La Tavola Trattoria - Sayville

Mother's Day is the quintessential dine out day. Unless there's someone at home who can prepare a meal for the family that everyone will enjoy, reservations are the main things being made that day. On Mother's Day, Mom, who often cooks every day, gets the day off. A meal prepared by someone else, served to her in a relaxing atmosphere.

This year, we made reservations at a very nice restaurant at the edge of Sayville called la Tavola Trattoria. In another life, la Tavola Trattoria was J.D. Greenery and one or two subsequent eateries that did not last too long. Now, completely redone, it is pleasantly decorated, quiet, comfortable and offers an upscale dining experience at very reasonable prices.

Prior to eating there Mother's Day, my wife and I had lunch there on a gorgeous, sunny day. It was nice enough to eat outside. Although the outside eating area is along Main Street, you wouldn't know it. It was quiet. It's somewhat shaded, although the sun comes through to keep it from getting too chilly. The tables and chairs, though plastic, looked like wood. Not cheap, but a nice look and the seating was quite comfortable. If you get a chance to dine outside, take it. It's worth it.

La Tavola sports an a' la carte, as well as a price fixed menu for lunch and dinner. For Mother's Day, there was a three-course price-fixed meal. Appetizer, entree' and dessert were included in the price, as well as coffee and soft drink. The prices ranged from $35 to $45.

To start I had crab cakes with a lovely lentil salad. A really good start to the meal. Not enough to fill you, but enough to make you look forward to your entree'. After all, that's what an appetizer is for.

For my entree' I had red snapper puttanesca. It was a rich, flavorful dish. It came with white asparagus and young carrots, as well as couscous. Nicely done and worth the price. Other dishes at our table were the shrimp and diver scallops and roasted duck. The child at the table chose the chicken parmigianno. All our dishes were excellent. All came with the same veggie, except the chicken. Everyone enjoyed the food.

Dessert was a little disappointing. The panna cotta was not exciting. The cheese cake got a "so-so" rating, but I thought my strawberry tiramisu was quite nice. And for the young one at the table, there was a scoop of vanilla ice cream with two freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

You will not bust a gut at la Tavola. You will not get the enormous, eat it the rest of the week for lunch, portions that you might be used to. However, the portions are not dissappointing. I don't know about you, but waddling out of a restaurant is not really what I want to do. I would rather be pleasantly satisfied and leave with no leftovers and the freedom to do something after eating (we went down to the park on Foster Avenue and enjoyed the bay) rather than being forced to bring the food home.

Even if the food is good, if the service is poor, I cannot return to a restaurant. At la Tavola, the staff is friendly and attentive. Not overbearing at all. Plenty of smiles to go around. Water glasses kept full. The hostess was also very nice, warm and welcoming.

I would certainly recommend la Tavola for a date night or a meal out with the family. The food is good. Service also good. The wine list, though not huge, had a good variety of both local, American and international wines. Take the time to check this place out. It's a gem in Sayville.

Top Chef Masters Starts Tomorrow Night!

Can't wait! Top Chef Masters starts tomorrow night!

Looking forward to TV's premier cooking challenge show. It's the best, bar none.

Come back for Episode #1 recap!

Bayberry Cafe - Islip

Took a friend's advice and tried Bayberry Cafe' this weekend. It is located at 526 Main Street in Islip. It's a small place. I guess there are 15 tables, maybe 20. It almost looks like a bar that they turned into a restaurant. The atmosphere is nice. It's cozy without being cramped. There's convenient parking in the back.

We were presented with the menu that also included a full page of specials. Both menus listed dishes that interested me. The descriptions made me want to order one of everything! The entrees are in the $15-$30 dollar range. They came with a salad and a choice of potato or rice.

We started off with the crab cakes with sweet corn relish and horseradish remoulade. Very tasty. I would have liked more crab. The sweet corn relish and horseradish remoulade did not disappoint. Both delivered on flavor. Excellent accompaniments to the crab cakes.

