12/27/11

Top 10 of Westchester Food Trends of 2011, Drinking in the New Year at Westchester Restaurants, and Check Out These Baubles: Gem-like Macarons from Mount Kisco’s La Tulipe

Top Ten of Westchester Food Trends of 2011

Okay, here’s my year-end listicle in all of its brash, hype-filled glory. Look, we’re not saying that these 10 things are good or bad; we’re just saying that they’re trendy. And, while I’m at it, I’d like to send this one out to all the readers. What trends have you been witnessing, good, bad, neutral, or ugly? Add your...

Posted at 01:10 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

12/19/11

A Visit to Captain Lawrence Brewing Co.’s New Elmsford Brewery; Feast of the Seven Dogfish Heads at Growlers Beer Bistro; and, For Christmas: Eggnog Cupcakes from Flour & Sun

So: very huge news over at Westchester’s favorite brewery, Captain Lawrence Brewing Co. We swung by the new spot at 444 Saw Mill River Road in Elmsford to talk with Scott Vaccaro, and, folks, the new brewery is huge. Of course, the old brewery felt huge, too, all filled with gleaming tanks and fermenters and such, but the new space is massive at 19,000 square feet, and more than doubles Captain Lawrence’s current Pleasantville space.

Posted at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

12/12/11

The Beer Necessities Opens in New Rochelle, Chef Johnson (Keepin’ the Funk in the Food), Westchester’s Christmas Eve Dinners, and Look Out! It’s Soup Dumplings in Yonkers at Gem-Cuisine of China

The trickle down of the phenomenon that Joshua M. Bernstein terms the “Brewed Awakening” (in his book of that title) is that the craft beer revolution is coming to a town near you. In that vein, The Grape Exchange (31 Quaker Ridge Rd, 914-576-3936) —a neighborhood wine and liquor store in New Rochelle—has branched out with a beer-focused venue located in the same shopping center. The Beer Necessities (11 Quaker Ridge Rd, 914-278-9050), offers 1,440 square feet devoted to boutique beers.

Posted at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

12/05/11

More Local Food Gifts Ideas, Last Chance to See X2O’s Holiday Cabaret, Chef de Cuisine Switch at BHSB, the Flying Pig Closes After 11 Years, and Opa! There’s Nemea, a New Greek in Mamaroneck

More Local Food Gifts

This year, I spent Black Friday stuffing pellets of food into the whiskered, wet maws of water buffalo, and still, I feel that my day was less absurdly spent than those of Black Friday shoppers. Not only did they risk their lives and limbs in stores, malls, and parking lots, but just think about those hard-won gifts. They’re often made abroad, with questionable labor practices, and then sold by US titans like Walmart (whose treatment of your neighbors, their workers, is notorious).

Do yourself and your karma a favor. Spend your holiday dollars locally in your neighbors’ stores...

Posted at 01:18 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0