Looking to eat outside? 36 local spots to choose from

Status area

By Jananne Abel

While Rye Town is far from a tourist community, eating outdoors on a balmy evening can make you feel like you’re on vacation. Over the years the outdoor venues in town have gotten more plentiful and their design more creative so as to take customers into another world while they’re dining—whether it be on the water, tucked between two buildings or simply on a sidewalk. Last year a few places cranked up the music to create a party atmosphere, and this year one restaurant has added a bocce court to make customers feel like they’re in Italy.

From April to October—and especially during the summer months—restaurants with outdoor seating are definitely in demand. This year even June was a hot month, and July has been a scorcher, so the most pleasant time to take advantage of local eateries with decks, patios and sidewalk cafés has been later at night when the temperature are tolerable. In general, however, balmy breezes have still allowed hardcore outdoor eaters like myself to feel comfortable dining al fresco.

The outdoor dining experience has been ebbing and flowing in Port Chester and Rye Brook over the last several years with the number of restaurants offering a place to eat outside nearly doubling a dozen years ago, leveling off and then steadily climbing since then. The phenomenon has caught on thanks to the Port Chester Board of Trustees which 13 years ago encouraged sidewalk cafés through legislation and because savvy restaurateurs have realized it’s the way to go to increase visibility, business and/or add interest to their establishment. It’s also a way to make room for overflow crowds at smaller eateries which can accommodate many fewer patrons the rest of the year.

For a small community, it’s amazing first of all how many restaurants there are—the number is now at 118 in Port Chester and Rye Brook—and how many of those—36—have an area set up where you can eat outside. The latter number is three greater than last year.

All the restaurants that offered outdoor eating last year are doing so in 2010 except two that have closed—Ebb Tide Seafood at 1 Willett Ave. and Hostaria Mazzei at 25 South Regent St. Both of those restaurants have changed hands and will certainly be offering an outdoor eating venue either later this year or next. Sasa Mahr-Butuz and Andy Pforzheimer will be opening up a Mexican restaurant called Bartaco at the former Ebb Tide location. They had hoped to have it ready by this summer, but the timeframe has been moved to sometime later this year. The two own Barcelona in Greenwich and five other locations. Bartaco will be a tequila bar with a beach shack feel that serves gourmet tacos, guacamole to order and ceviche.

Arrosto, with managing partners Tony Longo of Park Deli and Port Chester native and former New York City restaurateur Godfrey Polistina, should be opening in late summer at 25 South Regent. Arrosto will offer traditional Italian cuisine, different types of roasts, grilled items and pizzas from the woodburning oven. The framework for a large awning has been taking shape out front in recent weeks.

Six new spots are offering outdoor dining this year, one on North Main Street whose owners have been waiting four years to open a sidewalk café, one on Mill Street whose rooftop terrace was in the approval stage at this time last year and another on North Main whose owner decided to put a picnic table outside. Another in The Waterfront at Port Chester has tables stacked up outside which will be used when the weather is cooler than it’s been. Two additional places in shopping centers have set up tables and chairs out front. A seventh location got a permit from the Village of Port Chester for a sidewalk café this year for the first time, but I haven’t seen any sign of tables in recent weeks.

Some restaurants offer outdoor table service while a number have just placed tables outside for customers who choose to take their food and dine al fresco.

Over the years a handful of eateries have discontinued offering the outdoor dining experience because of the diffi culty of providing enough staffing to serve both their indoor and outdoor venue or because not enough people were eating outside to make it worthwhile. Such is the case at the Rye Town Hilton in Rye Brook which still has an outdoor area where you can eat but has done away with table service.

Port Chester

Owners of The Kneaded Bread bakery and sandwich shop at 181 North Main St. had been waiting four years to get approval to open a sidewalk café. They finally got it this year. In order for that to occur, the zoning in that area had to be changed from its outdated manufacturing designation and the local law governing sidewalk cafés had to be changed allowing a narrower right of way for pedestrians on the sidewalk where the café is located. A new law was adopted in early June.

Since they’ve brought their business to downtown Port Chester, Jennifer and Jeffrey Kohn, who now live in Rye Brook, have always done things right, offering only first class products and service to their customers and keeping their bakery and later their restaurant Q in tip-top shape. So it’s not surprising that they have done the same with their sidewalk café, the newest outdoor eating spot in town. Since The Kneaded Bread is located on a corner, they were able to place tables on both North Main and Mill streets, a total of nine round silver metal tables with matching silver metal mesh chairs. The tables are situated close to the building, with five on Mill and four on Main, under large blue and white striped awnings. Boxes of potted trees with flowers, coleus and other plants flowing out of the bottom create a pleasant ambiance. As a cute touch, a bowl of dog food and another of water placed outside the entrance show that dogs are welcome in this space.

The Kneaded Bread offers all kinds of artisanal breads, rolls, croissants, muffins, scones, cupcakes, cookies and dessert bars made on the premises as well as premade sandwiches, salads, and homemade soups. Their gazpacho and curried chicken salad are among my favorite things to eat anywhere.

Hours are Tuesday through Friday from 7 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m.-1 p.m.

Jennifer Kohn mentioned last week that she and her husband had renegotiated their lease for another 10 years and they are now planning to take over the space next door that was recently vacated by Amir Market. They were meeting with an architect when I visited two weeks ago about the move. Jennifer said with the expansion they will then have more space for seating and will expand the lunch menu.