I ordered the steak au poivre. My wife ordered the veal athena which was veal with artichoke hearts and sundried tomatoes in a white wine sauce. My steak came out perfectly cooked to a medium rare. The sauce was flavorful. It could have been seasoned more (salt), but otherwise was very, very good. The vegetables that they served were a bit more al dente than I like, but they were cooked (as opposed to raw), fresh and tasted great. I tasted the veal and it also was excellent. We both enjoyed our food.

We didn't have room for dessert, so we didn't order any.

The service was very good. Everyone was very friendly. I even saw the chef come out to greet people. Nice touch. They also say on the menu that they will accommodate your special orders. So, take an ingredient out or add one. They are willing to give you what you want. to make you happy. I like that.

We will certainly go back. There are many things on the regular menu I want to try like the Pasta a la Bayberry with chicken and shrimp tossed in a roasted garlic and herb broth and the Sole Monte Carlo that boasts two fillets. One with lump crab stuffing and the other topped with spinach and lemon dill butter.

Try Bayberry Cafe' for a cozy dinner in a comfortable friendly atmosphere.

Public House 49 in Patchogue

Stopped into Public House 49 on Main Street in Patchogue (Long Island folks will know where this is.) and I have to say, the food was very good.

It's a loud place. Very loud! Not many seats to eat in. It looks as if it were two stores that they combined into one establishment. One side is the bar/nightclub and the other side is the restaurant with tables and booths.

It was busy on Friday night. We had about 35 there for a friend's birthday celebration. However, without our group, it was still full.

By the time we wanted to eat, they had to set us up on the bar side all the way in the back. I was appreciative that they accommodated us that way. We were ready to eat and I guess we would have had to wait a bit to sit. I had perused the menu online and it looked interesting.

There were five in our party. My wife and daughter and I started with the Savory Trio. It was disappointing. The portion size and flavors didn't deliver. However, our friends ordered the Calamari with lemon garlic sauce. That was a definite winner. Perfectly seasoned. Flavorful. Just the right balance of lemon and garlic. Very good indeed.

I ordered the Lemon Rosemary Roasted Chicken with a Parmesan bread pudding and baby spinach. Now, I know, that's not daring, but I thought this was a good way to judge the food. If you can deliver chicken correctly, the other food would probably be good. At least that's what I thought. I was not disappointed. Not only was the chicken flavorful, but it was moist. I love bread pudding of all types, so I was excited about trying the Parmesan Bread Pudding. Unfortunately it had a very mild cheese flavor. I was hoping for more, but the texture was creamy and pleasant. The baby spinach was excellent also.

All in all everyone at the table agreed that Public House 49 is worth another trip. The food was very good overall. The service was also very good. Friendly, accommodating. Everything you expect from a good eatery.

The one thing I do have to say is that it is very LOUD there. And, although each section is separated by a glass wall, it does not help. Both sides are so loud it forces you to yell, making it even louder in there. And, we were in the back and it was still loud. However, the dining experience wasn't diminished by that. It was an annoyance, but we still had a good time and really enjoyed the food.

Public House 49 is worth the trip. The food and service make it a recommended spot in downtown Patchogue.

Eating @ Home

So, it's been a while. Winter is in full swing. Lots of cooking @ home. We haven't been eating out as much and we're just enjoying it!

Cooking is fun if you approach it like that. There's no right or wrong. It is all about what you like.

I watch a lot of cooking shows. Right now, I'm a Tyler Florence fan. Jacques Pepin is also a huge favorite of mine. These two guys make cooking look fun and "doable". And, their dishes always look like they taste great.

I have been a cooking show junkie for over 25 years. I spent a lot of time on the weekends watching Julia Child and the great Pierre Franey cooking on my local PBS channel. Cooking fascinated me. I always wonder why I never went into the business.

After many years watching, I seem to have gotten the hang of it. I am by no means a professional, but a good home cook. Strictly amateur. I love trying new things, as well as cooking tried and true dishes that I love. My favorite thing of all time is lasagna. It is the dish I always asked my mother to make for my birthday. Her lasagna was the best. It incorporated meatballs and sausage, as well as ricotta and mozzarella. No bechamel in her lasagna. That's not how she did it.

