FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com MAY 29 , 2014 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 67 VICTORIA SCHNEPS [email protected] A Week of Celebrations What a week! We broke all our records for attendance at our Top Women in Business Ultimate Networking Event last week. More people celebrated the women we honored than in the past 13 years when we began recognizing the achievements of the extraordinary women of our borough. Almost a thousand people walked the red carpet through the doors of Terrace on the Park, beginning the evening with the cheering “mob” of fans created by Chez-zam Entertainment. As the guests networked with each other during the “cocktail party” time the honorees were greeted by our new and very beautiful Borough President Melinda Katz and Channel 5 TV anchor Greg Kelly. Everyone was thrilled to take a photo with them. During the award presentation ceremony, I loved how many of the women had their own cheering squads. Several of the honorees had multiple tables of friends, family and colleagues and as the honoree walked the red carpet to receive her “Vicki” statue, they stood and cheered her! What fabulous positive energy was felt in the packed room. A celebration to remember! Waterside Dining As a Pisces I am drawn to the water, and what a great weekend to dine waterside with friends and family. Saturday night I was at Ocean, a restaurant inside the stunning catering facility the Crescent Club perched dramatically on the beach in Bayville on the Long Island Sound. The next day for lunch, I discovered the Seafood Shack on Tappen Beach in Glenwood Landing when I took my grandchildren to the beach. Ocean As the sun began to set on Saturday night, I dined at Ocean. The restaurant, with its huge fl oor-to-ceiling glass windows, offers indoor and outside dining overlooking the calm waters of the Long Island Sound. One of my friends said she felt like she was sitting on a boat as we ate dinner. Our meal began with dishes prepared by the club’s Sushi Chef. We were impressed with the size of the portions and the presentation of the plates. My favorite dish, spicy tuna, was stuffed with avocado and cucumber just as I requested and the texture and taste were the best I’ve eaten. The dinner menu offers a wide choice of fi sh and meats. The pork chop is a thick juicy cut and the salmon had a crispy skin and generous size. I ordered the sautéed spinach and mushrooms as side dishes, enhancing my salmon. On one brick wall, there is a fi replace making crispy, spiced fl at breads, presented with Ocean’s homemade fl avorful butter and hummus. It’s the kind of seasoned bread that when you eat one you can’t stop and I didn’t! It was too tasty to resist... The restaurant is famous for their desserts. The s’mores, were made with Graham crackers, semifreddo and vanilla foam, covered with a dark chocolate bark and topped with a homemade marshmallow. Outrageous! This is a place where the scenery of the setting sun and spectacular colored sky competes with the food. I can tell you the food holds up against nature’s competition. There is a bar and lounge along with an extensive wine list starting at $30 a bottle. The usual musical offerings were enhanced by a singer who packed the lounge. Open seven days a week for lunch dinner and brunch on weekends. Call 516-628-3330 for hours and directions. Seafood Shack Finally, on Sunday, we had the crystal clear warm day we have all been waiting for. My daughter Elizabeth wanted to take her Jonah and Addy to Jones Beach. When we fi nally got ourselves together at noon we drove on the Meadowbrook Parkway only to see the digital signs saying that all the parking lots at the beach were full. So we took a fast U-turn and headed back home to Tappen Beach, only a mile from our home. Tappen Beach is free to people living in the Town of Oyster Bay but we live in North Hempstead. To my delight I saw my friend H Singh had opened the Seafood Shack restaurant on the beach similar to ones he operates at Tobay Beach on Jones Beach. Anyone at any time can go to the restaurant but there is a fee for non-residents to use the intimate beach that has a playground, pool and picnic grounds. We spread out our blanket and chairs as the kids ran to the calm water, which, after wading in, we found to be freezing! So we went in only up to our ankles as did everyone else. It looks like this beach is the bestkept secret around because it was almost empty. But there were several young families with children and my 5-year-old Jonah found some boys to play ball with while Addy climbed the jungle gym like a monkey. There are spectacular views of the harbor, and families of pure white swans swam along the shore. What a sight! By 2 p.m we were ready for lunch and I took a “ringside” table on the beach at the Seafood Shack so we could watch Jonah playing in the sand until the food arrived. The tables — with comfortable armchairs — all have umbrellas so we were protected from the hot sun. The positioning of the restaurant offered cool breezes coming through their open space (there are no walls) as we overlooked the water. There is a roomy bar with a “sofa” seating area next to it. Being open seven days a week from 11 a.m. with the kitchen still serving til 10 p.m., I’m coming back for dinner. But Sunday we had a picture-perfect lunch. We began with a portion of steamed edamame, baked clams made with chopped clams, bacon, bell peppers, basil and Parmesan cheese, a remarkable blend of fl avors. We also had what they call Bang Bang Shrimp, a crispy baby shrimp with a sweet Thai chili glaze and shaved celery blue cheese. Yes, this is not a hot dog stand (although they do offer that on the children’s menu), it’s a fabulous unexpected sophisticated menu for a beachfront dining room. I wasn’t surprised because I know H Singh, who owns Water’s Edge in Long Island City and nine other restaurants on Long Island and has the fi nest chefs working for him. As expected, there is a raw bar selection, too, offering clams on the half shell, oysters, jumbo shrimp and a seafood tower for two that includes shrimp, oysters, clams, Jonah crab claws and lobster salad. A great dish to share. For the main course I had my favorite summer dish, steamers. This large portion was the best I ever had. It is steeped in a beer, butter and parsley sauce and I drank the “sauce” after I devoured the steamers. What a treat. For lunch there is also a crab cake sandwich, and for meat lovers, a 10 oz. black Angus burger. My tomatoes, spinach, toasted garlic and shaved Romano cheese. Superb! I can’t wait to come back and try several of the lobster Both menus offer salads and a reasonably priced kids menu. Before it gets mobbed I suggest you hurry down for lunch or dinner. The Seafood Shack is no shack, it’s a star at One Shore Road, Glenwood Landing, 516-609-0300. Call for directions. It’s only 15 minutes from Bayside. Try both Ocean and the Seafood Shack. You will love them, too! victoria’s secrets tweet me @vschneps From left, Rhona Silver, Linda De Sabato and Georgiana Reese-Benatti at Ocean with a dessert sampler Greg Kelly with Borough President Melinda Katz daughpeople daughter loved the linguini with shrimp and scallops with roasted sun-ripened dishes available. Refreshing fruit-fi lled sangria at the Seafood Shack. Dynamic $1000 off Lumineers $500 off Invisalign DENTAL WORK Free Whitening included the inViSiBle WAy to Some excluSionS Apply StrAighten teeth third generation dentist 175-15 Jamaica avenue, Jamaica 718-297-4100 • 718-297-4106
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