The reincarnation of Tarry Lodge, under the ownership of Joseph Bastianich, Mario Batali, managing partner Nancy Selzer and executive chef Andy Nusser, all well-known Manhattan restaurateurs, opened at 18 Mill St. in October 2008 with no outdoor eating venue. A rooftop terrazzo was constructed last season and opened in mid-September for pizza and salad only. This year the terrazzo opened in April offering the restaurant’s entire menu.

The terrazzo, which seats 44, can be reached via a steep stairway from the outside off Mill Street, but that’s not recommended. Guests are asked to go through the front entrance to be seated by the hostess. You must climb the stairs to the second level, and the terrazzo can be reached from there. Once outside, you’re in another world with a yellow, white and green color scheme like a daisy.

White woodwork that resembles a trellis surrounds the terrazzo on three sides, with the fourth wall provided by the olive green stucco of the building’s exterior. The roof of the structure was crafted with open white wood slats allowing plenty of light to shine through. The original umbrellas have been replaced with a retractable yellow awning so this space can be used even in wet weather or to provide shade from the sun. This month eco-friendly evaporative air conditioners were installed to control the outside temperature. However, when it’s 90 degrees, it will still be 80 degrees on the terrazzo with these units. There are also ceiling fans to circulate the air. The floor is made of synthetic decking material.

Light-colored marble-look square and rectangular tables are set with Tarry Lodge yellow and white placemats, white cloth napkins and white dishes. Tall chairs have cane seats and backs.

Yellow flowers and ivy planted in boxes on three sides of the space climb up the trellises. There are also pots of yellow and white flowers. Small light bulbs are hung around the perimeter of the space to provide subtle light at night along with the candles on the tables. Music is piped in to complete the atmosphere.

The food at Tarry Lodge is first class Italian with some traditional dishes and some more unusual ones. The menu includes 16 unique antipasti (i.e. Farro with Ricotta and Walnuts and Lump Crab with Piquillos), personal Romanstyle, thin crusted pizzas made in their wood-fired oven, handmade pastas including the restaurant’s signature Fusilli alla Crazy Bastard made with fresh goat cheese, beet greens, walnuts and roasted tomatoes, large salads, 10 entrées (i.e. Whole Roasted Branzino, Pollo Francese with artichokes and capers and Soft Shell Crabs with lemon aioli) and one or more daily specials, depending on the day of the week. There are also yummy homemade desserts and an extensive all-Italian wine list with a tremendous price range.

If you definitely want to sit on the terrazzo, you must book your reservation directly through the restaurant and request it. Reservations are taken 30 days out except on Saturday nights when they are only booked a day in advance. If not fully booked, the terrazzo will also be used for overflow for walk-ins. It can also be reserved for private events.

Tarry Lodge is open Monday through Friday for lunch from 12-3 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday for brunch during the same hours. Dinner starts at 3 p.m. and runs until 9 p.m. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and until 11 pm. Wednesday through Saturday.

Going from classy to casual, Caffe Del Monte at 321 North Main St. has put a single green picnic table with attached benches next to the building for anyone wishing to eat outside. John Glielmi has owned this luncheonette, which serves breakfast and lunch with American and Italian specialties, for 22 years. It is open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

When I checked it out in recent weeks, Euro Asian Bistro at 30 Westchester Ave., corner of Waterfront Place, had two round black tables and chairs with silver metal frames and wooden backs stacked up in front of the restaurant, ready for use when the weather gets cooler.

Euro Asian Bistro serves Asian fusion cuisine, a combination of Malaysian, Thai, Japanese and European, including many varieties of sushi, sashimi and signature rolls. There are also appetizers, salads, entrées and noodle dishes. A special $9 lunch menu served Monday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. offers miso soup, house salad, a spring roll and white or brown rice plus a choice of 17 different entrées such as chicken, beef, shrimp, scallop or salmon teriyaki, mango chicken or shrimp, General Tso’s chicken, Pad Thai or Manchurian beef.

Hours are Monday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. and Sunday from 12 noon to 10 p.m.

Dominican immigrant Juan Cepeda opened Brisa Marina Bar & Grill in August 2005 at 40 Grace Church St. where Machu Picchu had been. At the end of the 2008 summer season, he created a unique patio sandwiched between the restaurant and the building behind it. The patio here is made of asphalt and the tables are simple round beige plastic ones with matching chairs covered by green umbrellas. However, the large space, which seats about 50 people, is decorated with impressive murals of houses, waterfalls, trees and flowers painted on the stone wall behind the restaurant and on the back wall of the eatery itself by Dominican-born Nino Gil. Numerous pots placed around the patio hold banana plants, palms and colorful flowers.

A grill has been built in outside where manager Miguel Nunez said there are lots of parties. Music is piped out from inside where a guitarist and pianist play Latin music on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

Drinks such as cosmopolitans, margaritas, mojitos, Long Island iced teas and Pisco sours are featured here as well as a patio menu listing all types of food prepared on the grill—parrillada especial (grilled meats), with portions for adults or children, grilled seafood, steak, chicken, fish, combinations such as chicken and shrimp or ribs and shrimp or salmon and lobster as well as sandwiches and burgers.

Food is served on the patio from noon until 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until midnight Friday and Saturday.

In February 2007, father and son Peter and Marc Tessitore opened Nessa Restaurant at 325 North Main St., across from The Landmark building. At that time Marc said in the future they planned to develop an outdoor eating area next to the building which was realized in June 2008.

Decorative iron gates open onto a narrow, cozy patio of multi-colored bricks where seven black metal mesh tables with matching chairs are covered by olive and lime green umbrellas. This oasis is beautifully landscaped with trees, bushes and flowers in a few square beds that break it up and other green plants and flowers in a bed along a wooden fence installed adjacent to the building next door. Large wooden boxes planted with white flowers and miniature evergreens grace the entrance.

