WAG Magazine July 2018 by Westfair Business Journal

Bill Taibe’s world of flavors SILVIA BALDINI’S BOLD MOVE: From corporate to culinary SPROUT CREEK FARM… TO TABLE ANA PARZYCH She makes – and takes – the cake DINING DESTINATIONS WESTPORT & ‘THE GREAT GATSBY’ FACES OF FINANCE

Tasteful inspirations… WESTCHESTER & FAIRFIELD LIFE JULY 2018 | WAGMAG.COM

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CONTENTS J U LY 201 8

Be our guest (no, really)

The Tiffany story, in full

Fighting food allergies

Ashley Judd’s fight for women’s rights

Southern charm

Making bread – in more ways than one

A return to his roots

Culinary Port Chester

Boqueria, the restaurant – in print

Making cakesand memories

Higher learning ‘saves the farm’

A check on healthy eating

Please don’t eat the silkworms

Minding the business

(Hot) dog has its day

Reporting from the edge of paradise

From corporate cog to ‘Chopped’ champion

A fruitful partnership

The toast of Texas (via Westchester)

Picture perfect

Reshaping the Hudson’s food scene

The Candie Cart keeps rolling along

Chair of the (food) board

A ‘Sage’ approach to music and dance Where Scott and Zelda kicked up their heels

COVER STORY

Bill Taibe, curator of contemporary cuisine

108 THIS PAGE:

Kobe beef and sirloin hamburger with melted Gruyére, saffron truffle aioli, wild greens, fried parsnip ribbons and beefsteak tomatoes, from Susan Lawrence Gourmet Foods. Courtesy Susan Lawrence Gourmet Foods. (See story on page 112).

Rachael Robbins mixes it up

F i n e W i n e s & R a R e s p i R i t s at a U C t i O n

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For buyers, consignors, and the passionately curious F I N D W O R T H AT S K I N N E R I N C . C O M

WAY Divinely detailed

WEAR A ‘Heavenly’ exploration of art and religion

WEAR Eric Buterbaugh by a nose

WARES Rolling out more than the welcome mat

WHAT’S COLLECTIBLE? Tiffany’s silver lining

WANDERS The house of the (literary) spirits

102

WANDERS Escape to Bonita Springs

104

WANDERS A one in a million experience

106

WONDERFUL DINING Next stop, Station House

110

WINE & DINE Putting the spark in sparkling

112

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Still entertaining

124

WELL In their cups

126

WELL Coping with poison ivy

128

WELL Revisiting the Dad Bod

130

PET OF THE MONTH Playful Penelope

132

WHEN & WHERE Upcoming events

136

WATCH We’re out and about

152

WIT What makes your mouth water?

FEATURES H I G H LI G HTS

102 112 88

COVER:

Bill Taibe at Jesup Hall in Westport. Photograph by John Rizzo. Bill Taibe’s world of flavors SILVIA BALDINI’S BOLD MOVE: From corporate to culinary SPROUT CREEK FARM… TO TABLE ANA PARZYCH She makes – and takes – the cake DINING DESTINATIONS WESTPORT & ‘THE GREAT GATSBY’ FACES OF FINANCE

Tasteful inspirations… WESTCHESTER & FAIRFIELD LIFE JULY 2018 | WAGMAG.COM

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IN NEW YORK STATE 2014, 2015, 2016

COVER STORY

130

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jena A. Butterfield, Alexandra DelBello, Ryan Deffenbaugh, Aleesia Forni, Gina Gouveia, Phil Hall, Debbi K. Kickham, Laura Joseph Mogil, Jane Morgan, Doug Paulding, Jennifer Pitman, Danielle Renda, Giovanni Roselli, Bob Rozycki, Gregg Shapiro, Barbara Barton Sloane, Brian Toohey, Seymour Topping, Jeremy Wayne

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WHAT IS WAG?

Some readers think WAG stands for “Westchester and Greenwich.” We certainly cover both. But mostly, a WAG is a wit and that’s how we think of ourselves, serving up piquant stories and photos to set your own tongues wagging.

