Vega Opens in Hartsdale
- Details
- Hits: 5751
Add Vega Mexican Cuisine to the list of new, local restaurants. Vega opened its doors earlier this month on Hartsdale Avenue, in the site that once house Oporto, just down the street from the train station. Vega is impressive looking from both inside and out, with trendy decor in vibrant colors, rocks, plants, water and stone. With such a great atmosphere, it was hard not to set my expectations too high.
While the waiters and waitresses were exceptionally friendly, the service was not great. After ordering guacamole to be prepared at our table to start, we waited over 10 minutes and the man with the cart failed to arrive. Our waitress tried to hurry him over to our table but that night guacamole was in demand and there was only one man to make it. Our main courses ended up coming just as he arrived to prepare our guacamole, so we ended up canceling. Not the greatest start to the meal.
We ordered traditionally- chicken fajitas and chicken quesadillas. Both were fine. The fajitas came with several sides to go along with the meal, including rice and beans, a small amount of guacamole and sour cream. The food was somewhat bland and nothing special, but as is often the case with new restaurants it seems like it certainly has the potential to get better. If you happen to want to be more adventurous, Vega has a lot of options. The appetizers sounded impressive and include Tequila Scallops, Mexican Pizza, and Shrimp Ceviche. The entrees are divided into different options for beef, chicken, vegetables, pork, and seafood, in addition to traditional Mexican dishes. The restaurant certainly has enough options, even for picky eaters.
On a second visit at lunchtime, ordering guacamole at the table proved to be more successful. A cart heaped with avocados, tomatoes, and onions, and a great looking stone bowl and pestle was wheeled over to the table When asked how spicy we wanted the guacamole, we opted for "medium," in the hopes of being somewhat, but not too challenged by noontime spiciness. Although the ingredients appeared to be freshly chopped and the avocados were peeled and sliced in front of us, the dish itself ended up not at all spicy and not particularly flavorful. Next time, we will definitely choose the spicy version. For our main courses, we ordered taco salads that were also very fresh, but also a bit bland. The taco bowl was crisp, tasty, and large, and it had a generous portion of lettuce, topped with black beans, cucumbers, cheese, and tomatoes, accompanied by sides of guacamole, sour cream, and salad dressing.
One thing Vega did seriously right was to keep the prices down and both lunch and dinner were reasonably priced. With the amount of construction and decoration invested in Vega, it seemed inevitable that the prices would be outrageous, but we were pleased to find that his was not so.
For the first few months I would definitely recommend making a reservation at Vega. I went on a Wednesday night and the hostess was surprised we did not have a reservation. It was very crowded, which can be attributed to the excitement that always surrounds a new restaurant opening in town.
With so many empty storefronts in town, it's great to have a new dining option and Vega definitely has the potential to be one of Hartsdale’s new hot spots. The owners are the proprietors of many successful area restaurants, including Malabr Hill in Elmsford and they know what it takes to serve a flavorful meal. They will undoubtedly bring the same liveliness to the dishes that they have added to the decor. Give it a try and share your experience in the comments section below.
What is Your Favorite Frozen Yogurt?
- Details
- Hits: 8124
Everyone loves frozen yogurt. Or, let me rephrase that...everyone loves ice cream. Then, those of us who worry about calories, weight gain, and bathing suit season will settle for frozen yogurt and convince themselves they love it. But, with the opening of Yogo Joy in Scarsdale village coming soon, it got me thinking. If we’re not going to eat ice cream, we should at least know where to find the best low-cal, fat-free dessert available. As a frozen yogurt connoisseur, I thought I could help.
Yogo Joy is supposed to open in the village by the end of this week. With a popular store already in Rye, Yogo Joy is pretty much guaranteed to be a success in Scarsdale. The store offers self-serve frozen yogurt with about 8 different flavors, and a large array of candy and fresh fruit available for toppings. You get charged by the weight, and with so many toppings, it’s pretty easy to get carried away and end up with an $8 cup of frozen yogurt. But regardless, it is certainly delicious.
