Hey HOs! After months and months of wrangling with a difficult seller, we are finally closing on a house in Yonkers and moving in just two short weeks! @chowdom read about our impending move on another thread and suggested that I start a Best of Westchester thread so that I could pick your brains about your favorite places in our new 'hood. We’ll be living on the river and I suspect we’ll be spending most of our time in the river towns to start, but recommendations from all over are MOST welcome. Restaurants of all cuisines and the best places for food shopping especially! Thanks in advance and I look forward to fully joining the Westchester crowd!
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I came across the following blog post the other day, which looked like a pretty good place to start when it came to all things Westchester - @chowdom weighed in on some of the blogger’s recs below. Opinions from anyone else?
"I took a quick look at this blog, I agree with ninety percent of her recommendations and I like that she is into her family so I will overlook the fact that she is a teeny bit elitist.
No to Riviera cakes especially the ones in the case, they have that old refrigerator smell and taste and are otherwise tasteless.
Yes to their autumn bounty pie, butter cookies, tarts and savory food…the pizza, tuna sandwiches, and smoked salmon sandwiches are particularly good.
Walters hotdogs…yuck
Blue Hill café at Stone barns homemade bologna with mustard and little flecks of pickle relish … she nailed it … yum!!! What ever you do make sure to get their butternut squash yogurt, it will inspire you to cook new things, I used to get it at the fresh market too but I have not seen it lately.
The Yard house in Ridge hill…is she on drugs?
Yaranush, WP ( I dream of their French feta) lots of other great stuff
Mint in Tarrytown, yes yes yes to most everything
Dante’s deli on Central Ave has some great imported Italian meats, nice bread and the cheese is always good
Sushi…Sushi Nanase White Plains, Azuma, Hartsdale, although it’s not as fabulous as it once was you wont be seeing any California rolls in either of these two places
Trader Joe’s in Larchmont and Eastchester are nice, the store on Central Ave in Hartsdale…yuck
Niko’s Greek on Central ave for the Yogurt with honey and walnuts…nothing else
BTW I went back to Burrata twice and didn’t like it as much as the first time, try Polpettina in Larchmont, just know that they are extremely pretentious, you can’t go wrong with brunch at the Eastchester location.
I could go on and on and on
Please keep in mind that with the price of food going up up up as well as local real estate going in the same direction here many places are cutting quality. I can’t promise that all is perfect with this list. Quality can decline pretty quickly.
There is no shortage of parks in your neck of the woods and the blogger is right about Manor Park in Larchmont, it’s lovely…I’ll keep adding to this list…giving the others a chance to respond…they will
http://www.rivertownsguide.com/
You missed the Ossining street fair this year, save the date for next year. They have a substantial Portuguese population and it makes for some interesting and good food.
Not sure how you feel about food shopping in a bodega across the street from a family homeless shelter, but
if you don’t mind La Marqueta on E Post road in WP has a very interesting meat case and the pernil when they have it is excellent…caveat I haven’t been there since I worked in WP
The Columbian place next door, if it’s still there for a seriously delicious breakfast and the best Chicharróns.
My favorite dive bar, Kelly’s Sea level in Rye located smack in the middle of a quiet residential neighborhood."
Yes,Yaranush has some great spices too.[quote=“biondanonima, post:2, topic:5997”]
Dante’s deli on Central Ave has some great imported Italian meats, nice bread and the cheese is always good
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Agree again!
You also have H-Mart on Central Ave near Dante’s. This time of year, aside from the asian specialties they have some really interesting squashes. It’s also one of the few places to get pork belly in scaredy-fat westchester!
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That is very important info! I have an excellent Hispanic butcher two blocks away from my current place in Queens, which is where I currently source pork belly and any other unusual or fatty animal part I need. A replacement is a must!!!
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Beware - in westchester they will trim every last drop of fat off our meat if you don’t tell them not to!!! I too came up from Queens.
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La Marqueta if you can deal with the surrounds and clientele… no disrespect intended…it’s just not for everyone
None taken. I shop anywhere here in the city, though, regardless of neighborhood, so I doubt the area would be anything I haven’t seen before!
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I have found to never, ever, listen to the recommendations of the woman who owns/runs Yaranush. Every time she recommends something it tastes inferior to other, similar items, and usually costs more. This has happened on three occasions over the past year. I won’t listen to her recs anymore.
I don’t get that folks like Dante’s. I think they went way downhill around a decade ago when they did the renovations and staff retirement. I can’t stand them at this point. Last several visits were just plain awful. Won’t shop there anymore. I do my Italian grocery shopping at A&S Pork Store in Yonkers.
A&S Pork Store
Highridge Plaza, 1789 Central Park Ave, Yonkers, NY 10710
I cannot recommend anything at either location of Polpettina. I think the food is abysmal, prices are high, and I have a few extremely negative things about the owners I can’t say in public (or private either.) Biodanonima, “pretentious” is being very nice and polite.
Master of the upsell, huh? Thanks for the heads-up - I’ll just follow my own instincts or HO recs there!
We’ve been to A&S and enjoyed their sandwiches, so we’ll see if we get around to trying Dante’s. Also, given our new proximity to Arthur Ave., I anticipate doing a good bit of shopping there going forward.
Good to know. Pretentious was chowdom’s word, not mine, but I’ll take your comment as strike two. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long while before we exhaust the dining and shopping options in the river towns anyway - why go to Larchmont when you can have a river view in your own backyard? 
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Interesting … her husband is so nice, his recommendations are never unsolicited and they are always on the money…no pun intended.
Also, I haven’t been yet, but The Cookery in Dobbs Ferry is supposed to be great.
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Interesting list. A question about the World’s Greatest Picnic- Dobbs Ferry… If this is on the riverfront, is it open to non-residents? I am a long way away, but I remember “back in the day” its was sadly difficult for anyone who was not a Dobbs Ferry resident to drive down to the Hudson and just relax… much less claim the “favorite” shaded picnic table featured in the blog. “Residents Only… Parking by Permit Only” kind of prohibitions. If I could check it out for myself, I would. In the meantime, I will be nostalgic about Sammy’s Pizza on Main Street, Dobbs Ferry (the last time we were up there, maybe a little bit off from what I remembered) and the snacks at my aunt’s house, Warburton Ave., Yonkers, overlooking the Hudson.
I don’t know, but I will report back if I find out! BTW, we are going to be living on Warburton with a Hudson view - I wonder if we’re buying your aunt’s old house!?!?!?
OMG. We are so going the first free weekend we have. Pig’s head doughnut? YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS.
Here it is
OMG OMG OMG. That looks insane. This place is seriously first on our list for brunch!!! There are a number of other fine-looking sandwiches on that list though - the Balboa and anything Parm Stars especially!