HEADQUARTERS A division of Westfair Communications Inc., 3 Westchester Park Drive, White Plains, NY 10604 Telephone: 914-694-3600 | Facsimile: 914-694-3699 Website: wagmag.com | Email: ggouveia@westfairinc.com All news, comments, opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations in WAG are those of the authors and do not constitute opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations of the publication, its publisher and its editorial staff. No portion of WAG may be reproduced without permission.WAG is distributed at select locations, mailed directly and is available at $24 a year for home or office delivery. To subscribe, call 914-694-3600, ext. 3020. All advertising inquiries should be directed to Anne Jordan at 914694-3600, ext. 3032 or email anne@westfairinc.com. Advertisements are subject to review by the publisher and acceptance for WAG does not constitute an endorsement of the product or service. WAG (Issn: 1931-6364) is published monthly and is owned and published by Westfair Communications Inc. Dee DelBello, CEO, dee@westfairinc.com

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WAGGERS

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JENA A. BUTTERFIELD

ROBIN COSTELLO

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ALEXANDRA DELBELLO

ALEESIA FORNI

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COVER STORY: GINA GOUVEIA, PAGE 72

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Robert Levine, DO, FAOCD is with Advanced Dermatology P.C. and the Center for Laser and Cosmetic Surgery (New York & New Jersey). A native New Yorker, Levine grew up in Merrick, Long Island, receiving his undergraduate degree in biology from Binghamton University. He completed his master’s program in biomedical sciences at Barry University and went on to receive his medical degree from Nova Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2002. Levine became board certified in family practice at Long Beach Medical Center in Long Beach, New York, and later became dually board certified in dermatology. He is experienced in many areas of medical and surgical dermatology with an interest in cosmetics. Levine has presented and authored several publications on various topics in clinical dermatology.

WAG also recognizes the work of interns Michelle Barbero (SUNY Oneonta) and Jean Cambareri (Fox Lane High School).

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JULY 2018

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ver the years, we’ve expanded WAG’s July food issue to include hospitality, because the two go hand-in-hand, like peanut butter and jelly. Indeed, what could be more hospitable than inviting friends and family over to share a meal? (Maybe inviting them to share that meal at a swell resort like Troutbeck in Amenia, New York, (Jeremy’s piece), Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic (Debbi’s article) and the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa in Bonita Springs, Florida, (Barbara’s story). While our Wanderers were taking one for the team — luxuriating in points north and south — our Wares experts were busy exploring the right atmosphere for your feasts. Jane tells us how to make guests feel welcome — whether for a dinner party or a longer stay. As usual, God is in the details of thoughtful amenities and stunning settings. Nothing says stunning quite like Tiffany silver. Jennifer describes Japan’s influence on it, while Mary has the son of the silversmith, Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lyndhurst’s exhibit tracing his trajectory from fine artist to painter in glass that graces many a tabletop. 10

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JULY 2018

Some people are natural hosts. Few admirers of Ashley Judd probably realize that she enjoys planning Sunday picnics for family and friends at home in her beloved Tennessee. Nowadays, the actor — whom we caught up with at the Greenwich International Film Festival, where she was honored recently — is nourishing the #MeToo movement as well as Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. Judd’s activism is a reminder that we need to feed body and soul, even in a land of plenty — as is Laura’s piece on food allergy crusader Stacey Saiontz and our look at the reporting of Gaby Acevedo. The San Juan Bureau chief for NBC 4 New York and Telemundo 47 continues his coverage of the aftereffects of Hurricane Maria, in which some 4,600 Puerto Ricans were killed, filling us in on the slow but steady return of the island’s vital hospitality industry. The heart of the July issue, however, remains food and the chefs who are transforming their communities with locally sourced cuisine. The foodies in the WAG family stepped up to the (dinner) plate for this one. Gina debuts as a cover writer with a sophisticated piece on chef Bill Taibe, whose Westport restaurants “The Whelk, Kawa Ni and Jesup Hall represent an impressive portfolio, each offering a dizzying take on varying types of cuisines,” she writes. She also contributes a story on the new cookbook associated with the Boqueria restaurants in Manhattan. Aleesia, our Wonderful Dining

