Homegrown Recipes for a Bridal Shower Menu

It wasn’t that long ago that my mother and I were planning a Bridal Shower.

It was to be a spectacular, love-filled, memory-inducing celebration for our very special, charming southern belle, Lauren Paige, who is my niece and Mother’s first granddaughter.

Naturally, we started the planning with the menu. 

We even planned the afternoon for the menu planning as an event unto itself! 

So I got out all the relevant cookbooks, the cooking magazines, recipe folders and the wine and cheese. 

We needed to keep up our stamina during what we hoped would be a long and delightful afternoon.

  

We did a splendid job of choosing appetizers, mixing and matching entrees that would be both pretty as food art – and delicious.

I knew I’d do my famous bridal punch with the rose petal wreath encased in ice mold. 

This is a dreamy, special bit of floating florals surrounded by a peachy or pink punch confection.  

It never fails to elicit the oohs and ahhs that something pretty and out of the ordinary does to our senses.

We wrote up the menu. It looked good.

The next morning, I bolted upright out of bed.

What in the world of all that’s gastronomic could I have been thinking??!

Old habits die hard, is all I can offer.  

I have been producing dinner parties and holiday events like this for years.

Everything from the themed table settings to the floral arrangements to the linens are researched and documented.  

The tablescape compositions always make people happy.  

The work of art even helps start the cocktail conversations. 

As my husband says, “People take pictures of your table settings!” 

But things are different now.

I have just authored a book about chefs and their gardens.
The book is filled with outstanding, amazing and delicious recipes – three or four from each of the nearly 30 featured chefs.

There was no way I couldn’t, wouldn’t feature recipes from my book.

So like the film Groundhog Day – but in a good way – we recreated the day of planning the menu. 

A Do-Over with Personality.  

Now every recipe selection would have a story. 

After all, the book profiles my Master Chefs – and the growers who inspire them...

The ladies at the shower would get a sneak preview of the distinctive cuisine embraced by the well-curated list of chefs in the book, “The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook.”

I’d experience the thrill of watching the guests eating and commenting on the food from the book.

Now we were really cooking with gas, as they say.

Poring over the recipes in the manuscript, Mother and I soon compiled the menu that would work best for the afternoon bridal shower. 

The Menu:

Cherry Tomato Gazpacho, The Lake House, Chef Matt Connors

Local Peach and Organic Beefsteak Tomato Salad, The Grey Horse Tavern, Chef Meredith Machemer

Grilled Octopus with Panzanella Salad, Mitch & Toni’s, Chef Mitch SuDock

Up-Island Risotto with Summer Corn, Heirloom Tomato, and Basil, Coolfish, Chef Tom Schaudel

Roasted Beets, House-made Ricotta, Baby Carrots and Sally Nadler Bee Sting Honey, Swallow Restaurant, Chef James Tchinnis

Fizzy Strawberry-Basil Lemonade (non alcoholic), Mirabelle Restaurant, Chef Guy Reuge

We added Mother’s homemade bread, my pesto lasagna – with basil from our garden, my deviled eggs with eggs from the local farm, and my husband’s delicious pasta with shrimp -- and arugula from our garden.

The hallmark of the Homegrown Cookbook is seasonal, fresh, and local food ingredients.

So no surprise then, that the fresh-from-the-garden food came from our home herb garden and “farmette” at our country house in the Garden State including the fennel, basil, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, thyme, garlic, onion, oregano, mint, and the roses for the punch and flowers.

The other ingredients – like the homemade pastas, ricotta, Burrata, came from local specialty stores – like the Italian store and the food emporium, Sickles Market, both located in nearby Fair Haven.   The fish was selected from the Lusty Lobster in the Highlands – not more than a few hundred yards from the Bay. 

The cake was always going to come from The Flaky Tart in Atlantic Highlands: THE best pastry chef and a James Beard award winner.

garlic & scallion from my garden

We started prepping some things about a day or two before the party: 

Our Garden's Cherry Tomatoes waiting to sashay to gazpacho

Garden Beets huddling before the quick change to salad

Fennel & garlic on the runway

The exuberant, game-changing menu was a sensory experience.

