26 TIMES • JUNE 23, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT com 56 The QUeeNS CoUrier • buzz • JUNE 23, 2016 FOr breaking news visit www.qns.com Victoria’s Secrets Dining Delights/Success Profiles Erica Taylor Mrose Dynamic for all the news 24 $1500 hours,off Lumineers 7 days $500 a off week Invisalign DENTAL go WORK to www.CALL FOR FREE CONSULTATION THE INVISIBLE WAY TO SOME EXCLUSIONS APPLY STRAIGHTEN TEETH Third Generation Dentist timesnewsweekly.com 175-15 Jamaica avenue, Jamaica 718-297-4100 • 718-297-4106 When I was asked what my favorite food was, I honestly replied “every cuisine.” In fact, my late husband shared with me years after our marriage, “I fell in love with you when I saw how you relished and rejoiced with every bite of the foie gras we ate at D’artagnan,” a Manhattan French restaurant specializing in the delicacy! One of the joys in life is a great meal where the owners/chefs relish what they do and create environments to match the food. Recently, I enjoyed such restaurants on both sides of the East River, blend in LIC and Piccolo Fiore on East 44th Street just off Second Avenue. Piccolo Fiore was built by my dear friend, the late Whitestone philanthropist and businessman nick nubile. Having built a successful career as a contractor, Nick decided in his 60s to create and run a restaurant. Happily, the beautiful place he built is still operating under the loving hand of his wife Maria and his grandson Chef Daniel Mrakovcic. The restaurant’s interior has attractive 5-foot-tall paintings of medieval women filling one wall, and pictures of fields in Italy are in another niche. The gentle, warm lighting adds to the atmosphere. But, of course, the food is the compelling reason to go through the Midtown Tunnel to E. 44th Street. The Italian menu has been tweaked with new dishes but thankfully they still have some of my favorite dishes. I met my friend wendy goldstein, who recently retired from her position as CEO of Brooklyn’s nYu Lutheran Medical Center, for dinner to catch up. Chef Daniel has tweaked the menu, and there are new pasta dishes which we sampled, all presented al dente in delicate, rich sauces. He has also added new personal pizzas and multiple pastas and main courses from meat to fish. I chose my favorite grilled Branzino presented whole with crispy skin and herbs inside. My fun is to filet it myself and cut out the bone in the middle and the spine, hopefully removing all the tiny bones (when I do it right). My companion had the juicy lamb chops cooked perfectly to her request. For dessert, we relished a rich, dark chocolate little cake. Delicious! The service as always was impeccable – attentive and responsive – with our glasses of water consistently refilled and the waiters friendly and professional. It’s a meal to relish on many levels – environment, great food and great service. For information, go to http://www.piccolofiorenyc. com or call 212-922-0581. Then, I had the fun of meeting the creators of Blend on Long Island City’s waterfront. The perennially packed restaurant facing the skyline of Manhattan and boasting an outdoor terrace and indoor seating has been a hit since it opened. But the journey has not been easy. The creators of what is now a group of five restaurants started as a group of friends who met at william Cullen bryant High School. roland Pedraza explained that when they found their first location on Vernon Blvd., they had considerable trouble convincing the community board that their concept was a Latin Fusion theme, not a night club. Their liquor license kept being delayed to the point where they finally had to open without it. After many months, they finally did get it, but it almost put them out of business. From there, the Cullen Partners, named for their alma mater, had the opportunity to get space on Center Boulevard in the last building before the Anable Basin and created what they called Blend, a celebratory environment also serving Latin Fusion cuisine. When I was there I saw what they meant; a group of women were celebrating the end of the semester at Laguardia Community College and out came desserts with sparklers on every dish. The women let out peals of laughter, and joy filled their table. That’s what was intended by the team and here it was. Recently, they opened a pizza parlor on Vernon called sLiCe, and in a few weeks they will be expanding into Astoria with two newly created (from floor to ceiling) dining venues on 38th Avenue and 30th Street. Blend Astoria will also have murals by artek. It will be a fun place with affordable prices, a recipe that has worked for them in their other locations. Based on their impact in Long Island City, I’m sure they will conquer the people of Astoria. Knowing how hard it is to get a reservation in their Blend LIC locations, you might want to call now for their new establishments! Victoria SCHNEPS-YUNIS vschneps@gmail.com tweet me @vschneps Piccolo Fiore Chef Daniel Mrakovcic Blend restaurant on Long Island City’s waterfront Beauty Success Last week, I delighted in honoring our brooklyn stars under 40, with 500 people paying tribute to these spectacular people and being thrilled by the voice of Danny rodriguez singing “god bless america.” It gave me great joy as they proudly made their way down the red carpet runway. Cheshire Catsize smiles filled their faces and the faces of their family, friends and colleagues. To get ready for the big night at the historic and glamorous grand Prospect Hall, I had the fun myself of getting beautified by a successful Howard Beach-born beauty expert erica taylor Mrose. Being “camera ready” is part of the fun of being the mistress of ceremonies at our events. I met Erica at a fundraiser on Long Island and was impressed with her story as a mother of three children who decided from her delivery room bed that she needed to be in her own business to balance work and motherhood. In the hospital, after the caesarean delivery of her third child, she created her website. This is a woman who knows what she wants and makes it happen. “I grew up believing I would be an artist and went to college, graduating cum laude, but had a full-time job too that introduced me to the beauty business,” she told me. “I got my first job for MAC as a trainer and went on to other big brands, even building their presence at Saks Fifth Avenue, the most competitive floor in the cosmetics business,” she added. Running her “brand” on the East Coast became too much with the birth of her third child so Erica began her own business not just doing makeup but training women to use makeup. With her know-how, business acumen and passion, her company now located in Roslyn and Woodbury is on track to open more locations. She does make house calls and can be reached at 516-491-0586.
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