columnist, does yeoman’s work — reporting on the restaurants Southern Table and the Latin-spiced Único as well as the Station House in Port Chester for her column. Interns Michelle Barbero and Jean Cambareri throw themselves into our culinary salute to Port Chester, a most gastronomic village, which we introduce with our salute to Kneaded Bread, home of our fave cinnamon bread. Audrey, recently presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who for her more than 50-year career as a journalist and Sinologist, revisits the legendary background of an Asian specialty — fried silkworms. Jena considers David Bouley’s healthful cuisine and how Sleepy Hollow’s new Hudson Farmer & the Fish is joining the ranks of eateries anchoring the development of the river towns. Ryan says “cheese” with a look at how Marist College has taken over a once failing cheese farm. Mary brings the dessert with Greenwich wedding cake designer Ana Parzych. Doug pairs all this with sparkling wines from California’s Domaine Carneros while Phil washes it all down with some bevvies by Playboy model-turned-mixologist Rachael Robbins. (We’re guessing she would’ve been really popular with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, who kicked up their heels during their five-month honeymoon in Westport, as a new book and film on the town’s connection to “The Great Gatsby” reveal.) As we welcome new Waggers, we say goodbye to a favorite of ours — Danielle, who covered food and fashion for us and departs with stories on Chris Columbe, executive chef of the Castle Hotel & Spa and Graze, a New Rochelle company that makes elaborate boards of meats and veggies for corporate events and parties. Danielle also coordinated photos and social media for WAG, hence her nickname — Photo Goddess. Now Photo Goddess is off to Dallas to pursue her next chapter. We wish her well but will leave the porchlight on for her. A 2018 Folio Women in Media Award winner, Georgette Gouveia is the author of “The Penalty for Holding” (Less Than Three Press), a 2018 Lambda Literary Awards finalist, and “Water Music” (Greenleaf Book Group). They’re the first two novels in her series, “The Games Men Play,” which is also the name of the sports/culture blog she writes at thegamesmenplay.com. Readers may find her novel “Seamless Sky” and installments of “Daimon: A Novel of Alexander the Great” on wattpad.com.

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BE OUR GUEST (NO, REALLY) BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

WAGMAG.COM

JULY 2018

“Fish and visitors stink after three days,” Benjamin Franklin penned in “Poor Richard’s Almanack.” How well this Founding Father understood the paradox of hospitality: To offer it is to engage with the divine and yet, for host and guest alike, it can be a hellish challenge. Perhaps this is why every major religion and mythology has put such a premium on it. To the ancient Greeks, Hebrews and Asian Indians, hospitality was a responsibility inspired by divinity itself. Jesus takes the concept one better, extending it beyond the guest — who is, after all, generally known to you — to the stranger, as in the story of the Good Samaritan, who cares for a robbed, beaten traveler left for dead on the side of the road and puts him up at an inn. This is hospitality in its purest form — the word is from the Latin hospes, meaning “host,” “guest” or “stranger” — with no expectation of reward. But sometimes — OK, oftentimes — the host may have an ulterior motive, such as the desire to show off or extract a favor from the guest, which almost always backfires. In “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s 1939 comedy, a starstruck industrialist invites radio personality Sheridan Whiteside to his Ohio home one evening before Christmas only to have the imperious “Sherry” take over the place for a month when he slips on the ice outside and injures his hip. (Kaufman and Hart got the idea when critic Alexander Woollcott — who’s name was always preceded by the qualifier “acerbic” — showed up at Hart’s Bucks County, Pennsylvania, estate unannounced one day and proceeded to terrorize the place, exiting with this guestbook sign-off: “This is to certify that I had one of the most unpleasant times I ever spent.”) The play, made into a 1942 film, has an ironic O. Henry ending: Just as Sherry is healed and all his mischief put to rights, he falls again and is carried back into the house screaming. That’ll teach you to entertain celebrities. “The Man Who Came to Dinner” is the kind of madcap, escapist story about the minute problems of rich people that filmgoers flocked to during the Great Depression and World War II. While its tale of a guest holding his hosts hostage emotionally is played for laughs, stories of guests held hostage have proved more poignant and even tragic. Belle in the various incarnations of “Beauty and the Beast” — especially the superb Walt Disney animated musical, Broadway show and live-action film — is really the Beast’s prisoner. She doesn’t become his guest and, ultimately, his bride and hostess until they fall in love. The opera star and Japanese industrialist who are drawn together in “Bel Canto,” a 2001 novel by Sarah Lawrence College graduate Ann Patchett, have no such luck. They are brought together at a birthday

Cover of the book tie-in to “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” Photograph by Sebastián Flores.

party for the opera-loving industrialist, thrown by the vice president of an unspecified South American nation, who hopes to get the industrialist to invest in his country. (Patchett based the book — which has inspired a 2015 opera and a film that will be released in September — on the Japanese Embassy hostage crisis in Lima, Peru, a four-month standoff in 1996-97 that left one hostage, two commandos and 14 militants dead.) In Patchett’s story, lives are lost, too, but new, unexpected alliances are also made. Sometimes, the guests are hostages of themselves and their own complacency. In “The Exterminating Angel” — Luis Buñuel’s Surrealist 1962 allegory of the dangers of being too comfortable, particularly in a totalitarian society — the guests find that they cannot leave the lavish dinner party to which they’ve been invited. It’s only after they think about their actions and reconstruct the past that they can leave — only to discover others are trapped outside in

