Service *****
Food        ****                                                          

35A Gerard Street, 
Huntington Village, NY 11743     
TEL: 631-549-2727      FAX: 631-549-4448

To walk into Joanina is like walking into a small part of Italy. The decor is almost comforting yet still the place is a buzz. This little known secret in the town of Huntington has become the talk of the town. Our Saturday night reservation for 8:30 was almost precise. We were seated 5 minutes after. That said with a packed house. One glass of wine at the bar and still had half a glass to bring to the table. The wines they serve all can be purchased in the adjoining wine shop that they own as well. 

 

We had a nice family dinner with the four of us. There is a great deal to be said for Joanina's brick oven. I have had brick oven pizzas from many places but what comes out of this oven is almost heavenly. We began our journey with a

PIZZA BIANCA CON SPECK   for $13.95     White pizza with speck, mushrooms & white truffle oil drizzle.

 This in itself was amazing but I had to order the CALAMARI FRITTI. At $9.95 this dish was enough for the 4 of us to share and was cooked perfect.

              For our main courses we each had something different which allowed me to sample a taste from each plate. 

            My son wanted Chicken Francaise but it was not offered on the menu. The waitress said absolutely no problem.

 The chicken was moist and tender and the sauce was amazing. Served with seasonal vegetables and a dollop of mashed potatoes. 

                        My Wife had a special of the day, The Monk Fish broiled with olive oil, basil and garlic and finished with chunks of vine ripe tomato. Cooked perfectly and a large enough portion for her to leave some for me. 

     
              My son's girlfriend, had the Tortelloni Rosa which is a delicately stuffed pasta with homemade ricotta with a creamy filetto di pomodoro sauce.

             My main course was the Scaloppine Rustica. Veal Scaloppine sauteed with long stemmed artichokes and wild mushrooms in a Marsala wine reduction. To call this dish veal marsala would be an insult. The tender pieces of veal melted in my mouth and the aroma of the sauce was amazing. I am never disappointed when we eat here.

   This place is a must visit and reservations are recommended.

  Enjoy from 

"The Dish With Dean"

Saturday March 2, 2013 "The Dish with Dean" had the absolute pleasure to see Southside Johnny from the best vantage point in this venue.

Address: 370 New York Ave, Huntington, NY 11743

Phone:(631) 673-7300

The set list was in my opinion at 80% potential. As a long time fan of Southside, I miss the "Jukes"

Introduction by Gary U.S. Bonds
"...Southside Johnny as the new Pope..."

Got to Be a Better Way Home
I Played the Fool
Better Days
Love on the Wrong Side of Town
Strange Strange Feeling
Angel Eyes
Forever
Into the Harbour
Tango 'til They're Sore
Talk to Me
Walk away Renee
Cross That Line/Stay with Me
You're My Girl
New Orleans*
Fanny Mae*
This Time It’s for Real
Umbrella in My Drink*
The Fever
One More Night to Rock
I Don’t Want to Go Home

First encore:
Trapped Again
Hearts of Stone

Second encore:
We're Having a Party*

*With guest vocals by Gary U.S. Bonds

Band Lineup:
Southside Johnny, vocals, harmonica, percussion, keyboards and acoustic guitar
Jeff Kazee, keyboards and percussion
John Conte, bass
Glenn Alexander, guitar
Tom Seguso, drums
John Isley, tenor sax and baritone sax
Chris Anderson, trumpet, percussion and flugelhorn
Ronnie "Bill Clinton" Buttacavoli, trumpet
Neal Pawley, trombone and acoustic guitar
Hood, percussion and millinery

 

For upcoming shows at the Paramount, please click on their calendar

Once again we had the pleasure to spend the before and after party in the Founders Room!

Members only!

This is the best way to enjoy this venue.

As a member you are able to enjoy all the amenities offered to you in the founders Room. 

The Speakeasy decor and the flapper girls serving you will just enhance your enjoyment.

 They have an amazing wine by the glass menu and a great assortment of beers.

Founder’s Room Membership ($2,500)

• Pre-sale ticket and VIP seating access
• Private concierge for Founder’s Room Members
• Discounted food and beverage
• Private acoustic performances or meet and greet access with select artists-based on availability
• With mezzanine and premium ticket purchases, VIP parking access twenty times per year
• Access to private reserved seating in Founder’s Room based on availability
• Access to exclusive members only events
• Complimentary access to the Founder’s Room for member and one guest
• Weekly email updates on upcoming concerts and member events

All terms based on availability. Management reserves all rights.

   

Anyone interested in Joining can contact my very good friend Merav Shiloni, Member Services manager at the Paramount.

