The Journal News from White Plains, New York • Page 33

T1 nr? COMICS movie times dear abby I Qui In the spotlight Jon Stewart says hosting the Oscar telecast is the ultimate challenge for a comedian, 4D For more things to do, check out the calendar LoHud.com (EllC Journal NtlUS Wednesday, February 22, 2006 1 -J Ar-' it I 1 iff 1 'i W- i tr hi It a Mif- ft. ivf 'J V4 I i x. v-jr Vi v. Tom NyczThe Journal News Walter Castelli shows off one of his pizzas and one of his Castelli's Classics cakes at Vito's Gourmet Pizzeria in Pomona. Pizza: It's a piece of cake Elizabeth Johnson The Journal News Walter Castelli makes pizzas that look like cakes and cakes that look like pizzas.

"I thought that was a lemon cake with whipped cream and he said it's white pizza," a customer says at his shop, Vito's Gourmet Pizzeria in Pomona. It's easy to get confused, especially since he also makes traditional pizzas and cakes. But the deep-dish pie cooling on his marble counter is actually a dessert "I thought you were joking!" exclaims Maria Ceci of Blauvelt. That is a crumb pizza! I love crumbs. I'm a crumb girl.

Oh my gosh!" It is a crumb pizza: a peanut-butter crumb pizza (with a crispy panzette crust) that Castelli will later drizzle with chocolate and serve for dessert. He also makes crumb pizzas with lemon, apple, cherry, blueberry you name it. Castelli, you see, is a baker at heart. After years of working as a busboy, waiter, chef and baker he even ran a restaurant in this very location from 1983 to 1987 he found himself decorating cakes at the Grand Union supermarket in Stony Point One day he was watching Bob Ross, the television Please see VITO'S, 3D Photos by Mark VergariThe Journal News Chef James Cawley welcomes partygoers to his kitchen which will soon be their kitchen at MacMenamm's Grill ChefWorks in New Rochelle. MANY Pit stop: Route 9 Irvington restaurant sponsors Storm Field's fuel conversion Amy Sara Clark The Journal News Michael Pelliccio and Robert Mazi, owners of the River City Grille in Irvington, have given their fair share to local schools and charities.

But now At a New Rochelle restaurant, patrons pay for the privilege of making dinner Mitch Broder The Journal News Mary Dell'Abate is wearing a smile that lights up the room, which seems improbable, since she's also wearing latex gloves and chopping garlic. She explains the smile but doesn't disturb it: There's no one bothering me," she says. There are no kids." Come to think of it, everyone around her is smiling, without any visibly compelling reason. To her right is Nancy Carr, who is squeezing lemons. To her left is Parti Kel-ley, who is dicing potatoes.

To Kelley's left is Sue Root, who is peeling potatoes. "I need a new life," Root says. "I may not leave here tonight." There are 19 smiling people, all paying a Vbundle to dine in a restaurant while fes-' tively doing the restaurant's work. There are terms to describe such behavior. But the restaurant's is the shrewdest.

That term is "interactive cooking party." It's a party in which, say, 19 people from Connecticut gather at, say, MacMenamin's Grill ChefWorks in New Rochelle, to have a chef order them around as they prepare their own food, for which they render a considerable sum, including a tip. And at MacMenamin's, it's a concept that has reportedly grown so popular that the restaurant has three chefs doing nothing but parties. Several hundred people a week now pay to be ordered around, says the executive chef and owner, Brian MacMe-namin. They get to have a professional teaching them, so they're not just going to someone's house to take potluck and start peeling," he says. "And when the party's over, the party's over.

They get to go home, and we do the cleanup, which is substantial." Party occasions run from birthdays to "team-building" events; guest lists run from 10 to more than 200. The guests can prepare their entire meal or as little as one course. They can wear official chef aprons or get reduction sauce on their pants. Please ee PARTIES, 3D they're sponsoring the restaurant's hometown weatherman, Storm Field. Field has recently switched from gasoline to vegetable oil to power his 70-mile round-trip commute to WWOR-TV in Manhattan, where he is a meteorologist He gets his weekly 10 to 15 gallons of used oil exclusively lit I Storm Field I f.