At night deep candles on the tables and lights in the bushes create a warm atmosphere.

This year another dimension has been added to dining al fresco at Nessa. A few stone steps lead from the courtyard to a patio and grassy area with three additional tables topped with umbrellas in front of a bocce court. There are bushes and flowers all around. You’d think you were in Italy! I’m told this area is popular for Sunday brunch.

In these outdoor settings patrons can enjoy this enotecca’s varied bruschetta, tramezzini (Italian tea sandwiches) and panini as well as creative appetizers and salads, pasta, chicken and seafood dishes, all made with the freshest ingredients. Sunday brunch features omelets, fritatte, poached eggs, other breakfast dishes such as battered cinnamon raisin toast with walnut butter and potato pancakes with spiced apples, whipped ricotta and acacia honey as well as panini and salads.

Nessa is open for dinner Sunday through Thursday from 5:30 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 5:30 to 11 p.m. and for brunch Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Further down Main Street near the Greenwich border figures one of the most visible outdoor eating areas in Port Chester, the well-landscaped red brick patio in front of Pasquale II Ristorante across from Cumberland Farms at 2 Putnam Ave. Here customers dine at nine grayish tables and matching chairs covered with a mix of bright blue Pepsi and green Perrier umbrellas. A buffer of beautiful shrubs, trees and flowers in pots and beds surrounds the patio and helps create a tranquil setting. This year there are red hibiscus bushes, red and yellow begonias, marigolds and lush pink impatiens. Tiny white lights on a white picket fence along the perimeter of the patio and music piped outside enhance the pleasant atmosphere. Fine Italian cuisine is featured at Pasquale for lunch and dinner—homemade pastas, chicken, veal and seafood as well as fine wines. The lunch menu also includes a handful of sandwiches. Hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 12 noon to 10 p.m., Friday from 12 noon to 11 p.m., Saturday from 3 to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 9 p.m. Pasquale is closed Monday.

The area to dine outside at Il Sogno was new last season. Featuring Italian/ Mediterranean cuisine, Il Sogno opened in November 2008 in the space where Pacifico had been at 316 Boston Post Rd. Jimmy Resulbegu of Manhattan, who hails from Montenegro (the former Republican of Yugoslavia), partnered with Raphael Palomino on this new venture. Palomino is the former owner of Pacifico in Port Chester who also operates Sonora in Port Chester (where he is co-owner) and Greenwich Tavern in Old Greenwich.

With limited outdoor space at this location, Resulbegu has merely moved a few tables and chairs from inside to an area adjacent to the building where they are covered with white cloths and sheltered by a magenta awning and a matching umbrella and screened by a border of potted palms with pink petunias. Torches are lit for added elegance at night.

Here you can enjoy lots of unusual seafood entrées like Orata Aqua Pazza, sardines, cuddle fish and langoustines; dishes made with truffles; pastas like bow ties topped with a light pink sauce, fresh smoked salmon and asparagus tips and parpardella with mixed mushrooms, port wine and a shaving of Italian ricotta; signature dishes such as Chicken Martini as well as dry-aged sirloin.

Il Sogno is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. Lunch runs from 12-3 p.m., dinner from 5-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The large deck on the Abendroth Avenue side of Churrascaria Copacabana, a Brazilian steakhouse at 29-31 North Main St., reopened last July after being redone to create a whole new look. New wooden rails were installed all around, a roof was constructed, lattice woodwork put up on the sides, a bar with black marble top added and four large screen TVs hung on the bright orange back wall of the restaurant. Brazilian, American, Mexican and Italian flags fly from the deck.

Ten square wood tables and matching chairs with cushioned seats are spread out over the painted concrete floor. Now that it is enclosed and less dependent on the weather, there is live music here Friday and Saturday starting at 7:30 p.m. and lasting until 10:30 p.m. Brazilian parties occur once a month on different days and last from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Besides tropical and South American drinks, customers can order off a special menu which features Brazilian specialties such as traditional feijoada, top sirloin platter, skirt steak platter and moqueca baiana (all $26.95), mixed barbecue for two or four people, beef ribs and fried yucca, pork sausage and fried yucca, Brazilian style Buffalo wings, fried tilapia, fried calamari, breaded deep fried shrimp or garlic and oil shrimp, croquette platter or crispy chicken. The price-fixed service of various meats carved from skewers in the rodizio style the restaurant is largely known for is not available outside.

Food is served on the patio from 12 noon to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Copacabana, which opened in September 2007 where Pantanal Brazilian Restaurant had been, is closed Monday.

Just a few doors down, at 23 North Main St., a tiny deck extends off the back of the building on the Abendroth Avenue side of Rosie’s on the River, formerly Per Voi, for dining al fresco across from the Port Chester Marina. There two square green resin tables with matching green and wood grain-colored chairs have been set up. A third round table and chairs were brought out under the magenta awning with white lettering. Two pots of flowers next to the door and a bed of pink impatiens below the deck set the scene.

It’s a nice outdoor venue in which to enjoy Rosie’s Italian cuisine. Since last summer, owner Anthony Salvatore has introduced a new lower end menu with pastas, personal pizzas, burgers, chicken, fish, steaks and chops as well as appetizers, salads and sandwiches. On Wednesday there are pasta specials for $10.95 at lunch, $16.95 at dinner where you have 12 choices of pasta and 11 choice of sauce.