Sedutto: Located on Garth Road in the village, Sedutto offers very good ice cream for the less conservative dessert eaters out there, and about 5 flavors of frozen yogurt, a couple of which rotate every few days. Sedutto’s frozen yogurt is creamy, flavorful, and essentially guilt free. And over the summer, Sedutto is open until 11 PM every night. Definitely my favorite option by far.
Tasti D-Lite: New York City’s famous Tasti D-Lite franchise finally opened a store in Westchester this year, located on North Avenue in New Rochelle right by the Quaker Ridge Shopping Center. With different flavors every day, Tasti always offers delicious options if you’re willing to drive there and be there before 10 on Saturdays and 9 every other day of the week. But still, just like its name implies, a very tasty dessert.
Last Licks: I don’t think much needs to be said about Scarsdale’s most popular ice cream spot. It also offers good frozen yogurt and an immense amount of candy that tempts the calorie-conscious.
Needless to say, our town has plenty of frozen yogurt to go around, and Yogo Joy will be added to the already delicious list soon.
An Artisinal Chocolatier In Scarsdale
- Details
- Hits: 6482
Scarsdale resident Margaret Smith, founder of artisanal chocolates company Odyssey Chocolates, recently returned from a week-long stay in France where she participated in a professional development program. The program brought artisanal chocolatiers from all over the world together with pre-eminent French chocolate producers and chefs. Ms. Smith toured two chocolate production plants and worked with pre-eminent pastry chefs specializing in chocolate confectionery. The program was designed to give participants exposure to the latest ideas and techniques in chocolate creation as well as contact with industry practitioners globally.
According to Ms. Smith, “The program was both educational and inspirational. Chefs Parc and Canet are masters at their craft who generously shared their knowledge and enthusiasm for this most wondrous of foods. I’m looking forward to bringing the latest in flavor and technique to our local Westchester chocolate connoisseurs and elevating the experience of chocolate for everyone who enjoys fine chocolate. “
The Chocolaterie Michel Cluizel in Normandy hosted the group for three days. The company, founded in 1948, specializes in producing chocolate harvested from select plantations in the finest cocoa-producing regions of the world. Like fine wine, cocoa is influenced by its climate and soil. The nuances of unique flavor from each region are prized in confectionery production. After touring the plant, Ms Smith and her fellow participants worked in the meticulously appointed Cluizel chocolate laboratory with chef Philippe Parc, MOF, creating bonbons with the newest flavor profiles and experimenting with chocolate showpiece techniques. Digging into the chocolate buffet at the end was the gustatory reward for their hard work. Each participant was awarded a diploma of participation for completing the program.
The Barry Callebaut production facility outside Paris welcomed the group for the second half of the program. Barry Callebaut is the world’s leading supplier of high-quality cocoa and chocolate products, with 40 facilities in 26 countries. The company is over 150 years old, the result of the 1996 merger of Cacao Barry, a French company, and Callebaut, a Belgian chocolate manufacturer. After creating bonbons, truffles, bars, and chocolate lollipops with chef Christophe Canet of Nice, the group toured the immense chocolate production plant, which is fully mechanized in all operations. The group also studied in the Barry Callebaut Laboratoire Or Noir. This facility is dedicated to the creation of one-of-a-kind chocolate formulas for artisanal chocolatiers wishing to devise a signature chocolate blend. The group explored the nuances of flavor in this lab and developed their own unique chocolate.
Odyssey Chocolates handcrafts a continually changing variety of seasonally flavored bonbons. Their current mix includes Raspberries and Cream, Strawberry Balsamic, Mint Milk Chocolate, Dulce de Leche, Orange, Hazelnut Milk Chocolate, Coffee, Cinnamon Honey, and The Odyssey, a sweet Middle Eastern spice. In addition they offer a new line of caramel ganaches, lemon milk chocolate, orange ginger milk chocolate, lime chili milk chocolate, and salted caramel dark chocolate. Special requests are gladly taken for large or custom orders.
