Fig and Olive To Open this Week
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Westchester residents are in for a treat. Fig and Olive restaurant, featuring cuisine from the South of France, Italy and Spain is opening this week in the Lord and Taylor Shopping Center on White Plains Road. The 4,000 square foot space will accommodate 180 guests, who can enjoy a Mediterranean menu focused on olive oil along with a diverse selection of regional wines.
The opening culminates over a year of planning. The large venue and central location are designed to draw diners from a wide swath of Westchester. Those who are already familiar with Fig and Olive’s restaurants in Manhattan will greet this newcomer like an old friend. Fresh ingredients, an innovative menu and Mediterranean flavors have proven to be crowd pleasers in Fig and Olive’s other locations and should have the same effect here.
Seating at the restaurant is designed to accommodate everyone – whether you come alone or with a large party you’ll find a place at a private table or at the 60-foot marble tasting bar and communal table.
You can start out your meal with tasting dishes to share such as zucchini carpaccio, fig gorgonzola tartlet, crostini, and imported charcuterie and cheese platters. The lunch menu includes soups, salads, Panini and entrees. Among the selections are a shrimp and salmon salad with marinated shrimp, shaved fennel, avocado, and marinated raw salmon in a citrus and cilantro olive oil dressing and a French Riviera rotisserie chicken marinated in Herbs de Provence, lemon and garlic and served with chive mashed potatoes and haricots verts.
On the dinner menu are seared sea scallops, ravioli stuffed with porcini and gorgonzola topped with Jamon Iberico (Iberian ham), grilled Branzino glazed with fig and vinegar, and rosemary grilled lamb chops served with gnocchi and roasted eggplant.
Desserts are crafted by pastry chef Andrew LeStourgen and include warm caramelized apple tart, chocolate pot de crème and warm marzipan cake
At the bar you can try tasting dishes, olives and appetizers while you sip your wine or cocktail.
The restaurant’s proprietors are Scarsdale residents Yoram Shemesh and Ed Somekh who look forward to adding this new location to the Fig and Olive list of sites in New York’s meatpacking district, on Fifth Avenue at 52nd street, on Lexington Avenue at 62nd Street and on Melrose Place in West Hollywood, California.
Fig and Olive is taking reservations for dinner beginning on Monday January 24 and for lunch and dinner starting Wednesday January 26. To enjoy a taste of the Mediterranean in Scarsdale, call the number below or go to OpenTable:
Fig and Olive
Vernon Hills Shopping Center
696 White Plains Road
Scarsdale, NY 10583
914 725 2900
http://www.figandolive.com
Hours of Operation:
Monday through Thursday: 11.30AM – 10PM
Friday: 11.30AM – Midnight
Saturday: 10.30AM – Midnight
Sunday: 10.30AM – 10PM
A Visit To The New ShopRite
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Curious about the hoopla and tempted by a coupon for a dozen free eggs, I braved rush hour traffic on Central Avenue to check out the new ShopRite in the Midway Shopping Center in Scarsdale. I arrived at dusk and was greeted with pandemonium in the parking lot with parking attendants swirling flashlights in an attempt to direct the traffic.
Perhaps it was just the perils of opening week, but the traffic situation wasn’t much better inside the store where meandering shoppers jammed the aisles with their carts, making it difficult to navigate this massive space. In fact, the store is so large that customers are handed a store map at the entrance to help them find what they’re seeking in Shop Rite’s 19 aisles.
The store rivals Stew Leonard’s in size and has many intriguing features. Similar to the new Fairway, ShopRite includes a café at the 
entrance where you can enjoy a deli sandwich or store-made sushi while watching TV on a large flat screen monitor. Other special features include a fresh bakery counter, a florist, a fresh seafood counter, impressive gourmet cheeses and butchers who promise to cut custom meat orders. They also offer custom catering where you can order platters of appetizers, entrees, sushi, deli, fruit, cheese, desserts and more. There’s so much to see that you could easily get dazzled and forget why you came in the first place.
The produce department is large and well stocked. While turning the corner from the veggies I ran into the store’s nutritionist, Jessica Lee Atland who is available for free individual and family nutritional counseling. Atland is a registered dietician and was handing out a monthly schedule of nutritional classes, cooking demos and events, including a presentation to the Woodlands Middle School, a workshop on Body Mass Index (BMI), a session on vitamins and a fruit and vegetable scavenger hunt for the kids.
In the aisles beyond there were groceries, paper goods, supplies, dairy, cosmetics and you-name-it, all
in plentiful supply. Scores of store employees were also blocking traffic, continually stocking the shelves as throngs of customers emptied them. There were towers of specials and discounted items, and sign-up tables where you could instantaneously enroll for the ShopRite Price Plus club. For those looking for organic products, I noted that organic milk was stocked at a very competitive price.