Last year Salvatore changed the name of the restaurant, which he has owned for five years, to give it its own identity. It was named for his mother. Plus, he said, “I’m the closest to the waterfront of all the other places” and thus the river reference.

Rosie’s on the River features live music on Saturday nights.

Hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Just down the street at 37-39 North Main St., the courtyard at what is now Café Brazil USA got a makeover six years ago when a deck was constructed on a portion of the courtyard you walk through to get to the restaurant. At this point that deck and its outdoor furniture could use some sprucing up. However, in this highly visible outdoor dining area patrons can still eat Brazilian specialties and consume homemade desserts.

Café Brazil was closed for some months and reopened in May 2006 under the ownership of Brazilian-born Mario Paiva, who lived in Port Chester for 12 years and now resides in Greenwich. The restaurant was closed again for renovations earlier this year and reopened at the end of April. The inside was remodeled and the kitchen upgraded to allow for Brazilian pizza making, according to landlord Richard Cuddy. Paiva did not return several messages left for him to get more information, and no one working in the restaurant speaks much English.

Now six tables, some black metal mesh, others wrought iron, with only one green and yellow Bavarian umbrella provide a tranquil place to eat in this garden setting shaded by trees. The owner has created a window display of Brazilian artifacts visible in the courtyard and beautified the space with lots of shrubs. Large Brazilian and American flags hang on the outside of the building that forms one side of the deck. A large screen TV sits in the courtyard wrapped in a tarp when not being used to protect it from the elements. This space with its large screen TV was popular during the World Cup games in which Brazil was a player.

The food and setup at Café Brazil USA are much the same as they have been in the past with typical Brazilian cuisine offered in a self-serve format in a buffet which includes both hot food and salads. It is priced at $4.99 per pound, $6.99 per pound for a combination of the buffet and BBQ, $8.99 per pound for BBQ only. Meat selections include barbecued chicken, pork, sausage or steak cooked on the rotisserie. Café Brazil USA also offers cakes, flan and other desserts. Sandwiches and breakfast foods and apparently pizza are also available.

Café Brazil is open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week.

The lovely wraparound deck at F.I.S.H., short for Fox Island Seafood House, was expanded last year to make room for 25 more guests. A tiki bar with a thatched room was also added. Red and yellow bar stools pull up to a counter shaded by orange Panna umbrellas where you can eat and/or drink looking out over the Byram River, there are two tall tables with stools and another two square tables for dining in this area. The rest of the deck seats another 50 people at tables covered with blue and white flowered plastic cloths and set with white plastic chairs.

Tables are shaded by a bright orange awning, complete with fans, which covers much of the deck. Tiny white lights all around the structure come on as it gets dark.

The Mediterranean seafood house opened in September 2002 at the foot of Fox Island Road where other seafood restaurants have existed before. William Rosenberg of Port Chester and Denis Ossorio of Greenwich opened this seafood eatery with its unique nautical décor. Rosenberg and his wife Gina took over ownership in January 2007. F.I.S.H. also has docks in front so customers can reach it by boat during the spring, summer and fall. The deck wraps around the back of the restaurant and overlooks the Byram River in a tranquil spot with lovely homes across the way and boats coming and going.

The largely seafood menu includes appetizers such as cioppino (steamed shrimp, mussels and calamari in an excellent spicy tomato lobster broth); a Maryland style crab cake with whole grain mustard aioli, celery root slaw and baby greens; crispy Point Judith calamari served hot and spicy or plain with smoked paprika aioli; steamed sweet p.e.i. mussels; raw oysters as well as shrimp and lobster cocktail.

Salads include Hudson Valley apple salad, sweet and sour beets; iceberg and the house salad of mixed greens, seasonal vegetables, red wine vinaigrette and gorgonzola cheese.

F.I.S.H. paella a la Valencia with shrimp, mussels, clams, chicken, chorizo, sofrito, peas and saffron rice; steak-house rubbed rare Hawaiian tuna, wild Alaska halibut and pan seared hand harvested diver scallops figure among the entrées on the menu. There’s also wood-fired pizza, Bill’s BBQ black angus burger, roasted organic chicken breast scapariello and house-made butternut squash ravioli for those who may not like seafood.

Some of the entrées and weekly market specials take advantage of the restaurant’s Italian wood-burning oven which is also used for pizza.

During the summer, F.I.S.H. is open seven days. Lunch runs from 12 noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, dinner from 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 4 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday. Brunch is served Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Reservations are a must on weekends.

Panera Bread was the first restaurant in The Waterfront at Port Chester development to place tables outside. At Panera, located at 10 Westchester Ave., corner of Traverse Avenue, seven round dark gray mesh metal tables and matching chairs are grouped on the wide sidewalk outside. There are no colorful umbrellas this year. Table service is not provided inside nor is it offered here. Customers may simply take their drinks and/or food outside to enjoy the air and watch the passersby. Outside speakers allow customers to hear their name called when their order is ready to be picked up inside.

Panera, a national chain, is known for its fresh baked bread, bagels and pastries, soups, salads and sandwiches. Breakfast sandwiches and baked egg soufflés are also available. Some summer specials include a lobster sandwich on ciabatta (half pound of Canadian lobster lightly tossed in mayo and served with lettuce); strawberry chicken poppyseed salad and frozen strawberry lemonade. Other beverages to be enjoyed in the summer months include iced tea, iced coffee, iced chai tea, refreshing lowfat mango, strawberry and black cherry smoothies and frozen mango, caramel or mocha drinks.

If you have a Costco card, you get 10% off your check.

