What did everyone think of the episode last night? I think my favorite part was the gang eating crabs in the shadow of Indian Point. Though the Shining spoof at Mohonk was good, too. And Mike Pardus’ precocious little girl — wow!

But what I learned — and where I can’t believe I’d never heard of before — was the sausage guy. This, from reader Joan Jennings:

I caught the HV segment on the Travel Channel last night and was surprised and pleased to see that a featured stop was the Quaker City deli in black dirt onion country. My mother came from that part of the woods (our family burial plot is in the cemetery adjacent to St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church in Pine Island). Andy and I would also stop in Quaker City when going back and forth to visit my folks when they were still alive; they relocated back to Sussex from Yonkers after my dad retired. My favorite there is a long narrow spicy smoked sausage akin to (but a thousand times better than) beef jerky.

OK, who knows what the name of that bar was? That looks pretty fun, too!

Hi, everyone, it’s Katherine Curry, guest blogger.  I was in Pleasantville the other night seeing a movie at the Jacob Burns. Afterwards, my friend and I walked over to Phil McGrath’s wonderful train-station restaurant, the Iron Horse Grill.  The restaurant was quiet—it was after 9 p.m. on a Tuesday night—but the bar was still quite busy.  We grabbed the last two available seats and ordered glasses of Pinot Noir.

We weren’t really planning on eating, but the idea of sharing the Iron Horse’s small plates special was too good to pass up.   For $29, you can choose any three appetizers or desserts off the menu, and you can combine them however you want.

We started with the Iron Horse chopped salad, which has blue cheese dressing and toasted pine nuts.  The pine nuts are the perfect foil for the creaminess of the dressing.

Our next selection was the lobster knuckle sliders.

From a press release:

This Valentine’s Day, come and toast your perfect pair at Don Coqui’s Valentine’s Wine Pairing Dinner.  On February 13th  and 14th , the restaurant is offering two Valentine’s wine dinners, held in Don Coqui’s first floor space, which will feature a delectable four course meal impeccably paired with complementing wines.

You and your loved one will discover how particular varietals pair well with certain dishes and bring out flavors not detected when eating the dish alone.  Instructors will be available to provide information about each wine selection and its region as well as answer questions about the wine pairing.  Patrons can look forward to trying the Braised Short Ribs with Brunoise Vegetables, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Parsley Butter with the complementing 337 Cabernet Sauvignon, or the Sea Bass with Sautéed Bitter Greens, Roasted Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Beurre Blanc paired with a Buena Vista Chardonnay, and much more.  I can provide additional menu and pairing information upon request.

The Wine Pairing Dinner is the perfect choice for a romantic evening complete with delicious food and drink.  It provides a unique dining experience coupled with an educational element that will not soon be forgotten.

The dinners begin at 7 pm on both nights and cost $95 per person plus tax and gratuity.  Seats are limited and you can sign up online by visiting www.doncoqui.com   and clicking on Cooking Classes or by calling 914.637.3737.

The main dining room at Don Coqui will accept walk-ins only on Valentine’s Day.  The regular menu will be served and will feature some specials for the holiday.

That’s the name of a cool event happening this spring. Here’s the deal, from the invitation:

Welcome to the first annual “Great Chefs of Westchester Cook for Westchester Community College.”  Great Chefs is a series of cooking demonstrations followed by dinner.  The demonstrations will take place at WCC’s main campus in Valhalla.  Each event will tempt your palate and satisfy your culinary cravings.  Host Chef Philip McGrath, chef and owner of Iron Horse Grill, has assembled a stellar cast.  The evening begins with a demonstration of the how-to’s of each three course meal. Afterward, enjoy the chef’s succulent creations paired with an accompanying wine.  Each guest will leave with recipes for dinner and wine pairing information.  Sign up for one or two classes or the entire series.  All of this decadence is in support of scholarships and programs for WCC Students.
Classes are limited, make your selections early. Confirmations, directions and parking permits will be mailed prior to each class.

The schedule, with the list of chefs, after the jump.

Tim Krompier and Tim Gage will perform “Make Me Laugh” at 10:30 p.m. Friday.

Click here to see the PDF for the show.

