Best of Westchester’s Top 5 Tables

Best of Westchester

Last night was Westchester Magazine’s annual Best of Westchester party, held at the Glen Island Harbor Club (check the picture below, the place is super pimp, right on the Long Island Sound in New Rochelle). My fiancee and I had a blast (and got blasted), checking out all the tables, eating free food and drinking free drinks, fully enjoying the live music and feel good ambiance. It’s basically set up like a job fair except instead of going table to table talking to prospective employers, you pop shit at a bunch of chefs and get loaded off free drinks and deliciously creative small portions of high quality food. Me personally, I was really getting after it last night. “Best Chili in Westchester huh fellas? We’ll see about that. UMMMM. Not bad, it’s got a little kick to it! Not Bad!” So fun.

glenislandday

I saw my boy Billy Henderson last night, Pelham Bay’s finest food critic. Great times. Shout out to “Lawyer Mike” Martinelli too for hooking me up with the free tickets. Anyway, here’s veteran Best of Westchester party-goer Billy Henderson’s assessment of the 2008 event:

Billy Henderson’s TOP 5 TABLES:

1. Sushi Mike’s
146 Main Street
Dobbs Ferry, NY
http://www.sushimikes.com

Once again, there was a line. Once again, they ran out of food early. Once again, the sushi was insane. I asked the non-english speaking chef what is in the poppy seed roll and he replied, “EER”. I think that means “awesomeness” in Japanese.

2. The Willet House

20 Willet Avenue

Port Chester, NY

http://thewilletthouse.com/

Sliced “melt in your mouth” Steak on a crustini, with three phenomenal sauces to choose from, next to a free bar, on an outside deck, at high tide. Hard to screw up.

3. Sonora

179 Rectory Street

Port Chester, NY

914.933.0200

Braised Duck on a jonnycake with a dot of saffron aioli. I could of ate a hundred of those things.

4. The Kittle House

11 Kittle Road

Chappaqua, NY

http://www.kittlehouse.com

There were many “shots” of food this year. X2O had the shrimp-watermelon cocktail, 44 Tapas had the shrimp in gazpacho and 42 at the Ritz-Carlton had the ceviche with the beads of ginger. The Kittle House decided to serve a gazpacho with a cilantro foam that just exploded with flavor. Impressive.

5. Belle Havana

35 Main Street

Yonkers, NY

http://web.mac.com/frank.demaria/Bell_Havana/Home.html

Although the owners are very suspect, he might be french and she might be a man, they make an incredible mojito. I didn’t eat their food but I did have a dozen mojitos.

Billy Henderson’s special thanks:
I’d like to thank “Uncle Ralph” Martinelli for another great year. I’d also like to thank the electricians who are tearing up my office as I type, FORCING me to drink beer and grill burgers on my boat. Holla at the kid.

Thanks Billy. Stay tuned for more TOP 5 posts from Billy Henderson. And check out my blog, GROOM GUY, up now on Westchester Magazine’s website, all about the male perspective on getting married. Here’s the link…

GROOM GUY