Summer hours at Panera are Sunday through Wednesday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

For the ninth year customers can eat outside at the tiny enclave at the back of Sonora, the nuevo Latino eatery that opened in May 2001 at 179 Rectory St.

A deck around the side of the restaurant off Rectory Street is hidden by tall trees and bushes. A few wooden pots of pink geraniums sit on the ledge of the deck—painted a pretty shade of red— where a total of 14 people can dine at various table setups. Silver square tables have a swirl design while the comfortable chairs that surround them have bamboo seats and backs. There were no tablecloths this year, at least not on the night I visited.

In this tranquil setting, reached by entering the front door and walking through the restaurant, you can enjoy Latin food with a French flair. Tapas, literally small appetizers from Spain, have been extrapolated at Sonora to include a wide variety of appetizers. Tapas and ceviches—South American seafood cocktails—are among the specialties at Sonora, where seafood has top billing.

There are tapas on the summer menu from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. Lobster and avocado quesadilla with chipotle and crème fraiche aioli from Mexico; a tasting of braised short rib empanada with cilantro aioli, sirloin steak empanada with guajilo and golden raisin aji and shrimp empanada with horseradish mojito from Colombia; and yellow fin tuna tartare with watermelon and cucumber in a passion fruit oil from Chile are among the interesting tapas.

Main courses include seafood paella with lobster, shrimp, clams, mussels, and chorizo topped with sofrito from Spain; sautéed shrimp and sea scallops served with Monterey Jack cheese and lobster ravioli in a chipotle and wine reduction from Mexico; seared free range chicken stuffed with Colombian chorizo, goat cheese and sweet plantains served over arugula mashed potatoes in a sherry wine sauce from Colombia; and sautéed pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon with parsley and chive chimichurri sauce served with quinoa, mango, sweet plantain and spinach salad from Cuba.

A variety of cocktails, margaritas, mojitos, tequilas and international beers are on the menu to go with your meal.

The same attentive service that is offered inside is provided on the deck.

Sonora is no longer serving lunch. Dinner is served Sunday through Wednesday from 5 to 10 p.m., Thursday through Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m. Sunday brunch runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The patio at Café Mirage, the late night eating spot at 531 North Main St., near the Greenwich border, is a popular outdoor venue which keeps changing its look. Fourteen silver metal tables for two with matching silver metal chairs which can be pushed together to accommodate larger parties are this year shaded by a navy and white awning. This lovely spot next to the Byram River is surrounded by a fence, royal blue on the outside, white inside, to provide a cozy atmosphere. Overhanging trees and colorful lanterns hanging from the awning along with boxes of colorful petunias secured to the fence add to the charming environment. The side of the patio along the Byram remains open so that during daylight hours you can watch ducks, egrets and other waterfowl playing in the river.

Some of the summer specials being offered by proprietor/chef Dave Haggerty at this international eatery, where the full menu is available until midnight on Friday and Saturday, are pomegranate and mango margaritas, passion fruit and espresso martinis; arugula, grapefruit, gorgonzola and pignoli nut salad with poppy seed vinaigrette; Thai ginger lemongrass shrimp; Bangkok mussels steamed in coconut milk and Thai spices; pan fried oysters with Creole hollandaise as well as gazpacho, carrot ginger, and tomato with avocado relish soups.

Oysters, little neck clams on the half shell and traditional shrimp cocktail are always available from the raw bar.

The regular menu includes unusual sandwiches (including the fried oyster po’ boy) and entrées such as coconut curry shrimp or chicken; Beef Bourguignonne, Jamaican jerk chicken, linguine with prosciutto, mushrooms, spinach and goat cheese and sesame crusted seared yellowfin tuna with wakame salad and ginger risotto. The fish, skirt steak and jerk chicken tacos were new last year.

Café Mirage is open for lunch Monday through Friday. Hours are Monday through Thursday from noon to 11 p.m., Friday from noon to midnight, Saturday from 6 p.m. to midnight, and Sunday from 5 to 9:30 p.m.

Another outdoor eating locale opened seven years ago behind Kiosko Restaurant at 220 Westchester Ave. While it was nicely maintained at first, the upkeep has gone downhill. Two round wooden tables with green wood chairs, a rectangular table with attached bench and three square tables have been placed outside on a red brick patio around the back of the building off the parking lot. Covered on three sides and open in the back, it also holds two wrought iron benches. The pots and flower boxes on the deck remain unplanted this year. Colorful Mexican ponchos brighten the stucco walls and Latin music plays in the background.

Mexican-born Nestor Morales of Queens and Raphael Quintero of Bridgeport, Conn. opened Kiosko, which offers authentic Mexican food, in February 2004. Raphael’s brother Tony has since joined the partnership.

Full Mexican and American breakfasts of Huevos Rancheros, Huevos a la Mexicana, Huevos con Chorizo, eggs with home fries, beans, ham or on a roll and omelets can be had here as well as all the Mexican favorites including enchiladas, quesadillas, burritos, nachos, fajitas, tacos, sopes, tortas, chimichangas, flautas, molotes, chulupas and tostadas. Seafood and meat entrées, salads and homemade soups are also available. Besides wine, beer and soda, you can get a variety of refreshing fruit shakes made to order with a milk or water base.

Kiosko’s Cemitas Poblanas, authentic Mexican sandwiches made with a variety of meats, onions, avocado, asiago cheese and chipotle sauce, have been written up in The New York Times. Their flan is the best around.