different ways. The story is retold in Thomas Adès’ opera, which received its American premiere at The Metropolitan Opera last fall. Is it easier perhaps to be a host and a guest when it’s clearly a business transaction, as in the hospitality industry? Maybe — but then again, given all the horror stories from travelers, maybe not. These certainly make for some grand movies, though, none grander than Wes Anderson’s profound, loopy “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (2014), which features what may be Ralph Fiennes’ most brilliant performance to date. In a film that is a series of narrative Russian nesting dolls — a story within a story within a story — set amid the uneasy splendor of Central Europe in the period between the two World Wars, Fiennes stars as M. (for Monsieur) Gustave, the concierge of the titular hotel. Part taste-making autocrat, part wily servant — and, in the end, a poignantly unexpected protector — M. Gustave attends to every need of his guests, which

includes often visiting wealthy, elderly blond ladies in their suites at night. By day, he instructs the staff, including his faithful Lobby Boy, Zero (the marvelously deadpan Tony Revolori) in the hotel’s more legitimate services. Part of the fun of the movie is watching Zero scurry back and forth across the confection of a hotel lobby, carrying suitcases, chairs and dogs, ever mindful of M. Gustave’s instructive running commentary — to such an extent that in the end, Zero really becomes M. Gustave, or at least a more obviously understanding version of him. The film then is transformed, too, into a metaphor for the wondrous mysteries of mentorship in how to be a host to others. And it’s a reminder that if the mentor is beloved enough and the protégé an apt enough pupil, he may inherit if not the keys of the kingdom then at least those behind the front desk.

JULY 2018

WAGMAG.COM

ASHLEY JUDD’S FIGHT FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

WAGMAG.COM

JULY 2018

Every Sunday, Ashley Judd hosts a picnic for loved ones at her home in Tennessee, she said in an interview with friend and fellow actor Salma Hayek for the cover story of Town & Country’s April issue. She also gives dance parties; camps in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park; watches Kentucky men’s basketball — the University of Kentucky graduate is a big Wildcats’ fan; reads; and meditates. It sounds like an idyllic life, but it does not tell Judd’s entire story. That story finds the actor-activist — who holds a mid-career master of public administration degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government — on the front lines of the fight for women’s rights as a leader of #MeToo and a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund (called UNFPA, for the United Nations Fund for Population Activities). WAG caught up with Judd briefly at the Betteridge jewelers’ cocktail reception for the Greenwich International Film Festival’s Changemaker Gala last month. Now in its fourth year, GIFF is focused on film, finance and philanthropy, supporting five or more charities each year. Nearly half of this year’s films were written and/or directed by women, including “Washed Away,” former Rye Brook resident Dana Nachman’s tale of a disabled man who finds transcendence in making mandalas on the beach. The gala — its awards dinner was held down the street at l’escale restaurant bar, with “Today” correspondent Jenna Bush Hager serving as emcee — honored not only Judd but Community Changemaker Duncan Edwards, executive director of the Waterside School in Stamford, which serves prekindergartners through fifth-graders “regardless of limitations of income or circumstance.” Judd — daughter and sister of country singers Naomi and Wynonna Judd, respectively — is as exquisite of manner as she is in appearance. She told us the award came at a “fortuitous” time as its prize money will support the UNFPA’s safe space for Rohingya refugee women in Kutupalong, Bangladesh. Since 2016, more than 625,000 members of the Muslim-majority Rohingya people have fled the Rakhine State of Myanmar, a Buddhist country, to escape ethnic cleansing. More than 500,000 live in Kutupalong, site of one of the largest and most overcrowded refugee camps in the world. Among them are more than 64,000 pregnant women who need urgent medical care, particularly as it is now monsoon season in Bangladesh. Judd works to provide women like Ajida — who was nine months

Ashley Judd.

WAGMAG.COM JULY 2018 WAGMAG.COM JULY 2018

pregnant when she met Judd, having survived a journey that took the lives of four of her children — with clean delivery kits and trained midwives. (You can read the journal of Judd’s March visit to Bangladesh on her website.) But Judd’s concern is for all women’s reproductive health and the health of their children. In 2006, she was quoted in Scotland’s Sunday Mail newspaper as saying that she thought it “unconscionable” for her and then-husband Dario Franchitti, a Scottish race-car driver, to have children when so many are starving in impoverished countries. Instead, she is mother to her causes, including #MeToo, which grew out of women’s responses to The New York Times’ Oct. 5 article on sexual abuses by movie producer Harvey Weinstein. In that story, Judd recounted how some 20 years ago, she had arrived at the Peninsula Beverly Hills for a business breakfast meeting with Weinstein and was redirected to his hotel room, where he asked her to massage him or watch him shower. She rejected his advances and immediately told her father, Michael Charles Ciminella, a marketing analyst for the horseracing industry, as well as members of the production team of “Kiss the Girls” (1997) when she reported for work on the set later that day.