If you don’t care to brave the store at all, you can shop online at home at www.shoprite.com and have your groceries delivered for $6.95. If you spend, $10 or more, the shopping is free, and for orders under $100, a $10 fee applies.
The new ShopRite will undoubtedly have an impact on business in our area. A&P stores filed for bankruptcy in White Plains in December and though the A&P on Central Avenue remains open, it will clearly face a challenge from ShopRite which is a mere two minute drive south. Stew Leonard’s, Morton Williams and Pathmark may also feel the impact of this new giant entry to the local market. ShopRite also opened another 59,000 square foot market in City Center in White Plains this month, and their two new locations bring more choices for area shoppers and more jobs to Westchester.
Visit the two new stores and let us know what you think in the comments sections below.
ShopRite
955 Central Avenue
Scarsdale, New York 10583
(914) 874 2973
www.shoprite.com
Open seven days a week: 6 am to 2 am
A New Mecca For Foodies
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There’s a new market in Port Chester that rivals Union Square’s Eataly. Celebrity chefs Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich have given us our own European-style market, right on Main Street in an open, airy site that’s reminiscent of an old world market. Tarry Market is located just around the corner from Batali’s Tarry Lodge and is a great place to snack, sample and purchase first quality ingredients for a make-at-home meal.
Tarry Market is under the direction of Executive Chef Christopher J. Juliano who has worked at Babbo and with Lidia Bastianich. He was proud to show us around his new market that shares the same owners as Tarry Lodge; but offers different cuisine. While Tarry Lodge serves a strictly Italian menu created by chef Andy Nusser, the market features their own cuisine and recipes from Italy, France and Spain.
The entry to the market is a coffee and lunch bar, with panini, coffees and pastries. Another attraction is a wine sampling station that offers wines by the glass. All of these treats can be enjoyed at large communal tables. Venture back through the market and as Juliano says, you’ll find the best ingredients anywhere that you can use to create a meal at home.
Once inside, on the left, a butcher sells prime meat, which is top quality --one notch above the “choice” meats that are sold at our local gourmet markets. On 
sale the day we visited was Hampshire pork, crown rib of pork, stuffed leg of lamb Hudson Valley grass-fed beef and rotisserie Cobb Cobb chickens from Lancaster, PA. Also available are meats cut to order with no upcharge for custom requests.
Next we visited the pasta counters, where Juliano showed us fresh pastas made on the premises. For sale were thin and wide noodles as well as trays of lasagna to go. Juliano promised that they would soon be selling ravioli with delectable fillings such as black and white truffles and would begin to make their own mozzarella on site.
The bakery counter displayed an impressive array of fresh-baked breads and foccacia with tomato, potato or rosemary that were available for tasting. In fact, most everything at the market could be tasted – and on the day we visited they were hosting a mini Spanish food festival and serving marinated white anchovies, grilled chorizo and Serrano ham. Spanish wine was also available and you could practically have lunch while buying dinner.
Juliano treated us to tastes of a few of the antipasti that were available to go including an insalata de ceci, which was a mixture of chick pea and black olive, eggplant caponata and roasted spaghetti squash with braised red onion, pine nuts and raisins. Likewise, the cheese counter was impressive and the expert behind the counter was ready to advise and provide samples. A dairy case held many exotic international treats making it easy to assemble your own Mediterranean picnic and settle in at the communal tables in front of the store.
So whether you’re looking for a new lunch spot, a place to snack before the movies, or inspiration for your next home cooked meal, stop by to experience a market like none other in Westchester. Buon appetito!
Tarry Market
179 North Main Street
Port Chester, New York 10573
914-253-5680
Hours:
Monday through Saturday 10 am to 8 pm
Sunday: 10 am to 6 pm
Two New Places to Try in 2011
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The menu has some wonderful and unusual options. We had a table of four good sharers so we sampled a plethora of terrific choices: For appetizers we tried Strozzapreti, a great pasta dish with parsnips, pancetta, poached egg and pecorino, in addition to a delicious house-made terrine plus a radicchio salad with olive-ricotta crostini, Marcona almonds, currants and parmesan. Starters ran from $8-$12 and were followed by well-prepared main dishes including a beautifully grilled Dorade, a crispy duck, a tasty diver scallop special and a hanger steak. Even the sides were special including celery root, roasted bone marrow (with the steak) and roasted cauliflower.
Prices for the entrees were reasonable ($15-$25), as was the total tab, since it’s a “bring your own wine” policy with a minimal $5 corkage charge. We topped off dinner by sharing some wonderful cookies for dessert (chocolate chip, peanut butter and oatmeal raisin). You can’t go wrong with that and we can’t wait to come back for more.
