july 2013
hot tomatoes The celluloid gourmet: Stanley Tucci
Cooks’ tour with John Ritacco and other guys in the kitchen • Past(a) perfect: De Cecco’s Marco de Ceglie • Pressing matters: Kylie Cappelli’s juice bar • Stew Leonard’s gastronomic emporium
July 7: Chris Isaak July 14: Blues Traveler July 21: Three Dog Night July 28: Kansas
2013
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July 2013
Naughty by nature • 12 Kale and hearty • 34 Steam heat • 14 Liquid tomato • 36 Pasta master • 17 super marketer • 38 Liquid assets • 20 To market we go • 42 Sweet illusion • 22 Tucci’s well-seasoned career • 47 The modest cook • 25 Latin beat in Larchmont • 55 (Culinary) courage under fire • 28 The accent on spanish cuisine• 56 In love with Italy • 30 The PUZLCAKE • 57 Tuned in to good food • 32 Hotdoggin’ it• 59
Anthony Goncalves, chef-owner of 42 The Restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester and Kylie Cappelli, owner of the Lilli Pilli Health Bar in White Plains. Goncalves teamed up with Cappelli for the fare 2 at Lilli Pilli. Photograph by Bob Rozycki.
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July2013
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Torey Van Oot
is an award-winning journalist who recently returned to the East Coast after spending four years covering California politics for The Sacramento Bee. Her work has also appeared in online and print publications in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. When she’s not on deadline, she can be found visiting one of the dog parks near her Brooklyn home with her 1-year-old golden retriever.
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editor's letter Georgette Gouveia
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I have the kind of relationship to food that I think many people might identify with: I love to eat. But cooking, meh, not so much. Actually, it’s not that I don’t like to cook. It’s just that I love thinking, reading and writing so much that cooking gets in the way, even when there are pots on the stove (as my consistently burned Cream of Wheat can attest). As my sister Gina, a superb cook and hostess, always says, “If you would just bring to cooking the passion you bring to writing, you’d be a halfway decent cook.” Unfortunately, the only thing I really enjoy about cooking – synthesizing things in new ways – is what I love about writing. Then, too, my kitchen experiences are somehow often derailed by culture. There was the time after a big holiday dinner that I decided to inaugurate the self-cleaning device on the oven while watching the movie “Sylvia,” in which tragic poet Sylvia Plath (an excellent cook, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, no slouch in the kitchen herself ) ends it all by sticking her head in the stove. The newly metallic smell of the self-cleaning feature, the intense heat emanating from the oven – well, it was too much for me. Convinced I would gas myself, I turned it off and proceeded to open all the windows in 30-degree weather. “You’re a nut,” Aunt Mary, a fabulous professional cook, yelled down from upstairs. Then there was the time I attempted to make red velvet cupcakes after seeing Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd.” The result was me on a fainting couch. I think the less said about that episode, the better. Fortunately for WAG readers this month, we’re all about people who know a sous chef from a chef ’s salad. Did I say people? I mean specifically men who can cook, and as we ladies know, there are few things sexier on the face of God’s green earth. Our guys fall into two distinct categories – the pros and the talented amateurs. The latter include cover guy Stanley Tucci, who has a long association with food on-screen (“Big Night,” “Julie & Julia”) and off (“The Tucci Cookbook”). He leads a group that includes Shelton Police Chief Joel Hurliman, Dr. Richard Klein, banker John Ritacco and media executive Jeffrey Warshaw. Then there are those who have a professional association with food – De Cecco USA CEO Marco de Ceglie; Michael Jannetta, co-owner of the new Salaon-Hudson restaurant; Stew Leonard Jr. of the eponymous market; Chef Marc Lippman of the Castle Hotel & Spa; and
Chef Rafael Palomino of the new Palomino restaurant. What all these men have in common – besides a love of pasta – is a playful passion, a tremendous sense of creativity that they bring to the art of dining. You may also notice another sub-theme, a strong Mediterranean connection. Recent studies have confirmed that the Mediterranean diet – with its emphasis on fruits and vegetables and use of olive oil – is a particularly healthy one, although we just love Italian and Spanish cuisines, to name two. So we have Cappy’s wanders piece, in which she unleashes the Gypsy in her soul through flamenco, and a story that considers the Latin lover in pop culture with a look at two of the greatest – Rudolph Valentino and Ramon Novarro. There are pieces on the new Glo Beauty Bar and what’s under the chef’s apron – namely, men’s undies. And let’s say that Spanx isn’t just for women anymore. But mostly we’re about food in our “Hot Tomatoes” issue. To our readers, we say, “Savor.” And to our subjects, we say, “Hey, guys, what’s for dinner? We’ll be over at 6.”
OOPS WAG had a kind of wardrobe malfunction in May. In our “Just Add Water” feature, we misspelled the name of a swimwear designer. It is Karla Colletto. Also, all the photos in the feature are courtesy of Everything But Water and the items themselves can be found in the company’s store in The Westchester, White Plains and/or at its new Greenwich Avenue locale.
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Naughty by nature The saucy, seedy, juiced up side of the red-hot tomato By Georgette Gouveia
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“You like potato and I like potahto. You like tomato and I like tomahto. Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto: Let’s call the whole thing off.” Mais pourquoi, Ira Gershwin? Particularly when everyone loves a good tomah, er, tomato. (A white potato – meh. Now a sweet potato, that’s a different story.) But back to tomatoes: Everyone enjoys a good tomato, right? Especially at this time of the year, when folks are busy cultivating their gardens (thank you, Voltaire) and getting ready to relish a juicy tomato plucked from the vine (or from a roadside stand, where it waits patiently for you along with its country cousin, corn). Put a few slices of tomato between two pieces of bread with just a little mayo – mm, mm, mm. Or maybe you chop it up and mix it with a little garlic, olive oil and basil to top a bit of bruschetta, eh? Or some nice fresh pasta. That’s the great thing about the tomato: You can slice it, dice it, crush it, chunk it, can it, jar it, serve it for breakfast, lunch and dinner and still not exhaust the possibilities. It’s one of nature’s perfect creations, part of what my former editor Meryl Harris once said was the perfect sandwich – the BLT. And yet – you know, dear reader, that lavish praise is always followed by an “and yet” – the red-hot tomato has its devilish
side. (Not for nothing is its juice the basis of the Bloody Mary.) The tomato has been the chosen fruit of opprobrium, hurled in its less-thanfresh variety at bad performers and tyrannical officials alike. No doubt that’s why Rotten Tomatoes, a website by Flixster that tabulates movie reviews, notes the favorable ones with bright red tomatoes and the unfavorable with green splats. (A movie is given a percentage based on how many fresh tomatoes it receives.) The town of Buñol, Spain, doesn’t need any such excuses. On the last Wednesday of August, residents gather to hurl more than 115,000 kilograms, about 254,000 pounds, of tomatoes at one another during the Tomatina Festival. Must have something to do with the scantily clad girls dripping in tomato pulp. The tomato comes by its dual nature honestly. Originating in ancient Mesoamerica, where it was called the “tomatl,” the tomato is a member of the infamous nightshade family. During the age of colonization, it made its way to Europe and into continental folk tales in which werewolves used its cousin – deadly nightshade or belladonna – to complete their lupine transformation. Hence the scientific classification of the tomato, Solanum lycopersicum, with the second word translated as “wolf peach.”
Yet to the Italians, Poles and Russians, the tomato is an “apple of gold” (pomodoro), while the Serbs, Slovenians and Hungarians think of it as an “apple of paradise” (Pardeisapfel). Maybe it’s what Eve used to tempt Adam in the Garden of Eden. Would that make her a “hot tomato?” Not unless she made Hollywood flicks in the first half of the 20th century. That’s where you are most likely to hear this slang for an extremely appealing woman. The term is derived – and here, dear reader, you can have your pick – either from the French habit of trying to turn everything into an aphrodisiac and thus referring to the tomato as a pomme d’amour or “love apple” – or, more likely, from the flappers’ preference for bright red lipstick. So you can see the problem: The tomato – nutritious or poisonous, good or evil? With such an ambiguous pedigree, it took a long time for the lovely crimson botantical to make its way into the heart of America, even though it was born in our hemisphere. But eventually it took off – thanks, according to tomatogardeningguru.com, to Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Campbell (soup), Andy Warhol (paintings of Campbell’s Tomato Soup cans) and some guy named Col. Robert Gibbon Johnson, who ate a whole basket of tomatoes in 1830, thus proving they wouldn’t
make you foam at the mouth, die or turn into a werewolf. On the contrary, tomatoes are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. But a more controversial dichotomy was lurking here: The tomato – fruit or vegetable? Technically, a tomato is a fruit as “the seed-bearing ovary of a flower,” says the Tomato Gardening Guru. But tell that to the U.S. Supreme Court. Never let it be said that a fruit can’t become a vegetable, especially when money and the American law are involved. In 1887, tomato importer John Nix sued Edward L. Hedden, tax collector for the port of New York, arguing that since the tomato is a fruit, it was exempt from the 10-percent tariff on vegetables. But in Nix v. Hedden, the Supreme Court found that while the tomato is technically a fruit, it is used practically as a vegetable – in appetizers and main courses, not desserts. Thanks to the Supremes, the tomato is the state vegetable of New Jersey and the state fruit of Ohio. Arkansas, most wisely, decided to have it both ways, declaring the South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato to be the state fruit and vegetable. Those clever Arkansans: They know the tomato is just delish – any way you slice it. n
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The Latin mystique lives on By Georgette Gouveia
Rita Hayworth – born Margarita Carmen Cansino – used her mother’s maiden name.
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The iconic Latin lover gaze: Rudolph Valentino in the aptly titled “A Sainted Devil” (1924).
Fernando Lamas
T
The phrase “hot tomato” may have applied to the crimson-lipped flappers who raised their hemlines and lowered their guard in the Roaring ’20s. But few were hotter than the Latin lovers who steamed up the silver screen. In a sense, the flapper and the Latin lover went hand in hand or, rather, cheek to cheek: Though names like Rudolph Valentino, Ramon Novarro, Antonio Moreno, Gilbert Roland and Ricardo Cortez may mean nothing to Facebook Nation, they conjured a dark beauty and barely contained passion that ignited womanhood at a time when our nation was struggling with issues of race, sex, gender equality and national identity – issues that remain unresolved to this day. It’s easy to make fun of the Latin lover with his eyes blazing and nostrils flaring in ardor, anger, anguish and, well, that was pretty much it. Many of us, after all, are old enough to remember Marlon Brando, who ushered in a more naturalistic style of acting. (Then, too, Brando didn’t have to act in an age without sound when you had to convey everything with your face.) And many of us still chuckle at clips of Billy
Crystal on “Saturday Night Live” as Fernando, a character who was a pastiche of such ardent mid-20th century Latin lovers as Fernando Lamas, Ricardo Montalbán and Cesar Romero and whose catchphrase, “You look mahvelous,” implied an oily charm worthy of parody. But the truth is that from the beginning, the Latin lovers were the objects of prejudice and ridicule by white-bread American males who feared both women’s awakening sexuality and a rivalry with dark, foreign-born types. “The first official Latin Lover, Madridborn Antonio Moreno, came to the fore in a string of serials in the late 1910s,” André Soares writes in his absorbing biography “Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro” (St. Martin’s Press), “but in those days, despite Moreno’s popularity, men with darker looks were relegated to playing villains devoid of sensuality.” Enter Valentino. At first, it seemed that the Italian-born dancer would go the way of Moreno – if he were lucky. Director D.W. Griffith, who once ran a film studio in Mamaroneck, turned down a chance to cast him even as a Mexican bandit in the
movie “Scarlet Days,” because he thought women would be put off by his foreign looks. Women were not. When writer-producer June Mathis was casting the male lead in “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (1921) – based on a popular novel of family and war that stretched from the tango clubs of Argentina to the battlefields of World War I France – she knew whom she wanted. As the self-centered, tangoing Julio – who changes lovers as if they were dance partners but finds redemption amid the bloody French trenches – Valentino was a sensation. Like most of the great male stars in any era, he was macho enough to entice women with his sexual heat but vulnerable enough to let them explore their sexuality safely, Michael Malone writes in “Heroes of Eros” (E.P. Dutton): “Valentino’s ‘rape’ of Vilma Banky in ‘Son of the Sheik’ is much discussed as the epitome of machismo; what is almost never mentioned is that Valentino is stripped to the waist, tied up, and flogged by a real brute just before the infamous assault on Banky in the tent. The second
But the truth is that from the beginning, the Latin lovers were the objects of prejudice and ridicule by whitebread American males who feared both women’s awakening sexuality and a rivalry with dark, foreignborn types.
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Despite the charms of Lamas, Montalbán and Romero – and the international stardom of Louis Jordan and Marcello Mastroianni – the later Latin lovers would never achieve the movie stardom of Valentino or even Novarro, often being relegated instead to supporting roles, other ethnicities, sci-fi and comic-book villains and TV series and commercials.
Antonio Banderas at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.
Jennifer Lopez in the daring Versace that made her a fashion icon.
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action is made possible (and acceptable) only by the first: Only because women could ‘rape’ Valentino did they allow him to ‘rape’ them.” The ravisher offered something else – a sleeker style that had a host of imitators. As Novarro biographer Soares notes, Ricardo Cortez had actually been born Jacob Krantz. Englishman Ronald Colman and Americans Warner Baxter and John Gilbert also capitalized on the craze for darkly handsome leading men. And few probably realize that Hungarian-born Bela Lugosi’s interpretation of Dracula on Broadway in 1927 – in white tie and patent-leather hair – owed more to Valentino than to Bram Stoker’s novel. Valentino’s chief rival in Latin loverland was Mexican-born Ramon Novarro, and like most rivals, they were a study in contrasts. While Valentino smoldered, Novarro sported. Valentino had the mystique; Novarro, the range, which he put to good use in the 1925 “Ben-Hur,” a film that more than holds its own against the 1959 juggernaut, right down to the sea battle and the oft-imitated chariot race. As Judah Ben-Hur, the proud Jew who’s spurred to revenge against the Romans for his family’s sufferings yet yearns for a transcendent peace, Novarro is in some ways far more believable than the fairer, clenchjawed Charlton Heston. Success, however, didn’t necessarily bring the Latin lover respect. The idiosyncratic Valentino – with his headlineinducing marriages and preference for strong, older women – was often accused of being gay or at least effete, a “pink powder puff” – a slur he readily avenged with his fists. The more conventional Novarro, who actually was gay, mostly went under the radar by cultivating the press – he was the lover of the journalist Herbert Howe – and sticking close to his family and his Roman Catholic faith. Ironically, his brutal 1968 murder at the hands of two
young men he had hired for sex would become one of Hollywood’s most sensational tragedies. By then, Valentino had been dead 42 years, succumbing in 1926 to complications from surgery to alleviate appendicitis and gastric ulcers. With him died the novelty of and the passion for the Latin lover. By the 1930s, the Latin lover was a punch line – see Erik Rhodes’ amusing Italian dandy in the Astaire-Rogers musical “Top Hat” – and “tall, dark and handsome” meant you had better have an American accent (Tyrone Power) or at least, an Anglo one (Cary Grant.) Despite the charms of Lamas, Montalbán and Romero – and the international stardom of Louis Jordan and Marcello Mastroianni – the later Latin lovers would never achieve the movie stardom of Valentino or even Novarro, often being relegated instead to supporting roles, other ethnicities, sci-fi and comic-book villains and TV series and commercials. The same was true of Latinas like Rita Moreno. One exception was the actress-dancer Margarita Carmen Cansino – Rita Hayworth. In our global Internet age, it’s supposedly all different. Actors regularly play various nationalities. And no one wants to be the fair-haired boy. Everyone wants to be the antihero or villain. (In “Skyfall,” the latest, terrific James Bond thriller, Spain’s Javier Bardem went blond to play the antagonist of Daniel Craig’s fair Bond, the idea being that they are two halves of the same cold-spy coin.) When we think “Latin” today, we might think of Bardem or Antonio Banderas, Marc Anthony or Enrique Iglesias. But perhaps we’re more likely to think of strong Latinas like Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Sofia Vergara and Penelope Cruz – who are international media and fashion stars as well as performers. Call them Valentino’s revenge. n
Pasta master Marco de Ceglie crafts recipes for success
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By Georgette Gouveia Photographs by Bob Rozycki
n a career that has taken him from olive oil to rice to pasta and both sides of the Atlantic, Marco de Ceglie has sampled many different kinds of cuisine. “My favorite foods are Italian and Japanese,” he says. “What they have in common is that they’re based on extremely simple recipes that require high quality ingredients. …You have to have the right ingredients and then you can have high quality food. That’s what De Cecco understands.” And de Ceglie (de SELL yuh) understands De Cecco. Last November, the Italian-based company – the third largest pasta producer in the world – named him CEO of its crucial USA division in Manhattan. It’s easy to see why. Spending an hour or so with him at the company’s sleek American headquarters – situated appropriately enough next to Cipriani Le Specialità, the go-to restaurant for celebrity events – is like having a primer on pasta delivered with all the sunniness of his native land. That de Ceglie is passion-
Marco de Ceglie
ate about De Cecco (de CHECK o) pasta there can be no doubt.
Full-proof process
“Pasta,” he says, “is the core of the company,” which also makes olive oil and some
sauces. What separates the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, is the process that the multigenerational company – nestled in Abruzzo’s Fara San Martino near Maiella National Park – has been using since Filippo Giovanni De Cecco founded the
business in 1886. The company has had a presence in America for a century, earning distinction at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The process, de Ceglie says over espresso, begins with the highest-quality durum wheat – “we use only the core of the grain” – which is made into a coarse semolina in De Cecco’s own mill. The semolina is mixed at a constant temperature of 59 degrees Fahrenheit with water from the mountain spring that runs through the national park. The resulting dough is drawn through bronze (as opposed to plastic) dies to form the 180 different pasta shapes (with spaghetti, penne and rigatoni being the most popular). The pasta is then dried slowly – anywhere from 18 to 40 hours – at a low temperature. This was Filippo Giovanni De Cecco’s great innovation. “That was the breakthrough at the end of the 19th century,” de Ceglie says. “Before that they would sun-dry the pasta, but you can’t base your production on sun-drying. So Mr. De Cecco invented
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Monica Fava, Marco DeCeglie, Venice Morris and Sara Ceribelli prepare for lunch at DeCecco’s New York City headquarters.
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this drying process – slow-drying, low temperature….It makes a big difference in terms of quality and taste.” Indeed, he adds, the result is a pasta that doesn’t get hard around the edges and mushy at the center when you cook it and whose slight coarseness allows the sauce to cling to it. Sauce should dress rather than overwhelm pasta, which in Italy is served as a small accent or appetizer, rather than as a big main meal as it is in the U.S. The other result is a different kind of dough – about $500 million in annual sales. The food sellers and restaurants get De Cecco. “The goal is to grow the business with the consumer.”
An unusual Italian
“I’m a typical Italian in certain areas and not so typical in others,” de Ceglie says. Not so typical: He doesn’t follow soccer. Typical: He loves sports cars and once owned a Bentley coupe, a Porsche and a limited edition Ford Mustang GT manufactured to mark the 40th anniversary of the movie “Bullitt” (1968), in which Steve McQueen drives said car, most memorably in the chase sequence. Also typical: He grew up in Rome in a family that was “keen on good food and educated me to eat what was on my plate.”
Spaghetti carbonara a la Marco de Ceglie • • • • • •
1 whole egg 3 yolks ¼ pound pancetta ¾ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese 1 cup Pecorino Romano cheese 1 package De Cecco spaghetti
1. Grate and mix the cheeses. 2. In a bowl, combine the three yolks, whole egg and cheeses until the mixture has a pasty consistency. Set aside. 3. Cube the pancetta and place it in a frying pan, allowing the pieces to cook in their own fat until they become crispy. Drain the pancetta and set aside. 4. Boil the spaghetti until it’s al dente, drain it and return it to the pot. Pour in the egg mixture and pancetta, tossing the pasta until the strands are coated and the pancetta distributed. Serve with grated cheese and pepper to taste.
After graduating from the University of Rome – “a very big public university” – de Ceglie went to work for Unilever in Milan for 29 years. Initially, he was in the home and personal care division of the business. But that all changed in 1994 when the company bought Bertoli olive oil. De Ceglie figures he has bought a million tons of olive oil in his professional life. He can tell you which country produces the best (Spain, with Italy and Greece as co-number twos); which
are the up-and-comers (Australia, Chile, Argentina and South Africa); where you should plant the somewhat flexible olive tree (near wherever the more finicky grape vine grows); and when to use pure and when to use extra virgin olive oil. Extra virgin is rich in antioxidants and vitamins so save that for your dressings. Cooking burns off the antioxidants and vitamins so go with the pure olive oil for that. Clearly, de Ceglie is a man for De Cecco’s 100-percent Italian olive oil and
its more delicate blend. When Unilever sold Bertoli (and, in a manner of speaking, de Ceglie) to American Rice Inc. in Houston in 2009, he encountered his first sustained exposure to America. For de Ceglie, who describes himself as “extremely flexible,” it was no problem. But for his wife, son and daughter, American car culture and sprawl proved to be something of a shock. “My wife kept saying, ‘But where is the city center where I can window-shop?’” he recalls. Walkable New York is closer to their European experience. Today, de Ceglie lives with his wife and daughter in lower Manhattan. The couple’s son is an aspiring filmmaker in Los Angeles. There was a time, he says – before he got married but after he was out on his own – when he learned to cook for himself. Since he married, de Ceglie has fewer opportunities, though he and his staff of 22 will put together meals in the kitchen off the spacious conference room as a way of bonding and learning about De Cecco’s products. Still there are nights when his daughter will ask if Dad can whip up his signature spaghetti carbonara. And de Ceglie – who knows pasta, olive oil, sauces and more important, the best ingredients – happily obliges. n
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Liquid assets Kylie Cappelli thinks outside the (juice) box By Georgette Gouveia Photographs by Bob Rozycki 20
K
ylie Cappelli’s Lilli Pilli Health Bar in White Plains takes its name and spirit from the Australian Outback, where she was raised. There, she says, “you had to be selfsufficient, or you’d die.” She wants to bring that same independence of mind to nutrition. “You don’t have to go bungee-jumping,” says the former model and actress, who’s been skydiving. “But what I want is to remind people to go outside the box and live life to the fullest. Go out and suck it up and live it, ’cause life is short.” Hence the health bar’s motto – “Chug it. Live it. Love it.” What people are chugging, living and loving is a way of eating that centers on whole, organic, clean food – cold-pressed juices and juice cleanses, organic frozen yogurt and such signature dishes as organic turkey chili, sweet potatoes stuffed with turkey and vegetables and Chinese chicken salad. Kylie knows what you’re thinking. But this isn’t trendy food for the perpetually noble dieter who’s willing to sacrifice in the name of health and beauty. “I wanted to make stuff that tasted great,” says Kylie, a striking blonde dressed this day in a caramel and white palette that accents her coloring. “I wanted something everybody would enjoy. I don’t want to be
a vegan. I want to drink a glass of wine or have a beer. I want delicious food.” She knows that people enjoy fruits and vegetables. But she also knows that they can be time-consuming to prepare. That’s why she set out – with the help of her mother’s recipes and Anthony Goncalves, chef-owner of neighboring 42 The Restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester – to create drinks and eats that combine fruits and vegetables in sweet and savory ways. Like the Absolutely Everything juice, with which Kylie starts her day (along with a bowl of steel-cut oatmeal). The Absolutely Everything contains Swiss chard, celery, cucumber, kale, parsley, apple, lemon and ginger cayenne. (Think cucumber soup with a ginger cayenne kick.) Taking it down a notch but still refreshing is the Multi-Vitamin juice, made with Swiss chard, celery, cucumber, kale, parsley and apple. For a sweet treat, try Nourish (beet, carrot and pineapple.) Looking for a sports drink or an afternoon pick-me-up? Consider Replenish (young Thai coconut water, cucumber and pineapple with a
hint of Himalayan salt). We also sampled and liked the tangy Green Lemonade (lemon, apple, Swiss chard, coconut nectar and ultra-filtered water.) Over our juice-tasting it becomes clear that the seeds for Kylie’s 1-year-old health bar – named for an Australian berry – were planted in her mother’s vegetable garden in Kalgoorlie, a mining town 370 miles east of Perth on Australia’s west coast. There were no supermarkets for quick fixes. Out there, the family lived off the land and lugged water tanks and antennae for her father’s geological expeditions. Kylie left home at 16 and ultimately became a model and actress. She met her future husband, Louis Cappelli, who developed The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester – where the couple lives – and neighboring City Center, among other properties. (They also have a house in the Hamptons.) The dapper Mr. Cappelli stops by the cheery, mod Lilli Pilli – just under 1,500 square feet of lime green paint, exposed
beams and pipes, chandeliers and reclaimed wood from Hudson, N.Y., plus an additional 4,000 square feet downstairs for the cold presses. Louis, however, is not there to be interviewed, just to pick up some juices and give his wife a quick kiss before heading off to work. If the Outback looms large in the creation of Lilli Pilli, so does that frightening moment in 2009 when Louis suffered a brain aneurysm. “His brain exploded, in my opinion, from stress,” Kylie says of a time when the recession brought the country to its knees. “That fear has become the new norm. What we thought was important then is not important now.” Searching for a way to exert control over what she could, Kylie began to look at what and how she was eating. She and a friend experimented with making juices using a cookbook, but their initial efforts tasted terrible. It was only after trial and error and working with Goncalves, whom she describes as “like my brother,” that the pressed juices took hold. And with them, a mission. “I don’t know where all this will end up,” she says. “But what’s exciting is knowing I can change people’s lives.” Lilli Pilli Health Bar is at 240 Main St. in White Plains. For a look at the menu, go to lillipilliberribar.com. n
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Karen Tack with her chickens in her Riverside home. Photograph by Patricia Espinosa.