Bride-to-be admiring the rose petal punch

The rose-petal punch greeted guests at the door.   

Tiered Martha Stewart green glass cake stands were bedecked with tomato and Burrata tea and cucumber tea sandwiches finger food and another punch bowl was snazzy-red welcome of cherry tomato gazpacho, so guests could scoop a punch cup sized taste and walk around.

I like doing light and small apps and finger food that allows mingling before a sit down dinner as well as a buffet…

Every plated and presented dish was accompanied by a place card noting the name of the recipe and the chef who created it. 

I had lots of stories – and love -- to share with the guests when they asked about the flavors and food.

Hostess Gifts were heart-shaped wine openers!

It was a great day for family, food and memories.  

The Hamptons & Long Island Cookbook here on Amazon in pre order!

http://www.amazon.com/Hamptons-Long-Island-Homegrown-Cookbook/dp/0760337578/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327545011&sr=8-1

Look Who’s in the Kitchen with Your Lover! Culinary Cupids offer Private Pre-Valentine’s Day Cooking Class at Amarelle Restaurant

If the adage is true that the way to a lover’s heart is through the stomach, then there is no better place to bone up and get some “foodie foreplay” than to join Chefs Lia Fallon and Martial Boffy as well as Pastry Chef Kelly Donlon for a personal, hands-on cooking experience. 

These expert, master chefs will help you create a special menu that will enchant and delight.

Amarelle Restaurant Chef Lia Fallon is a culinary sprite.  

Her top-rated recipes have earned her stars and legions of fans.  

Including this reporter.  

Lia is a featured chef in my soon to be published book, The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook. 

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hamptons-and-long-island-homegrown-cookbook-leeann-lavin/1106938260?ean=9780760337578

and

http://www.amazon.com/Hamptons-Long-Island-Homegrown-Cookbook/dp/0760337578

Her passion for the food ingredients and the presentation is unmatched. 

Except for maybe her love for her family, and customers and craft…

Her devotion to local, homegrown ingredients make her recipes gastronomic amore.

Be sure to take a special, revealing look behind the kitchen door. 

Learn from the pros and then, how sweet is this --  invite your special, significant other to a Four-Course lunch and wine pairing after the class.

You can always say, you whipped up the entire meal! 

Sunday, February 12, 2012

11:00-1:30 PM

$150.00

Class Includes Four-Course Lunch with Wine Pairing at 2:00 pm immediately following the cooking prep class.  Bring your lover for just $75 more.  It’s so worth it.

Amarelle is located on a quaint country junction, a stone’s throw from the swans and ducks of the across-the-street Wading River – and Manhattan.

Go all romantic and play out that Culinary Cupid fantasy.

Amarelle

2028 N Country Rd.

Wading River, NY. 11792

www.amarelle.net [1]

P 631-886-2242

F 631-886-2241  

The Prequel Update for The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook

Today is Groundhog Day 2012.  In too many ways, writing and producing The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook has felt like more than a passing resemblance to the movie, “Groundhog Day” and its always-present/never-ending storyline.

So it seems more than fitting to pick up the thread of the book’s storyline…

You see, last year at just about this exact time, I was getting ready to hit the “send” button on the final Author’s Edits for the book, when I received an email and call from my editor to hold on.  Management wanted to double the size of the book! 

While exciting to get to meet a dozen more master chefs and the artisanal growers who inspire them, I was understandably nervous and concerned about yet another year going by without being published. 

Long story short: the book started in 2003.  There were some key twists and turns that is a book in and of itself and I have written about those hurdles, including the migration from New York City focus with Hamptons inclusion to Hamptons & Long Island feature, to hard drive crash…   All overcome and the book is stronger for it.

Nevertheless, the gauntlet was thrown down.  Last year this time I was given about a three-month deadline to identify, secure interviews, and write the profiles for a dozen more chefs and growers. That’s roughly 24 feature profiles.  Not counting husband and wife teams. 

And then there is all the scheduling.  Chefs are waayy too busy, as are farmers and fisherman…

But there was no way I wasn’t going to do it and complete the book.

I had come so far.

