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Sunday, August 10, 2008

A Wonderful Surprise in Town

Long Island is certainly an amazing place. The Island boasts beautiful beaches, gardens, lush terrain on the North Shore, opulence in places like the Hamptons, among others...it is truly an amazing place.

As America's "first" suburb, it has certainly existed in the shadow of New York City. However, this Island has its fair share of phenomenal farms, homes, culture, university, shopping, and of course...restaurants and nightlife. One doesn't have to look far to see it. Friday night was further proof. We had dinner in our own small town of Lynbrook and we were so thrilled with what we found - a perfect gem. We ate at a small restaurant called "Branzino." (http://www.branzinoristorante.com/).

The food was delicious. There were nearly 10 specials and I swear I could not recall what our waiter said...we asked him to repeat certain items several times. It is a small restaurant - just my kind - with only about 15-20 tables. The staff was friendly and the atmosphere was warm and inviting.

I ate a special that was awesome! It was a cold seafood salad made of small slices of octopus and shrimp tossed with cut asparagus, corn, fava beans and cherry tomatoes - it looked a bit like Italian Succotash! It was dressed with lemon and olive oil. It was excellent! The portion was very good - and I could have eaten more since it was so light.

For my main course I ate fresh homemade spinach linguine with steamed clams, shrimp, and lobster tossed in a brandy cream sauce. There was so much food - and I did a great job nearly finishing the dish! It was perfect. At the table with me was my husband, of course, and two friends. Their dishes were equally as good and they looked fantastic.

Admittedly we did not have dessert - though my husband and I both had cappuccino. We were too full to eat another bite. I am sorry about that since I wanted to try the cannoli. Oh well - I'll have to go back again! You can be sure I will.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Meredith, great recipies... I think I will be able to prepare, the steak and also that delicious blueberry tart... you sure make it sound easy and by the way thanks for the insight about the restaurant, as you know I am always ready to go out eat. Always taking the short way out!!!!