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Sweet illusion Karen Tack creates bite-size magic
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By Patricia Espinosa Photographs by Alan Richardson
he ubiquitous cupcake wasn’t always the little darling of desserts. Long before the cupcake craze took hold, Karen Tack and Alan Richardson co-wrote their first New York Times’ best-selling book, “Hello, Cupcake!” Next came “What’s New, Cupcake?” and “Cupcakes, Cookies & Pies, Oh My!” A forthcoming book devoted to cakes is in the works. Tack creates the design and food styling while Richardson does the photography and writes the text. Together the inventive duo has captured the imagination of millions of readers of all ages. Served up with humor and a hefty dollop of fun, these bright and colorful books are a feast for the eyes. But the true genius of Tack’s creativity is her ability to come up with awe-inspiring designs anyone can make using simple ingredients found in your local grocery store. So you won’t find
any elaborate recipes with complicated pastry techniques, because these adorable little wonders are as easy as apple pie. “We don’t use fondant. We use things like Laffy Taffy. There’s something very approachable, where people will say, ‘Oh my God, that’s an M&M or that’s a marshmallow,’” she says buoyantly. One of her favorite recipes is her April Fool’s spaghetti and meatballs, which is cleverly made by using only four ingredients – canned frosting for the spaghetti, a Ferrero Rocher hazelnut chocolate for the meatball, low-sugar strawberry preserves (because apparently low-sugar has the best color) to create the look of tomato sauce and, of course, cake mix for the cupcake. And just like a jeweler who finds a special stone and creates a piece of jewelry around it, Tack sometimes finds inspiration in the candy itself. That’s why she loves to shop at gas stations, because, she
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says, they have the best selection of candy anywhere. The single mother of two – teenage sons Erik, a senior, and Liam, a freshman, both attend Greenwich High School – attributes part of the success of her books to the fact that you can’t find these unique treats at your local bakery, including trendy cupcake bakery chains such as Magnolia and Crumbs. Mostly, these are how-to books, but some people buy them just for the pure enjoyment of looking at the hilarious and wacky cupcakes. “It’s like watching the Food Network. You’re not going to make most of the food, but it’s more entertainment,” Tack explains. It’s true: These books are hard to put down, because half the fun is trying to figure out how Tack is able to construct the irresistible, one-of-a-kind marvels. Does she see her cupcakes as an art form? “It’s more craft than art. It’s crafting with food,” Tack says. It’s ironic, really, that Tack – a Culinary Institute of America-trained chef who cut her teeth in the restaurant business at Manhattan’s Union Square Café in 1985 – would make a name for herself making cupcakes from cake mix, canned frosting and store-bought candy. But then again, she’s full of sweet surprises. Like the little hen house she showed me in the backyard of her Riverside home (where her chickens lay eggs) and the organic vegetable garden she tends. Inside, her home is filled with lovely French antiques, including an armoire she packs with sprinkles and candies, all influences from her time spent living in France as a college student (minus the sprinkles and candy). It was there the French major first unearthed a penchant for food and cooking. “I could tell you which bakery was bringing their croissants out and at what time,” the Francophile recalls. “I came back and I thought, ‘This is what I want to do. I want to cook, I want to eat and I’m really good at this.’” Twenty-five pounds later (she’s since trimmed down to a size 2), the self-proclaimed 24
food snob enrolled in culinary school. After completing the 21-month program, the newly married chef began working in restaurants as a chef garde manger – preparing salads, appetizers and hors d’oeuvres – but quickly realized the insane hours were taking their toll. “My husband at the time saw an ad in the paper for Cook’s magazine (now Cook’s Illustrated), located in Bridgeport. They were looking for someone to work in their test kitchen 9 to 5.” It was while working at the magazine that the chef first learned about food styling. “I had no idea people did this for a living,” Tack says. Along the way, she learned the proverbial tricks of the trade to making food look good. Her talent led her to appear in countless publications, including Bon Appetit, Good Housekeeping, Real Simple and Martha Stewart Living, making her one of the top food stylists in the country – so much so that Gourmet magazine once called her “The Cake Whisperer.” More and more Tack found herself being paired with Richardson on freelance jobs that involved silly cakes and more whimsical stories. But the pivotal moment happened when the two were asked to do a cupcake feature. “We did a story for Good Housekeeping magazine in 2003 and they wanted 24 different cupcakes decorated, and that was really the jumping point for us?” At the time she wasn’t very proficient at piping, so she thought instead of trying to pipe a buttercream rose, she would use candies. The project was so much fun that the pair decided to recreate that magic in their first book, “Hello, Cupcake!,” which she dedicated to her two sons, whom she describes as “the sprinkles on my cupcake.” In between writing books, Tack continues to work freelance as a food stylist and as a cooking teacher. For more information, visit hellocupcakebook.com or download the free “Hello, Cupcake!” app. n
The Modest Cook For banker John Ritacco, it’s all about family and friends
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By Mary Shustack Photographs by Bob Rozycki
n John Ritacco’s kitchen, it’s not about gadgets or gizmos, exotic spices or rare ingredients. No, in this bright Waccabuc space, it’s about traditions, family and friends – and how lovingly prepared food brings all that together. And when Ritacco is at the knife (or sauté pan or oven), most often what emerges on the table is something that draws on his heritage. “I generally stick to Italian wines and Italian food,” he says. His specialties are ones that hold meaning, dishes beloved by generations. “It’s traditional Italian peasant food,” he says. That, he adds, is food that simply “makes you feel good.” Ritacco isn’t your classically trained chef. “I’m just an amateur cook. I did it on my own.” In fact, he’s a banker by day or to be precise, the president and CEO of CMS Bank, which has its headquarters in White Plains. But the personable man who grew up in an Italian home in Providence, R.I.,
has long known the true results of a good meal, especially one prepared in the company of those you hold dear. “It brings people together,” Ritacco says. “You laugh and you joke, and you go have a good time.” Entertaining – especially cooking for guests – is about more than what is served at the table, too. “To me, that’s an expression of saying ‘You’re important to us.’”
A kitchen of their own
Ritacco and his wife, Jean, have been in Westchester since 1993 and their current home since 1997 but only recently renovated their kitchen. For years, they lived with what came with the house, not feeling the urge to make grand changes. After all, it was working for John. “It’s amazing what you can get out of a kitchen,” he says, though he clearly appreciates today’s airy study in sleek white cabinets and expansive countertops. “It’s nice to have all these modern con-
veniences, but you make do with what you have,” John says. “You get it done.” But big productions, such as Thanksgiving dinners or family meals that might include a couple of dozen guests, were a daunting undertaking. “The worst part is trying not to serve something that was cold,” he says. These days, with two ovens, a microwave and a Sub-Zero refrigerator things go much more smoothly. “It makes it a little easier and the stress level goes down,” he says. And even though John has become the family’s main cook, he didn’t oversee the renovation, demanding the latest models and such. “Honestly, I left that all up to Jean,” he says of the renovation, which did include the addition of much-loved pull-out pantry drawers. John taking over the kitchen duties was more, he says, a “slow transition.” As Jean puts it: “I always said, ‘I do the first 15 (years) and he does the last 15.’” But it’s fine with her, as her own schedule as a clinical trials nurse at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Sleepy
Hollow is also demanding. “Now I do the prep and the table,” she says. And the baking, John proudly adds. They don’t often cook together, though. “When he’s in that kitchen, he takes over,” Jean says with a laugh. Joking aside, she says John being in the kitchen is a good thing, especially when she considers what his days at work bring. “It’s a stressful job,” Jean says. “He finds it very relaxing.”
Italian influences
John clearly connects his love of cooking to his childhood, a tangible way of keeping memories of a much-simpler way of life alive. “In those days, when we were kids, the fish guy would come to the house. The bread guy would come to the house,” he says. Daily trips would be made to the butcher and the produce stands. “On Sundays, they would go to Mass and then they’d cook,” he says of his parents. Again, it was more than just about the meal. “It was a method to bring people together.” But those meals, whether fresh pasta
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John Ritacco in his Waccabuc kitchen ready to serve his homemade gnocchi and ravioli. Surrounding photographs reveal his special touch.
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or traditional dishes such as bracciole, became part of a wealth of treasured memories that extend to a crank-operated pasta machine brought back from Aunt Grace’s trip to Italy or collecting fresh eggs for breakfast from an uncle’s chickens. John’s later travels to Italy helped him understand the roots of that way of life, with those daily market trips now echoed in his own trips to local farmers markets. So much, he says, ties back to family. “When we were young, Jean and I first married, we would always go to Mom and Dad’s home for Sunday dinner,” he says. When the babies came, the parents would bring the dinner to them. It was all quite a change for Jean, who comes from a German-French-Dutch background where food was more along what she says was the “meat-and-potatoes” line. “You never really thought about food,” she says. She embraced John’s family, food and traditions right away, she says, and even “stopped going home for the holidays.”
Honing his skills
Through the years, John says he did his share of attempting complicated dishes. There were elaborate vegetable presentations and fanciful dishes with lobster, some from a book devoted to the historic Delmonico’s restaurant. It remains a fa-
vorite, along with books by Katonah chefauthor Edward Giobi and Italian chefs Rita and Mariano Pane.
John and Jean Ritacco
“If you’re willing to experiment and if you’re willing to use your guests as guinea pigs, you become more confident,” John says with a laugh. There is the danger, though, of becoming too focused on perfection, turning the process into a race to attempt one feat after another. “I tend not to do that as much anymore,” he says. Now, more times that not, he is relying on dishes beloved and first made by his mother or his aunt. “They would always give you their recipes,” he says, whether it’s for a particular pasta or a favorite meatball. He’s recently begun growing his own zucchini to make another family favorite, zucchini flowers. He’ll also make a well-received veal or chicken saltimbocca, serving them over spinach or risotto.
“Your shrimp is always good,” chimes in Jean, paying tribute to his scampi. Over the years he has expanded his repertoire, but constants are pastas and dishes flavored with herbs such as parsley, oregano, pepper, basil and garlic, though he often opts for powder over fresh. “With the cloves, you really never know” the exact flavor, he says. Today, he has a garden alongside his pool where tomatoes, zucchini, parsley, basil and cilantro grow. It adds another dimension to what comes out of his kitchen. “We just go with the flow, whatever the season is we’ll cook,” he says. Of course, his passion has made him the envy of many a friend’s wife, especially those who hear he practically makes every meal. Suddenly, they are looking for their own husbands to step up – and the husbands are playfully grumbling about John. With a laugh, John says, “That’s not an accolade you really look forward to.”
Serving memories
The greens chairman at Waccabuc Country Club, John was the force behind the creation of a full garden on the grounds, sparking a farm-to-table menu to begin there. A hands-on guy, he’s also often at the club at 6 a.m., checking for weeds and monitoring the garden’s progress.
And of course, food has become a key thread in the Ritacco family’s own fabric, where weekend meals and celebrations take center stage. Their now-grown children – two sons and a daughter – have been influenced by both their parents’ time in the kitchen. As Jean proudly shares, the kids cook “everything from scratch.” Though his children do make some of his signature dishes already, John says he’d like to gather up all his recipes to keep the traditions going for many years to come. “If I do ever get to retire, some day I’ll log it all in,” he says. He shares a story of growing up eating the traditional Easter breakfast his father made, one that featured two omelets, one with asparagus and the other a personal spin on the traditional pizza rustica, a mix of meats and cheeses. It’s an Easter menu John has continued. “The kids look forward to that,” he says. “If we don’t make it, they say ‘Where’s the Easter breakfast?’” and insist on it. And while he knows the dishes are indeed tasty, he realizes that they also symbolize family togetherness, the shared memories that have made a lasting impact. And that’s a dish that John is happy to call a specialty. “That’s really what you pass down, isn’t it, at the end of the day? That’s really what it’s all about.” n
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(Culinary) courage under fire Joel Hurliman is an arresting presence in the kitchen By Torey Van Oot
oel Hurliman’s first real foray into cooking was really a matter of safety. An inspection of the mess hall he oversaw as an executive officer in the Connecticut Army National Guard uncovered subpar cooking practices and sanitary issues. After firing the cooking staff, he had no choice but to head into the kitchen with one other man and put together a meal of enough ham and vegetables to feed more than 130 servicemen. It went so well that he filled in the following month. “Nobody got sick and everybody liked it,” Hurliman, Shelton’s police chief, says. “From then on, baptism by fire, I could cook just about any meal.” Almost 30 years later, Hurliman is still hooked on the culinary arts. His specialties include a variety of pastas, pheasant he’s shot himself and a ginger cookie that became quite legendary after it first debuted at a “Men Who Cook” fundraiser for TEAM, a local nonprofit that seeks to bring families out of poverty. “I did get to eat one,” he says of the more than 550 cookies he baked for his first of six appearances at the annual event. “The rest were gone. They were kind of a big hit.” Hurliman, 57, enjoys eating and cooking a range of cuisines. Sample dishes include a pasta starring butternut squash and chard, bluefish with kiwi fruit and mandarin oranges and traditional Guinness stew, a meal he has sampled during his six trips to Ireland. Another favorite is homemade pizza margherita, made with fresh plum tomatoes, garlic and basil. “What I like to do is experiment a little bit, too,” he says. “Like the pizza, there was no recipe for that. I just came up with it.” While they draw from different culinary traditions, most of Hurliman’s dishes share a reliance on fresh, local ingredients. He shops
Joel 28Hurliman, Shelton’s chief of police.
frequently at farmers markets and Guy’s Eco-Garden in Shelton, an organic farm that is his go-to spot for one of his signature ingredients. “He has the best garlic around,” Hurliman says of the farm’s owner, Guy Beardsley, a veteran who served in the Korean and Vietnam wars. When it comes to fish and poultry, Hurliman also goes straight to the source. He fishes, though he usually practices catch and release, and hunts fowl such as pheasant and partridge. One of the best meals he’s cooked in recent memory involved filling a bird he bagged himself with apple and onion stuffing and cooking it in whiskey and cider from Beardsley’s Cider Mill & Orchard in Shelton. “I’ve always been big on buying locally,” he says. “If you’re going to buy a car, buy from a local car dealer. Same thing with just about anything. I’d rather buy close to home.” His interest in highlighting the freshest of ingredients also means he doesn’t need much in terms of fancy gizmos or tools to deliver delicious meals. Besides his Weber Smokey Joe Silver charcoal grill, he counts a nonstick pan among his trusted kitchen instruments. One of the biggest benefits of getting more into cooking, he says, is having more control over what goes into his body. Buying local boosts flavor and ensures he’s not ingesting pesticides. Making meals at home instead of eating out keeps the calories and fat in check. “I’ve been in a lot of restaurant kitchens and I see how the vegetables are prepared,” he says. “They’re drenched in butter and a lot of salt, so you think it’s really healthy, but you’re eating a lot of butter without realizing it.” Hurliman knows first-
hand that vegetables can taste just fine without all that fat. One of his favorite preparations this time of year involves throwing halved eggplants with olive oil and garlic on the grill. He finishes the meaty slices off with a drizzling of highquality balsamic vinegar, another staple in his kitchen. Squash blossoms are also a favorite vegetable to feature in the summer months, though he cautions that newcomers to these should be sure to shake them out first in case a stray bug is still hiding. “You can actually get some meat in with the vegetables,” he jokes. One of his latest cooking experiments has been tinkering with a recipe for German potato salad, which he’s been trying out on himself before dishing it up for friends or colleagues. The inspiration for taking a new spin on that summer staple? “I just felt like it,” he says. n
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In love with Italy Richard Klein embraces the food, the look, the feel By Jane K. Dove Photograph by Bob Rozycki
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r. Richard Klein has a deep love of all things Italian, with food topping the list. The Yorktown internist is known among his wide circle of friends as a stellar chef, and his lovely home set high atop a hill overlooking the Amawalk Reservoir reflects the grace and charm of a sunlit Italian villa. Klein, a native of Alphabet City on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, studied medicine at New York Medical College and in Rome. “To be honest, I had never thought much about Italy or Italian cooking, but I wound up studying in Rome and that’s where my affinity for things Italian got started. After finishing school, I came home and helped Italian doctors and their patients by translating medical records and was recognized as a knight of the republic of Italy for my work. “I also went back and forth to Italy, visiting friends I had made and learning as much as I could about cooking fine Italian cuisine. I like to say you can never get a bad meal in Italy.” One of the many things Klein learned about Italian cuisine is that it has been greatly influenced by the Jews who lived there dating from the Roman Empire. “Food historians acknowledge that much that is outstanding in Italian cooking can be traced back directly to Jewish slaves. In Italian cuisine, whenever you come across a dish which uses no trafe or nonkosher ingredients, you can assume the dish derives from the earliest Jews in Italy.” After joining Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx for additional training, Klein set up private practice in Yorktown in 1971 and says he has been at it ever since, cooking his favorite Italian dishes and holding weekly dinner parties for his friends as a form of relaxation therapy.
Regular events
“I have gotten my preparations down to an art and usually cook some things a couple of days before the party. Doing prep work in advance saves time the day of the dinner, and I have an able sous chef in my young son Matthew.” The Sunday morning Klein was interviewed, the table was beautifully set and much of the food already prepared. “Tonight we will start with an antipasto that includes assorted cheeses, peppers and bread, followed by pasta with Bolognese meat sauce; then on 30
of shrimp, lobster and clams.” Klein also likes to serve veal and eggplant parmigiana as a first course, enjoys vitello tonnato or veal with tuna fish sauce, and often finishes the meal off with zabaglione, a rich egg-custard dessert. “Preparation for each of my parties takes about three hours. I have it down to a science and buy most of my ingredients right in Yorktown at Turco’s. They have everything I need.” In good weather, Klein often starts his parties on his flagstone terrace, set among five acres of beautifully landscaped grounds accented with mature trees and shrubs and flowers in Italianate planters. The large, sunny terrace, with a view of the reservoir, is topped by a canopied pergola and offers a dining table, comfortable couches and deep side chairs for the comfort of his guests.
Italian style in Yorktown
Dr. Richard Klein’s love of Italy extends to his cooking, entertaining and home design.
“Food historians acknowledge that much that is outstanding in Italian cooking can be traced back directly to Jewish slaves. In Italian cuisine, whenever you come across a dish which uses no trafe or nonkosher ingredients, you can assume the dish derives from the earliest Jews in Italy.” — Richard Klein
to the entrée of chicken marinated in lemon and rosemary and cooked in the oven with potatoes. I serve a salad with the main course and select wines from my cellar that will best complement the meal.” Klein said his friends offer to contribute to the meal; he will ask them to bring an appetizer or a dessert. “I have 10 to 12 guests at a time from my large circle of friends. Over the
years, they have become ‘regulars’ at my table, and it is a group of people that like and know each other well, so it’s always a good time.” When asked to mention some of his favorite Italian dishes, Klein said the chicken in the oven with lemon, rosemary and potatoes was high on the list. “I also love spaghetti carbonara and spaghetti in cartouche. This is pasta cooked in a paper envelope with a sauce
Over the years Klein has lived in Yorktown, he has transformed his original 2,500-square-foot raised ranch house into a 4,500-foot neo-colonial that is flooded with light coming through the large high windows that face the reservoir. The first floor has a perfect flow for entertaining, with a large living room, library, “men’s room,” kitchen and dining room all linked seamlessly together. The dining room, the focus of so much fun and conviviality over the years, is graced with a large fireplace underneath a magnificent landscape of the seaside of Portofino. A look to the rear of the home reveals a free-form swimming pool, a flagstone terrace under another pergola and a harmonizing building that is a combination garage, pool house and cabana. “Once the renovations were completed, I painted the entire house and outbuildings a honey Tuscan shade with dark sienna trim. I changed the house dramatically. Now it has a totally different feel. It is exactly what I want at this point in my life and I enjoy it to the fullest every single day.” Klein said he plans on giving his dinner parties well into the future. “I love doing it and my friends always have a wonderful time. It’s an important part of my life and part of who I am. I like to think that good karma has brought me to this point.” n
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Tuned in to good food By Torey Van Oot Photograph by Bob Rozycki
At an age when most kids are content to chow down on hot dogs and macaroni and cheese, Jeffrey Warshaw’s palate was decidedly more sophisticated. Before graduating from grade school, he became a devotee of The Galloping Gourmet, as TV chef Graham Kerr was known, subscribed to a cheese of the month club and scanned menus for escargot. “When I was like 8 years old, I ordered snails and I asked to speak to the chef and the chef came out and I gave him a little lecture on why his preparation was not the same as a classic preparation,” Warshaw says over tea at the Westport location of Aux Delices, a gourmet food shop and café he frequents. Despite dressing up as Kerr for career day in the first grade, Warshaw didn’t pursue a profession in the culinary arts. But the broadcast executive, who now owns and operates dozens of radio stations as chief executive officer of the Westport-based Connoisseur Media, has continued to feed his passion for food, traveling the globe to track down the best meals and ingredients. Recent trips have taken him and his 21-year-old daughter, Brette, a fellow foodie who now works for the site Food52.com, to Denmark, Italy, Morocco, Sweden and Spain’s San Sebastián, which boasts a high concentration of top-rated restaurants. 32
On one trip to Copenhagen, where they dined at the renowned Noma restaurant, Warshaw and his daughter scheduled a last-minute overnight trip to Sweden just to check out an establishment known for serving marrow scooped fresh from a bone over diced raw beef hearts in the middle of the dining room. “We read about it and it sounded so cool, and we decided to go on a day trip,” he says of Fäviken. “We went and flew there and we pulled up to the restaurant ... and there was literally a pig’s head sticking out of the window, they were butchering it, and we knew we got to the right place.” Warshaw likes to bring the tastes from his trips back home, packing the pantry of his Westport home with ingredients he’s discovered during his travels. He goes online and to specialty shops to buy noodles from Gragnano, a small town in Naples he describes as the “epicenter of dried pasta.” He adds zest to his dishes with Ras el hanout, a blend of spices he picked up in Morocco. He swears by Poggio Etrusco olive oil, a peppery blend he orders from Tuscany by the case, and bacon from Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams in Tennessee. Locally, he heads to Fjord Fisheries for seafood, Stiles Farmers Market for meats and Westport’s Double L Market for artisanal goods.