Not to be overlooked, I also felt such a strong obligation to honor those chefs and growers that I had already completed and who were just as eagerly anticipating the book as I was.

So I was back to the starting gate.

After rigorous, intense research, it wasn’t long before I had selected the additional master chefs I wanted.

I was also keen to open up the growers to include not just vegetable growers to include honey farmers, duck farmers, oyster growers, and wine makers.  Excellent variety that added great stories and a compelling compliment.

Soon I was back out on the Island for photography sessions and interviews. 

I have to share one of my earliest images of getting ready to hit the road after taking the jitney from Manhattan. 
Waiting for the rental car, I was more than a bit surprised to see men with guns outside the window.  

Wow.  All I could think was, we’re not in Gotham anymore, Dorothy!

Andrews Family Farm, Riverhead, chef Lia Fallon's inspired grower

But the book’s photographer and I are intrepid foodies with lots of fascinating chefs and growers to meet – so off we go.  Out onto the bucolic roads lined with farms and vineyards and waterways that is Long Island….  

Shelter Island 18 Bay Chefs Elizabeth & Adam with Karen Lee,  Sang Lee Farms 

 

Long Island vineyard

Cotton Candy for Breakfast! David Burke's Fromagerie

I ate cotton candy for breakfast.

Seriously.  

Having enjoyed an over-the-top delicious, whimsical luncheon for the second time during the holiday season at chef David Burke’s Garden state restaurant, Fromagerie, there was just a wee bit too much of the happy desserts.  

So the sweet, sparkly, spun sugar confection was coming home with me.   The cotton candy looks just like sweet tutus.  They are eye candy: fun and flirty. Like schoolgirls, we giggle every time the wispy, pastel-colored melt-in-your-mouth magic pirouettes onto the dining table.

And there was no way I was not taking some home.  

Truth is, every one of Chef David’s restaurants I’ve dined at possess his inimitable style and stamped with his unmistakable personality.  

It’s that alchemy of élan, spunk, and theater that makes eating there a remarkable theatrical culinary experience.   

Chef David Burke manages a portfolio of award-winning restaurants and food service enterprises that delight and surprise and elicit more than a fair share of oohs and ohh wonder at the food creations and presentations to bring out the sophisticated gourmand – and the kid – in all of us. (http://www.davidburke.com)

Fromagerie is chef David’s fairytale, hometown homage restaurant.

It’s a venerable gastronomic icon that adorns a diminutive, size-0 intersection in Rumson. 

Long acknowledged as more of an auberge – fashionably snuggled and operated within its own oasis of a French countryside, Fromagerie, was and remains a culinary transgression – an act of love and respect on chef David’s part, having taken it over in 2006.

He grew up here, established his chef roots before taking flight and becoming one of the culinary world’s most imaginative, creative, entrepreneurs to shine in the culinary constellation.

  

I know his fizzy, irreverent and hard-working biography intimately; chef David is a special part of my New York Homegrown cookbook.

In addition, I interviewed him when he opened David Burke Kitchen and DB Garden.  I Love that concept: chefs and their gardens!

Townhouse has long been a favorite and classy place to dine and meet friends for cocktails.

The culinary world knows him from Top Chef, The Today Show and his cookbooks, products, cooking techniques and creations. 

Hello, bubble gum whip cream and gourmet cheesecake lollipop tree! pretzel encrusted crab, and restaurants: eight and counting.

The Garden State locals know and love chef David from his early days.  He hasn’t forgotten them either. 

The siren song of the Two Rivers’ beauty and charm continues to seduce other homegrown luminaries including Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi and Kevin Smith, to name a few. 

The day of our very special holiday luncheon, hosted by my garden design muse and fairy godmother, Maria, joined by my mother.  


We three were surprised and elated to meet David’s father.  

We didn’t know the pedigree of the craftsman hard at work, determined to fix a railing by the front steps.

Truthfully, the drilling buzz was a bit intense for the place and time of day and when we asked if the work could wait, we were met by an apology and later, after the bill floated onto the table by our friendly and professional waiter, we learned of the complimentary cappuccinos, courtesy of chef David’s father: David!   

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree it seems. 

The elder David is charming too.

