garlic variety. $-$$$
241 Mineola Blvd., Mineola, 516-742-9797
Soulful cooking in ample portions marks Heart of Portugal, a local landmark for the full-flavored cuisine. Service is very good; the look, very traditional; the tab, very fair. Start with shredded kale-and-potato soup, enriched with sausage; or the chourico sausage flambéed tableside. Mandatory are the union of pork and clams; shrimp in garlic sauce; whipped cod and potato croquettes; paella, either with seafood or with chicken and pork; sole with almonds; and either grilled or pan-roasted cod. Finish with flan. $$-$$$
207 Main St., East Hampton, 631-324-5006
New American fare with Swedish accents is the attraction at The Living Room, the elegant restaurant in the c/o The Maidstone hotel. This used to be The Maidstone Arms, now brighter, lighter, and full of excellent cooking. Choices include grilled and chilled lobster salad, grilled Arctic char, strip steak, roast lamb shoulder, braised short rib with creamy polenta, a Swedish meatball sandwich, tart Skagen with shrimp, and cold salmon with new potatoes and pickled cucumbers. $$$
236 W. Jericho Tpke., (Muttontown Plaza), Syosset, 516-682-9200
3261 Merrick Rd., Wantagh, 516-785-5300
There are enough big flavors at Mara's to fill two restaurants. The Syosset spot is bigger; the Wantagh one has a more limited menu. Have a lobster roll at either one. Enjoy the fried chicken, chicken-fried steak, po-boy sandwiches, shrimp and grits, spicy jambalaya, crawfish étouffée, the crawfish boil, chargrilled oysters, ribs, and the Arkansas smoke barbecue. Burgers and hot dogs, too. And be sure to order the terrific chocolate cream pie. $$
18 Woodbine Ave., Northport, 631-757-4500
Defying categorization, Maroni Cuisine has its own, very precise and wildly eclectic niche. You're here for a tasting menu that takes in about 25 courses and costs about $100. In a room decorated with rock and roll memorabilia set against the requisite soundtrack, chef Michael Maroni delivers a performance. The restaurant tightly seats about 30 diners. Maroni received national attention by besting Bobby Flay in a meatball "throwdown." But his ever-changing menu is the showstopper, from European to Asian, Latin to New American, all Maronian. $$$$
418 N. Country Rd., St James, 631-584-2058
Each day, chef-owners Tate Morris and Jonathan Contes offer a different, five-course menu for $64. The restaurant's motto: "change is good." You may veer from Bloody Mary gazpacho to smoked beef with a fontina-potato tart, paella salad to caramelized sea scallops with bourbon-glazed pumpkin, two-day roast pork shoulder to a dark chocolate brownie with a pine nut brittle. Your decisions are minimal. The pleasures are many. $$$-$$$$
1132 Hempstead Tpke., Franklin Square, 516-354-3131
German restaurant and beer hall, Plattduetsche Park is very good at both. It's a clubby, friendly establishment and has time-capsule appeal. The essentials include a big pretzel from Munich with sweet and hot mustards, potato soup with bacon, smoked trout with creamed horseradish, the generous roasted pork shank with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut, sauerbraten with potato dumplings and red cabbage, and the Bavarian platter starring bratwurst, loin of pork, and smoked pork loin. $$-$$$
5600 Merrick Rd., Massapequa, 516-620-0057
Small plates and big flavors are the rule at this rustic wine bar and tapas restaurant. The menu changes all the time, but there's always an assortment of fine cheeses and cured meats from Italy, Spain, France and elsewhere, to be paired with a wine or craft beer from the well-conceived list. Small plates might include lamb meatballs, grilled octopus and an interestingly filled empanada. $$
15 Main St., Southampton, 631-283-6443
Although lunch and lunch alone is served at this Southampton institution, the elegant spot is far from a luncheonette -- despite the presence of a marble-topped counter. Here, chef-owner Garrett Wellins offers a small repertoire of high quality -- at high prices. Consider the excellent, if unconventional lobster roll on a warm, crusty baguette, at $44. Or the world-class BLT, at $21. There's excellent borscht, and crabcakes that may make you forget all others. Finish with a classic Parisian lemon tart or rich chocolate pot de crème. $$$-$$$$
366 New York Ave., Huntington, 631-547-5388
This has been an expansion year for Swallow, which doubled its size and its ambition. The stylish restaurant offers exceptional, eclectic small plates. Notable: butternut squash cappuccino; roasted cauliflower; hamachi crudo with watermelon gazpacho; pan-roasted monkfish with caramelized fennel; grilled octopus with grapefruit, pancetta and salsa verde; a Vietnamese BBQ pork bun with pickled carrots; golden tilefish tacos; a lobster roll; burrata with heirloom tomatoes, more. They're busy here. Swallow East is a seasonal offspring in Montauk. $$-$$$
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