Having high-quality ingredients on hand allows Warshaw to make simple but delicious meals in no time. “If I have Benton’s bacon, if I have greens, an onion or dried porcini in my cupboard, or real Italian tomato paste or an egg, walking in the door, I can whip up anything,” he says. Simple is key for the mostly self-taught chef. He usually skips recipes that involve complicated sauces or reductions while cooking at home, figuring he gets enough of those preparations and styles during his family’s frequent trips out to eat. His specialty is his roast chicken, which he rubs with oil, salt, cumin and freshly smashed pepper, a twist he said that adds more flavor and texture than the ground variety, before roasting the bird on high heat over a bed of onions, fennel, butternut squash, potatoes and carrots. “My kids and wife, if you ask them their last meal on earth, it would be my roast chicken,” he says. Warshaw’s also not afraid to seek out time-saving tips in the kitchen. Extra containers of the dipping sauce that come with takeout dumplings go straight into the fridge. A dash of vinegar, a little sugar and fresh garlic and ginger turn the condiment into a flavorful but easy stir fry base. “It’s great with rice noodles and it’s great
with shrimp, it’s great with vegetables,” he says. “A little dark sesame oil on top and you think you’re in a Chinese kitchen. It takes two minutes.” Those “guilty shortcuts” will likely come in handy now that Warshaw and wife, Wynter, have welcomed their first child, Shane, together into the family. The proud dad is hoping this newest addition inherits the adventurous taste buds that he himself already shares with daughter Brette and 18-year-old son Sammy, who is fond of sweetbreads and foie gras. “I’m really looking forward to my kids cooking with the new baby, my daughter teaching my son and them eating together and then turning the baby on to the foods,” he says. The infant is already getting an introduction to some of the region’s top restaurants. He visited LeFarm, the farm-to-table restaurant in Westport opened by James Beard-nominated chef Bill Taibe, when he was just seven weeks old. But even more important than expanding his younger son’s palate, in Warshaw’s mind, is exposing him to the values of the culinary-oriented community. “There is nothing like food people,” he says. “If you’re not shy, you’ll find that people who are into food or who make their livelihood and lives around food are the most generous.” n
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Kale and hearty The lean, green illness-fightin’ machine By Patricia Espinosa
From left: Crispy kale with seared sea scallops and tomato marmalade by Chef Marc Lippman. Courtesy Castle Hotel & Spa. Pasta with kale pesto, roasted butternut squash and ricotta salata by Patricia Espinosa. Photograph by Patricia Espinosa. Tomato kale cobbler (individual portions) by Abigail Kirsch Catering: Chef Alison Awerbuch. Lemony kale and avocado salad From “The Immune System Recovery Plan: A Doctor’s 4-Step Program to Treat Autoimmune Disease” by Susan Blum, MD, MPH. 34
L
ately, there seems to be a proliferation of all things kale. From chips to smoothies to salads, the leafy green is landing on just about every chef’s menu and in every grocery store, including the local A&P. So why after 2,000 years of cultivation has the cruciferous vegetable suddenly found itself in the spotlight? Because when it comes to healthy food, kale is the Holy Grail. According to the deluge of studies in recent years extolling its virtues, the nutritional powerhouse does just about everything that’s good for our bodies – from preventing cancer to controlling blood pressure, lowering cholesterol and protecting our eyes and nervous system. Wait, there’s more. The green giant is also high in fiber, fights fat and is packed with heaps of nutrients. With only 33 calories for one cup of chopped kale, it’s a dieters dream come true. “Kale is rich in iron and one of the most nutrient-dense vegetables available,” Dr. Susan Blum writes in her new book, “The Immune System Recovery Plan: A Doctor’s 4-Step Program to Treat Autoimmune Disease.” “It is high in beta-carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, calcium and phytonutrients. For your adrenal glands, kale provides lots of B6 and for your liver, it offers lots of antioxidants for incredible additional support for
your detox pathways.” Plus, says Mary Gocke, director of nutrition at the Blum Center for Health, “The fiber in steamed kale is very good at binding bile acids, which lowers cholesterol.” It’s also loaded with carotenes, a family of compounds related to vitamin A which Gocke says supports your immune system. The superfood is not just good for you. It’s easy to grow, even during the cold winter months when veggie selection is scarce. Jeremy McMillan, executive chef at the Bedford Post Inn, attributes part of kale’s rising popularity to its accessibility. “Kale grows well in three of the four seasons and is useful in its different forms based on whether it’s grown in spring, summer or fall. In areas like the Hudson Valley, it grows fantastically and so people notice it more at their local market and farm stand.” Kale belongs to the Brassica family, a group that includes cabbage, collard greens, Brussels sprouts and broccoli. Many varieties of kale and cabbage are grown mainly for their ornamental leaves, which are brilliant white, red, pink, lavender, blue or violet in the interior of the rosette. But the types most supermarkets offer is a variety of Russian red kale, very dark green Tuscan kale called lacinato or dinosaur and the more abundant light green curly kale. “I find them all to be unique and different in their own way,” says Rui Correia,
chef and co-owner of Douro on Greenwich Avenue. “Typically, the darker the leaf, the more intense the flavor. I like using them all in different preparations to achieve different flavors.” For Correia, kale hits close to home. “Being Portuguese, I was raised on kale soup, ” he says about caldo verde, which is typically served on special occasions, such as wedding and birthdays. Ethan Kostbar, executive chef of Moderne Barn in Armonk, likes his kale in soup, too. “My favorite variety is Tuscan kale. It’s a bit softer than the others and can easily be eaten raw. Ideally, I like using it in soups and salads. The recipe I use most is gigante bean Tuscan kale soup, utilizing seasonal vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, garlic and fennel, topped with parmesan croutons.” Kale is a hit with clients, too, says Alison Awerbuch, Abigail Kirsch catering chef and partner. “Since we have seen a heightened awareness on healthy eating and healthy lifestyles, ingredients that were not often used in the past have now become very popular, kale being one of them. We actually get client requests for including kale in their menus and have developed numerous dishes that either showcase kale or use it as a secondary ingredient. “Guests tend to not feel guilty when eating anything prepared with kale.”
The vegetable standout can hold up to bold flavors. So that’s why Awerbuch says she loves using it in Caesar salads with a garlicky anchovy dressing; tossed in pasta dishes with sausage, fennel and red pepper flakes; or lightly oiled, seasoned and quickly charred on the grill. McMillan says his favorite way of preparing kale depends on what stage it’s in. “When it’s young and tender, it is great raw and dressed with loads of acid and salt. As it matures, it works beautifully charred quickly on the grill and when fully mature it’s a dream braised.” But like most greens, kale can have a level of bitterness, which McMillan says matches well with salt and vinegar. “We usually go toward anchovy and red wine vinegar or lemon and pecorino to balance the flavor and texture.” To find the freshest kale, look for firm, deeply colored leaves with hardy stems. It’s best to store it, unwashed, in an air-tight zipped plastic bag for up to five days in the refrigerator. Gocke suggests adding lemon to raw kale to help break down the roughness of the leaves. “What I love most about kale is that I can add it to any salad and I know it will create another layer of texture and flavor,” says Marc Lippman, the executive chef of culinary operations at the Castle Hotel & Spa in Tarrytown.n
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Liquid tomato By Andrea Kennedy
W
ho cares about tomato or tomah-to? Just muddle a few and pass the vodka. Strained to a tea or crushed to a pulp, these vine-ripened varieties have found their way into artisanal refreshments for their versatility and eloquent balance of acidity and sweetness. The king – rather, queen – of the brunch bunch, The Bloody Mary, has evolved to a veritable salad in a pint primed to tip with so many toppings. It’s a buffet of olives and veggie shoots up there. Bacon and skewered mini burgers? Bonkers. But the rise of craft cocktails also elevated tomato juice with a twist into elixirs of more sophisticated style, so whether you like them beefsteak or heirloom, stuffed or fried green, make sure you try them shaken, not stirred. Muddle a yellow heirloom with basil and shake with gin, lemon and simple syrup. Test a tomato mojito or swap herbs for cilantro and toss in tequila. Sip local fare at Scarsdale’s new kid on the block, Taiim Cellar, that serves up the Fiery Mary (Mother of Spice) with vodka, tomato juice, harrisa and skewered pickled turnips. Elm Restaurant in New Canaan (featured in WAG April) offers its own spin: a Pickled Bloody Mary with Broken Shed Vodka spiked with pickled foraged ramps, Espelette pepper, Calabrian chiles and topped with celery froth. Clamato be damned! n Elm’s Pickled Bloody Mary (Courtesy Elm Restaurant)
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Stew Leonard Jr. shows off his juggling skills.
super marketer Stew Leonard Jr.’s customer-centric ethos, business smarts a perfect combination By Torey Van Oot Photographs by Bob Rozycki
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tew Leonard Jr.’s eyes light up as he bounces into the bakery section of the Yonkers market that shares his name. “I love this, just having a real crust,” he gushes as he tears through a round loaf he has just plucked from a cooling rack. “That’s like your real artisan-type crust!” The bread was far from the only item the energetic and gregarious grocery executive gets excited about during a recent tour of the 120,000-square-foot Stew Leonard’s outpost that sits atop Stew Leonard Drive, one of four specialty markets his family has opened in the metro area. A case of Technicolor cupcakes (“This is hot right now, cupcakes. People love them.”) Coffee beans (“You can see him, just roasting it right there.”) Mozzarella still warm from the pot (“Now when did you make that?”) Juicy cubes of watermelon (“Mmmm.”) A row of crabs in the seafood counter (“They’re still mov-
ing around in the case.”) And even a shield for keeping a grill grime-free (“I love using this.”) All win his praise. “My favorite is fresh stuff,” Leonard, president and chief executive officer of the grocery chain, insists. “I love fresh stuff.” That passion for food is in Leonard’s blood. His family has been in the food business for three generations now. Stew Jr.’s grandfather, Charles Leo Leonard, founded a milk production and delivery business called Clover Farms Dairy in the 1920s. In 1969, Charles Leo Leonard’s son, Stew Leonard Sr., expanded into retail with the first Stew Leonard’s store in Norwalk. That small shop, which carried just eight items to start, has grown into a regional grocery powerhouse, with nearly $300 million in annual sales and 2,000 employees across its locations in Connecticut and New York. Twenty million customers a year fill their carts and baskets with some of the roughly 2,000 items the average store stocks. In the last 15 years,
the brand also branched into wine and liquor with nine additional stores. “It’s a wonderful ... almost institution in Westchester County,” says John Ravitz, executive vice president and chief operating officer of The Business Council of Westchester. “You walk into Stew Leonard’s, whether it be 8 o’clock on a Monday morning or 4:30 on a Wednesday afternoon, you’re going to see a crowded parking lot.” Part of the allure could be the store’s distinctive style. The barn-like Yonkers store seeks to mimic the airy, homespun feel of a farm stand, sending customers through a maze of bins, shelves and cases instead of traditional aisles. While costumed characters no longer roam the stores, Stew Leonard’s still buzzes with campy features like a toy train circling the checkout lanes and a mechanical stuffed lobster performing on a trapeze near the fish counter. As Leonard sees it, though, much of the stores’ success is rooted in its com-
mitment to fresh, local ingredients, stellar customer service and keeping a finger on the pulse of what the shoppers want. He traces the family company’s focus on local sources back to its early days as a dairy, when the milk that stocked the shelves and the Leonards’ fridge came from their local plant. “We’ve always been, like, farm-totable. It just so happens it’s become vogue now,” he says with a laugh. “It’s not vogue to us. We’ve been doing it.” But just because customers want fresh food doesn’t mean they want to do all the work to get a home-cooked meal on the table. More and more shoppers now expect the store to serve as their ingredient source, sous chef and step-by-step cooking guide. That trend has led Stew Leonard’s to offer more ready-to-cook items and food-pairing suggestions. Mounted TVs stream Food Network-style cooking demonstrations and segments on topics like how to store fresh herbs. Leonard estimated that about half of
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Stew Leonard Jr.
A selection of wines at Stew Leonard’s.
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Stew Leonard’s employees are involved in the food production or preparation side of the business. A small army of staff is at work preparing vegetables and fruits for the produce section on a recent morning, slicing watermelon into squares and spears – a new style Leonard wanted to try after seeing it packaged that way at a competitor’s store – and shaving Brussels sprouts so they can be sold ready to throw in the pan. “Customers want things done. They don’t want to buy it packaged and cooked already, (but) they don’t want to spend the time doing this,” he says. “Look at this, now these are just Brussels sprouts here. Who would even think that shaving and slicing it ready would be a big seller? It is.” Those freshly prepared foods and other signature items packaged and sold under the Stew Leonard’s brand keep longtime customers like Susan White coming back again and again. “I’ve got to tell you, I hate you because I moved to the city and I can’t stand it. I have to come back up here to go shopping,” White, who now lives on the Upper West Side, tells Leonard when they cross paths at the deli counter. “I have to come all the way up here, because I lived here for 14 years and I just got addicted to the place.” At the top of White’s grocery list, as far as her sons were concerned, is the store’s buttermilk chicken. Leonard, who revels in greeting and chatting up dozens of customers and employees during the 90 minutes we spend meandering through the store, calls over the deli chef to detail the recipe for White before trying to sell the longtime shopper on a new spin on the classic they’ve been trying out. Pursuing new products or presentation of old favorites is essential, Leonard says, especially as consumer demands shift and competition grows with big-box stores and delivery services. He points to a low-sodium version of the store’s bacon as one innovation driven by customers’ more health-conscious shopping habits. Indian and Thai cuisines have also been introduced in the prepared foods section to serve the store’s increasingly diverse consumer base. Not all the experiments are a success. A Stew Leonard’s label soda pop and frozen cookie dough were some of the more recent flops. But Leonard doesn’t mind taking a shot at something new. As our tour comes to an end, another employee brings a package of the watermelon spears from the produce kitchen for Leonard to inspect. “Does it look a little chunky?” he asks, turning to one of his store managers. “You know what we’ll do? We’ll just put it out there and try.” n
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To market we go SoNo Marketplace is
destination for food – and more By Mary Shustack Photographs by Bob Rozycki
F
ood lovers will have their palates more than just tempted at SoNo Marketplace. They will likely find what they’re craving, whether it be sushi or salad, pizza or pasta, fish and chips or fruit tarts, coffee or cocktails. This destination, which made its debut during the 2012 holiday-shopping season, has the proverbial something for everyone. And it’s more than food, too. The warehouse space tucked into an industrial corner of South Norwalk – on the edge of Village Creek and about a mile from the heart of SoNo – has been the scene of a transformation into a European-style market complete with not only food vendors and purveyors, but also boutique shopping, live entertainment and special events. In these summer months, with an outdoor farmers market and soon, a beer garden, the place is really coming into its own. And it’s all by design, says Nancy Esteva, the venue’s director of marketing services. “Strolling through, (it’s) really reminiscent of that European experience but it’s really been given a SoNo style,” Esteva says. “There isn’t anything like this in Fairfield County. We’re one of a kind.”
Whetting the appetite
From the courtyard that hosts the farmers market and other outdoor merchants to the first steps into the building itself, SoNo Marketplace and its growing reputation as a food destination seem well-founded. PastaPresta stands just within the front door, fresh ravioli being made on the recent afternoon when WAG toured over a few hours. Using farm-fresh ingredients and seasonal produce, the product seems to typify the European-market experience, which isn’t surprising. After all, owners Bill and Meri Erickson of New Canaan spent four years living in Europe and created the concept of PastaPresta with Mario Cavestany of Madrid. The booth also features private-label sauces and a variety of cooking utensils designed to please who Bill Erickson says are his biggest customers. “Foodies,” he says. “People come in (and) they like to talk food, ingredients and they like to talk recipes.” And they often are repeat customers, stocking up on fresh provisions. “They come Fridays for the weekend and Sundays for the week.” SoNo Marketplace has come to be known as a weekend destination that offers both the familiar and the unique. That classic British favorite is found at Gotta Nibble Fish & Chips but here, things are spiced up with such options such as chipotle or wasabi mayo. 42
A farmers’ market adds seasonal flair to SoNo Marketplace. Photograph by Susan Borgen.
Wise Guys Pizza Pies offers up not only New Haven-style pizza but its own marinara sauce to go. At Momo Sushi, you can opt for a salmon avocado roll, seaweed salad or sashimi, which Thanya Phanpinyo will prepare with precision. Many come for the award-winning apple pies or even the lattice-topped cherry pies from Oronoque Farm, while another place for a sweet treat (and much more) is Green Leaf Organic Bakery and Café. Here, the menu features items ranging from Paris ham tartine to the steak-andasparagus plate, but we never got past looking at the baked goods, including an unbelievable French donut that appears more homemade whipped cream than dough. At Festivities The Eatery, the menu is expansive, ranging from a salad dotted with strawberries and arugula to an everchanging selection of barbecue sandwiches to a portobello mushroom burger. After preparing a flatbread salad that features grilled chicken and super-fresh greens, chef Walter Rivalsi says that daring, seasonal fare is the goal. “Our motto is fun and fresh keeping it current using the farmers’ market and so forth.” And freshness is top of the list at other venues, ranging from the fare featured at
Tilden’s Seafood and Prime Meats to the seafood specialties prepared by Bloom Brothers Oysters & Clams. A nod to the coffee craze, Flat White Coffee specializes in an Australian twist on the traditional coffee drink, or as barista Mitch Rothstein says, “less milk than a traditional latte.” Does he get asked what a flat white is a lot? “I do, but I don’t mind,” he says with a smile.
A chance to sample, learn
Those working the booths are used to questions and welcome the chance to dispense advice and serving suggestions along with samples. At Olivette, Niquay Moore shares that the cranberry-pear balsamic is a best-seller, with the blood-orange whole-fruit fused olive oil the most popular oil. Olivette, which bills itself as devoted to “the art of olive oil and balsamic,” offers plenty of information, from country of origin to variety of olive to production dates. Even its descriptions add to the attraction, such as that of Koroneiki –“fragrant, herbal and extremely floral. Loaded with lingering green banana notes on the finish. An outstanding example of Greek Olive Oil.” Dorothy Mulroy, owner of Liquid Grass Juice Bar, is just settling in. A reg-
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Walter Rivalsi of Festivities The Eatery with a signature salad.
Kiki Verveniotis sews and sells fashions.
istered nurse and holistic health coach, Mulroy’s goal is to provide something that’s not only good for you but also tastes great. Juices, blended drinks and cleanse programs are featured and she’s always at the ready with a taste of whatever’s freshest, moving from a cucumber-based drink to another featuring just-sliced watermelon. Steps away, Michael Smokler offers a taste of Maura & Nuccia’s latest creation, an apple-rhubarb crostade. The Tarrytown-based (and Brewsterbaked) company specializes in Italian artisan desserts, and Smokler says the marketplace is serving as a good way to expand the company’s clientele. “The mixture of boutiques and artisans is very interesting,” he says. At Plum Plums Cheese, a satellite of the Pound Ridge shop, Ronald Petruska slices an Italian cheese for customers to try, a plate surrounded by offerings that also include salamis and olives. “We carry about 100 different cheeses and they’re imported from around the world,” he says. “My job is to educate.” And when all that learning is done, there’s always time for a cocktail, right? At the center of the food area is a fullservice bar called Up the Creek, where patrons often gather in groups and live music is a regular feature.
Setting the table
Danna DiElsi in The Silk Touch booth.
Lu Oliviera shows off the designs of Lu Bijou.
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WAG’s visit included a chat with Joe Grasso, proprietor of SoNo Marketplace. “It’s a whole new experience for me,” he says before playfully adding that after 30 years in the construction business, “this is fun.” He’s been more than pleased with the way the venue, which he originally saw more along the lines of a flea market-style shopping destination, has grown. The idea, he says, was developed after studying markets in a number of cities, including Seattle, and in New Zealand. Grasso says the market itself fills 18,000 square feet of a 50,000-square-foot complex. Eventual plans include not only a beer garden, which will soon fill an additional 8,000 square feet, but a brewery and an expanded retail element down the line. “It’s still in the beginning stages,” Grasso says of the project and its long-term plans. But he’s more than pleased with what these first few months have brought. “It’s nice to have a whole group, a community of vendors, who all get along,” he says. “We’ve created a family.” And visitors, he said, recognize – and complement – that. “It’s a great vibe when this place is really packed,” Grasso says. The marketplace has already hosted wine tastings and a chili festival that drew nearly 2,000 people.
Surrounding shopping While the food may be the draw for many first-time visitors, there is a vibrantly artistic retail element to things that really makes the SoNo Marketplace a wellrounded destination. Two long aisles complete with marketstyle stalls featuring barnwood and pergolas overhead create a welcoming space. Wander from booth to booth to find photographs and jewelry, clothing and home accessories and services ranging from massages to tarot-card readings. Susan Borgen of T-Party Antiques has brought a loyal following from her onetime tea room and vintage shop in Darien to her booth filled with charmingly retro finds, while fashion-forward ladies have been scooping up the handcrafted leather clutches, called Lovie Clutches, created by Felicia Jarzyna. Her tag.n.bundle booth also features striking home goods and accessories from around the world. There is a real spirit here, exemplified by Liz Machette. She and husband Marc run Machette Restorations and their booth, ReFABulous Furnishings, is where neglected or discarded wares turned into home-décor treasures are shown. Think record albums melted into quirky bowls or broken CDs fashioned into glittering mosaics. “I kind of like to see us as a mall with a heart,” says Liz Machette, who’s also the artist behind the marketplace’s signature chalkboard signs. Liz has also helped fashion one of the newest booths, a communal effort called White Trash where her restored items – now boasting white surfaces – complement a selection of wares from the other vendors. And those vendors are each finding their voices – and more – with the new outlet. Alice Woods, whose A Single Strand accessories company is primarily wholesale, loves the chance to meet people and see what catches their eye. “This format allows me to experiment and interact with customers,” she says. Michael Heintz, who runs Torn Edges with Nan Wasson, showcases photography. “We’ve always had our art in our studio, but we never had a place to show it,” Heintz says. “So we saw this as a great opportunity for us.” The pair has even brought in sand to take over a second booth and create a Beach Shack, where the popular sea glass photographs will be featured for the summer. The sewing machine and ironing board in the Kiki & Pooky booth are not props. “People think that no one can sew anymore,” owner Kiki Verveniotis says with a laugh, but the bags, tops and dresses filling
her space prove that very wrong. Artist Annalisa Schaefer, whose booth features her illustrations and portrait work (pets are a specialty), says the marketplace atmosphere has buoyed her work. She gives art classes for children and may soon add them for adults as well. “It’s an inspiring space, the creative energy, you feel it,” Schaefer says. Each booth has its own feeling, a step into the owner’s own world. There are custom tiles and hand-crafted soap, floral designs and lots of jewelry. One designer, Brazilian-born Lu Oliveira who runs Lu Bijou, says it’s all about creating one-of-a-kind pieces where creativity takes center stage. Look closely at a necklace’s metallic accents, as she shares the materials include single-serve coffee containers. “That’s what excites me, to do something unique out of something that you would eventually throw away,” she says. And also echoing the communityminded spirit here is the Pass on the Love booth, a consignment-style shop set up by food vendor Festivities where proceeds benefit local nonprofit organizations.
