Small Bites

Good morning, guest blogger Karen Croke with the scoop in 121 Restaurant, in North Salem. As a guest blogger, I take my job very seriously,  so I ventured deep into the woods of Northern Westchester last night, on St. Patrick’s Day of all things, to try 121. Although it was fairly early—my mother and I got there at about 6 p.m. since the restaurant doesn’t take reservations (except for parties of 5 or more) and we

wanted to be sure to get a table—there was still a nice little crowd and the restaurant was bright and sunny, perfect for an early spring meal. See how cheerful it is. This was the main dining room. There is a separate bar area, too.

Some people were here for Hudson Valley Restaurant Week, some for St. Patrick’s Day, and some like Karin and Vito Sampogna and their family were there for both—AND they were celebrating Vito’s birthday and daughter Alissa Harvey’s anniversary. Alissa and her husband Darryl were actually married in 121, “right where’s we sitting,” she laughed. Here’s the family, son Corey, Karin and Vito.

Here are Alissa and Darryl.

Anyway, the three course menu here has three apps: a delicious looking soup of carrots, tarragon and

English peas, a farm salad with Valley cheddar, and a Bento box of shrimp, which, as you can see here was a gorgeous presentation: a small frisse salad, then two hot chili glazed shrimp, shrimp tempura, and two steamed shrimp dumplings. Isn’t that amazing? We ate it all with chopsticks.

For dinner, I had the dry-rubbed angus hanger steak with insanely crisp parmesan truffle fries; if you look close you can almost see sear marks on these babies! The steak was perfectly cooked for me, with just enough chewiness and char. My mom had the roasted chicken, with creamy polenta and a stack of bright green aspargus (maybe a nod to St. Patrick’s Day? I dunno, but they were fab). The other choice was a house-made paparadelle with braised pork sparerib ragout.  Check  out my fries and the polenta that came with Mom’s chicken.

She said the chicken was roasted perfectly and nice and juicy, but she ended up taking about half home in a doggie bag.

For dessert, there were simple choices that went perfectly with what came before: the day’s Valley cheesecake, 121 chocolate cake with Mr. Shane’s mint chip ice cream, and a toffee date cake with caramel sauce. I had the cheesecake (I ALWAYS pick the cheesecake; next restaurant I do, I promise to be more adventurous!) which was moist and topped with spritz of whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce; Mom wasn’t thrilled with the date cake—it was a little dry, is all she said. Here’s the cheesecake.

By the time we finished our coffee, it was dark and all the tables were filled. On the way out, I actually spotted a couple having drinks on the wide front porch, which is a hugely popular spot once the weather gets warm. It made me think that spring may have finally come!

The 411 on Restaurant 121.