Odyssey Chocolates can be found in fine food and gift shops in Westchester, including Auray Gourmet in Larchmont, Bedford Gourmet in Bedford, Black Cat Café in Irvington, La Dentelliere in Scarsdale, Ladle of Love in Mt Kisco, and Mint Premium Foods in Tarrytown. Odyssey Chocolates is also on the web at www.odysseychocolates.com or can be reached by calling (914) 723-5898.
Summer Dining Deals
- Details
- Hits: 3852
It’s too hot to cook indoors and area restaurants are offering some tempting specials that make it worth your while to eat out. Here’s a sampling of a few ways to economize and enjoy:
Eastchester Fish Gourmet on Post Road in Scarsdale is serving fresh seafood at attractive prices. On Monday nights, a 1 1/2 pound steamed Maine lobster with a baked potato and coleslaw is just $26.95. And on Thursday nights, all oysters, clams and shrimp cocktail are available for only $1 each. We recently enjoyed a dozen jumbo chilled shrimp for just $12. Also don't miss their summer special lobster cobb salad, that includes steamed lobster in the shell over greens, bacon tomatos and more.
At Harry’s of Hartsdale, a three-course prix fixe menu is available for $24 every Sunday through Tuesday. Start with a choice of escargot, the soup of the day or Caesar salad. For entrees, there’s wild Atlantic salmon in a ginger pecan crust, or cheese ravioli and for dessert they are serving cheesecake and chocolate ganache cake. On Wednesday nights, pay with cash and save 10% on the tab. With outdoor seating on the sidewalk, Harry’s is a great place to sit on a summer night.
Cool and tastefully decorated, Caffé Azzurri on Central Avenue has a great mid-week menu. From Sunday through Wednesday night they feature an extensive prix-fixe menu for just $25 per person. Salads, pasta, seafood, chicken or veal are all available and you can’t beat the elegant setting or the price. On Wednesday nights, drinks for ladies are half price at the bar and on Thursday and Friday nights Caffe Azzurri invites you to happy hour with half priced drinks and appetizers in the bar and lounge.
At the newly opened 808 Bistro at 808 Scarsdale Avenue, sit at the bar Sunday through Wednesday nights and enjoy appetizers, pastas and drinks, all at half price. Their cocktail list includes flavored martinis and mojitos that are even more tempting at half the price.
Farther afield is Cafe Mirage in Port Chester where you can sit outside and enjoy reasonably priced drinks, appetizers,and dinner. Try their pan-fried oysters, fish tacos, witih tilapia or tuna, duck quesadilla or soft shell crabs. We recently had dinner for four at just $25 a head.
Ebb Tide Seafood in Port Chester is closed! In previous years they served chowder, lobster, clams, shrimp or scallops at picnic tables out on the dock. We hope they will reopen soon.
Many more discounts are available at NYdineforless.com where you can purchase coupons for discounted meals at many of Westchester’s finest restaurants. Look for their ad at the top of the home page of Scarsdale10583 or click here to learn more.
Immaculate Infatuation
- Details
- Hits: 5653
Andrew Steinthal a 1998 grad of SHS runs the PR Department of Warner Music's Independent Label Group by day and at night works on his website ImmaculateInfatuation.com, the #1 ranked NYC food website on Urbanspoon. The site features easy to relate to reviews and features for people who love to eat, but aren't super foodies. He launched the food site with Chris Stang who is the Director of Marketing at Atlantic Records and says that they are "music biz guys bringing the worlds of food and entertainment together."
Here is an interview with Andrew and some insider tips on where to eat:
What are a few of your favorite food-related memories of Scarsdale?