Marketplace is designed for repeat visits, with special festivities and continued plans for expansion. “We’re evolving, and we’re building and we’re looking forward to a great summer,” Esteva says. With the summertime outdoor market and pop-up tenants to be sprinkled in throughout the season and again for the holidays, the marketplace promises to be an ever-evolving destination where firsttime visitors such as Bonnie Paige may very well become regulars. The Fairfield woman was ordering from PastaPresta on the day of WAG’s visit. It turns out she is a friend of Dorothy Mulroy, the juice-bar owner, and had stopped by to wish her well. But, it seems, she couldn’t resist the lure of the neighboring vendors. As she waited for her fresh pasta to be wrapped, she shared how the SoNo Marketplace had impressed – and clearly tempted – her. “This is such a great place. Everything looks great,” she says. “I don’t want to come here too hungry.” Oh, but we do – and you may as well.
Second helpings
For more details on SoNo Marketplace, at 314 Wilson Ave. in South Norwalk, call (203) 838-0719 or visit sonomarketplace.com. n
Now open Fridays through Sundays (and Thursdays for private events), SoNo
Thanya Phanpinyo prepares a dish at Momo Sushi.
Bill Erickson of PastaPresta talks to a customer.
Artist Annalisa Schaefer specializes in pet portraits.
Did You Know? If just one in three small businesses hired one additional employee, the U.S. would be at full employment. The Women’s Enterprise Development Center (WEDC) helps entrepreneurs create and grow successful businesses.
How Can You Help? Buy from local small businesses Shop at WEDC’s On-line Marketplace (www.wedcbiz.org/marketplace) Volunteer your professional expertise/skills at WEDC Mentor/counsel WEDC entrepreneurs
Contact WEDC at 914-948-6098 or info@wedcbiz.org www.wedcbiz.org Empowering Entrepreneurs, Strengthening Our Economy 45
NOVEMBER 2012
June 2012
PAULA ZAHN IN TUNE WITH THE ARTS CINDY JOSEPH Model for the ages
STELLA MCCAFFREY DESIGNS For the younger set
ivanka’s fashion Bouquet
ALEX DONNER
earthy delights
Choices MADE From the bar to baton
MARY JANE DENZER
Grande dame of retail
MONEY ANGEL Stephanie Newby
from Persia to The Botanical Garden
taking root
Winston Flowers arrives in Greenwich
sculpting summer
shaping the land
Byers, Kramer and Johnson
at home
with Daniele Churchill
stacy Bass
A shutterbug alights
JUST FOR YOU: AN EXCITING WAG MEMBERSHIP WITH FABULOUS VIP PERKS!
mag.com 46
WHERE CLASS MEETS SASS FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF
Tucci’s well-seasoned career 47 By Marshall Fine
he best meal he’s ever cooked? Actor-director Stanley Tucci is stumped. He can’t come up with just one. But his go-to menu when he has to whip up dinner in a hurry? That’s easy. “It would be some sort of pasta, with mushrooms and fresh tomatoes,” Tucci says. “I also make really good paella. I’ve started making it a lot. I make different versions once or twice a week, in a small pan. It’s so satisfying. I’ll put in shrimp or clams or chicken or whatever else I happen to have around. I just bought a big paella cooker. I can make paella for 20 people.” When he’s not making movies, Tucci is often in the kitchen – or so it seems. 48
Acting since the mid-1980s and directing films since 1996, Tucci admits that food is his avocation – as evidenced by his onetime relationship with Finch Tavern, a Croton Falls restaurant; “Vine Talk,” his brief PBS series about wine; and the recent release of “The Tucci Cookbook” (Gallery Books), in which he collects recipes from his own family and chef Gianni Scappin. Food has featured in several of his other projects as well: “Big Night,” which he co-directed with fellow John Jay High School graduate Campbell Scott, was about the travails of a pair of restaurant-owning brothers. In “Julie & Julia,” he played diplomat Paul Child, the husband of cookbook and cooking maven Julia Child.
Tucci, who recently married Felicity Blunt (sister of actress Emily), got his love for and fascination with food from his parents and grandparents. Growing up in Peekskill and Cross River, he learned to cook (and eat) the various Italian delicacies that his grandparents (who hailed from the Calabria section of southern Italy) and his mother made at home. “Growing up, you’d eat at friends’ houses – and it was never as good as what I got at home,” he says. That includes the Tucci family recipe for timpano (timballo in some cookbooks), the drum-shaped dish that drew gasps from audiences when it emerged from the oven at the climax of “Big Night.” A giant dish that includes pasta,
sauce, salami, meatballs, cheese, vegetables and hard-boiled eggs, it is baked in a large pot lined with a pie-like crust. When sliced after cooking, it can look like the strata in a cross-section of a geological core. It’s the recipe about which Tucci is asked most often. And it’s at is at the center of “The Tucci Cookbook,” an expansion of “Cucina & Famiglia,” a 1999 cookbook he wrote with Scappin, then the executive chef at Le Madri restaurant in New York. The new book, co-written with his parents, Joan and Stan Tucci, “is very user-friendly,” Tucci says. “My parents tested all the recipes,” he says. “It took them a year and a half.” “Big Night” changed Tucci’s career. A character actor who was unhappy with
Eggs with Tomato
Uova al Pomodoro As a kid I looked forward to this Friday night meal. Not only was it unusually beautiful, but its sweet flavor, thanks to the onions, would linger long after the last bite. This recipe uses a simple method of poaching the eggs in tomato sauce. It makes a terrific lunch dish, served with slices of bread for dipping in the sauce and accompanied by a tossed salad. ¼ cup olive oil 1 small onion, thinly sliced 1 cup canned whole plum tomatoes 4 large eggs Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
“My parents
Warm the olive oil in a medium-size nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, crushing them with your hand or the back of a slotted spoon. Cook until the tomatoes have sweetened, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Gently break the eggs into the pan and cover. Cook until the whites are opaque and the yolks are moderately firm, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately, seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. Serves two. Wine pairing: Sparkling and light white.
tested all
the recipes.
It took them
a year and a half.”
— Stanley Tucci
Mediterranean Pasta Salad with Arugula and Tomatoes
Penne con Rucola e Pomodori I love any dish prepared with arugula – hot or cold. This pasta may be prepared a day in advance. Cover and store it in the refrigerator until one hour before tossing and serving. 1 pound penne 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 4 cups packed stemmed arugula, coarsely cut or torn ½ cup chopped fresh basil leaves 3 cups peeled and seeded ripe tomatoes cut into half-inchdice (about four large tomatoes) 3 teaspoons kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice Freshly grated Parmesan or ricotta salata cheese Bring a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, following the package instructions. Drain and transfer to a wide serving bowl. Toss with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the arugula, basil, tomatoes, the remaining five tablespoons olive oil, the salt, pepper to taste and the lemon juice. Toss well. Serve at room temperature, garnish with Parmesan. Serves six to eight. Wine pairing: Sparkling, light white and light red. Variations: Fusilli, farfalle or conchiglie pasta may be substituted for the penne. Red or yellow cherry tomatoes, or a combination of both, cut in half, may be substituted for the whole tomatoes. (Note: You will need about 1½ pints.) Another great addition to this dish is half-pound diced fresh mozzarella. Toss it in the salad along with 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar for a zesty, hearty dish. Photographer and food stylist: Francesco Tonelli.
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String Beans with Tomatoes
Fagiolini al Pomodoro My mother grew up with a large garden that came right up to the edge of the house. “My parents cultivated a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables,” she remembers. “Everyone helped in the garden, turning the soil and planting in the spring, harvesting and canning in the fall. In fact, I have pictures of Stanley as a baby helping Pop in the garden.” Among the vegetables my grandfather grew were wide, flat Italian pole beans. He would pick a basket of beans, a few tomatoes and a small zucchini. My grandmother would cook them all together to create a light dish for lunch or dinner, followed by chicken or meat. 1 cup water 1 pound string beans, ends trimmed 1 small zucchini, cut in quarters lengthwise and chopped into half-inch-wide chunks 1 medium-size all-purpose potato, peeled and quartered ½ cup chopped and seeded ripe tomatoes or canned whole plum tomatoes, crushed 2 tablespoons olive oil Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 clove garlic, cut in half Place the water in a medium-size pot set over medium-high heat. Add the string beans, zucchini, potato and tomatoes. Stir in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add the garlic, bring to a boil, then cover, reduce the heat to mediumlow, and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes. Remove the vegetables to a serving dish with a slotted spoon. Spoon some of the sauce on top and serve. Serves four. Wine Pairing: Light red, medium red, and medium white.
the roles he was being offered – many of which were what he considered stereotypical Italian hoodlums – he co-wrote “Big Night” with his cousin, Joseph Tropiano, co-directing it with Scott and co-starring with pal Tony Shalhoub (TV’s “Monk”). The film went on to win several awards, including the prestigious Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival where it debuted, an Independent Spirit Award as best first screenplay and an award as best first film from the New York Film Critics Circle. Since then, Tucci has directed three more films. More important, he has become a popular and award-winning actor on film, stage and television, with an Oscar nomination for 2009’s “The Lovely Bones;” a Tony nomination for the 2002 revival of “Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune;” an Emmy nomination for a 2006 episode of “Monk;” and Golden Globe awards 50
for his performances in the HBO films “Conspiracy” (in which he played Adolf Eichmann) and “Winchell” (in which he played Walter Winchell). His schedule is packed these days. He’ll be seen this fall in “The Fifth Estate,” a film about Julian Assange and Wikileaks; and “Catching Fire,” the second film in the “Hunger Games” series, in which he plays the flamboyant host of the competition’s TV broadcasts. He recently completed a role in “A Little Chaos,” directed by Alan Rickman. Before the end of the year, he’ll be working on several more films, including the next “Transformers” movie and the final two “Hunger Games” features. But he still finds time to cook for wife and his three children with his late wife, Kate (who died from breast cancer in 2009). What does he always have at hand if you open the Tucci family refrigerator? “White wine, goat cheese, prosciutto,
vegetables – and peanut butter,” he says. He likes appliances from Sub-Zero and Miele. “They make good ovens,” he says of the latter. If he has a favorite spice, it’s saffron. “I love saffron. You’d be amazed what you can throw it into. I put it into mussels. A little saffron, maybe shallots, vermouth or white wine – it’s delicious.” Tucci, who lives in South Salem – though he plans a move to London within the year, where Felicity is a literary agent – does most of his day-to-day grocery shopping at his local Stop & Shop. But he goes elsewhere for meats and vegetables, pointing to Ridgefield Organics & Specialty Market for vegetables (“She has nice stuff there”) and “a craft butcher in Westport we like a lot.” “We took a butchering class there for a few hours one night,” he recalls. “We learned how to take apart a whole pig.” He finds new recipes in magazines or while dining at new restaurants, partic-
ularly when he’s on location with a film. “Because of movies, I’ve been lucky enough to meet a lot of chefs,” he says. “I learn stuff from them. Felicity got me a series of Nigel Slater videos and I’ve been watching those. You pick things up wherever you can.” When he’s cooking a new recipe, “I’ll follow it closely – the first time,” he says. “But you’ll see what they’re doing and think, ‘What if I did this instead?’ Last night, for example, I made a kind of chicken pot pie with a puff pastry. The recipe called for cream and I can’t really eat that, so I adapted and altered it a bit. And it turned out beautifully.” Asked if he has a guilty-pleasure food, Tucci laughs and says, “It’s all a guilty pleasure. I particularly like excessive amounts of pasta – lots of carbohydrates.” Pressed on the question, he says, “I don’t eat sweets, sugar or dairy, mostly because I can’t. But I always want something like a Napoleon.” n
way
Villa amore
A private retreat celebrates happy, healthy living By Mary Shustack Photographs by Bob Rozycki and Tim Lee
© 2012 Carol Kurth Architecture, PC. Photograph by Peter Krupenye.
Presented by Houlihan Lawrence
VILLA AMORE at a Glance
• Katonah • 8,750 square feet • 11.65 acres • Bedrooms: 5 • Baths: 6 full, 1 half • Amenities: First-floor master bedroom, decks and terraces, expansive European-style kitchen, exercise room, seven fireplaces, high ceilings, saltwater pool, sauna, sprinkler system lawn, wine cellar, walkout basement, privacy, perennial gardens, English greenhouse, outdoor dining pavilion, close to railroad. • Price: $6.995 million
© 2012 Carol Kurth Architecture PC. Photograph by Peter Krupenye.
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here’s a home nestled within the Mount Holly estate area of Barbara Cervasio Katonah where a European-influenced way of life flourishes. A visitor passes through the entry gate off a winding drive, the surroundings providing a bucolic welcome as the path leads to a graveled courtyard anchored by a stately front entry. The visit to Villa Amore, where the love seems to be for life itself, has begun. At this secluded home and property of nearly 12 acres, privacy is a given, enhanced by the surrounding 250 acres of the Mount Holly Preserve. Villa Amore’s amenities and beauty quietly unfold during a visit on a recent morning, sunlight flattering every aspect of Barbara and Drew Cervasio’s home. The custom-designed Colonial, built in 1998, features a showcase pool and spa. The sprawling grounds include an English greenhouse, organic gardens, an outdoor dining pavilion and a series of decks and terraces. The main living areas boast a formal parlor, a mahogany library, a screened porch, a stunning kitchen, both formal and informal dining rooms and a dramatic Great Room. Five bedrooms include a sumptuous main-level master suite complete with a master bath that would rival those
found in the finest European hotels. Villa Amore is filled with gentle arches and antique beams, trellises and lanterns, oversize windows and tasteful décor. It is at once spacious yet warm, elegant yet incredibly welcoming. And it’s all by design, says Barbara Cervasio. “I saw the land when it was all woods,” she says. “Of all the lots we saw this was the most private.” The couple, with a second home in Florida, were able to custom-build their Westchester residence. “I made all the selections,” Cervasio says of the initial construction. Cervasio, then an interior designer who had built her previous home in Waccabuc, had a clear vision. “It was very important for me that it had the proper feng shui,” she says. “When you use feng shui, it creates a certain kind of energy.” That approach to a balanced way of life was complemented by elements integrated into the work, which gave a nod to the travels of Cervasio and her husband, Drew, who’s in the diagnostic medical business. “A lot of the materials were brought in from Europe,” she says. Antique cherry floors, French limestone and antique rough-hewn beams are among the standout design notes. The landscape and outdoor features are never far from sight, or thought. “I wanted everything to be able to lead to the outside,”
Cervasio says. “It has a flow.” And there was also much attention paid to the ambiance created by the décor. “I wanted it to also be a kicked-back, kind of relaxed atmosphere,” she says. “I had to figure out how could we make this huge space welcoming.” And she clearly did just that. Rooms are grand in scale but never overwhelm. They seem designed for luxurious comfort, the perfect backdrop for family and friends. “We have several different eating areas as you know we love to entertain,” she says. There is a formal dining room, a more casual dining room complete with a charming seating alcove and tall chairs that surround the kitchen counter for the most casual eat-in space. Then, there are the outdoor options. A dining pavilion under a trellis, where wisteria is just coming to bloom, stands in the shadow of a fire pit surrounded by Adirondack chairs. A classic English greenhouse is also nearby. The pool, stone steps below this level, is surrounded by chairs, where one might linger with refreshments, while a large built-in outdoor kitchen offers yet another option just steps away. Back inside, Villa Amore is indeed a space that is all about fine living, starting with the master suite. “I love having a master on the first floor,” Cervasio says. And the airy space has French doors that are often opened. “I just wanted to, in the morning, sit out there on my 53
© 2012 Carol Kurth Architecture PC. Photograph by Peter Krupenye.
chair with my cup of tea,” she says. The bedroom also features an incredible en suite, with double showers and dramatic finishes. Throughout, what might be perhaps workmanlike rooms, from offices to wine cellars, workout spaces to guest bedrooms, were clearly thought-out and well-designed. A cavernous attic space that right now is used for storage is even ready to step into use. “Somebody can come and do a great au pair space,” she says. Highlights also include a screened-in porch and a library that seems to invite settling into the leather couches for a cocktail or spot of reading. The library has seen little change over the years, “very little because I went so classic,” she says. There were, though, other changes made over time. A health issue a few years ago led to a dramatic lifestyle change for Cervasio. She took stock and decided to transition into a new field, now not only practicing mindful, vegan living but working as a health and nutrition coach. She wanted more control, growing her own vegetables and herbs, ensuring they weren’t exposed to dangerous chemicals. “My whole theme here is farm-to-table and that’s my philosophy,” she says. An accompanying renovation also echoed the new outlook, with Cervasio working with Bedford-based architect Carol Kurth on a project that redid the kitchen and expanded the surrounding spaces. The renovation work was a project, Cervasio says, completed with “green” or eco-friendly materials. It’s another sign of the healthy approach to life, as well as the influence of travel. The Great Room windows, which all open out and allow fresh air to fill the home, are yet another nod to the European villas the Cervasios have visited. And then, there is the kitchen, which for Cervasio ties everything together. “We pushed out the kitchen and made it larger,” she says of the space where she often hosts nutritional and cooking demonstrations. And for ingredients? An herb garden just steps off the kitchen and then a full vegetable garden on the grounds are both at the ready. “Everything fresh: That’s the way Italy and France are,” Cervasio says. With the entire property fenced in, there is little cause for concern about invasive wildlife. Even the cutting gardens burst forth with blooms that are used to decorate throughout the house. “I think flowers are life and they just bring me happiness and joy,” she says. Such indoor-outdoor living is part of Cervasio’s background, having grown up on the east coast of Florida. And at Villa Amore that way of life has continued, expanded to include the Cervasios’ tastes, travels and outlook. It’s all about, Cervasio says, “your beliefs and how you want to live your life.” Now, with the couple looking to relocate, Villa Amore awaits its next owners, who will no doubt settle in and savor its European-influenced way of life – and make it their own. For more information, contact Caroline Shepherd at Houlihan Lawrence at (914) 393-2795, (914) 234-9099, ext. 22336 or cshepherd@HoulihanLawrence.com or Jean Farber at (914) 715-1773, (914) 234-9099, ext. 22361 or jfarber@houlihanlawrence.com. n
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Latin beat in Larchmont By Georgette Gouveia Photograph by Bob Rozycki
“C
hefs are like fashions,” Rafael Palomino said. “They go through phases.” Palomino, who adds that he likes all kinds of food, has cooked English (Manchester Pub). He’s cooked French, studying with nouvelle cuisine co-founder Michel Guérard. He’s cooked American (the River Café, “considered the Harvard and Yale of a lot of chefs”). He’s even cooked Latin for the Irish owners of Sonora in Manhattan, who thought he wanted to introduce “topless” when he mentioned “tapas.” There’s nothing lost in translation, however, when you dine at one of his fine restaurants – be it Sonora in Port Chester, Bistro Latino in Greenwich, Pacifico in New Haven or the three in Pennsylvania. Quality is the same in any language. Recently, we had the pleasure of dining with Palomino at his latest – named, appropriately enough, Palomino – in Larchmont, which features “American food with a Latino accent.” It was a treat in every way, beginning with the warm, amber décor, accented by Westchester artist Judith Economos’ tender, lively colored drawings of frolicking palominos – how could you not have these, given the name? – and husband, Andrew’s hand-crafted wood furnishings. We started our feast with a white wine blood orange sangria that hinted at a creamy vanilla overtone and contrasted nicely with the Santa Fe roasted corn soup, topped with a tomatillo and shrimp salsita – flavorful but not too spicy. This was followed by an intermezzo of Sedona shrimp and watermelon mint ceviche served with plantain chips that proved a sweetly seamless transition to a superbly grilled branzino – crisp and savory – served with melt-in-your-mouth homemade spinach-jalapeno gnocchi in a garlic confit cilantro sauce. The meal concluded with the best flan I’ve ever had – not too sweet or hard and caramelized – and a cappuccino topped with a Matterhorn of froth that might’ve given Starbucks java envy. As we dined, Palomino shared the details of his story so far. He was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and came to this country when he was 12, growing up in Fresh Meadows, Queens, near St. John’s University. Palomino is a personable man with a playfulness and sense of humor that pepper his story-
Rafael Palomino at his new restaurant, Palomino, in Larchmont.
telling and cooking alike. He remembered that when he arrived in France to study with Guérard – the creator of nouvelle cuisine’s lighter, health-conscious cousin, cuisine minceur – at the spa resort Eugénie-les-Bains, the wheels of his suitcase gave way on the cobblestone streets, so laden was it with stuff from his solicitous mother. He came home to study marketing at Baruch College in Manhattan, which has no doubt come in handy. But he was never made to be a marketing executive. There were early restaurants in Manhattan like Sonora and Inca Grill and powerful early supporters like Florence Fabricant of The New York Times. But with a wife, Martha, and two children, Amanda and Rafael, Palomino thought it time to
relocate to the suburbs. For the kid from Queens, horsey, tony, winding Bedford – where they settled – “blew my mind.” That was in 1997. Three years later, Sonora opened in Port Chester on the site of the late, lamented Two Moons. Today, the Latino community has been credited by The New York Times and others with turning Port Chester into the vibrant place it is. “It’s funny,” Palomino said. “We were one of the first to open up there.” His commitment to the village is such that he has helped raise $2 million for the Port Chester middle and high schools and plans to have a culinary academy for Port Chester high school students at Sonora three days a week.
When he’s not giving back or writing cookbooks like “Latin Grill: Sultry & Simple Food for Red-Hot Dinners and Parties” (Chronicle Books), he’s planning more dishes that give American favorites a Latin beat, like blue-corn rigatoni or black bean, Monterey Jack ravioli. That’s in his restaurants. At home, he savors his wife’s meatballs and chicken stews. But is he ever tempted to offer her a culinary suggestion? Palomino shook his head. “I say, ‘Yes, dear.’” Good man. Palomino is at 141 Chatsworth Ave. in Larchmont. For reservations or more information, call (914) 630-7871 or visit palominolarchmont.com. n 55
The accent on spanish cuisine Story and photograph by Georgette Gouveia
Elyana Kadish, a server at the new Sala-on-Hudson in Croton-on-Hudson, with coowner Michael Jannetta.
A
s a child growing up in Pittsburgh, Michael Jannetta used to follow his grandmother around – and eat. No fool, he knew what side his bread was buttered on and it was on the side of the grandmother in the restaurant business. “She’d slip me a little something I wasn’t supposed to have,” Jannetta said, fondly remembering her treats. People say you never forget your first love – or in this case, loves. Jannetta cooked his way through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Then when it was time for him to go abroad during his junior year – an opportunity his five siblings had as well – Jannetta chose Spain, specifically Segovia. “A small, medieval, walled city,” Jannetta recalled. “I fell in love. It changed my life.” That was the seed of a career devoted to Spanish cuisine. Jannetta opened a restaurant called Sala in the Bowery in Manhattan a dozen years ago. It no longer exists, but Sala One Nine has been going strong in the Flat Iron District since 2004, so much so that Jannetta also has a place called RyeHouse – “it’s glorified bar food” – nearby at Fifth Avenue and 17th Street. Now comes the new Sala-on-Hudson in Croton-onHudson, a touch of Segovia in the misty highlands of Rip Van Winkle. You can see that touch in the blue tiles and yellow distressed walls of the arched space. The décor is by film set designer John Nyomarkay, who “did such a great job with the original Sala that we kept him on.” You can hear Spain in the moody café 56
music. But most of all you can taste it in the sweetsavory tapas and hearty dishes prepared by executive chef Greg Johnson that came pouring from the kitchen on a splendid summer Sunday, served with a perfect Spanish accent by Elyana Kadish, who spent her gap year in Ecuador.