We were delighted to chat it up a bit with him. 

In turn, he treated us to a respectful and family-fueled pride about chef David’s early foray into cooking.

David the elder’s eyes sparkled and he laughed while telling us of his son’s determined, early efforts to break into the world of cooking.

“He told me he wanted to be a chef,” he sighed.   

“All I could think of was a McDonalds cook and well…“  

We could sense he was fondly retelling a timeworn family tale of an awkward discussion that is now the first chapter in a successful, star-studded career.

We learned it was soon after his aspirational culinary wannabee confession that David the younger, told a perspective employer he could cook.  

That David charm and confidence fueled his earliest ambitions and not surprisingly, he got the job.

But he really needed some fast, hands-on training!  See, he didn’t really yet “know” how to cook. That would come later.

His father told us David asked the nearby restaurant to show him how to cook a steak.  

David is and was a fast trick.  

He inculcated his new-found knowledge of cooking steak to his new job.  

Still laughing at the memory of what is clearly a long-standing family legend, we learn about David taking the steak out of the oven only to have tilted the dish a bit too much -- so that it hit the corner of his head and the steak went flying off, landing on the floor.

Not to be deterred, David recovered his confidence – and the steak. Further he worked hard, attended culinary school and learned from the great European chefs while living and studying there. 

His homegrown and innate talent accelerated David’s fast lane meteoric rise to celebrity chef. His ability to balance culinary creativity and down-to-his-roots, never-forget-where-you-came from humility and common sense is what keeps chef David grounded and motivated.

David’s dad and our table agreed.

Fast forward to our winter luncheon.

Dining at one of David’s restaurants is not unlike going down the rabbit hole. 

Things are not always what they seem to be.

For starters, (or for no “starters!”) there is no menu heading of “Appetizer.”

There is, however, the word JARS taking top billing. 

Hmmm…

After twice ordering the JARS, I can confirm what it is. 

JARS is genius.  

JARS are delicious; small old-fashioned mini bottles filled with flavors and textures.

Twice, I ordered the maple syrup ricotta, ginger and autumn squash JAR. 

It’s almost too cute to eat. 

Diners pick it up and look at the creamy, golden brown layers before affirming they can mix it up and spread it on the toast points.  Wow. 

The other JARS offerings are bouillabaisse saffron, rouille and a foie gras, cassis gelee. 

All three are innovative, memorable and a tasty overture to the meal that follows.  Oh, and the amuse bouche was downright delightful too.

At this luncheon, our host Maria suggested we had to try the short rib grilled cheese sandwich.

We were richly rewarded. 

Bite-sized, home-made bread slices embrace finely shredded, robust pork, hugged by caramelized onions and fontina cheese.  

The pretzel-crusted crab is outstanding.

A head-slapping why-didn’t someone-think-of-this sooner favorite.

The salty, crunchy pretzel is a balance to a sweet meaty crab packed “brick” with grilled shrimp that is surrounded by a Lego-log of pretzel sticks coating, kissed with avocado, tomato, frisee and pimenton remoulade.

The Montauk Lobster roll was a winning favorite on both luncheon outings.  Thick, sweet, lobster overflows and oozes into the soft bread roll so that every bite or forkful is full of salty, meaty, fresh lobster salad. 

As an important aside, The Mad Men Lunch of  “Angry Lobster,” Ribeye with two classic martinis has our name on it – but for another day. We did have the pleasure of witnessing two VERY happy women extolling the joys of that particular menu choice on our first luncheon visit.  I love that dining exuberance.

The oysters were crisp and fresh and briny and local: just perfect.

The dessert though, topped it all.

The towering pops and the cotton candy and the toffee confection.  

This is entirely too much fun with food as art and theater for one afternoon. 

Pure indulgence.

Oh, and be sure to stop and admire the Dale Chihuly red glass sculpture art as outsized red-twigged dogwood stalks in garden pots that frame the red canopy doorway.   

If they eyes eat first as the French claim, the entrance, the restaurant design and the food presentation are spot on.

Cheers. 