Her office number is 631-673-7300 Ext 301

Mention that you heard about this from

"The Dish With Dean"  

April 13, 2013 Ruvo update as told by the Top Notch kid himself.

Very good friends went to Ruvo, Greenlawn on their anniversary last week. 

Remember that this is a week night so the crowd is minimal. 

Salad was very good, no complaints by anyone. Entree ordered by my the Mrs.  was a pasta dish which in her opinion was just OK. 

Mr. SS orders Pork Chops. 

After carefully looking over the dish which was in his words

"Looked like a Virginia ham".

The meat was all fat and horrible.

Waitress comes over and asks if everything is OK. She sees him debating whether to eat this or not. He explains as I have that this is his favorite place and he never sends back food, but this is not edible. 

She tells him to order another entree and they will get it out as quick as possible. 

He orders a Shrimp and Sole Oreganata.

The dish comes out very fast and it looks great. After a fork test he realizes that this dish is undercooked and not edible.

Again waitress comes over and apologizes.

After eating no entree and just dessert, they meet the owner who apologizes and says the regular chef is not there and please accept this certificate for another meal.

Hopefully that next meal will show improvement because this one was not 

"Top Notch" 

Here is to hoping Ruvo has better days!

From "The Dish With Dean"

Enjoy!

Ruvo Greenlawn 63 Broadway | Greenlawn, NY 11740 | (631) 261-7700 

Food **

       Service ***

Bar *** 

This has been a very busy weekend for "The Dish With Dean" and I was so looking forward to visiting "Ruvo"

It was always one of my favorite places to dine on Long Island and the staff and owners are always so pleasant and helpful.

There were 4 of us in our party and making a reservation through 

open table is always helpful. 

The amount of time from arrival to being seated is minimal and the bar is a great place to start. 

A great glass of cab  for the ladies and an ice cold stella for me. 

A great start to a great night.

 

After being seated I realized that our table or should I say my seat was a direct path to the kitchen and after being bumped and apologized to several times, I moved my seat over with no success.

Appetizers were chosen and I ordered a small plate of fried calamari. The dish was a very tender plate of calamari with a great color and taste. For the price it should have been large enough to share.

The other man in our party had the diver scallops and based on how quickly he ate them, I would have to say he enjoyed them.

The ladies each had a salad that came out crisp and cool and looked amazing. 

The waiter was great and did all the right things. 

Dinner was what disappointed me. 

I ordered a veal chop valdostana and was looking forward to it. One of my favorite veal dishes with prosciutto and fontina cheese oozing from the center of a perfectly broiled or grilled veal chop. 

What I got was a slice of prosciutto and fontina cheese on top of a veal chop that was over cooked and fatty. 

My friend had the cavatelli with lobster and that looked amazing. I imagine that  because he ate that just as fast as his appetizer, he loved it.

My wife had the monk fish which was cooked very nicely and accompanied by wonderfully cooked vegetables. 

My friends wife had the veal scallopini with long stemmed artichokes, spinach and panchetta in a lemon pinot-grigio sauce.

Another nicely presented dish that I think was a veal francese with a twist.

Needless to say I was a little disappointed but i will go back in a month or two and give it another try. It was always one of my favorite places.

As always, Enjoy from "The Dish With Dean"

   

   Food ***

       Service **

• Tel: 631-486-8910
• Fax: 631-486-8913
• 2074 Jericho Turnpike
• East Northport, NY 11731
• Free Delivery (Min $15) 

Last night was a typical Friday night where I was hungry. On a typical Friday night we might enjoy sushi for 2 at another of my favorite places. 

Wanting to stay local and go to a place where we have been before, we fell into Aki on Jericho Turnpike in East Northport. I must say that this place has taken off because never have I been asked upon walking in if we had "reservations". we decided to sit at the sushi bar and enjoy our food and watch as the crafty chefs prepare their most artful dishes.

I usually start my dinner off with a sushi pizza which has an assortment of coarsely chopped raw fish such as salmon, tuna, yellowtail, and white tuna. This combo of fish along with crunch and special sauce on top of a perfectly crunchy rice base is amazing. 

Tonight though was something different because I was in the mood for a salad and just couldn't decide what to get. 

My wife of course enjoyed her seaweed salad and green tea while I chose a 

Friendship bowl salad!

Tuna, salmon, yellowtail and white tuna on top of greens with spicy dressing and crunch and red caviar on top.

This salad was as I expected would be, really well presented and fresh as any sashimi I have had.