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JULY 2018

Ashley Judd

Judd was camping alone in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park when The New York Times story broke. “I didn’t know to what kind of world I would be returning,” she told Hayek, whom she encouraged to tell her own Weinstein story. “I was maybe going to be ostracized for it, but I was at peace with that.” Instead she found herself at the forefront of a community of women — and men — sharing their harassment stories with #MeToo and advocating for an end to sexual abuse. She took part in the 2017 Women’s March. On April 30 of this year, Judd sued Weinstein, charging him with sabotaging her career after she rebuffed him. “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson has backed up that claim, saying he wanted to hire her for a critical role in the series but was told by Weinstein that she was “a nightmare” to be avoided “at all costs.” Weinstein has since been indicted on rape and criminal sexual acts charges and, on June 5, pleaded not guilty. There have been other movements to end sexual abuse. But at the gala, Judd told WAG that she believes this time will be different. “It already is,” she said. “And the change will be better not only for women but for men, too.” For more, visit greenwichfilm.org and ashleyjudd.com.

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MAKING BREAD – IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

t was 20 years ago that we experienced cinnamon bread nirvana — a loaf so doughy, so creamy, so oozing with cinnamon-y goodness that we had to go to the source itself. Since then, we’ve watched The Kneaded Bread become a prime treat in Port Chester. The bakery and café, which sits on Main Street opposite Tarry Market, has approximately tripled its size to include a crisp salad bar with extra seating, two soups daily, cold sandwiches and, of course, an assortment of breads and pastries. Everything is seasonal and everything is made on the premises. On a recent visit, a cold gazpacho and a velvety, zesty split pea are the soups of the day. (We sample a cup of split pea but could easily have a quart.) The cupcakes stand at attention with swirls of pink, white and chocolate buttercream frostings that peak into little concave buttons. They look like medieval pavilions. Meanwhile, the layer cakes — thick with more of that buttercream icing resemble something mom or grandma would’ve made. (“And if you tasted it,” says co-owner Jeffrey Kohn, “it would really bring you back.”) Then there are the breads — the popular multigrain, the richly textured chocolate challah, a savory rosemary and olive that is not everyone’s favorite (so we’ll take your portion) and a Provolone creation, to name just a few. And don’t forget the cinnamon bread, with or without raisins. Wait: Forget the cinnamon bread. More for us. No wonder the workers grabbing a muffin or a sandwich and salad, or the locals kibitzing over coffee look so content. “It’s a feel-good place,” says Kohn, who owns The Kneaded Bread, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last month, with wife, Jennifer. “The landscaper who comes in at 7 a.m. for a muffin and coffee, the SoulCycle Greenwich person grabbing a salad at lunch, it’s all inclusive.” And that’s emblematic of the larger appeal of Port

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The staple of The Kneaded Bread in Port Chester. Photograph by Sebastián Flores.

Chester — an affordable United Nations of restaurants and artisanal shops that makes it a crucial cog in the Long Island Sound Shore wheel. “There’s a huge Brazilian community, a huge Peruvian community, a huge Mexican community, a huge Ecuadorian community and the restaurants are all good,” says Kohn, who grew up in neighboring Rye Brook, where he still lives. “And The Capitol Theatre did a lot of good things.” When the Kohns opened The Kneaded Bread on June 6, 1998, much of what is there now wasn’t, including the AMC Loews Port Chester multiplex that is part of a large shopping center. People wondered at the couple starting a business in the village, Kohn acknowledges. But he has always had an impeccable sense of timing. Today, Port Chester is the SoHo of the Sound Shore, he says of its artisanal vibe, and the 4,800-squarefoot bakery, which expanded in 2010 to include a salad bar, is part of a 33,000-square-foot building that the Kohns own. It includes seven commercial tenants and four apartments. But Kohn takes no credit for such prescience. “The only thing I take credit for is knowing when to pull the plug.” For 13 years, he also owned Q Restaurant and Bar, a barbecue restaurant in Port Chester. (There was also one in Mount Kisco.) “(Q) did well from day one, but I had enough,” he says. Like a great pitcher, Kohn likes to stay within his