I am also getting into BBQing. Not grilling, but BBQing where you cook low and slow. I use a charcoal Weber 22-inch BBQ. I smoked a turkey for Thanksgiving in it and it was fabulous! Used applewood. It came out so nice. I will do that again.

Taking whatever ingredients are around and putting together a dish is something that I wish I could do better. I often look in my pantry and on my spice shelf and wonder what Alton Brown or Emeril would do with what I have in there.

Adventurous would be a label for me. If I could cook bison, ostrich or armadillo every day, I would. I like the mixture of fruit with meat. I enjoy how simply some parsley or a squeeze of lemon perks up a dish.

It's fun. And when I "hit one out of the ballpark", it is so satisfying. To hear my family enjoying and complimenting what I cooked makes it all worth it.

And, bringing the family together around the table for a good meal leads to good conversation and brings us all closer together. It's something I hope never ends.

Next up, I want to talk about cookbooks. If you have a favorite "go to" cookbook, let me know.

TOP CHEF FINALE RECAP - It's MICHAEL V!

Well, Top Chef ends the way many of us thought it would. Though some pulled for Bryan, or Kevin or (be still my beating heart) Jen, Michael V, the one chef that was the most "out there" when it came to creativity took the title of Top Chef.

I have to say, that although Michael was somewhat snobby to the others, his culinary passion, application of technique and instinct for the right flavor profiles and textures, was unmatched by anyone. I think his brother Bryan and also Kevin had the chops, knowledge, technique and passion to be Top Chef, Michael was just a level above them. And the fact that he, Michael, approached each dish with "abandon", not wreckless, but sort of a controlled crash kind of approach, he was able to push the envelope each time and mostly successfully.

Even though they didn't take the title, you have to believe that Bryan and Kevin will be wildly successful. This kind of exposure is invaluable. I wouldn't be surprised to see Bryan in the Bocuse D'Or competition representing America. And both he and Kevin will, no doubt, enjoy success in each of their establishments. They are both on my "places I want to eat at" list.

There were more good chefs in this competition than in any prior season, especially in the last group of five. I really enjoyed it and didn't have any chefs I was pulling against. A pretty likable group.

Now, we wait for the "reunion" to dish all the dirt and get one last look at the cheftestants.

I'm looking forward to next season. Padma will be a mommy. All the best to her. And, we'll see if Top Chef can top itself.

Top Chef Recap - And Then There Were Three!

This week Jen, Michael, Bryan and Kevin returned to the competition to decide which three would continue on to the final. Napa was the venue.

Of course, when you are in Napa, you must include "Mr. NapaStyle", Michael Chiarello. Chef Chiarello, also a Top Chef Master, was the guest judge.

The QuickFire Challenge was to make a dish that incorporated and celebrated the Napa wine grape. The cheftestants had several varieties to choose from, including concord grapes. The prize, a brand new Toyota Prius. The catch, the chefs had to cook on a moving train, The Napa Wine Train. It took each chef just a few moments to get back into the competitive groove. Michael took the challenge and the Prius.

The Elimination Challenge was they had to cater a party for 150 people at one of the Napa Valley vineyards and each had to make two dishes which had to include a vegetarian dish.

Everyone made some mistake in the elimination challenge. Bryan definitely was the best. The only thing they said about his two dishes was that they needed a little more seasoning (salt and pepper).

Kevin made brisket as one dish and he didn't have enough time to braise it and it was "toothsome" as he called it. It wasn't tender and needed a little more time.

Jen's dishes were good. She wanted to grill duck, but the wood grill went out so she couldn't do that and wound up doing duck confit. It was good, but I think they held against her that she let the grill go out and couldn't do the dish she originally planned on.

Michael served a dish with an egg in it and the egg was undercooked. Yucky. I thought that was going to send him home especially since pregnant Padma got the most "raw" egg.

Jen went home. I don't understand why, but they sent her home, so it's the three amigos.

I think it's going to be Kevin or Bryan.