Bar Frites
400 Wheatley Plaza
Glen Cove Rd. & Northern Blvd., Greenvale
516-484-7500
The Poll Brothers (River Bay, Bryant and Cooper) do France, striking east of the Miracle Mile, the scene of their two most recent success stories (Cipollini, Toku) in another upscale Gold Coast shopping center. It has familiar French bistro fare like escargot, foie gras, steak tartare, macaroni gratin, sautéed skate, brook trout almondine, croques monsieur and madame, lamb T-bones, omelets, artisanal cheeses and a raw bar.
Deco 1600 @ The Race Palace
1600 Round Swamp Rd., Plainview
516-586-6454
Despite the art deco magnificence of the bar and dining areas on the first floor of The Race Palace, the location itself has a kind of feng shui problem. The windowless monolith of a building sits on a hill overlooking a busy intersection, but restaurants operating inside never seem able to pierce the collective consciousness of anyone but a few big winners from the glorified OTB upstairs and a few hungry travelers from surrounding hotels. It’s a shame to let all that elegance go to waste. Maxwell & Dunne’s Steakhouse and Palmer’s gave it a good ride, but The Palace eatery faltered from the starting gate. Now comes caterer Steve Carl, of Carlyle on the Green at Bethpage State Park. The main room is soon to return to the building’s original use (remember The Galaxy?), as a catering hall called, appropriately, Carlyle off the Green. And what was once a cigar lounge off to the left of the bar is now a family-style Italian restaurant with 11 tables, a chef from Matteo’s and enormous platters of Italian food. Each dish on the menu has two prices—individual and family sized. Augmenting the down home Italian is comfort food like marinated skirt steak, sliders, mac ‘n cheese, meat loaf, Capt. Crunch fried chicken and a monstrous two-pound burger.
Trodos Med Restaurant
477 Old Country Rd., Westbury
516-222-8000
Sitting near the area’s many shopping centers is not as ideal as being locating inside of one, but Aryan’s Shish Kebab in the Source Mall closed in February, leaving a huge opening for healthy Mediterranean (read: Turkish) fare. This operation is affiliated with that popular chain-let of restaurants, but the food here transcends the requisite kebab roster. The menu is designed with both busy shoppers and serious diners in mind. Like Mary, you can have a little lamb; grilled on a sandwich, as a burger or combined with beef in wraps and rolls. A large grill chars whole fish which are then de-boned at your table.
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