Kiosko is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Frank’s Restaurant & Pizzeria at 23 Putnam Ave. provided outdoor seating for a number of years, dropped it five years ago following the eatery’s renovation, but then brought it back. Two square black mesh metal tables with matching chairs seating a total of four people sit on the sidewalk under Frank’s magenta awning along with an attractive bench and an urn filled with an evergreen and pink and purple petunias. However, no table service is provided to customers who choose to eat there.

Frank’s offers all types of pizza, pasta, hot and cold wedges, sandwiches, wraps, roll ups, burgers, an array of specialty salads, antipasti and other Italian specialties. Besides pasta (baked, specialty ravioli, lasagna, and a number of different combinations), there are chicken, veal, seafood and eggplant dishes plus steaks and chops.

Hours are Monday through Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. The restaurant is closed Sunday.

On the other side of town, Coyote Flaco at 115 Midland Ave. serves up some of the freshest Mexican food around on the patio in front of the tiny restaurant. It was newly renovated five years ago and is now enclosed on three sides by an attractive wall of beige and gray bricks inset with lantern fixtures that light up the eating area at night. The patio is covered by a bright green awning. Seating is at an eclectic mix of chairs and rectangular tables with red, gold and green plastic tablecloths as well as at green picnic tables with beige umbrellas.

Flowers and plants in window boxes ring the patio, covering the top of the wall that surrounds this outdoor eating area, and more flowers are planted in containers outside the wall which brighten up the entrance to the restaurant. Trees have been planted in front of the patio along the street.

Coyote Flaco serves yummy, spicy gazpacho which is thinner than most (offered daily in the summer), and you can’t top the salmon and shrimp fajitas or just about any of the Mexican specialties offered here.

Coyote Flaco has hard as well as soft tacos, highly rated fajitas and a great taco salad in a crispy nest flour tortilla. Rotisserie chicken plain or prepared in a variety of ways has been added more recently.

Besides Mexican beer, a whole list of flavored margaritas and a variety of tequilas are available as well as other specialty drinks.

Hours are 4 to 10 p.m. Monday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

In the same neck of the woods, it’s the 12th season for outdoor eating at Michael’s Famous Pan Pizza. In the summer of 1998, owner Michael Iacobelli transformed an overgrown lot behind his restaurant at 125 Midland Ave. into a lovely outdoor eatery. It features 12 ornate dark green wrought iron tables and matching chairs on a red brick patio surrounded by a decorative fence fitted with painted panels depicting varied scenes from Tuscany. To complete the effect, concrete was painted to look like stucco or old tiles.

The patio, shaded by overhanging trees and naturally decorated by climbing grape vines growing over the walls enclosing it, features pink and red artificial begonias on the tables, light bulbs strung across the space for ambient lighting at night and a pretty bar with a granite top and wrought iron stools to match the chairs.

Michael’s offers fine Italian cuisine including appetizers, soups, salads, as well as pasta, chicken, veal, beef, pork and fish entrées. The house salad with homemade dressing is exceptional. Several hot sandwiches, including burgers, are also available. And of course the restaurant continues to serve the wonderful thin-crusted pan pizza Michael’s has always been known for.

Lunch is served Monday through Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., dinner those days from 4 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday Michael’s is open straight through from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Also on Midland Avenue, you can eat outdoors at Garden Catering, which opened in May 2001 in the shopping center at #140. In fact, at Garden Catering there’s only the choice of eating outside at one of six green round tables with matching chairs shaded by green umbrellas positioned on the sidewalk in front of the eatery or taking out because there are no tables indoors. A tub of yellow and orange marigolds and a bed of yellow and red flowers and a few evergreens planted next to the building spruce up this outdoor venue.

Port Chester natives Frank Carpenteri and Kevin Keegan and Port Chester resident Mario Medina offer chicken, ribs and other freshly made foods to take out at this fast food restaurant. Garden Catering offers 100% white meat chicken nuggets and French fries, cones, onion rings, battered mushrooms, or zucchini; fried chicken by the pound or platter, fried shrimp, filet of sole, spare ribs, chili dogs, hamburgers, turkey burgers, quesadillas, homemade chili, hot and cold sandwiches and wraps, salads, soups and desserts for lunch and dinner. Recent specials included fried calamari and soft shell crab on a roll, wedge or platter with fries.

For breakfast you can choose from a variety of egg sandwiches and platters, wraps, omelets, home fries, bacon, sausage, muffins, bagels and doughnuts.

Garden Catering is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Two years ago Douglas, Steven and Barbara Zaccagnini of Greenwich bought the former J.P.’s Standby Drivein next to Cumberland Farms at 604 North Main St. and renamed it Dougie’s Standby. Brothers Douglas, 28, and Steven, 24, are running it. Doug said he worked at J.P.’s since he was 13 when he started out washing dishes and worked there on and off for 13 years. So when he and his mother had the opportunity to buy it, they did.

Dougie’s has a covered outdoor eating area with three natural wood picnic tables overlooking the Byram River. One black mesh metal table is shaded by a cream-colored umbrella. Tomato plants are growing in a big pot next to the river, other pots are hanging around with flowers or tomato plants flowing out of them.

Dougie’s continues to offer typical American grilled breakfast and lunch specialties and is known for its hot dogs, burgers, steak sandwiches and homemade chili. A veggie burger and additional sandwiches are also on the menu.

J.P.’s reopened three years ago this month after having been closed for renovations following the death of owner John Pellino at the end of April. His son, Joseph Pellino, and Joseph Alexander spruced up the place and expanded the menu but only stayed in business for a year.