Don’t forget, tonight at 10 p.m. on the Travel Channel, Tony heads up river for “No Reservations.” Here, he dines with Bill Murray at X20 in Yonkers:

I’m sure there will be other zany adventures, too. Plus, here’s Tony’s funny story about how after the taping, Bill Murray was driving kinda crazy on the PIP. (They must have headed somewhere else after Yonkers, huh?) (Thanks to Grub Street for the link to that.)

I missed seeing this before I posted this week’s Local Links, but it’s good enough that it deserves its own post anyway. In a spoof on Avec Eric, the public television show hosted by Le Bernardin chef Eric Ripert, Alan Richman, the food and wine critic for GQ,  takes Ripert shopping at CostCo in Port Chester. They go back to Alan’s house in Mamaroneck and make a meal of many different cheeses.

Julia Sexton over at Westchester magazine is none too happy about it, either. She thinks the video gave the ‘burbs a bad rap — “Chef, let me show you the real food shopping in Westchester…avec Julia,” she says — and suggests Alan start looking for good food in Westchester at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. I’ve shared a table with him there, and he would be have been much happier if he had his own salt shaker, so I’m not sure that’s the best suggestion. She’s looking for others, though, so let her know what you think: clicky for Julia’s post.

Me? I think it’s funny. I mean, who among us has not gone to a big box store before a party? It’s what you do with the food when you get home that counts.

If there’s another Avec Alan video, I’m in. Stop & Shop? A&P?

Good morning and happy Monday! Everyone enjoy the game last night? I spent it at Restaurant X in Congers (with tons of food!), but more on that in a minute…

On Friday night, I met some friends at Cafe Barcel in Nyack.

And just before the big NYT review, too. We shared a bunch of dishes — I really like the new garganelli with mushrooms — and I got a burger for my entree. Those grilled onions and roasted peppers are such great toppings.

On Saturday morning, I went to the indoor farmers market in Palisades.

I’m so excited about the stuff for sale there. Great local cheeses like Sprout Creek and Hudson Valley Sheepherding, milk and butter from Ronnybrook, Balthazar breads, and the best fish from Pura Vida.

I’ll be posting more photos from the market later.

Afterwards, I went to see Up in the Air at the Palisades Center. I couldn’t resist posing in this marketing gimmick:

On the way home, we stopped at Steve’s Prime Meats in Congers to pick up some ground lamb for the ragu I was making for dinner:

I cooked a couple of things from Urban Italian, Andrew Carmellini’s cookbook, which came out last year. I searched high and low for sheep’s milk ricotta to make this antipasti recipe he has in there (it involves whipping the ricotta with milk and adding herbs and olive oil), but I couldn’t find it anywhere. (Don’t even get me started on Old World Market… that was a disaster.)

So I used the fresh cow’s milk ricotta that Steve sold me:

Pretty darn good. Doesn’t it look fab?

I went to the bottom shelves on the wine cellar to find a nice wine to go with the pasta.

Unfortunately, this 1993 Barolo Villadoria Riserva was past its prime. Check out the brown wine on the left, that’s the 93. No good. The wine in the center is a $12 chianti I was cooking with, and the one on the right is the other Barolo I decided to open, also a Villadoria, but from 2000.

Tossing the lamb ragu with rigatoni:

The sauce was so good. It has red wine, tomato, cumin, coriander, thyme and rosemary, and it cooked for hours.

A nice dollop of the ricotta on top doesn’t hurt, either!

For dessert, I made an orange cornmeal cake from the new Everyday Food cookbook. (It’s not yet released, but I got an advance review copy.) I used a medium grind cornmeal, and I think that was too thick. The cake was full of little crunchies. Besides the teture, it tasted great. Also I didn’t have an 8-inch round cake pan, so I used a 9-inch…. it didn’t rise as much as it could have, I bet.

Last night I headed to Restaurant X to watch the Super Bowl. Chef Peter X. Kelly had a deal that for $100 you got a billion passed hors d’oeuvres, snacks on the table, antipasti during the first half and huge platters of meat, vegetables and potatoes during the half. Dessert came during fourth quarter. It was open bar, too.