“When I find a great piece of monkfish, sprinkle on some sea salt and drizzle on some olive oil, I get that moment of gastronomic heaven. and I’m in a good spot.” — Michael jannetta
We began with sangria, a Spanish red wine and three irresistible offerings – almendras marcona (fried almonds), datil (dates wrapped in bacon and almonds) and queso de cabra (fried goat cheese in white truffle honey). We also enjoyed the remolachas asadas (roast-
ed baby beets in sheep’s milk cream cheese with fresh horseradish). The horseradish isn’t Spanish. But it is an example of what Jannetta likes, a Sala signature. “We try to stick to classic cuisine, then throw in a few modern twists.” The hits kept on coming – gambas al ajillo (baby shrimp in garlic, olive oil and red chiles, perfect for dunking bread); a particularly tender pulpo a la gallega (octopus, potatoes, paprika); a nicely grilled lamb chop. And what Spanish meal wouldn’t be complete without some chorizo, that spicy, paprika-ed sausage with just a hint of fat? Though we barely had room, still we managed to enjoy a creamy almond cake for dessert, washed down with cinnamon pear slices, a bit of vanilla and chocolate ice cream and some strong latte and cappuccino. We saved the chocolate cake for later. Does it get any better than this? For Jannetta, it does not. Though he lives in Garrison with his wife and two children – a boy aged 4 and a girl who’s 1 – he has returned to Spain every year for 27 years. And a good reason for that is the lure of a cuisine that is simply about quality ingredients. “When I find a great piece of monkfish, sprinkle on some sea salt and drizzle on some olive oil, I get that moment of gastronomic heaven,” he said, “and I’m in a good spot.” Sala-on-Hudson is at 44 Maple St. in Croton-onHudson. For reservations or more information, call (914) 862-4100 or visit salaonhudson.com. n
The PUZLCAKE: Solve before slicing By Mary Shustack Photograph by Bob Rozycki
First you solve it, then you savor it. PUZLCAKE, a sweet concept created by Stefan Lonce, is a unique culinary offering that expands the traditional party favorite into a play-along game. “It makes the cake the party,” the Croton-on-Hudson entrepreneur says of his trademark design. In short, a PUZLCAKE is a traditional sheet cake decorated with a puzzle that consists of two adjacent – and edible – graphic or photographic images. And within those dueling elements is the heart of the challenge: Lonce custom designs 10 ½ differences between the two images. So before the knife is lowered to the cake, the puzzle must be solved. Anyone who likes those “find-the-difference” features found in magazines will love Lonce’s sweet twist on the mind game. “It really makes people look at the cake,” Lonce says. Those who play along will delight in spotting a just-slightly-off mirror image or perhaps a numeral 2 where a “to” should be. And if the challenge is too daunting – it is a game so the cakes are not designed to be too tough – the answers are provided on the flyer handed out with each creation. The key also provides a reproduction of the cake so those who can’t gather up close can also participate. And it also makes for a memorable party favor. To date, versions of the PUZLCAKE have been created as promotional items, a natural since they lend themselves to reproducing items such as business cards. “We’re trying to show when you can use a cake to promote your business, as an ad,” Lonce says. And indeed, a wonderfully dense carrot cake brought to WAG’s offices on a recent morning featured a likeness of the business card of his business partner, White Plains attorney M.H. Fryburg. Staffers gathered around to play along before tasting the creation baked by Homestyle Desserts Bakery in Peekskill. Lonce has now teamed up with owner Rose Sanca to create editions of the PUZLCAKE, which Sanca says really is something unique.
And she should know, with 40-plus years in the business that includes baking treats for celebrities and organizations, including the New York Yankees. “I just thought it was like a real cute idea,” Sanca says. “It’s so festive for parties.” She sees its popularity only growing, the perfect campaign tool or shower centerpiece. Designs and sizes – as well as flavors and fillings – can all be customized, though Lonce says he’s working on a template that would make the design marketable to a larger audience, perhaps online. The PUZLCAKE – invented by both Fryburg and Lonce and designed by Lonce – is one part of their many business enterprises, with Lonce also editing and designing The Montauk Sun. Together, they began LCNS2ROM Inc., a New York corporation for their books, greeting cards, calendars, posters, photographs and cake decorations, all having some tie to a favorite icon, the vanity license plate, which gives a glimpse into one’s personality, likes or causes. Books in progress include a business memoir, “LCNS2ROM: License to Roam,” and another on Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who Fryburg says had the first vanity plate. For the past couple of years, Lonce and Fryburg produced “Driving With FDR,” a “biographical/collectible” wall calendar filled with facts. As Fryburg says, the calendar’s purchasers receive something both practical and instructive as it “focuses on the individual dates in a subject’s life and tells them why it matters.” The first PUZLCAKE was designed for FDR’s 131st birthday festivities, held in January in Hyde Park. Lonce and Fryburg will create another PUZLCAKE for the National Birthday Party for Social Security, which Lonce will lead Aug. 14 at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park. As Fryburg says, “You’re always welcome when you bring cake.” They will also feature “Driving with FDR,” their 2014 biographical/collectible calendar during a reading July 27 at the
Stefan Lonce with a PUZLCAKE.
2013 Roosevelt Reading Festival at the Hyde Park library. For now, though, there is a push to get the PUZLCAKE to become what they hope will be “America’s favorite new dessert.” And Sanca, who has known Lonce for a number of years, says the PUZLCAKE has the one important ingredient that just
may make that happen – Lonce’s dedication. “He’s putting his heart and soul into it,” she says. “People who succeed don’t give up.” Custom-designed cakes start at $40, plus design fee, which starts at $25. For more details, visit PUZLCAKE.com or call Lonce at (914) 629-4580. n 57
wonderful dining Keeping it fresh on The Avenue Story and photographs by Bob Rozycki
W
alk through the front door and past the bar of Morello Italian Bistro on Greenwich Avenue for the first time and you just might ask yourself, “Have I been here
before?” Blame Rafael Guastavino for that bit of faux déjà vu. Here in this historic building, the tiled columns that curve like geometrically perfect plumes of water flowing into the vaulted ceiling were designed by Guastavino, the architect who created the space occupied by the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Terminal as well as the Great Hall on Ellis Island where immigrants registered to enter the U.S. Morello’s own grand room serves as counterpoint to its two mezzanines. If you consider going to a restaurant like going to the theater, then ask for a seat on the railing in the front mezzanine and take in the details of the architecture and the blur of waitstaff serving the diners below. With an emphasis on fresh and local, everything is made under the watchful eyes of Kevin Garcia, the executive chef who joined Morello in April. He is part of the award-winning team of London-based Marlon Abela Restaurant Corp., led by the 38-year-old Abela who has been described by Britain’s national newspaper The Independent as “fantastically restless” and “alarmingly perfectionist.” Abela owns Cassis Bistro, The Greenhouse and Umu, all in London, as well as two A Voce restaurants in Manhattan and Bistro du Midi in Boston. Also in the portfolio is Francois Payard Bakery, with three spots in New York City. Abela has been known to stop in at Morello and General Manager James Branigan Jr. assures that everyone in the Greenwich Avenue restaurant knows the owner by sight. Other frequent visitors include Frank Gifford and Kathie Lee and her former co-host Regis Philbin. “Regis loves his burgers,” Branigan says. Keeping with the “source locally” mantra embraced by Garcia, produce, meat and fish from the Atlantic end up on the menu. The menu finds its inspiration in Italy and the Mediterranean. Garcia credits Mario Batali, with whom he worked for three years, on knowing how to be respectful of the tradition of regional Italian cuisine. And that is why Garcia offers “a menu inspired by three of my favorite regions in Italy – Rome, Tuscany and Sicily.” For antipasti you can start off with Beef Carpaccio that features shaved fennel, black truffle pâté and Parmigiano Reggiano. Follow that with Etruscian Faro Salad with gran faro, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, chilies, herbs and red wine dressing. If eating is 50 percent sight and 50 percent taste, go for the eye candy of Roasted Scallops & Caramelized Cauliflower. Go ahead, say it: bellissimo! If you’re not hungry and perhaps just interested in 58
The building originally was home to a bank that folded in the 1929 Wall Street Crash.
Pan seared scallops atop caramelized cauliflower are overlayed with caperberries, diced pancetta, golden raisins, chives and a chervil salad.
stopping by for a cocktail, Branigan says please do so and check out one of Morello’s signature drinks. The pretty much hard-and-fast rule that everything be made in house – breadsticks, ice cream, cheesecake – carries over to the bar. Lime juice from a bottle? Not here. Freshly squeezed, Branigan says. For its sophisticated bar patrons, the restaurant has created a menu of cocktails from a White Peach Margarita and Passion Fruit Bellini to the Fiore Liz and Morello Twist to be enjoyed by the open sidewalk-side windows. For some serious palate-pleasing try the Morello Old-
Fashioned. A grilled orange wheel gets muddled with a dash of agave nectar and bitters. Makers Mark, Jim Beam Black Cherry Bourbon, lemon juice and ice join the mix before getting all shook up. It gets strained and poured into a chilled martini glass. But before serving, coat another grilled orange wheel with brown sugar and caramelize it. Place it in the glass. If you listen carefully, you can hear the sizzle go to shh. Ahh, zen on The Avenue. Morello Italian Bistro is at 253 Greenwich Ave., Greenwich. Reservations may be made by calling (203) 661-3443. n
Hotdoggin’ it Lisa Rosenblum relishes the best wurst time of her life By Mary Shustack Photographs courtesy Kraft Foods and Lisa Rosenblum
I
f you love a playful spirit – and more than a few puns – then you’ll love hearing about Lisa Rosenblum. The New Rochelle native is happy to “meat” you, signs her emails “with relish” and goes by the nickname “Lots of Ketchup Lisa.” It’s not a case of quirkiness, but rather a sign of just how much the 23-year-old embraced her just-completed first job out of college. Rosenblum was among the select few chosen to spend a year behind the wheel of the Wienermobile, that oversize icon of the American road. A traveling promotion for Oscar Mayer products, Wienermobiles have been on the road since 1936. Current editions are built on a Chevy chassis and covered in fiberglass. As an official Oscar Mayer Hotdogger, Rosenblum served as one of just 12 brand ambassadors traveling across America beginning in June 2012. Her year on the road took her to 22 states – her territories were the Northwest and Southeast – where she turned more than a few heads at events ranging from barbecue festivals to road races to charity events. “You never know who you’re going to meet on the road,” she says. “Every day is a different story.” By early June, the New Rochelle High School graduate was back in her hometown for a few days, taking time to fill WAG in on some of those tales from the road. But first up, she shares with a laugh during a morning chat, has been adjusting to life after the Wienermobile. “Some people have never seen a 27-footlong hot dog before,” she says. “Someone’s always waving at you and honking so you feel like you’re driving in a parade all the time.” But not anymore. “Now, no one cares about me,” she says with a mock sigh. “With the Wienermobile, you’re kind of a celebrity.” But it was far from a fluff job filled with nothing but photo ops. That was clear from the start, when local corporation Oscar Mayer came to recruit on her campus, the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I had no idea this was a real job,” Rosenblum says. But she found out quickly – and knew it was something she’d like to try.
Lisa Rosenblum as a Hotdogger. Inset: The iconic Wienermobile.
The chosen dozen were selected from more than 1,500 applicants, teamed up in pairs to drive the six Wienermobiles on the road. Each year, Oscar Mayer recruits from college campuses to find soon-to-be graduates who “cut the mustard.” Rosenblum, with her varied background and the required “appetite for adventure,” fit the bill. She was soon to graduate with a marketing degree from the Wisconsin School of Business, also having studied acting. Time trekking through and studying in Europe, plus experience as a bartender and as a founder of a business fraternity on campus all gave her the edge. The job, a paid-gig billed as ideal for those with bachelor’s degrees in public relations, journalism, communications, advertising or marketing, offers plenty of on-the-job experience that translates to any field. Two weeks of training at “Hot Dog High” gets the Hotdoggers ready for their new roll, um, role. Hotdoggers have their routes plotted out for them, but they are in charge of securing media coverage and arranging additional appearances around their
main events at each stop. They travel in teams of two, switching partners and regions after six months. Bosses fly out for on-the-road support, with a schedule that accommodates holidays and time off as well as team meetings back in Madison. Along the way, the Hotdoggers do take photos with people (and their dogs, with Dachshunds a favorite, Rosenblum notes), talk about their experiences, play games, give out collectible Wiener Whistles and contribute to the Hotdogger blog (Rosenblum’s entries ranged from “How to Wash the Wienermobile” to “Buns of Fun in San Frank-cisco”). Weeks included a travel day, four work days and then two free days. “We get to be tourists,” Rosenblum says, with favorite experiences including visiting Multnomah Falls in Oregon and attending the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Another highlight was visiting a relative in Florida. “My grandma lives in Miami, so I drove the Wienermobile to her apartment,” she says. Rosenblum had strong support, in fact,
from her whole family, including parents Jeff and Magnolia and older sister Rena. “Some parents aren’t as supportive,” she notes with a laugh. “(They say) ‘You went four years to college to drive a big hot dog around?’” But Rosenblum was the recipient of care packages from the family, as well as support from the network of Hotdogger alumni around the country who offered everything from advice to home-cooked meals. Also encouraging was the steady stream of excited admirers. “I didn’t realize how much a brand could have an impact on a person or a family.” And yes, the Hotdoggers did let them take a peek into the famed vehicle. The door, she says, goes up “like a DeLorean” and then people would see everything from a flat-screen monitor to a closet. But no kitchen, as samples are not part of the plan, though Rosenblum says she is a fan. “I do eat hot dogs,” she says, adding that part of the Hotdoggers’ job is to spread the word so they were helping promote one of Oscar Mayer’s newest products, bacon hot dogs. It might sound decadent to some but as Rosenblum reminds, “We say everything in moderation.” Looking back at her time on the road, Rosenblum says it was the perfect mix of fun and business. “It’s definitely good to have it in your portfolio,” she says. “When it’s on your resume, it’s such a good talking point.” Rosenblum has already secured her next assignments, though. This summer, she is teaching cooking and baking at the Pennsylvania sleep-away camp she used to attend. Then, the adventurer makes a big move to Chicago and a position at Red Frog Events. The forwardthinking event-planning company allowed her to defer her start date once she got the chance to hit the road. And Rosenblum again showed what made her a perfect choice for the job when WAG wondered how hard it was to drive the Wienermobile. “It’s actually not too bad,” she says. “The hardest part about it is finding parking. We don’t want to scratch our buns.” To follow the latest Hotdoggers on the road, or to read the archives, visit hotdoggerblog.com. n 59
wear
Timely fashion By Georgette Gouveia
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A Bulgari Octo 41.5 mm steel men’s watch with open sapphire case-back, black lacquered dial, rhodiumplated indexes and black alligator strap. Movement – mechanical self-winding with date. $8,600.
A
watch is the one piece of jewelry that allows a man to make a statement. Think about it: Not every man wears a chain or a ring. And though some may sport a diamond stud, it takes a bold, creative, devil-may-care heart to pull off that look. But a watch is a thoroughly appropriate masculine status symbol, so much so that many actors and athletes know they’ve arrived when they get a watch deal, such as Roger Federer has with Rolex or Michael Phelps with Omega or “The Mentalist” star Simon Baker with Longines. For many guys, the bigger or more expensive the watch, the better. The Bulgari watches are available from Neiman Marcus’ Precious Jewelry Salon, The Westchester, White Plains by calling (914) 428-2000, ext. 2227. They’re sure to get a guy noticed, as when Vesper Lynd appraises James Bond’s, uh, timepiece in the “Casino Royale” reboot. “Rolex?” she wonders. “Omega,” he responds. “Beautiful,” she purrs. The man or the machine? Does it matter?
A Bulgari Diagono 42mm pink gold men’s watch with black ceramic bezel, black dial and rubber strap with pink gold inserts. Movement – automatic chronograph with date. $25,600.
And for the ladies….
We’ve selected just one, but it’s a beauty – Bulgari’s Il Giardino Tropicale, introduced this spring at BaselWorld 2013, the distinguished watch and jewelry show. The timepiece contains one of the most virtuosic feats in watchmaking, a tourbillon, making it Bulgari’s first such watch for women. Developed by the French-Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet circa 1795, after an idea by English chronometer-maker John Arnold, the tourbillon seeks to transcend the effects of gravity through a rotating cage containing the watch’s escapement and balance wheel. It’s usually displayed on the face of the watch. In the case of Bulgari’s “tropical garden,” accented with 61 diamonds, the tourbillon is supported by a sapphire crystal bridge on which a parrot perches. Given the horological virtuosity, the quantity and quality of the precious gems and the artistry needed to apply the quick-drying varnishes and glazes, is it any wonder that Il Giardino Tropicale costs $100,000 or that only 50 will be made?
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wear Supporting players Inside every man who’s a great chef beats a heart that yearns for him to be a male model. Just kidding, of course. But simply because you love good food doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice your physique. Yet who has the time for all that exercise when you’re trying to perfect your flan? Nowadays, the trend in men’s undies is to provide gents with support and definition so that they can look like they wield a spatula in one hand and a dumbbell in the other. Here you’ll find a range of offerings from Neiman Marcus in The Westchester, White Plains. They’re proof that Spanx aren’t just for us women. – Georgette Gouveia Hanro Micro Touch Boxer-Brief, $48.
Spanx V-Neck Zoned Compression Tee, $78.
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Hanro Superior Tee, $64.
Tommy John Second Skin Low-Rise Briefs, $25.
BREATHE PILATES AND YOGA LOGO AND BRANDING MAIN LOGO
BLUE PANTONE 534 C
BROWN PANTONE 4625C
And at Bloomingdale’s in White Plains: Polo Ralph Lauren Boxer Briefs, pack of three, $38.50.
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From outstanding Zagat and New York From outstanding Zagat and New Times reviews, to recognition byYork dining Times and reviews, to recognition by dining critics patrons. critics and patrons.
Outstanding cuisine, impeccable service, Outstanding cuisine, impeccable service, the charming, flower-filled ambiance of the charming, flower-filled ambiance of our house,our ourquintessential quintessential wine our1800’s 1800’s house, wine cellar LaPanetiere Panetière truly representative ` is is cellar-–La truly representative the renowned restaurants ofofthe restaurantsand andinns innsofof Provence. Provence. Enjoy a memorable Enjoy memorabledining diningexperience experience withus. us. Or with Or let letus uscreate help an you create an elegant private or corporate affair, elegant private or corporate affair, either either at our restaurant or off-site. at our restaurant or off-site.
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Find your place in the world. Around our table Westchester and Fairfield Counties’ premier day and boarding school for Grades 5–12. To learn more, call us at 914-479-6420 or email admission@mastersny.org.
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Character, Resilience, Discipline and Courage
For 160 years, The Gunnery has been committed to cultivating academic excellence and social responsibility, providing students with first-rate preparation for college. To arrange for a visit, please contact The Gunnery Admissions Office, open year round. www.gunnery.org ~ 860-868-7334 ~ admissions@gunnery.org 99 Green Hill Road, Washington, Connecticut 06793 65
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260 Jay Street, Katonah, NY 10536 • 914.232.3161 admissions@harveyschool.org • www.harveyschool.org
Fall Open HOuse | Sat., Oct. 26 at 9 a.m. 66
Harvey is a coeducational college preparatory school enrolling students in grades 6–12 for day and in grades 9–12 for five-day boarding.
THE HALLEN SCHOOL 97 Centre Ave. New Rochelle, NY 10801 (914) 636-6600 thehallenschool.net
THE SPENCE SCHOOL 22 E. 91 St. New York, NY 10128 (212) 289-5940 spenceschool.org
THE HARVEY SCHOOL 260 Jay St. Katonah, NY 10536 (914) 232-3161 harveyschool.org
THE STANWICH SCHOOL 257 Stanwich Road Greenwich, CT 06830 (203) 542-0000 stanwichschool.org
THE KARAFIN SCHOOL 40-1 Radio Circle Mount Kisco, NY 10549 (914) 666-9211 karafinschool.com THE LONG RIDGE SCHOOL 478 Erskine Road Stamford, CT 06903 (203) 322-7693 longridgeschool.org
THE STORM KING SCHOOL 314 Mountain Road Cornwall, NY 12520 (845) 534-7892 sks.org THE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL 136 Lafayette St. Bridgeport, CT, 06604 (203) 579-0434
THE MASTERS SCHOOL 49 Clinton Ave. Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522 (914) 479-6420 mastersny.org
THE URSuLINE SCHOOL 1354 North Ave. New Rochelle, NY 10804 (914) 636-3950 ursuline.pvt.k12.ny.us
THE MONTFORT ACADEMY 99 Valley Road Katonah, NY 10536 (914) 767-0325 themontfortacademy.org
THE WINDWARD SCHOOL 13 Windward Ave. White Plains, NY 10605 (914) 949-6968 thewindwardschool.org
THORNTON-DONOVAN SCHOOL 100 Overlook Circle New Rochelle, NY 10804 (914) 632-8836 td.edu
Potential Nurtured Here.
TRINITY CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL 926 Newfield Ave. Stamford, CT 06905 (203) 322-3401 trinitycatholic.org WESTCHESTER HEBREW HIGH SCHOOL 856 Orienta Ave. Mamaroneck, NY 10543 (914) 698-0806 whhsny.org WHITBY SCHOOL 969 Lake Ave. Greenwich, CT 06831 (203) 869-8464 whitbyschool.org
Families choose Soundview Preparatory School because we offer a rigorous college preparatory program in a uniquely personalized learning community (grades 6-12) that fosters self-confidence and individuality.
WOOSTER SCHOOL 91 Miry Brook Road Danbury, CT 06810 (203) 830-3900 woosterschool.org
Looking for the right school for your child? There’s still time to enroll for September 2013.
WORLD CLASS LEARNING ACADEMY 44 E. Second St. New York, NY 10003 (212) 600-2010 wclacademy.org
Soundview Preparator y School Where your child will truly belong
370 Underhill Avenue, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 (914) 962-2780 • soundviewprep.org
PLEASE CALL TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT FOR A CAMPUS TOUR.
For more information
845-462-4200
22 Spackenkill Road, Poughkeepsie, NY www.oakwoodfriends.org
Founded in 1976 and guided by Quaker principles, Oakwood Friends School emphasizes the importance of intellectual pursuits, individuality and one’s responsibility to the community at large. Oakwood Friends School educates and strengthens young people for lives of conscience, compassion and accomplishment. COLLEGE PREPARATORY PROGRAM • QUAKER VALUES • GRADES 6 - 12 • BOARDING & DAY • COEDUCATIONAL FINANCIAL AID AVAILABLE 67
hot spots — greenwich in their own words, directly to you
ATELIER CONSTANTIN POPESCU
greenwich chamber of commerce
FIND JOY - DANCE! The Arthur Murray Grande Ballroom of Greenwich is a great place to re-invent yourself, meet new people and expand your social life. It’s perfect not only for men and women who are single, but also for couples looking to reconnect and have a special date night. Learn salsa, swing, samba, foxtrot, waltz, rumba, hustle and many, many more –– all in a social setting while getting a tremendous workout and having fun! The Grande Ballroom offers private lessons, nightly group classes and studio parties. Additional programs include the Future Leaders kids program and corporate team-building events. Located in downtown Greenwich, the Grande Ballroom is the place to be seen. The gorgeous Regency period ballroom is also available for private parties. Call us at (203) 769-1800 or visit us online at www.arthurmurraygreenwich.com to learn about our New Student Special.
ATELIER CONSTANTIN POPESCU is the place for people who seek the highest quality musical instruments. Since the studio opened in 1994, proprietor and musician Constantin Popescu has made it his mission to create a first-rate source that sells, rents and repairs fine stringed instruments. Atelier Constantin Popescu and The Riverside School of Music are located in a stunning, light-filled space at 401-403 E. Putnam Ave. in the Cos Cob section of Greenwich. High-quality European string instruments for professional musicians, students and collectors are found at Atelier Constantin Popescu. The sounds produced from these instruments are fit for concert halls. Children can watch instruments being repaired by Stefan Sigurdsson, a practicing luthier (craftsman of stringed instruments). World-renowned musicians and organizations like The Juilliard School trust their instruments to Atelier Constantin Popescu. Studies have shown that music helps foster brain development in infants and young children, and children who play an instrument score higher on standardized tests and typically have higher grades in math. The Riverside School of Music offers classes in string instruments, from the Suzuki method for beginners to advanced levels. The school also offers piano lessons, music theory, chamber music lessons and adult programs. Some Riverside students have gone on to study at such prestigious schools as Juilliard, the New England Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Orchestra. Children can rent the school’s fine quality instruments at a reasonable price and as they become more advanced musicians they can buy maestro-quality instruments. The Riverside School commitment to quality and fostering a love of music is renowned.
