Monday, August 6, 2012

Stone Creek Inn- Quogue/ Hamptons

Nestled in    the quiet  little Hamlet known as East Quogue is a lovely elegant home with a superb    french style dining  experience serving dinner  six nights a week.
With a large bar,  two  dining rooms- one with old world charm  that seats  approx 45, and the other, a    bit more contemporary with  large  long  tables,  tall windows and  outstanding service, this restaurant is           a not to be missed for any special occasion, a romantic dinner for two, or a  wonderful dinner with good friends.
Last night, one of the many  unique appetizer  specials  were a  chilled heirloom tomato gazpacho with fresh jumbo lump crabmeat, Hudson valley duck fois gras with grilled peaches,   lightly  tempura fried style  large zucchini blossoms, served with melted straciatella cheese & mini  roasted peppers,   a watermelon salad with feta cheese and sungold tomatoes  pistachios,  basil and olives , duck meatballs,   a yellow fin tuna tartare  topped with tobiko (wasabi)   caviar, and a risotto dish with sweet corn, shrimp & lobster . YUM!!!
 Entrees included  a beyond fresh moist Halibut served with summer   succotash and lobster mashed potatoes, and roasted cherry tomatoes and grilled berkshire pork loin, a grilled   Hills Farm skirt steak an  Irish Organic  Salmon with asparagus, exotic spring mushrooms and fingerling potatoes with truffles, and Grilled Yellowfin Tuna served with sweet white peppers  and a smoked paprika confit  and an olive tapenade, among many others.
Desserts are equally excellent- a  caramel and fleur  de sel Ice cream,  a molten chocolate      cake with Tahitian      vanilla ice cream, a tasting of  french chocolates, a cheese plate  (choice of 3 or 5) with fig jam, and a banana sundae with marscapone mousse, and a  Dulche De leche   meringue.

A fabulous  dining experience &   reservations are a mUST!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Comments

For the past two years since I started this blog "officially" I   only have about a dozen actual
 " members"

However, I receive over 1000 e mails  each week from many of you- my readers who e mail  me at my gmail blog account

Why don't you join?  I would love your  actual  feedback on the particular place I am reviewing!   Last week I receieved over 1300 comments on three of the venues I reviewed.

I wish you would join- it free & easy to do  & so much easier to comment!

Just a suggestion!

Trattoria L'inconctro

Located on 21-76 31st st in ASTORIA, Queens is a fabulous Italian restaurant. I love this place. A large venue with two rooms- one very large & one off to the side usually used for families with small children & private parties as well.

The decor is ITALY-   high ceilings,  great paintings  tile & terracotta. While the menu is huge with so many choices, I always prefer to go with the nightly specials. What always amazes me is when they can recite all the specials without notes as there are many!

Chef Rocco offers many items- Appetizers on this particular evening were about 15- including burrata- a soft creamy buttery home made mozzarella,  grilled octopus, stuffed zucchini blossoms (one of my favorites & a short season) a    special salad with large  black mission figs, chards of (large wide strips) of parmesean reggiano (the king  of cheeses) thin large slices of mortadella   and a balsamic drizzle,  and so much more! Pastas- incredible. These offer so many, including  paparadelle with rabbit,  tubetini,  black linguine and so much more- We chose the homemade fettuccini with sundried  zucchini and a sausage ragu- outstanding.  Among the many specials for entrees were a berkshire pork chop, a grilled  on the bone veal chop with cremeni mushrooms,, veal or chicken paillard, short ribs, osso bucco, rack of veal,  whole  branzino and    dover sole. To my MANY  comments over the years, I did NOT have the Branzino! I had the  dover sole, which was served   magnificently,   with the spine (bones) standing up like a fan on top of the beautiful filets of    fish- accompanied by broccoli rabe  wonderful!
My husband has the rack of  veal- 4 large thick  perfectly medium rare chops,   served with  haricot verts and roasted potatoes.

Too full for dessert- but they sent over as a lovely  gesture their  homemade  "semi freddo" a chilled panna cotta with a warm   rich lush zabiolione  - OMG!

They are closed  on Mondays and I do recommend a reservation on the weekends , although  they are busy all the time!

A must go!