Dougie’s is open from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

The KFC franchise, Subway and Wah Yuan Chinese Restaurant up on the hill in the shopping plaza at 262 Boston Post Rd. have also placed a few tables on the sidewalk out front during the warm weather for customers who choose to eat their orders outside.

Customers of Burger King next door at 260 Boston Post Rd. also have the option of eating on the patio out front at three red picnic tables with benches. The play structure has been removed, so now the outdoor tables are located adjacent to an attractive grassy area with bushes in the middle of it.

Sidewalk cafés

Six eating establishments have received permits to put tables on public sidewalks in the Village of Port Chester this season: Sam’s Bar & Grill, T&J Pizza & Pasta, Frankie & Louie’s Restaurant & Pizzeria, Los Gemelos Restaurant & Tortilleria and, new this year, The Kneaded Bread, which I mentioned at the beginning of this article, and Patrias at 35 ½ North Main St.. Patrias has not had any tables out since I’ve been checking over the last few weeks. The village board passed legislation allowing for this use of public sidewalks in May 1997 and modified that legislation in June 2010.

Permitted hours of operation for sidewalk cafés are from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday from May 1 through Oct. 31.

Besides paying $100, restaurant owners must provide proof of liability insurance holding the village harmless and a drawing showing the arrangement of tables and barriers they plan to put out. There must be a minimum distance of five feet free of obstructions on the sidewalk for adequate and safe pedestrian movement. This distance may be reduced to three feet in width for a distance not to exceed 25 feet in length.

The Office of the Village Clerk is authorized to issue an annual permit for the seasonal operation of a sidewalk café after the application has been reviewed and approved by the Building Department. Applications may be picked up at the Village Clerk’s Office inside the front door to your left at 222 Grace Church St.

A small outdoor eating area has been set up for the 13th year—since village law first allowed for it—adjacent to the Byram River in front of Sam’s Bar & Grill at 1 Mill St. This year the restaurant’s new owners have enlarged it. There is one round tan table with matching chairs shaded by a green and white Heineken Light umbrella, one square table with the same chairs and another two square tables pushed together with four chairs. Green window boxes on the outside of the building planted with flowers and greens and new green awnings add charm to this quaint little spot.

Dennis and Casey Schack of Byram and Steve Hanrahan of Croton-on-Hudson took over ownership from Karen and Sam Harris in March and are continuing to serve American bar food. You can still feast on juicy burgers and strip steak as well as sandwiches, nachos, quesadillas, burritos, chicken wings, soups, salads, blackened chicken and beer-battered shrimp.

Bar hours are 4 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, noon to 3:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Food is served from opening until at least 10 p.m.

T&J Pizza & Pasta at 227 Westchester Ave. has pretty much the same setup for outdoor eating this season as it did the last eight years. Two round inlaid stone tables for two with black metal ice cream chairs are offset by three evergreens potted in stone planters surrounded by flowers. T&J’s red and green awning provides protection from the sun. Here you can bring your takeout food and eat outside or enjoy a beverage while waiting for a table inside.

Besides all types of pizza, T&J serves appetizers, pasta, soups, salads, wedges and other Italian meat and seafood dishes, including daily specials. Pasta Craze where you get a choice of several pasta dishes plus a salad for $12.95 is popular on Wednesday nights.

The restaurant is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 11 p.m.

Frankie & Louie’s Restaurant & Pizzeria at 414 Willett Ave. has continued the Italian eatery’s 12-year tradition of setting up a space outside. A light wood lattice fence encloses eight black mesh metal tables with matching chairs seating a total of 16 in front of this neighborhood Italian pizzeria and restaurant. During the day you can just take your slice of pizza or other lunch fare and sit outside. For dinner, however, table service is provided for anyone wishing to dine outside.

Here customers may enjoy all types of pizza, calzones and wedges as well as traditional Italian pasta, veal, chicken and seafood dishes including daily blackboard specials. Throughout the year Wednesday is Family Style Night where each dish feeds 2 to 4 people for $28.95, Thursday is Ravioli Night with different varieties of ravioli for $12.95 and Sunday is Pasta Madness featuring a choice of five pasta dishes for $12.95. All include salad. Don’t forget to give the extraordinary homemade desserts a try.

Hours are 11 a.m. till closing, some nights till 11, seven days a week.

Los Gemelos Restaurant & Tortilleria at 167 Westchester Ave. has set up six square silver metal tables with multi-colored chairs on the sidewalk out front for the second year. Here you can take the food you order at this authentic Mexican eatery and eat it al fresco.

The menu includes burritos, sopes, tostadas, tortas, tacos, taquitos, flautas, quesadillas, combination platters, fajitas, enchiladas, soups as well as seafood and steak entrées.

Hours are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.

Rye Brook

Joshua, Joel, Judy and Alan Elstein of Armonk opened Belle Fair Country Market at 20 BelleFair Blvd. in May 2008 following a few months of renovations.

This family-run deli, market and café serves breakfast, lunch and dinner both inside and at three hexagonal picnic tables with attached benches topped by brown umbrellas with beige trim on the patio right outside the market across from the Belle Fair Meeting House. Two additional square wooden picnic tables with attached benches and green umbrellas sit on the sidewalk around the corner. Greenery and a stone wall beautify the area.

The market is open to the public, not just residents of the 11-year-old BelleFair residential development, located off Upper King Street.

The market features homemade soups, a salad bar where you pick your lettuce and ingredients, homemade dressings, and freshly made salads. They make sandwiches of all types on rye, 7 grain or sourdough bread as well as panini, wraps and baguettes. In addition, a grill menu is now available which includes hamburgers, hot dogs and French fries among other items as well as an after school all-white-meat chicken and fries or cones special.

