Fine dining at the ‘Station’ GET YOUR FINANCES AND BY SHEILA LEVY Gourmet dining has come to Great Neck at Station Grill. Located just down the block from Station Plaza, the grill has turned a small corner of the neighborhood into a Manhattan-style oasis. Alex Levine is the owner, and as a genuine host to his guests, all of the details are important to him, including a beautifully decorated dining room filled with many shimmering lights. Levine spent a great deal of time searching for the right chef for his dream restaurant. Having a great passion for food and novella cuisine, he was amazed at the skills and backgrounds of Milton Enriquez, a champion of Food Network’s “Chopped” competitive cooking competition in 2012. Enriquez’s journey over the last 20 years has taken him to many great Manhattan restaurants from Arizona 206, to the Royalton, to Eleven Madison Park, to the Compass, where he graduated to executive chef. Working with him is an excellent staff dedicated to providing first-class service to their customers, who return again and again. The menu is wide and comes in three different versions. The lounge menu is perfect if you are looking to have drinks and a quick bite. There are seven wonderful items on the menu ranging from BB brisket sandwich and homemade smoked paprika potato chips ($8) to a chopped vegetable salad with white balsamic vinaigrette and Maytag blue cheese that’s beyond words ($8). Other chicken salads and burgers are available. The prix-fixe menu offers three wonderful courses for $27.95 per person. One of the appetizers was an outstanding rustic rotelle pasta with zucchini, yellow squash, olive tapenade and fresh mozzarella. For a main course, I had the grilled prime flat-iron steak with roasted bliss potatoes, spinach and bell peppers, served with red wine. Complementing it all was a delicious buttermilk panna cotta with blueberry compote and candied pecans. Then there’s the main menu, and there are only so many flavorful choices that can be printed in this column. Be sure to try some of the highlight items such as the exotic mushroom tartlet with truffled ricotta cheese, a petite herb salad and red bell pepper coulis ($10); dry diver scallops featuring Israeli couscous, melted leeks, mascarpone cheese and a fennel curry madras emulsion ($29); and Atlantic salmon with beluga lentils and fondue snow peas with tomato confit ($22). Served before dinner were cheddar and chive biscuits, old-fashioned cornbread with a honey and butter dip. It does not get better than this. The wine selection is very special; Alex truly knows his wine and has the knowledge and passion needed to gather a full list of terrific wines. Enjoy your visit to the Station Grill — you will no doubt be happy with the trip. Contract Bridge by STEVE BECKER Many contracts fail because of unlucky distribution, but some of them can be salvaged despite a bad break. Take this case where you’re in six diamonds and West leads a heart. You win with the ace, expecting to make all the tricks, but when you play the A-K of trumps, West shows out, and you realize that even the small slam is now in danger. All is not yet lost, however, since East might have to follow suit when you next play the K-Q- 10 of spades. If he does, you can discard a heart on the fourth round of spades and so make the slam. Unfortunately, East ruffs the third spade and cashes a heart, and down you go. This is certainly an unlucky result, since the trumps could have been divided 3-2, or East might have had the simple decency to hold three or more spades. Nevertheless, the fact is that the contract might have come home with a slight variation in the play. After the 4-1 division is revealed, the best approach is to cash the king of spades and then lead the ten to the ace. When you next continue with the nine, it becomes far from easy for East to ruff, as he might think West has the queen. East might well decide to discard a club on the spade lead from dummy, thinking you might have started with something like: S K10 H 103 D AKQ542 C Q97 In that case, he would hand you the slam by ruffing the nine but would defeat you by discarding on it. If he does discard, you can then make the slam after scoring the queen of spades by crossing to dummy with a club and discarding a heart on the jack of spades. Your conscience might bother you for having stolen a slam you were not entitled to make, but the 1,390 points you enter in your column should dispel those feelings very quickly. (c) 2015 King Features Syndicate Inc. 46 North Shore Towers Courier n June 2015 Larceny at the Crossroads dining out Station Grill 20 South Station Plaza, Great Neck • 516-482-3652 Open Tuesday-Sunday 6 to 10 p.m. HEALTH IN TOP SHAPE The Queens Courier’s Health & Financial Fitness Expo on Friday, June 5, at Towers on the Green in the North Shore Towers, will help keep you, your body and your bank account in shape. The featured keynote speaker, William Rockett of Charles Schwab, will discuss fixed income trends for this year and share how to find real return in today’s challenging market. Ronald Fatoullah, Esq. will discuss putting your trust in trusts. There will also be an important discussion panel of experts in elder law, foot care, hearing, insurance, home care, medicare, and much more – information every senior needs to know. With many new exhibitors, seniors have the opportunity to speak one-on-one with representatives. There will also be eye exams, blood pressure screenings, fitness tips, as well as entertainment, free coffee and cake, and the chance to win great raffle prizes. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at the North Shore Towers, 272-48 Grand Central Parkway, Floral Park in Towers on the Green. The event is sponsored by Country Foot Care, Bayada Home Health Care, Renaissance Home Care, Aetna Insurance, Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation and Agewell NY. Admission and parking is free. Walk-ins welcome. To attend email aamato@ queenscourier.com or call 718- 224-5863 ext. 201. GREENTHAL Property Sales, Inc./Property Management 272-40 Grand Central Pkwy. Floral Park, NY 11005 (718) 423-3130/(718) 423-3335 Fax: (718) 279-0162 www.nstowers.com
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