game. Though The Kneaded Bread sells to various Connecticut locations of Aux Délices, he’s not interested in wholesale. Rather, he wants to focus on The Kneaded Bread’s fresh offerings. (At the end of the day, whatever doesn’t sell is picked up by nonprofits like the Bronx-based Part of the Solution.) “We make our own chicken dishes, our own dressings, our own croutons,” he says. And, of course, the pastries use no mixes but rather real ingredients, such as butter, milk, eggs and sugar. Whipping up all this fresh goodness is a staff of 18 with Kohn’s wife being first among equals. They’re both Syracuse University graduates — he a lifelong foodie whose family was in the garment industry, she descended from shop owners. “If I were a surfer, I’d have a great surf shop and my wife would make it a great surf shop,” Kohn says. She’s the one who handles both the books and the customers, establishing the welcoming atmosphere. And as the mother of their two teenage boys, she’s the busier, he readily says. He’ll sneak off for one of the kids’ afternoon weekday games, the rare dad in attendance. But when he’s delivering on a Saturday, he’ll remind them that’s the tradeoff. “Being a chef is very creative,” Kohn says of both his food and his time-management skills. And creativity never tasted so good. The Kneaded Bread is at 181 N. Main St. For more, visit kneadedbread.com or call 914-937-9489.

CULINARY PORT CHESTER BY MICHELLE BARBERO AND JEAN CAMBARERI

ver the past few decades restaurants have transformed Port Chester into a United Nations of good eats, attracting hungry foodies from all over the county (including us). With places like Coyote Flaco and Marianacci’s offering comfort food with Latin and Italian influences, respectively, and spots like Appetit Bistro and Sonora providing modern twists on old favorites, Port Chester’s restaurant scene truly has it all. Join us as we journey through the ever-changing flavors of Port Chester, from casual lunch spots to fine dining experiences: Acuario — Serving Peruvian specialties, Acuario has become a destination with fresh seafood offerings like its fish ceviche. Other Peruvian classics include pollo à la Brasca, a spicy grilled chicken dish. 163 N. Main St., 914-937-2338, acuariorestaurant.com. Alba’s Restaurant and Bar — Named after the famous white truffle region of Italy, Alba’s features traditional Northern Italian cuisine with a homecooked taste. This family run business makes all 22

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Tandoori Taste of India interior. Courtesy Tandoori.

of its pastas fresh every day, offering such classics as penne alla vodka or gnocchi alla Alba in an expanded-yet-homey atmosphere. 400 N. Main St., 914-937-2236, albasrestaurant.com Appetit Bistro — This sleek space presents a modern twist on traditional French cuisine, including duck à l'orange and steak frites, using an array of fresh ingredients to provide customers with a contemporary French dining experience. 540A Willett Ave. 914-690-2000, appetitbistro.com Aqui Es Santa Fe — With an Instagram page that captures photographs and videos of home-cooked

Colombian classics, Aqui Es Santa Fe provides a balance of old and new. In a modern-yet-homey environment, guests can feast on dishes like bandeja Santa Fe (grilled skirt steak served with Colombian chorizo, rice, beans, avocado, a fried egg and tostones). 32 Broad St., 914-305-1060, aesantafe.com Bartaco Port Chester — A blue-and-white interior, beachy wooden tables and plenty of natural light create a coastal atmosphere in this modern Mexican spot, which serves up equally light-butfilling fare like baja fish tacos and grilled corn (with lime, cotija cheese, cayenne pepper). 1 Willett Ave., 914-937-8226, bartaco.com

Coals — This local favorite features unusual offerings — as in the Smokey Joe pizza of Fontinella, smoked Mozzarella, tomato, Pecorino, sweet coppa and red onion — as well as 10 beers on tap in an intimate storefront setting. 35 N. Main St., 914-305-3220, coalspizza.com Coyote Flaco — A large outdoor seating area blends with an array of Mexican dishes, including a classic chimichanga and the adventurous quesadilla Linda (stuffed with cheese, mushrooms, pico de gallo, meat and, yes, baby cactus). 115 Midland Ave., 914937-6969 Kiosko Restaurant Bar — A full bar, a large seating area and a host of Mexican favorites characterize this eatery, which promises “authentic Mexican Food.” 220 Westchester Ave., 914-933-0155

FOR YOUR NEXT MITZVAH, BIRTHDAY OR PRIVATE PARTY

Marianacci’s — This family owned business has provided patrons with a fine dining experience for more than 60 years with a wide-ranging menu organized in the tradition of a multicourse Italian meal. 24 Sherman St., 914-939-3450, marianaccis.com Rye House Port Chester — This American restaurant and bar offers artisanal spirits, craft beer, and dishes with a Southern twist, like voodoo shrimp and Cheshire pork chop, all in a cozy, modern atmosphere. 126 N. Main St. 914-481-8771, ryehousepc.com.