I from the restaurant and has a sticker on his car to prove it Flanking both sides of the hindquarters of Field's 1971 white Mercedes sedan is a sticker that reads "fueled by the Please see FUEL, 3D riefing RECIPES Send us your soda bread! If you've got a favorite recipe for Irish Soda Bread, it's likely your neighbor's is different And bis neighbor's. And her neighbor's. Are caraway seeds a must' Raisins? Currants? You tell us. Call food editor Elizabeth Johnson at 914-694-5075 or e-mail foodlohud.com. Rob Bray sips wine as Theresa Bray and Conan Curley chop mushrooms for dinner.

mmW JONATHAN PRATT Kickin' back with stories of unforgettable meals shock and awe. I flipped through the pages and stopped when I saw Turley Hayne Vineyard Petite Sirah 1994 for $48. This wine costs $100 on my list. "Uh, waiter, I'll have this." The waiter said, "You want the Tur 1 ley?" "Yes, please." The manager came over and said, "So the Turley is the wine your interested in?" "Uh-huh." The owner finally came over and confirmed my selection About this series Get to know chefs in the Lower Hudson Valley as they write about their cooking style, their philosophy and their restaurants. Each chef will write every other week for six weeks.

Go to www.lohud.com food to e-mail the chef and view a multimedia presentation he narrates. Place duck legs and toss with everything but the fat in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight Wipe salt mixture off legs. Heat fat in braising pan with legs, thyme, bay leaves and garlic. Bring to just barely a simmer.

Adjust heat to avoid bubbling. Simmer for 2 to 3 hours. If the fat is too hot you will end up with dry, stringy duck. Turn off stove and let cool undisturbed to room temperature. Place in refrigerator.

Leave legs in fat until the fat is solid. You can leave them in this state for a long time. If you're French you can store them this way in your root cellar for ever. To serve, remove from fat and grill, roast or pan fry to desired doneness. Save die duck fat it's the best thing in the world to pan fry potatoes in.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings. Jonathan Pratt is the chef and co-owner of Peter Pratt's Inn in Yorktown Heights and Umami Cafe in Croton-ort-Hudson and Fishkill. To e-mail him about this column, go to 5 www.lohud.comfood. rays of the sun burst from the horizon at the end of the lake. We sat there picking our teeth with duck bones strewn about and the tin foil in the trees.

The bottle was finally empty. Boy, life is good. So is duck confit. Go try it DUCK IIS CCNFIT (METHOD 1 1 duck leg confit ordered from D'Artagnan at 800-327-8246 or www.dartagnan.com Open package. Ram a sharpened stick into leg.

Cook slowly over open fire. Yield: 1 serving. D'JCK LEG COMFIT (METHOD 2) 6 raw duck legs (Mouiard preferred) 1 cup Kosher salt 1 tablespoon course black pepper 4 sprigs fresh thyme 6 crushed garlic cloves 6 cloves 4 pounds rendered duck fat The most memorable meals always have more than just great food. There's also the who-what-when-where-wine of it. You know who you're with and where you're at At my restaurants, you can always tell when somebody's having a good time by their body language.

If they're spending all their time trying to catch the waitress's eye when they really don't need anything, they're not having fun. But if they're so engrossed in the conversation that you can't even get in there to get an order, you know they're going to have a great time, have a memorable-meal, and leave with a smile on their face. I'm still smiling remembering a meal I shared with my cousin in Utah after his divorce a few years ago. He asked me to bring a "D'Artagnan Care Package" with goodies like game and duck. The day I arrived, he took me to a pizza joint for dinner.

I chuckled when the waiter asked if I wanted to see the wine list, expecting to see a fine selection of bag-in-box wines. I mean after all, I'm in a dry state, right? The phone book You've heard of ing landscape and magnificent lake. On the way back, we stopped at the "inconvenience" store and were able to find a head of iceberg lettuce, a bottle of Wishbone Italian dressing (vintage 1974), two Idaho potatoes, tin foil and a bag of charcoal. An hour later the sun was getting low, the potatoes were tucked into the hot coals, the D'Artagnan Duck Leg Confit was crisping away over the fire on sticks, the salad was tossed in a bowl made of tin foil, and I was drinking Turley out of the bottle. This is camping! Then, without warning, the sky went black and the wind kicked up.

Still, there was no rain, so we held our ground. By the time the duck was ready, the other camper had fled due to the impending hurricane. We didn't budge. We ate with our hands like gourmet cave men fixated on our kill with the 50-knot gusts of wind and lightning. What storm? It hadn't rained a drop.

Before we knew it the wind had stopped, the sky opened up and the last Jonathan Pratt once again, uui came my eggplant parm and my bottle of Turley. Cuz don't drink, so at the end of the meal, I took the rest of the bottle home. The next day we headed up to go camping at Bear bike in Idaho with my box of goodies and my half-full bottle of wine. We set up our tent next to the only other camper for 200 miles, and spent the day hiking around this amaz I.