Do you think that all chambers are alike? Not the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce. When a new member joins the chamber, the greeting is, “Welcome to our chamber family!” because each member organization is treated as a part of the chamber’s business family. The Greenwich Chamber is willing to customize its offerings to fit every unique business characteristic in order to help businesses prosper — acting very much like a consultant. The Greenwich Chamber of Commerce excels at bringing its community of businesses together. Its mission statement has always been to promote the well being of all businesses while maintaining the town’s residential integrity and improving its quality of life. The chamber’s mantra is its “A-P-Cs” –– advocate, promote and connect. An advocate for business people and town government, the chamber hosts information forums on topics of community interest and serves as a communication vehicle to bring together town discussions. It helps promote businesses through events such as its Business & Culinary Showcase, Sidewalk Sales, State of the Town Luncheon, Annual Awards event, Golf Outing and its Women Who Matter luncheons as well as through its online and ebook Directory and many other advertising, marketing and sponsorship opportunities. There are plenty of ways, which the chamber provides for the business person to connect with other business owners through monthly After Six networking events, Leads Group, speed networking meetings and new member coffees, to name a few. But, don’t forget about the chamber’s ongoing educational programs that are frequently offered, including “How to Cold Call” or expert advice on how to formulate a business plan or how best to use social media. The chamber does it all! To be a part of the chamber is to be seen as a part of the Greenwich dynamic business community. Many businesses believe that chamber membership is both a stamp of approval and a confirmation that they are truly part of an active and evolving business family. Interested in being part of the Greenwich Chamber family or to volunteer? Just write greenwichchamber@ greenwichchamber.com or call (203) 869-3500.
Arthur Murray Grande Ballroom of Greenwich 6 Lewis St. • 203-769-1800 arthurmurraygreenwich.com
Atelier Constantin Popescu • Riverside School of Music 403 E. Putnam Ave., Cos Cob (203) 661-9500
Greenwich Chamber of Commerce greenwichchamber.com (203) 869-3500
Arthur Murray Grande Ballroom of Greenwich
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greenwich psychic
Pastiche
Salon O
I’m JANET LEE. My natural-born psychic powers and Indian background give me the unique ability to look into your past and future and help you shed light on troubling issues. Psychics have been part of the world’s culture and history for centuries and I can boast that I have been doing my readings successfully for more than 25 years in the town of Greenwich. During these years I have met and helped many wonderful people and am now proud to announce the opening of my new healing center and elite establishment – a 14,000-square-foot commitment to Greenwich where private yoga, Reiki spiritual healing, addiction therapy and many other beautiful healing methods are offered. I’m also proud to announce that I’ve opened, this year, my new psychic location in East Hampton, N.Y., on Newtown Lane. With my power of wisdom and knowledge I have worked and helped many wonderful people, now let me help you. Visit me at my gallery, 5 Greenwich Ave., Greenwich, right above Tory Burch and next-door to Ralph Lauren or in East Hampton at 66 Newtown Lane. Call today for your private session, (203) 629-0155.
PASTICHE is a designer women’s boutique located in Old Greenwich. Its “classic-with-a-twist” method of buying in the market and its ability to build lasting relationships with clientele, has set it apart during the 16 years it has been in business. The Pastiche focus creates a welcoming, feel-right-athome ambiance, and that’s exactly what you will experience with every visit. Whether you are shopping for a casual tee, business wear or evening wear, stylists will work one-on-one with you to create a perfect outfit that will make you feel both confident and beautiful. Almost every day you can find new items in the store. Buyers work very closely with their designers to assure a unique, one-of-a-kind collection of clothing for you to enjoy. The designers carried at Pastiche are new and up and coming. Their pieces are of the best quality and detail. A benefit to shopping at Pastiche is the services offered to clients. You can call ahead to make an appointment with a stylist who will personally shop for you, pack you for trips or even come to your home on seasonal occasions to change wardrobes and redo closets. Pastiche also hosts “Girl’s Night Out” events for you and a group of friends to experience a fun night of after-hours shopping. If a sophisticated wardrobe perfect for all occasions is what you desire, Pastiche will not disappoint.
SALON O, opened in 2005 as one of the first to modernize this now hip, little riverside town of Byram. Owners Rocco Palermiti and Omar Roth have created a space that greets you with a smile. Upon entering the glossy wooden doors, you immediately feel like part of the Salon O family. Our stylists and colorists pride themselves on combining the perfect blend of what’s classic and current, leaving you with the most fabulous version of yourself. Salon O’s recipe for a sexy, fun summer look. 1• It all starts with bright big eyes. Lash extensions and brow shaping for those steamy summer days when make-up is minimal. 2• Fringe. Update your ponytail with sexy bangs. (Warning: not for the super-curly clients.) 3• Braid. Nix the weekday blowout and try a fun fishtail, waterfall or side-part French braid. Take it out days later to find the perfect beach waves. 4• Topknot/bun. Wear it high and full or low and messy, anything goes with this modern take on a ballerina classic. 5• Hair extensions. Shhhh, it’s our little secret! Add length, volume or chemical-free highlights to give your hair envy, even on the most humid of days. 6• Glossy hair color. Get a custom color gloss treatment to maximize shine. 7• Frizz control. Control frizzy hair with an amazing smoothing treatment by Brazilian Blowout. We carry the absolute best in products designed to enhance what we create in the salon. Come by and let us put together a summer cocktail to suit your sun-proof hair and make-up needs.
Janet Lee 5 Greenwich Ave. • 66 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, NY (203) 629-0155
Pastiche 250 Sound Beach Ave., Old Greenwich (203) 637-4444
Salon O 239 Mill Street, Byram • (203) 531-3000 SalonO.net 69
hot spots — mamaroneck in their own words, directly to you
Bodicures
chocolations
BODICURES is the place to go for beautiful healthy skin and permanent hair removal. Celebrating 18 years in business, co-owners Bette DeVito and Margherite Torregiani love what they do and it shows. They continue to search out the best products and services for their clients. Bodicures has earned the reputation for excellent client service and, in many cases, has been privileged to provide treatment to as many as three generations within one family. Providing a wide range of customized facial options, acne to anti-aging, including award-winning advanced repair facial and the hydra facial featured on “The Doctors,” Bodicures continues its commitment to offer result-based treatments and quality products provided by caring knowledgeable professionals. Not sure which facial is best for you – no problem, Bodicures’ trained and experienced staff will recommend the perfect treatment for your skin care needs. Hair removal is a very personal decision and by offering more than one solution, a plan can be customized just right for you. Whether you have dark or light skin, dark or light hair, curly, fine or coarse hair, you can be rid of unwanted hair permanently. Laser hair removal and/ or electrolysis will eliminate your unwanted hair forever, giving you the hair-free, carefree lifestyle you have been dreaming of. Other specialties include massage, body treatments, shellac and gel nails and eyebrow shaping. Bodicures offers both physician and professional products to meet all your skincare needs. Experience the personal care and warm reception you will receive when visiting Bodicures and see for yourself why it has been a favorite of so many for so long. Visit Bodicures website for a complete list of specials.
MARIA VALENTE started Chocolations in her kitchen almost 30 years ago as a hobby born out of her love of chocolate. Her dream of turning it into a business was put on hold as she pursued a law degree and worked in several conventional jobs until she decided to take the plunge. She took courses in chocolate at the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan and business training through a 15-week program at the Women’s Enterprise Development Center. Chocolations opened in 2006 moving to a tiny storefront on Mamaroneck Avenue in Mamaroneck. She expanded to her current storefront in 2010 where she now offers baked goods, coffee, ice cream, afternoon tea and hosts birthday parties as well as offering the best chocolate around. The award-winning chocolates include Westchester’s Best truffle, barks of every kind, chocolate-covered Oreos, pretzels, marshmallows, chocolate-dipped caramel apples and chocolate-dipped strawberries. New products, introduced often, like the chocolate-covered bacon and chocolate-dipped potato chips join a line of custommade candy bars, including dark chocolate with blueberries and almonds known as the “Good For You Bar,” which was named one of the top three bars in the country. Coffee and espresso drinks are served as well as a very popular concoction known as the Frozen Hot Chocolate, which is a perfect summertime treat. The store is nice and cool in the summer heat and there is a lovely outside patio rimmed in beautiful flowers. Birthday parties at the factory are very special. Children first make their own candy bars, which they will take home, then make their own frozen yogurt sundaes and then there’s a cupcake project. Call for more details. Kids aren’t the only ones allowed to have fun. Chocolate making or cupcake-decorating parties are also hosted at Chocolations as well as business and networking events. All major credit cards are accepted and if you can’t decide or don’t want to travel with chocolate in your car, gift cards are also offered. “We’re Westchester’s premier chocolate factory! We now carry Longford’s Own-Made Ice Cream. Join us for afternoon tea every Tuesday and Saturday noon to 4 p.m.”
DOC JAMES is a name synonymous with cigars in Westchester County. As Westchester’s only source for Davidoff Cigars, this establishment is one where you can shop, lounge, smoke and meet and greet. Having moved and expanded to a horse barn that dates back to the 1830s, Doc James’ new space has tons of character and the great rustic feel expected from the perfect cigar shop. The outdoor smoking lounge is open seasonally and a private loft is available for business meetings and small gatherings. From the large walk-in humidor that houses all the best brands at all price points to the warm and comfortable lounge –– you will be glad you stopped in. Doc James offers: •Premium cigar brands; •The only Davidoff distributor in Westchester; •Humidors, lighters, cutters, cigar cases; •Memberships with private Lockers (membership is not required); •Private loft to rent for parties and business meetings; •Cigars for all occasions (golf outings, weddings, fundraisers); and an •Outdoor smoking lounge. Doc James stocks Cigar Aficionado’s top cigars: •MonteCristo New Yorker, •Romeo by Romeo y Julieta Piramide, •Nat Sherman Timeless No.2, •La Flor Dominicana Cameroon Cabinet, •Oliva Serie V Belicoso, and •San Lotano Oval. New arrivals: •Davidoff – Colorado Claro, •Oliva Melanio, •Room 101 Namakubi, •Rocky Patel – 50th, •Rocky Patel – Burn (only sold at Doc James), •MonteCristo Epic, •Rocky Patel Private Cellar, •Rocky Patel Nicaraguan Edge, •LaFlor – Double Claro (the green leaf is back), and •Padron Family Reserve – No. 44 Torpedo. Call for monthly events. Store hours are Monday to Wednesday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Thursday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and Sun 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Bodicures 735 E. Boston Post Road • (914) 777-2873 Bodicures.com • Find us on Facebook
Chocolations 607 E. Boston Post Road • (914) 777-3600 Fax: (914) 630-2900 • chocolations.com
Doc James Cigar Lounge 133 E. Prospect Ave. • (914) 630 7333 DocJames2.com • facebook.com/DocJamesCigarLounge
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Doc James Cigar Lounge
Fusion Entertainment & Design Group
Majestic Kitchens & Bath
Raymond Opticians
As you plan this important celebration of life, please remember that the entertainment is the most critical element to any successful event. No other single vendor will provide a greater impact as to how you and your guests remember your event. The right music and the right entertainer can transform any party into an event your family and your friends will be talking about for years to come. With this in mind, you can feel confident that the FUSION Entertainment & Design Group is the best choice for your upcoming wedding, bar/bat mitzvah or special life celebration. Fusion is a conglomerate of wedding and event professionals all under one roof, consisting of ESU DJs, Always Impressive Invitations & Beach Front Travels. The Fusion Entertainment & Design group was born when DJ Rob Moschetta , the owner of ESU DJs, and Maria Solazzo, the owner of Always Impressive Invitations, joined forces some three years ago. Both Rob and Maria have been pioneers and trendsetters in the Industry for more than 25 years. Under their direction, Fusion presents itself as a group of seasoned professionals who offer a synthesis of artful invitations and premier entertainment to form an unforgettable experience for your next event. Lists of services they provide are extensive: • Custom Invitations with all the latest styles and trends • DJs, MCs, party motivators, karaoke jockeys • Professional photography/video • High-energy bar/bat mitzvah experiences • Montage and entrance videos • Photo-booth services • Green screen and step and repeat photo favors • Lounge décor and lighting • Live bands and orchestras
WILLIAM LUCENO, president of Majestic Kitchens & Bath in Mamaroneck, has insight into trends in and around Westchester because of his large volume of work. “Considering the neighborhoods, “ Luceno says, “in our local communities and the age and style of most homes in our region, we’ve been doing a lot more renovations of older, traditional kitchens – installing transitional design and styling. This means less bulk and cleaner lines, while maintaining the home’s integrity. “White-painted cabinetry still remains a classic,” he says, “and shades of gray are popping up as the new neutral or the surprise accent. For countertops, there’s a shift from granite to quartz – the color selection is expansive and it’s maintenance free . “In the bathroom, white is still the winner with fixtures and even cabinetry, but tile is used to add color or keep things subtle and neutral.” Luceno also says frameless clear glass shower doors are in top demand and water features such as rain showers and power sprayers are popular.
RAYMOND OPTICIANS provides comprehensive eye exams, including cataract screening, glaucoma testing and free vision tests for driver license renewal. Also, Raymond Opticians specializes in children’s eye care. Eyeglasses: The latest eyeglass trends with the newest lens technology, including varilux and transitions can be found at Raymond Opticians and custom eyeglasses can be created for everyone in the family. Sunglasses: Choose from a large selection, including Oakley, Maui Jim, Nike, RayBan, Prada, Velvet, Tom Ford, D&G, Coach, Michael Kors, Kate Spade, Vera Wang and many more! Contacts: Raymond Opticians’ trained optometrists and opticians are experts in fitting contact lenses for all ages. Ask about discount pricing on Acuvue, Bausch & Lomb, Proclear, Freshlook, Avaira and more. Visit Maria or have an eye exam with Dr. Andrea Keiser in the Mamaroneck store or visit one of 20 other locations within Westchester and Putnam counties by going on line to www.raymondopticians.com.
Fusion Entertainment & Design Group 623 E. Boston Post Road • (914) 698-8484 www.esudj.com • facebook.com/esudjmamaroneck
Majestic Kitchens & Bath 700 Fenimore Road • (914) 381-1302 majestickitchens.com
Raymond Opticians 307 Mamaroneck Ave. • (914)-698-2022 raymondopticians.com 71
wear
Heather Adessa, owner of the Glo Beauty Bar in Mamaroneck, works on WAG alumna Jené Luciani.
All aglow at Mamaroneck makeup bar By Georgette Gouveia
Y
ou may know Heather Adessa’s work without even knowing it. And that’s the way she likes it. Adessa – a makeup artist and owner of the new Glo Beauty Bar in Mamaroneck – strives for a “clean, fresh, flawless” face. That means moisturizer, a proper concealer, foundation set with powder, a smoky eye and eyebrows that are filled in. “That’s my key thing,” she says of the defined brows. “I can do ‘Jersey Shore,’ ” she adds, referring to the more flamboyant Snooki look. “But it’s not what I’m known for.” And indeed Adessa’s own makeup is subtle, underscoring her attractive dark eyes. Her understated, practical approach to cosmetics has earned her a following among the wedding crowd as well as celebrities. She did Chazz and Gianna Palminteri’s makeup for WAG’s May 2011 “Mane Event” issue. No doubt she’ll be earning more fans at Glo, next to Chocolations (WAG’s December 2012 “Bedazzled” issue) on a strip of the Boston Post Road that might more aptly be named Wedding Lane. It contains shops for flow72
ers, party favors and invitations. The 850-square-foot Glo – done in restful silvers and grays so as not to distort the makeup palette – represents a trend whose time has come on the East Coast. Makeup bars are well-established out west, with Blushington in Los Angeles and Houston. However, the few that are in Manhattan, like Laura Geller’s Upper East Side studio, tend to be brand-based, Adessa says. “What I noticed – and I’ve been doing makeup in general for 10 years – is that people like that you use what’s best.” So while she once sold MAC Cosmetics at Bloomingdale’s in White Plains, she doesn’t confine herself to that brand. “I wanted to go into using makeup,” she adds, “rather than selling makeup.” Adessa, who grew up in Mamaroneck – she’s known Chocolations’ owner Marie Valente since she was in kindergarten – has always enjoyed using makeup. Adessa graduated from Manhattanville College with a major in sociology and a minor in art history. But she was still the young woman who was called on to make up her friends and family before big events. In 2009, she
earned a cosmetology license that enables her to do hair, makeup, facials and waxing. At Glo, there are three makeup artists and two hairdressers. Adessa will be supplementing the staff with experts in eyebrowwaxing and spray-tanning. She also plans to have classes in such subjects as skin care for men and how to apply makeup. When it comes to the latter, Adessa is definitely part of the Less Is More School and a believer in the philosophy that “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” “I don’t believe in full-face makeup for everyday,” she says. Otherwise, you have no place to go with it when there’s a special occasion. Instead, Adessa likes to consider the person’s looks, coloring, lifestyle, career and personality. Going to work on me – a tricky combination of high maintenance and high impatience – Adessa removes my makeup, which includes an intense black liquid eyeliner I have applied so thickly and unevenly that the result is more rabid raccoon than sultry Cleopatra. Starting from scratch, she applies a moisturizer and creates a smoky eye – using a blue-gray eye shadow as a liner, applied with a thin, an-
gled brush; a Champagne-colored shadow over the eyelid and a brown eye shadow to define the brows. Do the eyes first, she says, so that any residue can be corrected by the foundation and concealer. She then picks a foundation that matches my medium skin tone. When buying foundation, Adessa says, match it to the skin under the jawline, since that part of the face tends to be shielded from the sun. After applying the foundation and concealer, Adessa chooses a pinkish cream blush. I happen to have the kind of skin that can use a wide palette of colors. But Adessa says the pinkish hue, combined with the smoky blue-gray, complements my navy and white outfit. She finishes with a light coat of mascara and lets me apply my berry lipstick for a look that’s pretty and light for summer. I’m pleased with the result but even more impressed with her down-to-earth advice for makeup wearers. “You need to work with what you have. Accentuate your good features instead of trying to make yourself what you’re not.” To get that Glo, call (914) 732-3033 or visit glo-beautybar.com. n
wanders
FL
AM
ENCO The Gypsy in my soul By Cappy Devlin
Photograph courtesy of the Tourist Office of Spain.
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Where to experience flamenco
The best flamenco dancing is in Seville, Madrid and Barcelona. Also in the caves of Sacramonte, where Granada’s Gypsies provide great entertainment. While writing this article, I interviewed Josie LaRiccia, who is the director and founder of Josie’s International School of Dance in Ossining. Every Saturday, you can hear the sounds of flamenco from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Children, teens and adults come to study flamenco. (914) 332-8670.
Photograph courtesy of the Tourist Office of Spain. 74
lamenco – a folk art born in southern Spain around 200 years ago – is individualistic, yet structured. Song, dance and guitar are blended into passionate, sinuous rhythms that are often improvised and spontaneous. I have traveled to Spain many times, especially in Sotogrande along the Costa del Sol, and each time I always want to spend evenings immersed in the song, dance and guitar of the flamenco. It can have any imaginable theme, from stories to politics. But the lyrics and tone of flamenco reflect the sufferings of the Gypsy people, with whom it originated. The art form also has Moorish and Jewish influences, particularly in its use of the melisma, a group of notes sung on one syllable. Flamenco exists in three forms – cante, the song; baile, the dance; and guitarra, the guitar. The source of flamenco, however, lies in the tradition of singing. The singer’s role is very important, with the guitar playing an accompaniment to the song. Today the solo-guitar flamenco has developed into a separate art and is fashionably blended with jazz, blues and pop music. Flamenco guitar originally was just a backdrop for the dancing and singing and is now recognized as an art form in its own right. The virtuoso Paco de Lucia is one of the most influential pioneers of flamenco guitar. Flamenco dance has complex patterns of rhythm and sophisticated footwork with the upper body emphasizing grace and posture. Late one lovely evening, a male dancer came over and asked me to take up the flamenco shoes, a whirlwind dress, castanets and a beautiful fan. And with the intricate toe-and heel-clicking steps, we danced around the stage. Now that’s a long-lasting memory. There are two main styles of flamenco – “jondo,” the serious and deep meaning, the cry of the oppressed people; and “chico,” happy, light and often humorous. The ideal in flamenco is called “duende” (demon or elf), which is a state of emotional involvement, group communication at a deep level and a feeling of sympathy among musicians, dancers and listeners. Ruben Olmo is one of flamenco’s most renowned contemporary practitioners. Under his direction, 11 dancers of Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía have earned an international reputation for bringing the flavors of classical ballet, in which Olmo trained, to the flamenco. However, by what is called flamenco puro, Olmo is something of a heretic. Olmo’s background makes him a “baila-
rin,” because he has trained in a variety of flamenco styles, rather than a “bailaora,” one who has studied only flamenco. But critics and audiences, and increasingly young, up-and-coming dancers, find Olmo’s ideas, and especially his moves on the stage intoxicating, and they don’t worry about the concerns of tradition. Passion resonates at more powerful frequencies than tradition. Although mass media has brought flamenco to the world stage, at its heart it has always been and will always be an intimate form of music. You have not heard authentic flamenco if you have not been in a juerga, with a small group of friends at midnight somewhere in the south of Spain, where there is nothing around but the voice, the guitar and the body of a dancer moving in the moonlight. For more, visit Cappy’s Travel at 195 N. Bedford Road, Mount Kisco. Call (914) 241-0383 or email Cappy@travel-by-net.com.n
The April Fair in Seville. Photograph courtesy of the Tourist Office of Spain.
“Riding with Pegasus gave me wings and a sense of accomplishment. Finally I found a sport that I was able to excel at. In the saddle, I for once felt ‘normal.’” Pegasus provides the therapeutic benefits of mounted and unmounted equine-assisted activities to people with needs. We are a PATH International Premier Accredited Center that serves more than 225 students ages 4 and up each year at our chapters in Brewster, Darien, Greenwich and Pleasantville. Our program team of instructors, physical therapists, occupational therapists and licensed educators are PATH-certified professionals. We recently launched two new programs that serve an even broader range of students. Pegasus Patriots is designed for our heroic military veterans, and Wings provides therapeutic services to disadvantaged youth, victims of abuse and human trafficking, and at-risk individuals. Pegasus relies heavily on community support to provide our services. Here’s how you can help: • Make a gift to support our therapeutic programs • Become a volunteer • Donate a horse to our program or adopt or sponsor one of our current therapeutic horses • Refer a potential student (A limited number of full grants are available for Pegasus Patriots and Wings students for 2013 sessions. Contact us regarding eligibility.) Contact us at (845) 669-8235 or info@pegasustr.org, or visit us online at pegasustr.org. 75
wagging What (not) to feed your pets By Sarah Hodgson
E
ach night after dinner, my four dogs’ shift their alliance to the left side of the table. They rise when the children clear their plates and watch patiently as my husband finishes his supper. Though I’ve witnessed this scene a hundred times, it never ceases to entertain me. Roman, my husband – my metaphorical Best of Opposite Sex – uncrosses his legs, wipes his lips and carries his own plate to the kitchen sink where the dogs surround him like a halo. Pulling a tin cup from the cupboard – one he has kept with him since childhood – Roman plucks tasty morsels from each plate to share with our dogs. Facing them, he directs one forth as he tells the other three to “Wait.” In less than five minutes the doling’s complete and the dogs return to my side offering appeasing gestures like wayward children. This is but one of our daily rituals, sorely missed when my husband has the
occasion to travel and one that I could never refuse any of them. It is dog love, Roman style. I’m well aware that many of my readers might be aghast. Shouldn’t dogs be restricted from eating human food? What am I, a dog trainer who can’t train her husband? Perhaps I should frown on this activity, but I choose not to. My dogs are well-mannered, cheerful, nonaggressive companions. As long as my family agrees to limit sharing food directly from the dinner table and follow my professionally circulated “Avoidable Edibles” list (found on my website, whendogstalk.com), I’m OK with letting them forge their own routines and happy memories. So what of my “Avoidable Edibles?” This list includes the commonly known toxins, like chocolate, alcohol, grapes, raisins, any drugs, caffeinated beverages, yeast dough and salt. But there are a few
Pet of the Month People weren’t the only victims of the recent economic downturn. Baby, an adorable 8-year-old purebred Papillon, was surrendered to the SPCA when his owner fell on hard times. Baby is as sweet as they come – always wagging his tail and loving everyone. He enjoys being held and would be a perfect travel companion. Although he is not house-trained yet, he is learning to use the indoor pads. (Keep working on that, Baby.) Forget diamonds. Baby is a gem, so easygoing and affectionate. He would be a great addition to any family. To meet Baby, visit the SPCA of Westchester at 590 N. State Road in Briarcliff Manor. Please note: The SPCA does not accept deposits, make appointments or reserve animals for adoption even if it has spoken about a particular dog or cat with you. It’s always first-come, first-served among applicants, pending approval. The SPCA is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. To learn more, call (914) 941-2896 or visit spca914. org.
