porterhouse with a large filet mignon
attached for one person at $48.50. Otherwise, the sliced steak for two is $66.50; for
three $99.75; and for four $133.50. True to
steakhouse form, side dishes like creamed
spinach, crusty home fries and greaseless
fried onion rings have been brought to a
no-mistakes level of consistency.
Meigas, 10 Wall St., Norwalk;
203-866-8800; meigasrestaurant.com.
Hard as it is to understand, the small
city of Norwalk possesses the numero uno
Spanish restaurant in America. In this
warm, cheery, casual dining room, owner
Ignacio Blanco and partner-chef Luis Bollo
are doing the kind of eclectic, dazzling food
young chefs in Catalonia and the Basque
country have made their signature. Their
imagination and commitment to using the
best ingredients, and their dedication to
spreading the word on Spanish wines make
them among the best in the business.
The little tapitas that start off a meal here
reflect Bollo’s San Sebastian background—
bites of caramelized quail egg with a thin
FREDDE LIEBERMAN
Acadiana restaurant’s executive chef, Jeff
Tunks, spent four years cooking in Louisiana
and brings Creole and Cajun classics to his
new home in Washington, D.C.
slice of dried Andalusian tuna and a layer
of foie gras mousse. Or fried codfish
croqueta, and a sliver of tender octopus
dusted with a smoked paprika and served
with nubbins of potatoes coated with
extra virgin olive oil.
Main courses are even more exciting,
like grilled duck breast married to scallops
and fresh gras with an avocado salad, and
bacalao, slowly cooked cod with black rice
laced with a spiced olive oil. In season, they
serve that wonderful—if very expensive—
delicacy angulas, a casserole of tiny eels in
garlic and hot oil.
NEW YORK
Mazzei, 25 S. Regent St., Port Chester;
914-939-2727; hostariamazzei.com.
Milanese owners Dominick Avelluto
and Alberto Marazzano, along with Sardinian partner-chef Giovanni Sias, have
made Mazzei in Westchester County into
one of the finest Italian restaurants on the
Eastern Seaboard. The restaurant is named
after Thomas Jefferson’s friend Philip
Mazzei, a surgeon-turned-wine merchant.
It is a very smart-looking but casual restaurant, with a dominant wood-fired pizza
oven to one side (the pizzas and breads are
fabulous here), ceiling lights that cast a rosy
glow, a polished bar and two handsome
private dining rooms. Abandon yourself
to Sias’ lavish antipasti table—fresh bufala
mozzarella, salume and prosciutti, carpaccio of beef with herbs—but don’t miss
fabulous pastas like macheroncini with artichokes and fresh tuna, or potato-spinach
gnocchi with sage and mozzarella. If you
have five or six friends and a day or two in