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Salsa Picante — Salads, tacos and taquitos, along with such Mexican sandwiches as the torta al pastor (pork marinated in a blend of dried chilies, spices and pineapple) are served up in a bustling, casual setting. There’s a substantial children’s menu. 110 Adee St., 914-481-5488, salsapicanteny.com Saltaire Oyster Bar and Fish House — Set inside an historic warehouse along the Byram River, this bar and restaurant offers fresh seafood from waters near and far, artisan wines and craft beverages. The three-sided raw bar offers a seafood tower of oysters, shrimps and more. 55 Abendroth Ave., 914-939-2425, saltaireoysterbar.com Sonora — Chef Rafael Palomino prepares a tour of Latin cultures, touching on the cuisines of Argentina, Portugal and Puerto Rico, with tapas and the tacos de churrasco (grilled skirt steak, mushrooms & lettuce) among the highlights. 179 Rectory St., 914-9330200, sonorarestaurant.net. T&J Pizza and Pasta — This family-owned restaurant, established in the 1990s, continues to provide generous servings of Italian dishes in a casual, modern setting. 10 Pearl St., 914-9394134, tandjs.net. Tandoori Taste of India — The menu features classics such as curry, masala and vindaloo along with house specials like biryani, which includes basmati rice and a choice of chicken, lamb, goat, shrimp or vegetables, all in a traditionally colorful setting. 163 N. Main St., 914-937-2727, tandooritasteofindia.com. Tarry Lodge — The wide-ranging menu of meats, seafood, pasta and pizza includes Zuppa Di Pesce Alla Siciliana (made with shrimp, calamari and clams) as well as Pork Chop Milanese with arugula, tomatoes and red onions. 18 Mill St. 914-939-3111, portchester.tarrylodge.com.

A Whimsical and Unique Venue for Your Next Party! • Talented Events and Audio/Visual Team • Indoor or outdoor open floor plans lets guests enjoy a variety of environments • Multimedia Gallery with 35 x 12 foot projection screen and customizable interactive floor • State-of-the-art sound and theatrical lighting system For a personal tour, call 203 899 0606, ext. 208 steppingstonesmuseum.org/rentals

Norwalk, CT JULY 2018

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MAKING CAKES – AND MEMORIES BY MARY SHUSTACK

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Talking with Ana Parzych is a pretty sweet way to spend time. After all, a chat with the owner and creative director of Ana Parzych Cakes might touch on toasted almond, lemon, dark chocolate or white Tahitian vanilla cake. That’s not to mention the mouthwatering fillings, from dulce de leche to blackberry mousseline to bittersweet ganache. And that’s just for starters, as the possibilities are seemingly endless for Parzych’s one-of-a-kind cakes that have become darlings of the wedding circuit. Often referred to as a “sugar artist,” Parzych has been delighting brides, bridegrooms and their guests throughout Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island — and destinations beyond — since launching her business in 2006. “We’ve gone as far as Dubai with our cakes,” she says. “Ninety percent of the cakes we do are for weddings, but we do all kinds of cakes,” Parzych adds, mentioning a Chrysler Building-inspired cake created for a New York real estate developer and holiday cakes designed for celebrations at the historic mansions in Newport. Parzych’s cakes have been featured on the Food Network and “The Today Show,” in Martha Stewart Weddings, BRIDES and People magazines plus The Knot, among other national outlets. Today, Parzych oversees her edible empire from a main studio and showroom in Cheshire, in New Haven County, where all the baking is done, with a satellite office in Greenwich where she meets clients in an elegant suite dotted with models of fanciful cakes. All is by appointment, with tastings always scheduled in advance. She’s not operating, she says, a retail establishment. “We don’t sell cookies.” Greenwich is where WAG is chatting with Parzych on a recent afternoon, despite the impending start of the June wedding season — what we imagine is her busiest. “You can’t say that anymore because fall is really popular,” Parzych tells us. And gone, too, is the prevalence of Saturday morning weddings. “People get married any day now.” No matter when, where or how, Parzych is ready to make the accompanying cake, often a showstopping creation designed specifically to celebrate — and reflect — the special couple. AN ARTISTIC THREAD Born in Peru, the artistic Parzych says she has had, “a passion for baking since I was young, very young.” Though she loved to bake, she says, “Nobody thought it was a glamorous career, pastry chef.” So, she went on to study graphic design and painting before moving to Japan, where her family was from. But Parzych realized that baking would be her