Juniper
575 Warburton Avenue
Hastings-on–Hudson,
New York 10706
914-478-2542
JuniperHastings@gmail.com
Hours:
Sunday: Brunch 10 am – 3 pm
Monday: Closed
Tuesday Lunch: 10 am – 3 pm
Wednesday – Friday: Lunch: 10 am – 3 pm, Dinner: 5:30 pm – 9 pm
Saturday: Brunch: 10 am – 3 pm. Dinner 5:30 pm – 9 pm
If you’re looking for a light snack or dinner after a movie at City Center in White Plains we also can recommend an unassuming White Plains spot. Though it’s another franchise, you might enjoy Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza on Main Street, heading toward North Broadway. The atmosphere is very casual and while the pizza is nothing special (I prefer the thinner crust variety), the fantastic wings are the reason to go! They are cooked in the pizza oven (so you feel a little less guilty since they’re not fried) and they are smothered with grilled onions. After eating them there one night, we also got them for take-out and they were equally delicious. Not your typical wings, but worth a try! Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza
264 Main Street
White Plains, New York 10601
914-358-9702
http://anthonyscoalfiredpizza.com/
Hurricane Grill and Wings Opens in Hartsdale
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Hurricane Grill and Wings has opened on Central Avenue – bringing some Florida sunshine up north. Located next to Pastinas, in a double storefront that was once home to Mitty’s Steakhouse, the space has been beautifully renovated to create an airy beachfront surrounded by an aquatic mural and surfboards. Guests dine under palapas or in high-backed private booths, and though games are being shown on large screen televisions, the space is quiet enough to converse at your table.
The restaurant is part of a large chain that has just recently moved into New York – a fine tuned machine with fresh ingredients and many choices to please every palate.
To start, they have a tempting beverage menu with a full bar including frozen mojitos, wines by the 
glass and an impressive selection of beers, including pale ales on tap, domestic, imports and microbrews --all served in tall chilled glasses. The menu warrants a full read – as Hurricane offers wings in 30 flavors in addition to a lengthy list of entrees and salads.
Our friendly waitress debriefed us and offered to let us sample a few of the sauces that are available for the wings before ordering. The flavors are separated into four categories…. Mild and Sweet, Warming Trend, Ready for the Rush and Proceed with Caution. You can view the entire list here. We sampled honey mustard, mango barbeque, Thai ginger and gold rush and all were tasty. Once you select your sauce you can order regular or boneless wings that are available in regular (10 pieces), large (15 pieces), extra large (20 pieces and super size (50 pieces). With 30 flavors of fresh wings, in boneless or regular, and four size options, it’s rough to do the math on how many choices you’ll make even before you approach the balance of your meal.
Hurricane boasts that burgers are made from 100% Angus beef and the cheeseburger we tried was indeed tasty. Burgers come with your choice of natural cut fries, homemade kettle chips or Hurricane slaw … again requiring some thought. We decided to ask for an order of garlic and Parmesan fries which were bathed in garlic herb butter and grated Parmesan and could have been a meal alone. Also on the menu are quesadillas, and mahi-mahi fish tacos as well as grilled steak and Philly Cheesesteak.
What about the calories, you might ask. Calorie counts are included on the menu and range from 
reasonable to outrageous. But don’t despair. While your kids chow down on wings and fries, the diet conscious can choose from the Hurricane Red Rock Chicken Salad with ancho chile lime sauce, tomato salsa, shredded Monterey jack and cheddar cheese and crisp tortillas, the Grilled Chicken Caesar, Grilled Mahi-Mahi Baja Taco Salad, Honey Pecan Chopped Chicken Salad, or the Churrasco Steak salad.
Throw caution to the wind and order dessert – they are all good. There’s hot Chocolate Lava Cake, Key Lime Pie and Mango Passion Cheesecake.
The tab was perfectly reasonable and we ate and drank for just $25 per person. For families, the restaurant offers reduced-priced kids meals and there are daily specials for all, so check the blackboard when you arrive. Hurricane does not take reservations but with ample seating and fast service, they should be able to accommodate you for lunch or dinner any day of the week. They are also well staffed for take out orders and will undoubtedly pose a challenge to the Candlelight Inn, which is right down the street.
Hurricane – give them a try before they’re stormed with customers and let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Hurricane Grill and Wings
149-51 South Central Park Avenue
Hartsdale, New York, 10530
Phone: 914-397-9464
Restaurant Hours:
Sunday - Thursday 11:00 - 11:00
Friday – Saturday 11:00 - 12:00