Candlelight is first and foremost. Without Candlelight, there's probably no Immaculate Infatuation. For my group of friends, that's where the obsession with food started. Every night out ended with a late night trip to The Light for wings and waffle fries. Aside from the C'Light, other local favorites include Italian Pavilion in White Plains aka The Pizza Nazi as we called it back in high school. Both their sicilian and salad slices are excellent and their pink Italian dressing is ridiculously good. Walter's Hot Dogs in Mamaroneck, obviously. Also, back in the day I was obsessed with City Limits. They had really good pickles and french fries.
Other than the Candlelight, where do you like to eat now in Scarsdale/Westchester?
Blue Hill at Stone Barnes has the highest rating on our site, that place is absolutely incredible. I've been meaning to try Batali's Tarry Lodge in Port Chester, but haven't gotten there yet. I've heard it's a bit underwhelming. Generally, I make my family come to Manhattan or Brooklyn when there's a meal related event going on.
What inspired you to start the site?
My friend Chris Stang and I had been conspiring to start something ever since we graduated college. Initially it was going to be our own record label, but with the business falling apart at the seams over the last decade, we knew that wasn't a good idea. We had multiple meetings and even came up with a name for our clothing line, but that just had too much overhead. Then we decided that since we were always the one's people were asking "Where should we go tonight?", that we'd start an email service that guaranteed a personal response to that question within 24 hours. Twitter took care of that idea. So, instead, we set out to answer the 'Where Should We Eat Tonight?' question and hit the internet in April 2009 with Immaculate Infatuation. We're trying to fill the role of that trusted friend you turn to when you need a solid restaurant suggestion. You won't find any pretentious foodie hobnob from us. If you want those kinds of shenanigans, hit up the "experts" at NY Mag, Time Out NY or the NY Times. This is easy to relate to, honest food reviews and features for people like us who love to eat, but aren't super "foodies" (we loathe that word).
Do you write the reviews yourself or do others contribute?
Chris and I do all the content ourselves. We've had a lot of people ask if they could contribute, which is great and actually quite flattering. Right now, we want to make sure we keep the voice of the site consistent so we can firmly establish our identity.
How many new entries are posted a week or a month?
We post a new review, feature or video every week day.
Please offer Scarsdalle10583 readers recommendations for your favorites restaurants and links to the reviews
So, one thing that sets us apart from other sites is how we break restaurants down into our "Perfect For" categories such as Girls Night Out, Date Night, Dinner With The Parents, Drunk Hook Ups and Celebrity Sightings. Here are some of our favorite spots broken down by category.
Chronic Brunch - Cafe Habana
Date Night - Apizz
Special Occasions - Eleven Madison Park
Girls Night Out - ABC Kitchen
Raucous Party Atmosphere - Marlow and Sons
Full On Pork Indulgence - Momofuku Ssam
Birthdays - Yerba Buena Perry
Quick Eats - Luke's Lobster
Outdoor/Patio Situation - Shake Shack
Dinner With The Parents - Mas (farmhouse)
Do you produce the site for the love of food or is it a revenue-producing biz as well?
While we started this site for fun, I'd be lying if i said the end goal wasn't to make money because it absolutely is. Right now, we're still building our brand. Seeing how people react to the site and how quickly we've grown gives us the confidence to keep going. If we keep building and expanding our reach, the sky is the limit.
What’s in the stars for immaculateinfatuation?
First up is a complete redesign of the site which is will be launching later this summer. The new site is more user friendly, and people will be able to better utilize search capabilities to find the perfect restaurant for any occasion. Need an Italian joint with some Action At The Bar near Madison Square Garden? Right now, you can't search for all those things. It's coming. That's the short term. Long term, we're starting a heavy focus on video content which we're keen on developing and we're also looking to get into events as well. Food and music go so well together, we think that's definitely an area we could get into.
How do you do your day job and manage the site as well?
We wake up early and stay up late working on Immaculate stuff, it's the only way to get it done. We both work in the music business - I do PR for Warner's Independent Label Group and Chris does marketing for Atlantic Records and both of our jobs are extremely demanding. The only way to get much done on our side project is to sacrifice your free time.