For the summer, freshly brewed iced tea and lemonade as well as a mixture of the two and two flavors of iced coffee are available. There are also homemade cupcakes and other baked goods as well as vanilla YoCream frozen yogurt into which various fruit flavors can be swirled.

For breakfast you can get challah French toast, pancakes, 8-grain oatmeal, breakfast burritos, omelets, egg sandwiches, homemade muffins and Barrie House coffee in eight flavors.

Belle Fair Country Market, which also does catering, is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Breakfast is served until 11 a.m. each day.

The best kept secret in Rye Brook and Port Chester remains Mulligan’s Bar & Grill at Doral Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center on Anderson Hill Road, which I discovered a decade ago. Here 15 wooden tables and chairs and a long bar with wooden stools are covered by a green and white awning behind the golf shop overlooking the ninth hole of the golf course. The fare includes things like gazpacho, fresh fruit plate, chicken quesadillas, Buffalo wings, chicken fingers, grilled Cajun shrimp, salads such as Caesar, chef, seared sesame crusted tuna on a bed of Asian cabbage, Chinese chicken and Southwest; sandwiches, wraps, a Maine lobster roll, beef and turkey burgers, a foot-long hotdog and beef brisket. There are also daily specials and a children’s menu.

Mulligan’s drink menu features classic root beer floats and refreshing alcoholic beverages like A Day at the Beach concocted with Malibu rum, Baccardi, cream of coconut and fresh banana, pomegranate margaritas and vintage lime daiquiris.

Mulligan’s is open seven days a week from 11:30 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. through Columbus Day.

As part of the total renovation of the former Pizza & Brew in the Rye Ridge Shopping Center at 136 South Ridge St. three years ago, patio doors were installed at the front of the restaurant that can open during good weather and allow for eating outdoors. This year numerous square white and black marble tables for two with black wicker chairs are set up on the sidewalk enclosed by black borders that read Racanelli’s Pizzeria Restaurant, the Italian eatery’s current name. The name change corresponded with the restaurant’s upgrade.

Racanelli’s serves up soft and chewy New York pizza, combination pies, Napoletana individual thin crust brick oven pizzas, all kinds of pastas, other Italian favorites made with chicken, veal, shrimp, eggplant and sausage, chef specials as well as appetizers, sandwiches, flame broiled burgers, hand crafted salads, pizza rolls and calzones.

Racanelli’s is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Rye Ridge Deli, also in the Rye Ridge Shopping Center at 126 South Ridge St., was back bigger and better three summers ago following its expansion and also placed more tables out front for plein air eating than before. This year there are five silver mesh round metal tables with four matching chairs around each provided for customers who choose to take their food outside.

The menu continues to feature huge sandwiches of every variety, over-stuffed combination and specialty sandwiches, soups like home style chicken noodle matzoh ball and cold borscht as well as French onion and chili, salad platters and entrée salads, hot open sandwiches, half pound burgers, fried specialties, dairy delicacies, vegetarian delights and beef, fish and poultry dinners.

You can also get anything you can think of for breakfast, including challah bread French toast, Belgian waffles, blintzes and matzoh brie as well as bacon and eggs, omelets, oatmeal and breakfast burritos.

Hours are 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

This year Starbucks, also at Rye Ridge, has put two round black metal mesh tables with black metal and wood chairs in front of its coffee shop at 118 South Ridge St. where customers can sip coffee, latte or any number of other hot and cold drinks and nibble on baked goods while they people watch.

During the warm weather customers of The Club Sandwich, which opened in April 2000 at 7 Rye Ridge Plaza, around the back of the Rye Ridge Shopping Center, have the option of eating outside at one of four square metal black tables with matching chairs. Two of them are shaded by the sandwich shop’s green awning.

Sean Quinn of Rye assumed ownership of the local eatery in February 2005.

The Club Sandwich offers a tremendous variety of sandwiches of all types, from simple roast beef on rye to smoked salmon with egg salad, horseradish sauce, capers, onions, lettuce, tomato and bacon on a tortilla. The gourmet sandwich shop serves Boar’s Head deli meats on its sandwiches and offers nine different choices of bread on which they can be made.

Besides all the usual and not so usual cold cuts, cheeses and salads, 34 finishing touches may be added to create your own sandwich or you can choose from a menu of 50 concoctions which have already been dreamed up. Their spicy Texas chili with or without onions and cheese is also a good bet. At least two different soups are also offered each day. Quinn added six different salads--tossed, chicken, Cobb, chicken Caesar, Buffalo and goat cheese—to the offerings when he took over. This year he’s added a selection of pasta, mixed bean, seafood, potato and other homemade salads which are displayed in their case.

Breakfast sandwiches, muffins, croissants, pastries, crumb cake, bagels, coffees and teas make up the breakfast menu.

Hours are Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Up the hill in the shopping center at 200 South Ridge St., Lenny’s Bagels also provides outdoor seating for its patrons. Four round silver metal tables with matching silver chairs afford space for nine or 10 to munch on Lenny’s homemade bagels, bagel sandwiches with all types of salad and meat fillings, soups, salads and gourmet desserts. There are breakfast specials, daily lunch specials and now chicken nuggets, fingers and breaded chicken cutlets from the fryer. During the summer cold gazpacho and cucumber dill soups are usually on the menu. As cool seasonal beverages, Lenny’s offers iced tea and iced coffee.

Summer hours are Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
 

This is part of the online edition of Rye Brook Westmore News.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you. Click here.