For dinner I ordered the Jericho roll and was not really paying attention to the fact that the outside was deep fried tempura. It had spicy tuna in the center with a lobster salad. My internal choice of ingredients is what I was after but the deep fried part was not.

I even asked to see a menu when the dish was presented to me. 

I have to say it was just OK and not my best choice.

Usually I go to a place and order the same thing because I am comfortable. 

At Aki I usually order these very good rolls.

The Michele roll

The Naruto roll was what my wife had as her dinner and as always is very fresh and appealing. The fact that it is made with a cucumber wrap and no rice is also very enjoyable. This is something we would normally share as part of our array of rolls for dinner.

Crazy Tuna roll

I also order the precious roll.  All of these rolls are "Top Notch" as a good friend who doesn't eat sushi or rolls would say.
They offer a 15% coupon you can get and it is well worth the trip.
If you like hot green tea as I do, they have some of the best. It is very nutty and your cup is always kept full

As always enjoy from "The dish With Dean"

Water Zooi
850 Franklin Avenue
Garden City, NY
516.877.2177

  What can I say about Waterzooi except it was amazing. 
Saturday night we arrived around 10:00 after the Hockey game. That hour there is never a wait and 4 of us were politely seated.
The server asked if we would like drinks and our guests ordered 2 different martinis. We had 2 glasses of the house Pinot Noir. 
To start the ladies had 2 Field green salads which were delicious and had chunks of Gorgonzola cheese. My friend and I shared the Lobster Mac n Cheese. On a scale of  1 - 10 we have to rate that a 4. The cheese was very watery and the pasta used was not correct for that dish. 

Our main courses came out and the ladies shared the Thai Moules pot with lemon grass, spicy coconut and cilantro broth. As always that dish is rated clearly an 8.

I had the Homard Moules pot which is a lobster bisque sauce with amazing mussels immersed in the heavenly scent of it all. I can usually polish this dish off without fail but because of the lobster Mac, I was not able to. All dishes are served with a side of papas fritas and a mayo dipping sauce.
My friend had the wellington burger which in his words was decadent. The decadent part was the fois gras and the mushroom topping.

 

This is the Homard laced with tiny chunks of lobster.

 The only downside to this meal which I don't know if it was just the time of the night or our specific server was the service. I like to know that my water glass is kept full and that someone cares if there are any issues or questions. Perhaps another glass of wine would have been nice.

From "The Dish With Dean"

Enjoy!

  
   

Jellyfish in Centerport once again lives up to the consistency I expect.

Tonight was dinner for 2 and a chance to unwind. 

Our server, Diane is what I refer to as the Mother to the place. She made our dining experience an absolute pleasure. 

I started my evening with the Volcano roll. This was a dish large enough for 3 people to eat but I ate it all. 

My wife had the Beet salad with 2 different types of beets. Very unique and extremely satisfying.

My cocktail of choice this evening was the Basil Martini.

This is a great summer drink because of the refreshing taste but I had to have one on a snowy night.

 

Our main courses for me were a challenge but for my wife was easy. She is in love with their Lobster Cantonese style with Pork belly. It is always consistent and a well balanced dish for her to enjoy.

For myself this time I chose the Lamb chops which to my surprise (not) were amazing. I ordered a side of Truffle Parmesan fries and sauteed mushrooms. 

I did not care very much for the shrooms which I usually love but the fries were amazing. I am not usually a fry lover and more of a baked man, but these were great.

For dessert which I usually do not indulge, we chose the sorbet trio: home made pear, apple and blood orange.

Accompanied by organic green tea. 

 

 The night was still young so we went downstairs to enjoy the late night music from 10-1. 

The music was great and the crowd was very much enjoying themselves.

I closed the evening with 1 more basil martini and listened to some great tunes. 

Heading out, the Valet had my car all warm and cleaned off from the dusting of snow.

Once again 4 stars for food

5 stars for service

           

Changing Times of East Northport

I have lived in this area for 20 years and have always enjoyed Changing Times. Many years ago we used to see some great local bands play when this place occupied space a little further North than they are now. Since moving to this location, they have really concentrated on their sports themes. There are more flat screen TV's in the place per square foot than any place I have ever seen on Long Island. 

Their Menu is not your typical Bar menu. 

One of our favorites is the Ahi Tuna salad.

This dish is enough to share and is unreal. The delicate tastes all blend to make your mouth water with every bite.

The burgers are all exceptional as well as the specials. 

The best part of changing times is the wings. 

Have a few dozen wings and a few pitchers of beer and you can call that heaven. 

I can't forget the Onion Stack or garlic Bread and last but certaintly not least

The assortment of Schwartz sandwiches on garlic bread.