Passing hot dogs before the game:

Snacks on the table, including a proscuitto and gruyere panino that was out of sight:

The big screen TVs all over the dining rooms:

Chef James Kelly carves a massive piece of meat:

Cute footballs for dessert:

And with that, here’s what people have been talking about this weekend:

Alice really likes Cafe Barcel in Nyack. (NYT) (So do I! Again!) (So do the Chowhounds!)
Hudson Valley Wine Goddess has a lot for auction to benefit Haiti. (HVWG)
Doug is able to order just a salad at Melt. (HT)
And Doug does the dessert tasting at the Ritz Carlton in White Plains. (HT)
Chowhounder is looking for a bar for 28-42 year olds that’s not loud or cheesy. (CH)
Pat Hammond finds Meyer lemons for 6 for $1 at Viva Ranch. (CH)
Where to get breakfast in Westchester? (CH)
A discussion of Augie’s Prime Cut in Mohegan Lake. (CH)

Buy the CD, help the charity. All the info, from a press release, after the jump.

Lobster, oysters, rack of lamb and more. All the details from a press release, after the jump.

Forgive me if this looks strange… It’s the first time I’m posting from my iPhone.

I just finished shopping at the palisades indoor farmers market… And it’s open til 1 pm, so you still have time to get there.

Highlights: pura vida fish, Balthazar bread, local cheese, ronnybrook milk, dr pickle, jam man, Bombay chutney, dines farm, concklin orchards & a vegetable farmer, too.

Plus, a sighting: Aidan Quinn. Go! (& not just for Aidan Quinn!)

On Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 7, 2010), each of the Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana will donate 15 percent of net sales from that day to the American Red Cross for Haiti Relief and Development.

1955 Central Ave., Yonkers. 914-961-8284. pepespizzeria.com

It’s on Monday at 6:30. All the info, from a press release, after the jump.

From Nyack News & Views, a brief article by Marianne Olive, who announces she will be opening a German restaurant called Sour Kraut at 118 Main Street. That’s the address for Olive’s, but I’m not sure if it’s the same space… it might be next door.

Marianne says organic herbs and vegetables will come from her garden, and honey will come from her bees. Dishes will include Jaegerschnitzel, Pepperschnitzel, Zigeunerschnitzel, Weinerschnitzel, Rahmschnitzel, Weinerwurst, Bratwurst, Currywurst, Chicken-brat, Leiberkaes, Doener Kabob, German burger, German hot dog, German meatball, Spaetzle, Potato pancakes, German potato salad, German home fries, Belgium  fries, Red Cabbage, Sour Kraut.

Here’s the linky link.

Thanks to Jill Black for the tip!

I’m hearing from the Fairway brass that opening date will be more like April 14 or 15 — but even that is not set in stone. Stay tuned for a real opening date.

Also, I just got a tip that Hacienda del Sol in Mount Kisco has closed.

From the email blast:

Mark your calendar . . .

Trevi Ristorante will be hosting COCKTAILS AT TREVI on Saturday, February 6th.

Help us celebrate the birthday’s of Trevi’s owners Joe Engongoro and Joe Carvelli, at the next Cocktails at Trevi!

Appetizers will be served at the bar as always! All friends are welcome.

Please stop by for a drink, a bite and some good company.

Hope to see you there!!

Date: Saturday, February 6th

Time: 9:30pm

The 411 on Trevi.

I took my visit to Candlelight Inn last week and turned it into a story and a little video for the Super Bowl. As I mentioned in the other post, owner John “J” Tracy plans of serving 70,000 to 80,000 wings on Sunday alone, and he’s opening an entire building next door dedicated to take-out.

Previously:
Best of Small Bites: Chicken Wings.
Best of Hudson Valley MetroMix Chicken Wings.
Where to Watch the Game — And Eat Great Wings, Too
And Speaking of Wings …
Candlelight Inn to Expand; Adding Entire Building Just for Takeout.
Heading to the Candlelight Inn in Scarsdale…

Here’s a link to the story, but, because those links expire, after the jump, the print story on Candlelight.

Here are a few other popular places to watch the game (and eat wings) in the area. To search more restaurants by name, cuisine, town or amenity, visit LoHud.com/food. If your favorite restaurant is not in our online listings, please e-mail me, and I will see that it is added. Rockland, Westchester and Putnam, after the jump.

I’ve received your emails and comments asking about Hudson Valley Restaurant Week. I’m so excited by your enthusiastic response, and can’t wait to get your posts up here on Small Bites!

Instead of sending each of you a separate e-mail, I want to post a few ground rules here to make sure everyone is still interested. I’ll be in touch within the next few days. Meantime, if you’re cool with all this, email me the list of restaurants you’d be interested in covering!