Change The Way You Eat

On Saturday, January 21, the second TEDxManhattan “Changing the Way We Eat” – an independently organized event, licensed by TED – will be held at the Times Center in New York City. TEDxManhattan will explore the issues, the impacts and the innovations happening as we shift to a more sustainable way of eating and farming and help to create connections and unite different areas of the food movement. And while not everyone may be able to attend the local event, anyone around the world can share in this exciting day by watching the live webcast at www.livestream.com/tedx from 10:30am – 5:15pm est on Saturday, January 21st.

WHY watch? This is a wonderful opportunity for people around the world to connect online with each other and the sustainable food movement. While the talks revolve around the speakers in NYC, individuals watching the webcast can join Livestream on January 21st: http://livestre.am/Ggb

Facebook – www.Facebook.com/TEDxManhattan

Livestream chat – www.livestream.com/tedx

Follow the Twitter feed at www.Twitter.com/TEDxManhattan (@TEDxManhattan #TEDxMan).

There’s a world-class line-up of speakers that is sure to inspire you, including [for a complete list, visit the TEDxManhattan website]:

Laurie David (Host), Environmental Activist, Producer, Author

Fred Kirschenmann, Farmer, Distinguished Fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, and President of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in NY

Mitchell Davis, Executive Vice President, the James Beard Foundation, cookbook author and food journalist

Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch

Gary Oppenheimer, Founder/Executive Director of AmpleHarvest.org, CNN Hero, Master Gardener,  Huffington Post 2011 Game Changer, winner of the 2011 Glynwood Wave of the Future Harvest Award

Dr. Robert S. Lawrence, Center for a Livable Future/Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States

Dr. David Wallinga, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Urvashi Rangan, Consumer Reports

Photo courtesy of TEDx 

Photo courtesy of TEDx

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like* experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.  

Photo courtesy of TEDx

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. For more information about TED and TEDx, please visit www.ted.com.

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Follow TED on Twitter at twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at facebook.com/TED.

The Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming is the lead sponsor for TEDxManhattan 2012.

For more information about TEDxManhattan, visit www.tedxmanhattan.org

New Years Dinner at Ama Restaurant is Love

With our Garden State country home renovations in full swing – so still no kitchen -- and a magnum of family and friends’ holiday parties under our belt, we were thinking New Years Eve needed to be dining out, outstanding/good food was to be paramount, of course, with an emphasis on locally-sourced food ingredients. 

Ama Ristorante, in our village by-the-shore-marina boasted a dining cache that could fulfill our culinary checklist for the evening’s celebration. 

Plus, the restaurant is within walking distance. Extra credit. So check, check and check!

It now seems incredulous that we had not yet dined at this three-year old restaurant.  Especially since we’d heard good things about the food and respected foodie advocates, including Bob Sickles (www.sicklesmarket.com) had recommended the restaurant…

Truth be told, it is because more often than not we cook at home when at our country house whereas we dine out when in Gotham (all the great restaurants in town to take advantage of.)

The Brooklyn brownstone-sized dining room seats about 38-plus customers in the brick lined intimate embrace of the main dining room with its elegantly maintained tin ceiling.  In the warm weather the sliver of a garden terrace seats an overflow and alfresco dining enthusiast. 

A mid afternoon call to Ama on December 31^st for reservations was delightful – like phoning an extended family member. No drama. No pretense of  “Let me check the reservations to see what I have” while the seconds and time pockets suck the air out of the exchange as is done at far too may Manhattan restaurants -- all the while we all know there are plenty of seats and no need to pull the velvet rope act.  To whit, Del Posto offered prime seating for dinner with a same-day phone call to reservations…And honestly, food nirvana doesn’t get all that much better there and what better place to so easily puddle up into foodie arrogance.

Chef Joe

Turns out, Laura Borawski is the hands-on partner and co-owner of Ama with Joe Trama, the chef.  

Laura Borawski

How cute are these foodie restaurant owners?!

