Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 151

'4 B39 I i 30 -H NJ GONZALO AND AMERICAN CAFE 5 School St Glen Cove 516-656-0003 WHY: For home cooking that soothes and revives WHEN: All-day menu Tuesdays to Thursdays and Sundays 11:30 am to 10 pm Fridays and Saturdays to 11 pm and brunch Saturdays and Sundays 9 a to 3 pm Closed Mondays HOW MUCH: Appetizers soups and sandwiches $395 to $725 entrees $895 to $1250 desserts $325 to $450 WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Accessible sert of chocolate mousse cake came off as a bit too sweet but overall the evening was a remarkable success A few weeks later buoyed by the fact that both we and our kids were adjusting well to new environments we returned with two friends in a similar state of empty-nestedness And we all had a grand time An appetizer of skewered shrimp and vegetables was perfectly grilled herbal and paired with a lively red potato salad rather than the fried onion rings listed on the menu The chopped house salad comprised of romaine lettuce tomatoes carrots roasted peppers cucumber and basil was summery and fresh with a lovely garlic and red wine vinaigrette And just because we felt we could use that extra bit of comfort we ordered a dish of macaroni and cheese to share It was all it should have been old-fashioned and savory How could one not feel content when tucking into the soulful Yankee meat loaf offered with mashed potatoes mushroom gravy and a mountain of marvelously creamy garlic spinach? Pan-roasted salmon with balsamic black peppercorn sauce was both light and satisfying accompanied by sauteed vegetables An evening special of grilled tuna with braised vegetables and red-wine-stewed cabbage succeeded in juxtaposing the hearty with the delicate And the spicy blackened chicken BLT sandwich served on a homey brioche made it into our sandwich hall of fame Desserts this time around were in the same league as the fare that preceded them A sour-cream apple pie served a la mode was rustic and rich but not too rich And a triple chocolate pudding served in a cappuccino cup garnished with whipped cream berries and a cinnamon stick made this chocoholic smile What then is comfort food? The kind of simple well-prepared fare that puts things into true perspective After a dinner at Gonzalo and we returned to a nest that only seemed empty our hearts and our stomachs happily full Dombroski Bari Hassman By Joan Reminick OMFORT is a phrase often used loosely Guilty though I sometimes might be of this overuse I learned something about its true meaning the first time I ate at Gonzalo and American Cafe Two days earlier we had driven several hundred miles west to take our son to college Now we were returning from a second journey this one to the Northeast where we had dropped off our daughter at her new school Road-weary and somewhat numb we stopped in Glen Cove for dinner If I was hungry I aware of it All I could think of was how quiet the house would be when we got home Still one has to eat so perfunctorily we ordered It took but one spoonful of locally grown corn and chicken chowder to shift my gears The soup was creamy but light spiked with curry and studded with bits of fresh corn and tender chicken Instantly I began to revive Yes our kids had gone off to college and that the way it ought to be? I those look I said reaching over to From left Newsday Photo Michael pastry chef Eusebio Tlahuel chef-owner Gonzalo Figueroa sous chef my plate of buttermilk-battered chicken fingers There was enough to feed a family of four and I help thinking of how the kids would have loved those flawlessly fried strips of poultry back in their pre-vegetarian days Nonetheless it was surprisingly easy for the two of us to enjoy that chicken especially with the zippy mustard-maple dipping sauce served alongside My pulled-pork sandwich was delicious accompanied by made-from-scratch french fries My roasted chicken was bursting with basil and garlic-scented juices with a heap of soothing mashed potatoes and old-fashioned glazed carrots on the side A des- CITY BITFS FOOD T41K sauce and cocktail sauce alongside on the bed of ice were flawless too miss chunky New England chowder Something green? Try watercress salad with bacon and goat cheese A stack of matchstick fried potatoes was hot greaseless and addictive Top-notch main courses: lusty bouillabaisse mussels in a mustardy sauce (billed as a perfect steamed lobster with soft corn pudding Only whole snapper stuffed with garlic and fresh thyme and rosemary was a touch dry For dessert: a not-too-sweet strawberry-rhubarb pie and knockout vanilla iCe cream with homemade praline crunch Prices are reasonable with most appetizers and small plates $7 or under most main dishes about $15 The pinup girl on the postcard really is Pearl the grandmother of one of the owners sipping champagne but leave feeling giddy just from having eaten so well Sylvia Garter PEARL 18 Cornelia St Manhattan 212-691-8211 We were the envy of the neighborhood when we serendipitously snagged the table at Pearl right table not tables one for four lucky eaters or two tables for two The table is at the window where passersby can see you chowing down and weep Eat at the bar if you must Many do (As Hal Rubenstein put it in New York magazine the narrow ledge is for eating anything but But however you do it eat at Pearl (Reservations? ask) Two women in the kitchen of this sliver of an eatery turn out fresh seafood dishes that are a sight better than what get at the seashore Perfect greaseless fried oysters each sat on a bed of wonderful homemade tartar sauce atop an oyster shell Small but pristine raw Oysters with both' mi gnonette classes $60 each Call 516-248-2112 Culinary Arts Center Calendar Keeping track of all the dining events from Friday evening buffets to Sunday brunch presented by the Culinary Arts Center of New York Institute of Technology has been made easy in the useful form of an illustrated calendar to August 1998 In addition to noting the dining-room schedule the calendar includes recipes with detailed instructions The cost is $5 with proceeds going to culinary scholarships To find out how and where to purchase call 516-348-3310 3 Best Beaujolais in the City Three Manhattan restaurants Jubilee and La Man-geoire have won the Best Beaujolais Bistro Cup in a competition sponsored by official Beaujolais office the Union Interprofes-sionelle des Vin du Beaujolais Winners were chosen for to the spirit of Beajolais and the distinctive intimacy of the New Chef at Gage Tollner Tunisia-born Rad Matmati of Island Park who has a long list of credits from top restaurants in Washington DC San Francisco and New York City most recently as chef de cuisine at three-star Oceana has been named chef at Gage Tollner the historic establishment on Fulton Street Brooklyn Restaurateur Joseph Chirico new owner of the 116-year-old (at its present location since 1892) has refurbished and restored New first commercial interior to be designated a landmark To reserve call 718-875-5181 Cooking Demonstrations Angelo Morinelli chef-owner of La Cisterna in Mineola will begin a series of four weekly cooking demonstration classes on Oct 27 be showing off some new dishes and participants will get the recipes and full dinner with wine All sessions start at 6 pm on Mondays Sign up for all four $200 or individual NEWS0AY FRIDAY OCTOBER 17 1997 a.