HVRW Ground Rules for Guest Blogging

For a HVRW blog post, you’ll write about your experience at an HVRW restaurant. You’ll take photos of your dinner and the restaurant, describe what you ate and discuss the service, drinks and anything else that comes up during the dinner, such a great number of choices on the menu, a huge crowd at the bar, a great view, etc. etc.

You will not use your status as a guest blogger to ask for any favors and you should not expect any special treatment because you are a guest blogger. Please don’t announce you are a guest blogger. If someone asks, sure, go ahead and answer. But the last thing I want is people arriving at their reservation and announcing to the host: “I’m Jane Doe and I’ll be guest blogging for Small Bites tonight.”

We won’t reimburse for your meals. Sorry. This is a community effort, not a paid position.

You must be somewhat familiar with blogging software or have some kind of experience uploading photos and writing online. I’m sorry, but I won’t have time to do everyone’s posts for them! I’ll give guest bloggers user names and passwords, and you’ll write your posts directly into the Small Bites software. I will edit your posts and then publish them.

Please treat our participating restaurants fairly. Of course if they make a bad dish, you can say so. But it is not my policy here at Small Bites to trash people for the sake of trashing them. You can fairly assume that if I don’t write about someone it’s for one of two reasons: I haven’t had a chance to get there — or I went there and it sucked.

I expect that if you are guest blogging for me, you’ll consider that the restaurants we’re writing about have gone to a great deal of effort to put out an inexpensive menu for guests at a great deal of cost to themselves. Sure, it helps them in their marketing efforts. But the restaurants still have to buy all the food, pay their staff and pay their rent. They are not making a profit doing this. They’re participating in HVRW because it’s good for the Hudson Valley food scene, they want to get butts in the seats, and they hope that if they show you a great time, you’ll come back again when it’s not restaurant week. So your job as guest bloggers is to let us know if we should. Please just be honest and fair without taking pot shots.

Here are a couple of examples of guest bloggers from last year who did a great job (thanks to all of you!):
Guest blogger Doug Yuan visits Blu in Hastings on Hudson.
Guest blogger Hilary Remsen visits The Melting Pot in White Plains.
Guest blogger Dina Braun visits Equus in Tarrytown.

I’m happy to answer any questions as they come up — please just post them below. And if you’ve already contacted me, I’ll be in touch over the next few days to arrange with people what restaurants they’ll be covering and when they should post.

Sorry for the stern tone — but I just want everyone to know what I expect going into this. Now let’s have fun and eat cheap!

Previously: Hudson Valley Restaurant Week: The List. Who’s In? And Who’s Guest Blogging for Small Bites?

Super Bowl, the biggest wing weekend of the year, is nearly upon us. So what better time than now to award prizes for the best chicken wings in the Lower Hudson Valley. Without further ado, here are my first Best of Small Bites Awards.

For Best Chicken Wings, Westchester: the Candlelight Inn in Greenburgh.

Seth Harrison/TJN

For Best Chicken Wings, Rockland: the Olde Village Inne in Nyack.

What they both share in common — and why I love them so: crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. Plenty of meat. Delicious sauce. (OVI gest the nudge for having a better sauce-to-wing ratio; next time I’m at Candlelight I will ask them to go light on the sauce.) They’re not flabby, they’re not skimpy and they’re not stringy or dry. Ever.

On the other post here, where Michael suggested I start a Best Of awards, someone mentioned that Liberty’s in Tappan should be in the running. Here’s a photo of their chipotle-ranch wings:

Angela Gaul/TJN

Not bad. Maybe good enough for a runner’s-up nod.

But OVI and Candlelight take the cake. Or the wing, as it were.

The 411 on Olde Village Inne.
The 411 on Candlelight Inn.
The 411 on Liberty’s American Bar & Grill.

Please vote below. I’ll accept other nominations, too.

I will put the top vote-getters in a poll on the right (like the one for tipping now) and after the voting period is over, we’ll announce the winners of Best of Small Bites Chicken Wings.

Let the games begin!

In the right hand column about one click down is a new poll about how much you’re tipping during Hudson Valley Restaurant Week. Please vote. The choice are:

20 percent — like always
15 percent — like always
25 percent — sheesh, they’re working hard and the price is great
10 percent —  I’m out for a cheap meal and this makes it even cheaper
Whatever the wait staff deserves for the service

I’ll post the results at the end of Restaurant Week next month.

