With so many new restaurants opening — sometimes it seems like one a week — there are a lot of great stories to tell. From family-owned restaurants to niche eateries to genius take-outs. Apologies in advance: we couldn’t cover them all, but here’s three backstories worth knowing.
Bela Mehta has spent years perfecting recipes for the kind of food she remembers eating as a girl back home in Bombay. But instead of serious, sit-down dinners, her fondest memories are of Indian snack food. “I took it for granted growing up,” she says. It wasn’t until she emigrated to New York as a 22-year-old that she realized what she had left behind. “I missed my food,” she laughs. After a career in real estate and raising two sons, Mehta pursued her passion and opened the charming and simple Masala Kraft Café in July. Everything on the vegetarian menu is a family recipe and made fresh each day, including the condiments and chutneys. (The only thing not made on the premises are the dried spices). Indian cooking, says Mehta, is “like a project on its own,” and to recreate those family recipes, “was very difficult. It was a lot of trial and error.” But so worth it. What you’ll find are fresh dosa, samosa, and chutneys, terrific falafel and sandwiches — her signature Masala Kraft is a grilled vegetable patty with tomatoes, onions and cilantro. While there are plenty of Indian restaurants in the area, this is the kind of food Mehta says she could not find anywhere. “We always have this craving in our palate for this kind of spicy food,” she says. The casual cuisine is a terrific option for American palates — there’s heat but never enough to overwhelm the delicate but crafty blend of spices that Mehta uses. Her coconut chutney? “There’s about 8 different things in that,” she says. Mehta’s son Saureen, a Boston University grad, manages the café, while a cousin did the graphic design work and created the logo. Her partner, John Bosco, lends retail experience. Mehta still sells the occasional property through Century 21, but most of her time is taken up by the café, which she renovated and redecorated herself. "It’s a lot of 12-hour days,” she says, “but it’s wonderful. Who gets to do a job they love?"
Kenneth Breiman likes to joke that he can swim to work in his new job as chef and co-owner of The Terrace Club Restaurant in Mahopac. And it’s not far from the truth. Breiman and partner Amie Cunningham, both local residents, had some daunting chairs to fill — namely the old Dockside Pub — when they decided to open up their own place in their hometown. But Cunningham, who worked for Michael Kors in Greenwich, and Breiman, the former chef at X20 Xaviars on the Hudson, have turned the lakeside pub into an upscale yet approachable place right in their own backyard. "We wanted to bring some casual sophistication to our community," says Cunningham, who runs the front of the house. "There really wasn’t anything like this in the area, and now you don’t have to drive down county or into Manhattan to find it." The surroundings are meant to invoke a 1940s supper club with spare lines, dark wood trim and chandeliers. With a pared down menu that still offers tons of choice, Breiman brings the same deft touch and palate that fans of X20 will recognize (and some of the dishes, too — those coconut shrimp look familiar). There’s an intense, but lovely salmon and tuna parfait with wasabi, and a nice turn on the ubiquitous blackened salmon: his comes crusted with puffed sushi rice.
Thirty years ago, Al Spampinato was a drummer in a 1960s band, but it was his prowess with a knife — not the sticks — that got him noticed by singer Frankie Valli. “I cooked for my band when we were on the road, and he told me I should open a restaurant,” says Spampinato. So he did. From 1978 to 1982, Spampi’s, in Spring Valley, was a Rockland favorite known for its homemade pasta and giant yellow salad tubs. “They were actual bathtubs that we painted, filled with ice and topped with a variety of salad fixings,” says Al. Back in the day, Frank Sinatra dropped by; so did Paul Anka. Then marriage and kids intervened and Spampinato closed up shop. Thirty years — and an extended career in plastics later — son Rob pestered him to re-open. “We heard all the stories over the years,” says Rob, who is also a musician with his own band, In Question. Spampi’s opened last November. “It’s trial by family,” says Rob, who manages the front of the house while sister Jenny waits tables in between classes at Rockland Community College. “But we all have the same passion for the business.” The new place has vintage rock memorabilia like guitars signed by the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and live music. Old favorites like the eggplant parmigiana and ravioli are mixed in with new offerings such as linguine alla Jenny (fresh pesto sauce) and a Roman table, stocked with Italian-style tapas. The family still appreciates the occasional blast from their colorful past. “When customers who knew the old place come in, they always ask the same thing,” says Jenny. “‘Whatever happened to those yellow salad tubs?’”