Laura and I struck up a quick and easygoing chat about chef Joe’s work at TriBeCa Grill, Coco Pazzo, the iconic River Café and Della Femina in East Hampton – more six degrees of separation, as Della Femina, then a Drew Nieporent established restaurant – now East Hampton Grill, is featured restaurant in this reporter’s book, “Hamptons and Long Island Homegrown Cookbook,”  

http://www.amazon.com/Hamptons-Long-Island-Homegrown-Cookbook/dp/0760337578

It was delightful to exchange mutual food friends and Gotham neighborhood eateries and to discover the pedigree of both Laura and Joe. 

The conversation and exchange was a bit like a very good appetizer in anticipation of a good meal ahead -- a tickler or amuse bouche for what was to come.

Ama restaurant is a BYOB and cash only restaurant.  That just seems to add to the fierce charm and independence and keeps the focus on the food. 

An 8:30 pm seating allowed us to enjoy cocktails at home.

Later, Laura told us many customers go next door to the Wine Bar for cocktails, après Ama. 

We brought our champagne and wine for dinner, allowing for our choice and an affordable drink alternative. We enjoyed an aperitif of Prosecco with the appetizers and a choice of BV Chardonnay and Silverado 2004 with dinner entrees.

The room was calibrated buzz, with good-looking patrons enjoying the dining experience.  

Victoria, our waitress, described the evening’s offerings. 

While the restaurant’s reviews report its focus on locavore ingredients, the menu was decidedly more Italian mainstream with an emphasis on chef’s Tuscan roots.  Nightly Specials include the Misto di Terra, Pasta, and Pesce, along with Fromagi di Artisanal including Formaggio Capra, Piave, Robiola, Pecorino.  Entrees range from endive and arugula and radicchio salad with a vinegarette dressing to Cozze de Pappa al Pomodoro (hand cultivated mussels in tomato sauce) But there is Brooklyn bread!

Our evening’s emphasis was lots of appetizers. 

Miso di Terra

The Misto di Terra, seasonal products of the earth, was a very tasty composition of eggplant roasted in olive oil, asparagus, sweet braised endive, caramelized onions, cherry tomatoes and cheese with just the right amount of sea salt.   

The Insalata di Carciofi Crudo con Limone e Parmesan – the shaved baby artichoke was a joyful treat.  The extra virgin olive oil, flirted with the Parmesan Reggiano and lemon juice to dance lightly on the flavorful chokes.

Shaved Baby Artichoke

Extraordinary Calamari

The Calamari alla Fritto was the hands-down best dish of the evening.  It was lightly battered and salted and the lemon was zesty and just the right balance. The fish was sweet and light too. Big chunky rings were topped with mint. All together the dish was downright addictive.  We’ll be back for plates of this with a good bottle of wine!  

Another winner was the shredded crab – it was a hillock of tender, sweet meat, with a bit of Parmesan and extra virgin olive oil, with just the right amount of red onions to give it a hint of spice without overwhelming or overpowering.

Crazy Crab treat 

Branzino

The entrée favorite was the fish of the day: branzino. One of my all time favorites was kept simple with spinach and pine nuts, seasoned so that the natural flavor stood out in the thick, meaty fish. It was delicious. 

The baked scallops were a bit over seasoned, but good – especially the roasted fennel dressing. 

Scallops

veal

The battered veal was a bit thin, covered in radicchio and cheese but nevertheless, my husband ate the entire dish.  

Pistachio Gelato with Mint

Dessert was a bit of heaven. The Cia Bella pistachio gelato was so creamy and eye-rolling good.  

The pannacotta too, was a happy discovery with a raspberry sauce and mint.

Pannacotta

Ama Ristorante Tuscana is located at 41 First Avenue, Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716 732-872-4674 

www.amaristorante.com

Hosted by dedicated and experienced food lovers, Pat and Laura, Ama is a welcome addition to the local food scene and is a place where foodies can enjoy a dining cadence that is friendly, interesting and tasty. 

Ama Ristorante is readily accessible from Monmouth County, New Jersey and just like all the New York/Gotham financial services professionals that go back and forth every day as daily commuters and weekend enthusiasts, Food lovers can just hop on the Seastreak ferry to god’s country as easy and fast as a subway ride.  You can’t use your Metrocard but you will get to Ama Risorante fast and you can enjoy food and a walk on the water…

For easy access to ferry schedules:

Seastreak: www.seastreak.com