After Avatar this weekend, my friends and I stopped in to Stir Crazy for lunch. You know what? Not half bad. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to the mall just to go to the restaurant, but if you’re there and you’re hungry, it’s a perfectly acceptable meal.

I definitely recommend getting the dishes cooked from the menu rather than the stir-fry stuff you choose and they cook in front of you.

The portions, like many around here, are humongous. All of these plates are appetizers. Chicken satay:

SOMA 107, the big restaurant on Mamaroneck Avenue, has become flashy Club Cabo, a night spot. HudsonValleyMetroMix.com was there for the opening night: here is the MMX photo gallery.

Owner Gene Lum confirmed to me two weeks ago that he had sold, but I didn’t report it at the time because he said he wasn’t sure what the new owners were doing to do with the place. Well, I guess we know now!

Previously:
James Cawley Gone to Rosa Mexicana; SOMA 107 Tweaking Menu with New Chef
Photos: An Evening at SOMA 107
One Great Dish: Pig N2 at SOMA 107
Photos and first taste from SOMA 107
First Look: SOMA 107

I just came across this on You Tube… a clip from next week’s “No Reservations,” part of which was shot at X20 in Yonkers. Bill Murray waxes to Tony Bourdain about the beauty and meaning of the Hudson River Valley over a mammoth cowboy rib eye steak with Bearnaise:

It looks like the episode will air Monday at 10 on the Travel Channel, but please check your local schedules.

Today in the food section we have a lovely story by Katherine Curry about where to dine for Valentine’s Day. She called a dozen restaurants to get the low-down on what they’re offering, when and for how much.

Where to book a table for Valentine’s Day. (Katherine Curry/For The Journal News)

Champage and strawberries at 12 Grapes in Peekskill. (Angela Gaul/The Journal News)
You can find 12 Grapes and tons of other restaurants in our three lists of romantic restaurants by county: Westchester, Rockland and Putnam.

Also in the food section, this week and last (which I forgot to post, sorry!)

Want to feed a Super Bowl crowd fast? Think subs. Here are recipes for two. (AP)
Recipe: Nachos. Pile it on for the game! (AP)
Could designer doughnuts edge out cutsey cupcakes? (AP)
A tour of Long Island wine country. (WashPost)

And, of course, my sausage story, which came out last week: Savoring Local Sausage and Beer. (me/TJN)

(That’s a tease of the photos I’ll be posting from the dinner: Franks & Beans with Pork Belly.)

Enjoy!

When writer Katherine Curry handed in her Valentine’s Day story, she gave me two versions, and one was personal. She was so genuinely taken with how delicious the food sounded and great the deals were, that she — Valentine’s curmudgeon that she is — decided she, too, would have to go out this year.

A marinated pear on a heart-shaped almond cake will be one of the Valentine’s Day desserts at Buffet de la Gare in Hastings-on-Hudson. (Angela Gaul/The Journal News)

Here’s what Katherine wrote:

Is there such a thing as a Valentine’s Day Scrooge? If so, that’s me.  For years, I’ve resisted the notion of eating out on Valentine’s Day, preferring to stay home and grumble about the commercialization of the day.

But something happened in the process of researching this article. As I discovered what each of these wonderful restaurants had planned for Valentine’s Day – the special touches and enticing entrees—I began to weaken.  By the time I got to Xaviars, with their fresh flowers, candlelight and butter-poached oysters, I realized resistance was futile.  I’d become a convert.  And so, this Valentine’s Day, you’ll find me and my sweetheart at one of these dozen restaurants, enjoying a delicious and romantic meal.

Browsing over on Serious Eats, I found this roundup of great wings in New York. My favorites — Dinosaur BBQ — are also at the top of their list. Oh my. I might have to drive down to Harlem for lunch just to get them. Here’s a photo from my last visit there (sorry about the blur):

Smoky, spicy, juicy and so big and meaty. So good.

I think I’ve told y’all that I lived in Mexico for a while. So I’m definitely picky when it comes to Mexican food. The only thing Mexican about Camarones Tequila — shrimp wrapped in bacon and topped with mushrooms — is the name. But that doesn’t meat it wasn’t really tasty.

From 7 to 11 p.m. Feb. 13, a three-course dinner, live music and dancing. It’s $100 per couple. The menu and the 411, after the jump.