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other avoidables on the list that may surprise you. Did you know that your pet may have an adverse reaction to apple and mustard seeds, avocados, apricot, peach and cherry pits, the sweetener Xy-
So what of my “Avoidable Edibles?” This list includes the commonly known toxins, like chocolate, alcohol, grapes, raisins, any drugs, caffeinated beverages, yeast dough and salt. litol (found in many candies and gums), garlic, macadamia nuts, walnuts, mushrooms, potatoes, rhubarb, tomatoes, onions and onion powder? While many of these substances can leave your dog
with little more than an upset stomach when ingested in small doses, your pet may suffer a violent reaction if he/she gobbles mounds or has an allergic reaction to any one of them. Though many of you wouldn’t mindfully feed your dogs these foods, go back and circle the ones that might find their way onto a picnic table this season. I can spot six that I use regularly as condiments or in side dishes. Though I could write a whole article on table etiquette, and perhaps I will, please be aware of what you’re serving this season and where your dog is in relationship to the food. Whenever we have a party, I give my brood an extra bout of exercise so they’re restful, a hearty meal so they’re satiated and delectable chews to occupy them while we’re noshing. And if you want to share that halfeaten hamburger or hot dog, may I simply suggest you not dole it out straight from the grill. n
Summer at the Bruce Robert Carley, La Salle, Michigan Flag House, Photograph, 18 x 24 in. ©Robert Carley
Museum
Dürer, Rembrandt & Whistler: Prints from the Collection of Dr. Dorrance T. Kelly through August 18, 2013 Revised & Restored: The Art of Kathleen Gilje through September 8, 2013 Flags Across America: The Photographs of Robert Carley July 14–September 22, 2013 Eggs-hibition: Unscrambling Their History through October 20, 2013 Telling American History: Realism from the Print Collection of Dr. Dorrance T. Kelly August 31–December 1, 2013
BRUCE MUSEUM Greenwich, Connecticut
brucemuseum.org
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w’reel deal Remembering the Alamo… in Drafthouse form By Sam Barron
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ne time I was driving through Ossining and I noticed a sign saying a Quiznos was opening soon on South Highland Avenue. I nearly drove off the road. My favorite place was coming right where I live? I ended up renting an apartment right across from the Quiznos. If you ask me, I’ll say how the rent is good, I have a lot of space and I have a Hudson River view. But between you and me, it was because of the Quiznos. That’s how I’ve felt ever since I heard that Alamo Drafthouse was opening at 2548 Central Ave. in Yonkers. For months, I’ve been excited, counting down the days, getting construction updates and wondering why an Alamo Drafthouse had to open the same year I cut back on movie-going. Does anyone know a cheap place to live in Yonkers? Alamo Drafthouse has food, beer, wine and shows cool movies. I don’t even drink, and that’s awesome. Tim and Karrie League opened the first Alamo Drafthouse in 1997 in Austin, Texas. “We wanted to make a movie theater for movie fans,” said Tim League, founder and CEO of Drafthouse Cinemas. “We were movie fans and we wanted a place where we could go to.” Drafthouse won over fans with its policy of no advertisements before the films and a strict no-talking and no-texting policy. It also has no time for crying babies. Alamo Drafthouse became popular, expanding in Texas and opening locations throughout the country, winning people over wherever it went. New York was the white whale it had to conquer. Aside from Yonkers, Alamo is opening on the Upper West Side next year and in Brooklyn in 2015. An Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn will be too much hipster for one setting. I’m already getting chills. Yonkers seems like an interesting location. Westchester is many things. Hip and cool are not two of them. League thinks he has an audience here and God bless him for it. “This location seemed like a really good fit,” he says. “I spent a good amount of time in Yonkers and in Westchester. There wasn’t anything like
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Dancing to Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” is something I often do alone in my apartment, especially on Saturdays. I look forward to doing this in a social setting. Below Quintessential Alamo fare – brews and burgers and shakes.
this. We like this spot.” The theater will have seven screens, showing your usual Hollywood fare, but with cool festivals, screenings and indie films. Drafthouse Cinema distributes indies, many of which will screen in a special 30-seat theater. Yes, League runs a movie theater chain and an independent film studio. He might be cooler than John Quiznos, the inventor of Quiznos. (Ed. note: There is no John Quiznos.) Buzz has been building throughout the summer. I felt at home at a meetand-greet at Growlers Beer Bistro in Tuckahoe back in May, where League and I discussed filmmaker Ben Wheatley and our favorite independent films and filmmakers. Aside from showing movies and serving great food and drink, League is committed to making Alamo a part of the Westchester community. “We haven’t lost sight of what my
wife and I were trying to do 15 years ago,” League said. “We’re a mom-andpop theater. We hire locally. We support local charities, film festivals and young filmmakers. We want people to know the names of everyone who works here.” Now let’s talk about what’s important – the food and drink. Alamo Drafthouse offers 32 beers on tap and has a guy whose job it is to test and choose the beer. I don’t drink, but you don’t have to be Otis from “The Andy Griffith Show” to think that’s cool. And suds from local breweries Yonkers Brewing Co. and Captain Lawrence Brewing Co. will be on tap. The food is casual – pizza, sandwiches, salad – nothing too fancy. “It’s food you’re eating in the dark,” League said. “Everything is made from scratch. It’s good quality. We source our ingredients locally.” League must’ve remembered the
time I tried to eat a chipotle chicken sandwich during “Milk.” The people who sat next to me are still in therapy. For certain movies, the chef will create a special five-course meal. Movies that have received this treatment include “Julie & Julia,” “Big Night” (I wonder what our own Stanley Tucci would say), “Like Water for Chocolate” and “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”. I’d hate to see what they served for “The Silence of the Lambs” or “Titus.” What is it with Anthony Hopkins and cannibalism? The Westchester location will be the first one to have calorie counts, which has never stopped me before. Being named The Best Theater in the World by Time magazine spawns its imitators. AMC Theatres has gotten in the act, offering dinner and a movie at select locations, and other theaters have begun offering reserved seating. “We just thought it’d be a cool idea,” League said. “We’ve proved it. It compresses date night, and if you have kids, you’re gone for two hours instead of five. It makes the movie-going experience fun and exciting. The more, the merrier.” And don’t worry, the food and drink is done in a stealth way, so I won’t be disturbing your experience when I order another plate of chicken wings. Remember: Don’t talk or text during a movie at the Alamo. I’m serious. The theater doesn’t screw around and will kick you out. In summer 2011, a customer left a hilarious voicemail after she was kicked out and it went viral, getting almost 3 million views on YouTube. “It was a really weird week,” League recalls, laughing. “It was pretty unexpected. I did so many interviews in 48 hours. I was in The New York Times and on Howard Stern. It was crazy.” League said he has been warned about the attitude of New Yorkers, but will he change his policy? Fuhgeddaboudit. “If you can’t change your behavior and be quiet (or un-illuminated) during a movie, then we don’t want you at our venue,” League says. “Follow our rules, or get the hell out and don’t come back until you can.” You’re on notice, old people and teenagers. n
where are they now? Tarrytown’s Castle: new owner, new chef, new spa, new life By Georgette Gouveia
I
f you can’t stand the heat, then you’ll definitely want to get out of this kitchen. But not before you appreciate the marvel of its $150,000 stainless steel Jade island stove. Actually several stoves in one – with different stations for various kinds of cooking, plus a broiler – it is “the Ferrari of stoves,” says Marc Lippman, the new executive chef of culinary operations at the Castle Hotel & Spa in Tarrytown. Lippman’s presence isn’t the only thing that’s new at the Castle, begun in 1897 by architect Henry Killburn for the Howard Carroll family. Since we first profiled the crenellated stone hotel, perched high above the Hudson, in our inaugural “Royal Treatment” issue (February 2011), the Castle has acquired a new owner and a new look, with a $650,000 kitchen renovation, two generators, new chairs for the award-winning Equus restaurant, fresh paint and new light fixtures for the medieval-style Great Hall and new carpeting, bedding and drapes for suites that range from magisterial red and gold to elegant taupe. Later this month, the Castle will open the THANN Sanctuary Spa – the first of its kind in the United States. All to the tune of $12 million. That is the measure of Sankara Hospitality’s enthusiasm for its new property, says Gilbert Baeriswil, the Castle’s general manager. The Japanese-based company also owns the Sankara Hotel & Spa on the island of Yakushima. The result of the Castle’s “face-lift,” as he calls it, is a cleaner, crisper, lighter atmosphere and attitude, enhanced by crystalline summer days. Central to the refreshed Castle is the holistic, Thai-style spa – 8,600 square feet of cultured stone, ecological roofing, neutral hues and bronze-colored tile. It features seven treatment rooms, a VIP treatment room with a gazebo, a communal lounge with juice bar, a yoga studio and men’s and women’s showers, locker rooms and hot tubs. Lippman – a Danbury resident whose service has ranged from Wild Blue at Windows on the World in Manhattan to Crabtree’s Kittle House in Chappaqua – is looking forward to serving spa cuisine at the Castle. “What I’d like to do is create a menu 80
Marc Lippman, executive chef, and Gilbert Baeriswil, general manager, before the “Ferrari of stoves” in the renovated 3,000-square-foot kitchen of the Castle Hotel & Spa in Tarrytown. Inset: Chef Lippman’s a gazpacho made of heirloom tomatoes around layers of shrimp ceviche, pickled ramps and cucumber ice.
based on what I see on the farm with a flavorful Asian infusion,” he says of Elizabeth Taggart’s Amba Farms in Bedford Hills. There he might find five different kinds of arugula as well as asparagus that grow long, wild and tender, among many other garden delights. The produce, ingredients and flavors may change with the season. The high quality, never. “We’re really focusing on and defining Auberge-style cuisine,” Lippman says of the menu’s French country accent, nonetheless created with the bounty of the Hudson Valley, everything from its ground beef and artisanal cheeses to Crown Maple Syrup and Ronnybrook Farm Butter.
Among the signature offerings are a zesty gazpacho, made with heirloom tomatoes and served with cylindrical layers of shrimp ceviche, pickled ramps and cucumber ice; a black sea bass with seasonal vegetables; and an aged rib-eye steak with Porcini mushrooms. Besides the gazpacho we sampled a delicate but tangy lobster salad accented with blood oranges and lightly dressed with crème fraîche; and a risotto with English peas and cheese croutons that is a tonier version of comfort food. Feeling virtuous after only three appetizers, we finished the meal with dessert. And what a dessert – a chocolate hazelnut banana ganache dacquoise with a dollop of espresso gelato. Crunchy, creamy, chocolate-y: It’s what God might’ve done with the Kit Kat. But then, thanks to a new approach,
the Castle is looking more and more like a slice of heaven. The Castle Hotel & Spa, recognized by US News & World Report as “One of the 2013 Top Hotels in the USA,” is offering a Summer Meeting Package at a special promotional rate of $153 for meetings held in July and August. The package includes 15 percent off a Day Meeting Package inclusive of meeting space, continental breakfast, morning break, lunch, afternoon break, a screen, projector, flipchart and continuous nonalcoholic beverage service. The Castle is also offering 15 percent off the facility fee for a private corporate dinner and a group weekday guest room rate of $295, plus taxes for a standard deluxe room. The Summer Meeting Package is available with a minimum of 10 guests and is not applicable to previously booked meetings or events. For more, call (914) 524-6366 or visit castlehotelandspa. com. n
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After Angelina
Information and the individual should guide breast-cancer prevention By Michael Rosenberg, MD
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n May 14, 2013, an opinion piece in The New York Times by Angelina Jolie boldly announced to the world that she had undergone bilateral mastectomies with reconstruction to prevent the development of a subsequent breast carcinoma, so-called prophylactic mastectomies. She openly discussed her situation, declaring that she did so because “there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer,” and that she hoped that “they, too, will be able to get gene tested and that if they have a high risk they, too, will know they have strong options.” She made a number of points that all women and those of us who love them, need to consider. She also potentially opened a Pandora’s box. All women are at an estimated 10-percent risk for developing breast cancer in the course of their lifetimes. With that in mind, we in the medical field have long advocated for a regular regimen of self exams,
periodic physical examinations by a physician and appropriate testing, including periodic mammograms. Early detection is the key to curing this disease and whatever attention and awareness Jolie can help bring to this problem will ultimately save lives, and I applaud her for this. There is a subset of women who are at an even higher risk of developing breast cancer in their lifetimes and more attention and care is being directed to this highrisk population. A history of cancer in the opposite breast, a family history of breast cancer and hormone exposure are some of the risk factors that must be considered in each woman’s particular situation. More recently, due to the incredible amount of research directed at defining the human genome (or each individual’s library of DNA), certain genes have been detected that when abnormal put a women at a much higher risk of developing breast cancer. As Jolie indicated, abnormalities in the BRACA genes indicate a very high risk of developing breast and ovarian can-
Westchester’s first Stair Climb!
Help raise funds and awareness for Gilda’s Club Westchester
CANCER SUPPORT
October 7, 2013 • 7pm
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Become a sponsor today! Call 914.644.8844 x 122 82
cers and the presence of such gene abnormalities can be used as an indication for prophylactic mastectomies to prevent the development of cancer. If early detection increases the chance of a cure, prediction of a tendency to develop a cancer is an even better means of curing, or in fact preventing the development of the disease in the first place. As in Jolie’s case, removal of the breasts in the presence of the gene abnormality can cure the disease before it even happens. In her case, the prophylactic mastectomies were done using a nipplesparing approach while removing the breast tissue. Coupled with breast reconstruction using first expanders and then implants, she was able to resume her normal life within a few months after the surgery. She ends her New York Times’ piece by pointing out, correctly, that the cost of the genetic testing she underwent, “more than $3,000 in the United States, remains an obstacle for many women.” I applaud her for sharing her story, and have two points to make about genetic testing that
were not clear enough to me in her article. First, detailed counseling by a professional geneticist is crucial to the entire testing process. There are important implications that the results of genetic testing may have on everything from other family members to financial considerations, such as obtaining insurance and each person needs to be guided carefully through the process. Secondly, not every woman is a good candidate for genetic-testing. After a well-done medical and family history and using well-tested statistical methods, we need to identify first those individuals who will truly benefit from genetic testing. And resources need to be marshaled to help this particular group of women. This is a discussion each woman should have with her health care provider. Information – which each woman can obtain, both on her own and in discussion with medical experts – should be the guide to testing in each individual case. Please send any questions or comments to mrosenberg@nwhc.net. n
Eating your way to health Erika Schwartz, MD
By now you can’t help but be bored and a bit distrustful after reading, watching and being indoctrinated in the newest fad diet guaranteed to take off 10 pounds in one week, while also being constantly brain-washed about the importance of good foods to our health. Not to mention that we are still being fed an array of garbage at the supermarket and fast-food establishments. Unfortunately, when we speak about good versus bad foods, we instinctively focus primarily on their value in terms of dieting. This isn’t what we really need to understand about food in order to stay healthy and make good choices. Foods you should eat to help you lose weight may appear to be similar to those to keep you healthy, but they aren’t necessarily the same. All you have to do to understand the difference is to go to your local endocrinologist or diet doctor and ask for diet pills. Once you start taking diet pills – a little speed in the a.m. – you can certainly eat all the junk you want and the weight comes right off, albeit at a
high price of untoward side effects. This is certainly not for older people, who may need to lose weight yet have medical problems that make the diet pill a big no-no. Since food is as important as the air we breathe, the definition of good food is simple, one would think. Dark, leafy green vegetables, no dairy as you get older, less white foods and starches, even eliminating gluten, limiting amounts of fried foods and of course, no processed foods, alcohol or caffeine. Who wants to hear this? It’s boring and pretty impossible to follow, especially if you’ve spent your entire life eating the junk we were all fed for decades before organic and healthy foods made their entrances into our vocabulary. The problem is that as we age and run out of hormones, our bodies can no longer process the bad foods, thus leaving us fat and bloated. So you have to make a clear but difficult choice. Eat badly, age and get sick with diabetes, arthritis, liver
problems, etc., or just stop eating stuff you can no longer process or tolerate. Easier said than done. How do you one day just switch from your normal habits and pass up the bread basket at the restaurant, skip dessert and omit the pasta or the slice of pizza after a particularly stressful day? Maybe others can help us. I just wonder about all the patients I see who when faced with deadly diagnoses, changed their dietary habits totally – switching to green juices; and eliminating all alcohol, caffeine, sugar substitutes, fried foods, glutens and starches. They lived to tell their stories 20 years after the diagnoses were made and their doctors told them they would be dead in six months. How do you explain this? Scientists would call it circumstantial and remain skeptical. From my perspective as a practicing physician, I would say change your diet today. I did. When I entered menopause, I stopped eating junk and besides taking bioidentical hormones, thyroid pills
and supplements, exercising regularly and sleeping eight hours a night, my diet has become pure and clean. I am now healthier and in better shape than I was at 25, even if I would not pose in a bikini. Not that I did then. While scientists will eventually spend enough of our hard-earned dollars to prove how bad foods kill you and good ones save you, start today with an organic diet full of dark leafy vegetables; go light on animal protein and get rid of dairy (read “The China Study” and watch “Forks over Knives”); increase the amount of water you drink, preferably water with a higher alkaline content (ph>8.5); and eliminate all foods with labels that contain words you cannot pronounce. I’m not recommending this approach to food just because I’m a doctor who uses common sense to help myself and my patients. We are all proof that healthy foods work. For more information, email Dr. Erika at Erika@drerika.com. n
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arenas
basso
brier
Calvaruso
flores
logie
nachman
nyikos
prenon
rosenberg
santiago
sinanaj
wit wonders: “What is your secret ingredient?” “I have found the recipe for making your own luck includes one part inspiration and two parts innovation and three parts perspiration.” –John Arenas, CEO, Serendipity Labs, Rye resident
“My favorite ingredient is heaping amounts of optimism. Nothing comes out right without it.” – Elaine G. Flores, writer, Riverdale resident
“Empowerment and accountability. Spend the time to train your employees correctly, then empower them and watch them grow. Live with their mistakes early on, because a truly worthwhile employee will want the accountability that comes with the empowerment of decision-making.” –Mike Basso, vice president, Leros Point to Point, White Plains resident
“A smile.”
“Inspiration. Guiding Eyes for the Blind transforms lives every day. It’s easy to get immersed in such a wonderful and worthwhile cause. Our incredible graduates, staff and volunteers inspire me daily – and I’m surrounded by the most amazing dogs in the world.” – Michelle Brier, director of marketing and communications, Guiding Eyes for the Blind, Yorktown Heights, Bedford Hills resident “Love.”
– Danny Calvaruso, certified residential real estate appraiser, Primo Appraisals, White Plains resident
– Liz Logie, partner, Atelier360, Greenwich, New Canaan resident
“I love mysteries—reading them, writing them, watching them on big and small screens. I’m the author of the upcoming “Sylvie Shine: Senior Sleuth” and four soon-to-be-published “Who-done-it? Who-wore-it?” mysteries. Motive is my favorite ingredient in a mystery. What dark and twisted psychology compels someone to commit a crime? And what compulsive impulse drives someone else to solve it?” – Barbara Nachman, novelist, Rye Brook resident
“Splash of orange juice when making a margarita….” –Jeff Nyikos, COO, Leros Point to Point, Katonah resident
“My secret ingredient is perseverance. I opened my spa business at the worst possible time – when the economy was really starting to tank in 2009. The first two years, I took huge losses and thought about giving up. By the third year, I actually made a tiny profit, and this year, so far, I’ve been in the black. I’ve also moved to a new, larger space with the option to expand. My daily business mantra has become ‘Hang in there.’” – Mary T. Prenon, owner, Le Petite Spa, Croton-on-Hudson, Cortland Manor resident “My secret ingredient is sea salt.”
– Bill Rosenberg, executive chef at NoMa Social, New Rochelle, Port Chester resident
“When I cook at home, my secret ingredient is Chef Jaime Laurita’s truffle oil spray. It’s unbelievable and gives everything that added eclectic taste.” – Robyn Santiago, owner, Illumination PR, White Plains “Secret ingredient – dry aging. At Benjamin Steakhouse, only the best USDA prime beef is used, and every cut is carefully dry-aged in specially handcrafted aging boxes for a minimum of 28 days. The key effect of the dry aging process is the concentration of flavor. If you have tried our sizzling steaks, it is a flavor you will never forget.” – Shaban Sinanaj, owner, Benjamin Steakhouse, Hartsdale, Ardsley resident
Compiled by Alissa Frey. Contact her at afrey@westfairinc.com. 84
PRINCE WILLIAM HAS PRINCE HARRY, SNOOPY HAS SPIKE – YOU KNOW, THE BAD-BOY BABY BRO WHO’S A CHUNK OF CHARM AND A TON OF TROUBLE. That’s what WAG Weekly is to WAG. In our e-newsletter, we let down our hair (and occasionally, our grammar) to take you behind behind-the-scenes of the hottest parties and events, offer our thoughts on the most controversial issues of the day, share what couldn’t be contained in our glossy pages and tell you what to do and where to go this weekend – all while whetting your appetite for the next issue. If you can’t get enough of WAG — or you just want to get WAG unplugged — then you won’t want to miss WAG Weekly, coming to your tablet each Friday a.m. 85
when&where Sunday
Monday
Tuesday 2
1 LONG RUNNING EVENTS: THROUGH JULY 7 ‘ICREATE’
An exhibit featuring nearly 40 original artworks created by regional high school students, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays; Bruce Museum, Bantle Lecture Gallery, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich. $7, $6 students (up to age 22) and senior citizens. (203) 869-0376, brucemuseum.org.
THROUGH JULY 10
STUDENT WORKS
The Silvermine School of Art’s 23rd annual
Audra McDonald
Student Exhibition, gallery hours: noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays to Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays; Silvermine Arts Center, 1037 Silvermine Road, New Canaan. (203) 966-9700, silvermineart.org.
THROUGH JULY 18
SOLO EXHIBIT
Works by Miami-based urban artist Gabriel Gimenez, noon to 6 p.m. Fridays to Sundays; Reverol & Company Contemporary Art Gallery, 300 Huguenot St., New Rochelle. (914) 413-1120, reverolco.com.
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THROUGH AUGUST 18
LEARNING FROM THE MASTERS
The Bruce Museum’s “Dürer, Rembrandt & Whistler: Prints From the Collection of Dr. Dorrance T. Kelly” features prints by Old Masters and works from the 19th century, 10 a.m. to 5 pm Tuesdays to Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays; Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich. $7, $6 students (up to age 22) and senior citizens. (203) 869-0376, brucemuseum.org.
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BREEZY RIDER
The adventurous, genre-defying string quartet Brooklyn Rider brings its high-wire virtuosity back to Caramoor to introduce music from its new recording, “A Walking Fire,” 4:30 p.m.; Caramoor Venetian Theater, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $40, $30, $20 and $15. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
Brooklyn Rider
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OUNDJIAN RETURNS
Acclaimed pianist Yefim Bronfman and conductor Peter Oundjian make their long-anticipated return to Caramoor with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s for a symphonic highlight of the season, 4:30 p.m.; Venetian Theater, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $62.50, $47.50, $35, $22.50, $15. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
Jonathan Bliss
21 THE EMERSON STRING QUARTET
The American debut of the quartet with its new cellist, Paul Watkins, 4:30 p.m.; Caramoor Venetian Theater, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $40, $30, $20, $15. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
Emerson String Quartet
28 ALL THAT JAZZ
Caramoor’s 20th Anniversary Jazz Festival features Charles Tolliver, Lionel Loueke, the Adam Makowicz Trio, Vijay Iyer, the Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet, the James Carter Organ Trio and others, all day; Venetian Theater, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $55, $40, $25. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
FLY AWAY
An opening reception for the “Charles Hinman and Gary Lichtenstein: Kites/Guild Group Show” (on exhibit through September 7), 2 to 4 p.m.; Silvermine Arts Center, 1037 Silvermine Road, New Canaan. (203) 966-9700, silvermineart.org. Suzanne Vega
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July 2013 Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
3
4 ‘POPS, PATRIOTS & FIREWORKS’
An evening with the Westchester Jazz Orchestra, plus Janis Siegel, vocalist; Darius de Haas, vocalist; Jamie Bernstein, narrator; and Michael Barrett, conductor, 8 p.m.; Caramoor Venetian Theater, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $70, $60, $50, $40, $30. (914) 232-1252, caramoor. org.
10 ‘DANCING AT DUSK’
A night of salsa with The Funky Guajiros, 5 p.m.; Caramoor Friends Field, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $10; Children $5. (914) 2321252, caramoor.org.
Saturday 5
CHAMBER MUSIC
The internationally acclaimed Vienna Piano Trio makes its Caramoor debut, 8 p.m.; Spanish Courtyard, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $40, $30, $20. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
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CAUSE-WORTHY CELEBRATION
ROCK & SOUL
PIANO RECITAL
Dave Revels and company pay tribute to the legacy of The Four Tops in “Shadows of the ’60s,” 6 p.m.; Westchester’s Ridge Hill, 1 Ridge Hill Blvd., Yonkers. (914) 207-2900, westchestersridgehill.com.
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Greenwich Hospital’s “Under the Stars” benefit, featuring dining, dancing and live, silent and wine auctions, Riverside Yacht Club, 102 Club Road, Greenwich. (203) 637-1706, events@ greenwichhosp.org. Jonathan Bliss returns to Caramoor for his first solo concert with a program of Beethoven sonatas, 8 p.m.; Spanish Courtyard, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $40, $30, $20. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
18 ‘ABRAXAS – THE SANTANA EXPERIENCE’
“CROQUET IN THE COURTYARD”
The “Summer in Glenview” series continues with this family activity; 1-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, through Sept. 29. The Hudson River Museum, 511 Warburton Ave., Yonkers. (914) 963-4550, hrm.org.
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SECRET GARDEN
“Guitar in the Garden,” a blend of setting, sound and serenity, features Ana Vidovic, 6 p.m.; Caramoor Sunken Garden, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $25. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
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13 FAMILY SECOND SATURDAY
The Neuberger’s monthly program of art experiences for the whole family focuses this month on the mysteries of “Coney Night Maze!” Free admission. The Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase. (914) 251-6100. Neuberger.org.
CHRIS ISAAK
The California crooner best known for “Wicked Game” brings his show to town. 8 p.m. The Capitol Theatre, 149 Westchester Ave., Port Chester. $35-$75. (914) 937-4126. Thecapitoltheatre.com.
19 AMPHION STRING QUARTET
Celebrate with the Amphion Quartet as it its Stiefel Quartet residency to a climax The seven-member act pays tribute to the leg- brings the world premiere of Yevgeniy Sharlat’s endary Carlos Santana, 6 p.m.; Westchester’s with No. 2., 8 p.m.; Caramoor Spanish Ridge Hill, 1 Ridge Hill Blvd., Yonkers. (914) Quartet Courtyard, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. 207-2900, westchestersridgehill.com. $40, $30, $20. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
20 A BIT OF THE BARD
The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival’s season continues with another presentation of “King’s Lear,” 8 p.m., with shows offered in repertory through Sept. 1. $43-$75. Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, at Boscobel, Route 9D, Garrison. (845) 265-9575. Hvshakespeare. org.
RISING STARS IN RECITAL
Rising Star Karen Ouzounian teams with returning pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute, 6 p.m.; Caramoor Spanish Courtyard, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $35, $25, $15. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
24 ‘DANCING AT DUSK’
Dancing under the Tree of Life with the Életfa Hungarian Folk Band, 5 p.m.; Caramoor Friends Field, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $10; Children $5. (914) 232-1252, caramoor. org.
25 TUNED IN
A concert by The Movin’ Out Band, the original band from the Tony Award-winning, Grammynominated Broadway musical, “Movin’ Out,” 6 p.m.; Westchester’s Ridge Hill, 1 Ridge Hill Blvd., Yonkers. (914) 207-2900, westchestersridgehill.com.
26 ‘CELEBRATIONTHE FREEDOM OF JAZZ’
Caramoor kicks off its 20th Anniversary Jazz Festival with Luciana Souza, The Book of Chet and Luis Perdomo, 8 p.m.; Spanish Courtyard, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $45, $35, $25. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
‘VERDI IN PARIS’
AUGUST 2
SUZANNE VEGA
RECITAL DEBUT
AUDRA MCDONALD IN CONCERT
Andrew Tyson makes his debut with keyboard classics, 6 p.m.; Caramoor Spanish Courtyard, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $35, $25, $15. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
Caramoor’s 20th Anniversary Jazz Festival features Charles Tolliver, Lionel Loueke, the Adam Makowicz Trio, Vijay Iyer, the Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet, the James Carter Organ Trio and others, all day; Venetian Theater, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $55, $40, $25. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org. A workshop led by collage artist Marilyn Glass, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Katonah Museum of Art, 134 Jay St., Route 22, Katonah. $40 members, $50 nonmembers. (914) 232-9555, ext. 0.
SUMMER BASH
Life Haven Inc. hosts its eighth annual “Summer on the Sound” event, featuring a summer barbecue, open bar, music, dancing, a raffle and a silent auction to raise funds for the Life Haven shelter, 6 to 8:30 p.m.; Owenego Inn & Beach Club, Branford. $50. (203) 776-6208, lifehaven.org/summeronthesound.
ALL THAT JAZZ
PERSONAL JOURNEY COLLAGE
The well-loved opera composer’s complete songs for voice and piano, 6 p.m.; Caramoor Spanish Courtyard, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $35, $25, $15. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
31 UPCOMING EVENTS: AUGUST 1
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The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter performs works that focus on life, ordinary people and real world subjects, 8 p.m.; Caramoor Spanish Courtyard, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $45, $35, $25. (914) 2321252, caramoor.org.
AUGUST 3
Winner of five Tony Awards, Broadway legend Audra McDonald returns to the Caramoor stage, 8 p.m.; Venetian Theater, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $85, $65, $45. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
FESTIVAL FINALE
AUGUST 4
The Caramoor International Music Festival draws to a close with the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble performing Beethoven, 4:30 p.m.; Venetian Theater, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. $40, $30, $20. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
CARRIBEAN SOUL
AUGUST 7
La Troupe Zetwal brings its joy in dance and music-making to Caramoor, 5 p.m.; Friends Field, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. Adults $10, Children $5. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.
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watch Bravo, David
Photographer David Bravo hosted a book-signing in his Fairfield studio on a recent evening. The event, which included musical entertainment by Fred and Ethel, officially launched “Intersections: David Bravo Photographs,” a project that finds 100 percent of the book’s proceeds donated to The Kennedy Center, a Trumbull-based nonprofit organization. Photographs by Bob Rozycki. 1. Hector and David Bravo, Marty Schwartz, Isaiah Bravo (front) 2. Debbie Dannenbaum and Miggs Burroughs 3. Tina Marie Coughlin and Lynda Sheehy 4. Dona DeGrazia and Kim Winter 5. Evelyn and Jon Findley 6. James and Joy Karageorge 7. Dana Grosso and Maria Hristu 8. Jean Leonard and William Ferenz 9. Pamela Kehlenbach 10. Jennifer MacLeman, Tracy DeerMirek and David Klang 11. Deborah Palmieri and Kara Pansa 12. Rob and Cathy Grosshart with daughters Emma and Ruby 13. Tiffany Sikorsky, Jo Ann McMullen and Deb Kane 14. Bill and William Plotkin, Scott Davis
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watch Supporting UJA
More than 500 guests gathered at Brae Burn Country Club in Purchase as the UJA-Federation paid tribute to leaders in the Westchester Jewish community for their continued support of the federation and its network of roughly 100 local and global agencies. The event raised nearly $350,000. Photographs by Michael Priest Photography. 1. Michael and Ellen Brown and Rabbi Lester Bronstein 2. Debra and David Weiner, Karen and Rob Sobel 3. Caryl Orlando, Karen Friedman, Linda Plattus and Lisa Messinger 4. Gary and Kristin Friedman present an award to Karen and Edward Friedman. 5. Pam Wexler
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Teeing off with Eli
Guiding Eyes for the Blind in Yorktown Heights recently welcomed the return of New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning at the “Spring Tee-Off ” for its 36th annual Guiding Eyes for the Blind Golf Classic. The sponsor recognition party was held at Mulino’s of Westchester in White Plains and also featured Guiding Eyes graduate Kate Katulak, a teacher for blind and visually impaired children at the Rogers International School in Stamford. Photographs by John Vecchiolla. 6
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Ending hunger with fashion
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The Women’s Council of Realtors, Empire Westchester Chapter and the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors raised $22,522 for the Westchester Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless at its “Brown Bag for Hunger” Spring Fashion Show at the Glen Island Harbour Club in New Rochelle. 8. Roy Gordon, Stephanie Leggio, Bonnie Koff, Tanya Scott, and Carol Christiansen 9. Katheryn DeClerck and Leah Caro 10. Ann Garti and Gary Leogrande
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Dancing the night away
New York City Ballet’s 2013 Spring Gala at Lincoln Center celebrated American music with a special evening featuring a world premiere by Christopher Wheeldon and special guest performances by Queen Latifah and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. Following the program there was an elegant supper ball on the David H. Koch Theater Promenade for the 1,100 guests. 1. Queen Latifah with Amar Ramasar and Sterling Hyltin. Photograph by Paul Kolnik. 2. Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild. Photograph by Paul Kolnik. 3. Joseph Altuzarra and Valentino 4. Talicia Martins, Debra Martin Chase, Darci Kistler and Peter Martins 5. Elizabeth Peabody, Frank Richardson and Lesley Stahl 6. Arie and Coco Kopelman, Jill and Harry Kargman 7. Catherine Faugerolas and Maria Cristina Anzola 8. Fe Fendi and Maria Kowroski. 9. Hugues de Pins and Katherine E. Brown 10. Anh Duong. Photographs by Julie Skarratt.
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Supporting Greyston
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The Greyston Foundation in Yonkers raised more than $455,000 at a recent benefit gala. Greyston seeks to solve the problems of the inner city and reduce reliance on external funding sources through entrepreneurship. Photographs by Greyston Foundation. 11. Jeff Koslowsky, Sarah Brown and Bernie Glassman 12. Jay Musoff, Stephanie Blank, Michelle and Darren Friedman 13. Steven Brown, Janet DiFiore, Ruth Suzman and Gloria Mirrione 14. Michael Brady, Jeffrey and Denise Koslowsky, Jonathan Greengrass
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watch Icon-ic
Luminaries from the media and the arts gathered recently for the Bruce Museum’s fourth annual Icon Awards in the Arts. Guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres catered by Abigail Kirsch at a private Greenwich residence. Proceeds from the event benefit exhibitions and education programs at the museum. Photographs by Elaine Ubiña. 1. Glenn D. Lowry, George Wachter, Pam and Bob Goergen, Sue Ann Weinberg, Kiki Smith and Peter C. Sutton 2. Irene Zelinsky, Stephanie Seymour, Peter Brant, Carl Zelinsky and Thomas Peterffy 3. Carol and George Crapple 4. Jeanine and Robert Getz and Deborah Robinson 5. Jim Lockhart, Gretchen and Lance Bylow and Cricket Lockhart 6. Christopher and Felicitas Brant
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Reaching for hope
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It was an evening Ol’ Blue Eyes would’ve loved – sleek cars; Sinatra standards (courtesy of Hal Prince Music & Entertainment); and vegetable spring ravioli and other delectable hors d’oeuvres (courtesy of Crabtree’s Kittle House and its new Rivermarket) as Mercedes Benz of White Plains, Westchester magazine and Gianna and Chazz Palminteri teamed for “An Evening of Hope.” The benefit raised $25,000 for The Child Reach Foundation, which the Palminteris (WAG May 2011) founded to combat thalassemia and other pediatric blood disorders. Photographs by Georgette Gouveia.
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Bill Clinton honored
Former President Bill Clinton received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the State University of New York at a Westchester Community College fundraiser recently. The event, on the main campus in Valhalla, raised $100,000 for student scholarships and other college support.
7. Nina and Michael Stanton, Gianna and Chazz Palminteri 8. Billy Losapio, Ronnie Nistico 9. Janina Reiner, Jay Lippin 9
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10. Bill Clinton 11. Joseph Hankin, Marsha Gordon and Peter Herrero
Celebrating art
The Olana Partnership 2013 Frederic E. Church Award Gala, held at The New York Public Library recently, celebrated the extraordinary American landscape by honoring two individuals who have transformed the perception of American art – Elizabeth Broun, the Margaret and Terry Stent director of The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. and Stephen Hannock, a painter working in the 19th-century Luminist tradition. Musician and art collector Sting delivered remarks to the guests and presented an award. The evening raised nearly $800,000 for the partnership, which oversees Olana, the Persianstyle Hudson, N.Y., home of Frederic E. Church, one of the leaders of the Hudson River School of landscape painting in the 19th century. Photographs by Owen Hoffman and Adreil Reboh, PatrickMcMullan.com. 1. Richard Sharp, Elizabeth Broun, Stephen Hannock and Sara Griffen 2. Sting, Georgia Hannock and Trudie Styler 3. Thomas Woltz and Tantivy Gubelmann 4. Liv Rockefeller and Ken Shure 5. Lori Tritsch and William Lauder 6. Christo 7. Stephen Petronio and Suzanne Vega 8. Jeff Bewkes, Stephen Hannock and William Lauder 9. Ann Colley and Gabrielle Bacon 10. James Dicke II and Richard Brodie 11. Danny and Audrey Meyer 12. Eaddo and Peter Kiernan, Mark Gilbertson and Debbie Bancroft
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watch A Blythedale spring
Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla raised more than $650,000 at its sixth annual Spring Event, held at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan recently. Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” served as master of ceremonies for the evening, which more than 350 guests attended.
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1. Owen Gutfreund, Dr. Mehmet Oz and Larry Levine 2. Lisa Oz, Nicole Graham, Michele and Bruce Graham 3. Jordana Holovach, Farrel and Steven Starker 4. Honorees Mimi and Jon Burnham
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Wine and dine
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More than 140 guests sampled California wines – and more – at “An Evening of Food, Wine, Martinis, and Fine Friends,” a tasting benefit for Phelps Memorial Hospital Center, held recently at Abigail Kirsch Tappan Hill Mansion in Tarrytown.
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5. Lianne Hales and Lucy Engelhardt 6. Pam and Dr. Paul Terracciano 7. Fred and Maggie Mascia
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Ladies who lunch
More than 500 guests attended the YWCA of White Plains’ fifth annual “In the Company of Women” benefit luncheon at the Hilton Westchester in Rye Brook. 11
8. Sheryl WuDunn, Maria L. Imperial, Jane Solnick, Patricia Mulqueen and Andrea Stewart-Cousins 9. Kathleen Donelli, Bob and Marge Feder, Pat Jones 10. Monica Bertran, Kenneth Theobalds, Patricia Mulqueen 11. Patricia Mulqueen, Jane Solnick, Ruth Mahoney, Nita Lowey, Kathleen Donelli 12. April Horton, Karen CheeksLomax, Rachel Cheeks-Givan, Julie Mills-Worthey
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Raising hope (and record funds)
The Jewish Child Care Assocation’s “Celebration of Hope” raised a record-breaking $1,005,000 during the recent gala, held at Capitale in Manhattan. 13
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13. Peter Hausperg, Daun Paris, Stephen and Lory Gilberg, Richard Altman and Terri and Jay Bialsky
House and garden
Six Briarcliff Manor homes opened their doors for house tours that benefited The Open Door Foundation, dedicated to helping disadvantaged children in India. More than 140 guests toured the homes and gardens and attended a luncheon, sponsored by George Comfort & Sons Inc. and The Centre at Purchase, which followed at Sleepy Hollow Country Club. 1. Ann Styles Brochstein and Christie Sturges 2. Ann Zimmerman, Ellie Grifo and Emily Gilbert 3. Lindsay Farrell and David Swope 4. Janet Braun, Timi Mohanty, Cindy Silverman and Jeanne Bertelle 5. Rebecca Beaton, Kim Woody and Michelle Dhanda 6. Stephanie Wittwer, Kathy Perkal, Karen Guirke and Chris Duncan 7. Lindsey Waterhouse 8. Mary Anne Sutterlin, Carol Ann Killian, Norma Burnette and Teresa Duguet
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Cappelli salute
The American Cancer Society honored the Cappelli family with the society’s Leadership Award in memory of Concetta and Luca Cappelli during its “Diamond Casino Royale” at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester in White Plains recently. This year’s gala was especially meaningful, because it marks The American Cancer Society’s centennial of fighting cancer. Photographs by Sarah Merians Photography. 9
9. Louis and Kylie Cappelli 10. Janice, Gina, Susan, Michael, Barbara and Connie Cappelli 11. Don Distasio and Brian Cappelli 12. Gae and Ron Getlan
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Want to be in Watch? Send event photos, captions (identifying subjects from left to right) and a paragraph describing the event to afrey@westfairinc.com. 95
class&sass
By Martha Handler and Jennifer Pappas
not every day that a fantasy beM It’s comes a reality, but thanks to our good friend – the owner of the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City – the stars aligned and we not only partied like rock stars, we partied with rock stars. And let me just say that Pitbull is one hot tamale. He’s got the most sensual eyes (why he keeps them hidden behind shades most of the time makes no sense at all), he’s totally buff, extremely talented, has a wicked sense of humor and is engaging and smart. Watching him perform with his super sexy dancers was truly a highlight of my life. And when he sang, “I Know You Want Me,” I couldn’t help but think, “You better believe it.” I also enjoyed watching Ke$ha perform, though I wasn’t sure where she was going when she started simulating sex acts on her dancers who were dressed as animals. Maybe I’m just too old to “get” her. It was truly a thrilling experience, J especially when we flew in by helicopter and landed on the top of the Golden Nugget (in close to gale-force winds). I don’t think that I’ve ever been treated to such a VIP experience, from the flight in to the front row seats at the concert to the private meeting with Pitbull himself. He was such a gentleman and so sophisticated. I was surprised by the power and potency of his performance. He literally made my skin tingle, but I was standing right next to the 10-foot sub-woofer speakers. My hearing is just now coming back. By the way, what did you think about the exhibit we saw at The Met, “Punk: From Chaos to Couture”? I just loved it. I had no idea how important the movement was in destabilizing the authority of the designer and transferring it to the wearer, in essence, democratizing creativity and invention. I especially loved the quote by Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols: “Tears, safety pins, rips all over, third-rate tramp thing, that was poverty, lack of money, the arse of your pants falls out and you just use safety pins.” loved the show. The black viM I,nyltoo, background curtains were pure genius, and I thought the re-creation of the graffiti-covered unisex bathroom at the New York club CBGB perfectly set the mood for the experience. Then yesterday I read the reviews of the show and they caused me to rethink the display entirely. One critic complained that of the 95 ensembles, 60 were created since 2006. (I did make note of this while I strolled
Jen and Martha partying with Pitbull at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City. Photograph courtesy of the Golden Nugget.
through the exhibit, but wondered if perhaps the 1970s punk clothes had perhaps disintegrated to the point of no return.) Another critic complained that one had to make a narrative from the clothing because the curator (Andrew Bolton from The Met’s Costume Institute) had failed to tell any of the many stories associated with the punk movement. Punk was, after all, about the screams of the working class in Britain and the U.S., expressing their anti-establishment views of promoting their individual freedoms. Which leaves one to wonder if putting safety pins on a $10,000 contemporary dress doesn’t “empty punk’s original gesture of meaning and threat”? Maybe in the future I should steer clear of reviews. I generally always steer clear of reJ views, mainly because I never agree with them. These two critics seem to have missed the point of the show entirely and perhaps forgot to read the extensive explanatory panels accompanying each portion of the exhibit. There were so many ensembles presented after the punk move-
ment, because there were so many designers influenced by the movement. And I thought there were plenty of original punk designs on display – room after room full of them. The Met also did a great job explaining how the two movements differed (the one from the U.S and the one from Britain), whom they originated from and how each in turn influenced the other. I took notes at the show. Here is one in particular that pertains to the complaint that the anti-establishment view of the punksters was skipped entirely: “Punk – political symbols of government stagnation and economic deterioration, disaffection and dispossession….It broke all the rules.” According to Vivienne Westwood (the genius behind the British wave of deconstruction), “The ‘punk’ was someone who wished to confront the rotten status quo through the way they dressed, create anarchy and tell the bourgeoisie where to go.” The only way I could have gotten the message of the punk movement more, would have been if the exhibit had been interactive and Sid Vicious himself had
been there to rip my clothes on the way out. Now that would have been hot. PerM haps you should consider museum curatorship. Wag Down.. Art critics and movie reviewers: J C’mon. Come on down from your high horses and stop trying to show everyone how much smarter you are than they. We all know that you went to really good schools. gold tooth. Only Johnny M Ke$ha’s Depp dressed as a pirate can get away with that look. Wag Up… The subway system of New York. It J truly is a thing to marvel at and you meet the most interesting people down there. Men like Pitbull who wear clothes M that complement their bodies – no pants sliding halfway down their butts or have crotches at their knees.
Email Class&Sass at MarthaandJen@wagmag.com. You may also follow Martha and Jen on Facebook, at WAG classandsass or access all of their conversations online at wagmag.com. And for more on punk and “Punk” – the movement and the show and how both are influencing fall fashion – check out WAG’s August “S’Wellness” issue.
IntroducIng the brIstal
the best oF assIsted lIvIng noW comes to WhIte PlaIns s Another Quality Community By The Engel Burman Group
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Freedom to Pursue my Interests. Helene, Resident of The Bristal
“I taught for years in Brooklyn and Staten Island and I imparted love for the written word to my students. Writing has always been a hobby of mine. When I moved to Long Beach years ago I began a writer’s workshop with a friend and I am still a member. Now I live here with my husband, Harvey. Believe it or not, every night I talk to my kids and tell them about our day at The Bristal. I take a lot of excursions and I continue to write poetry, sharing my ideas and feelings with my husband and friends. I want every day to be interesting and different.” To hear one of Helene’s poems, tune in at thebristal.com/lifestories
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