path and she began working in a bakery, continuing her career development when she came to America. She says she “decided to be more professional,” so she took courses at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. Her self-designed career has been a way to combine her two loves, baking and fine art, in a most fulfilling way. Work for the mother of three is also a family affair. Her husband of 20-plus years, Garry Parzych, “manages the day-to-day operations,” she adds, with Ana often tapping into his engineering background. “I basically design all the cakes, and then I ask him, ‘How do we make it work?’” she says with a laugh. SIGNATURE STYLE Today, she still sees herself as an artist, her canvas the cake. Of note, her cake sketches are also considered works of art, with Parzych often giving them to the family to frame as another remembrance of the day. Her approach reflects a particular point of view, something her clients connect with. “I would say we do the timeless, elegant cake,” she says. But today’s wedding cakes, she notes, are far from ordinary. “It used to be it was this plain, boring white cake,” she says. “It’s not like that anymore.” And when it comes to mixing flavors and designs, Parzych is all about trying new things — and pleasing the clients. “If we can do it, why not?” She likes nothing more than getting to know the couple, from their likes to their style, so the cake becomes a reflection of their life together. But there’s more to it than that. Ana Parzych, inset. Photograph by JAG Studios; and a “Desert Tucson Wedding Cake” created by Parzych for an event held at Tanque Verde Ranch in Arizona. Photograph by Mel Barlow. Images courtesy Ana Parzych Cakes.

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up on the cakes, as well. “Of course, I’m always experimenting with new techniques,” she says. She often works with fresh flowers to get the details just right. “What brings them to life is the coloring and the dusting,” she says of her process. Everything is edible — Parzych might use edible gold or silver leaf or an FDA-approved gold dust. “I call it makeup for cakes.”

Ana Parzych’s “Pink & Gold Wedding Cake,” designed for an event held at Rosecliff Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. Photograph by Justin & Mary Photography.

“They think it’s going to look pretty but it’s not going to taste good,” she says, delighting in surprising them with the complete experience. Parzych is perhaps best-known for her floral work, creating delicately elaborate flowers that spill over a cake’s layers. “They are all custom-made for each client,” she says. “We don’t have, like, stacks of flowers.” She often replicates the flowers of the centerpieces in sugar, with elements of the invitations showing

DAY TO DAY And while she is usually booked months in advance, there are times when she can accommodate those last-minute requests. “Of course, they can always call,” she says. “We can’t guarantee we’ll be available but I always suggest they call.” Though every day is different, Parzych tries to focus on office work Mondays and Tuesdays, reaching out to clients and working on sketches. “As the week goes, then I need to concentrate on the actual cakes,” she says with a smile, noting she works with her “trusted and trained” staff on the actual creation — everything is made from scratch — with weekends often reserved for the deliveries. “For the ones that have to be set up on site, I usually go myself,” she says. “Sometimes I have this design in mind and I want it to be perfect.” That dedication is what her clients come to rely

Parzych created this “Summer Cake with Cascading Sugar Flowers” for an event held at Eolia Mansion at Harkness State in Waterford, Connecticut. Photograph by Elizabeth Messina.

on; Parzych’s enthusiasm for her work is palpable. “I enjoy the whole process. Think about it. It’s just sugar, basically. I really love (how) the designs come to life.” Long after the cakes have been savored, Parzych’s creations live on, in the memories of all those who gathered to celebrate. “That’s the most rewarding part of my job, to contribute to a happy occasion. It’s so special for them.” For more, visit anaparzychcakes.com.

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Authentic Chinese food is far different — and far more exotic — than its American cousin. Pictured here is something that many Americans can get their tastebuds around — fried spring rolls.

PLEASE DON’T EAT THE SILKWORMS

BY AUDREY RONNING TOPPING

ver the centuries Chinese culinary arts, as an extension of Chinese culture, have developed into a unique style specializing in a wide variety of exotic dishes from regional cuisines. The Chinese regard food as something more than necessary nourishment. Delicious meals symbolize good health, prosperity and longevity. Food is the center of family life and social activities. Chinese food is now among the most popular fare in American restaurants and we all have our favorite, mouthwatering dishes, from dim sum to Peking duck to stewed lion’s head in pot (the Chinese version of meatballs). But one delicacy I have never seen on the menu in this country is stir-fried or barbecued silkworms. Silkworm pupae is a traditional delicacy in northeastern China, where they are sold as street food on skewers to be deep fried. I am told they taste a bit like shrimp shells. The flesh inside is tasteless, like firm bean curd, but is scrumptious-

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ly spiced. Living pupae bought from markets can emerge as white moths and head for the nearest mulberry tree, which is their only sustenance. I can well understand why silkworms are not on the menu in New York. Customers, wearing silken attire to dinner, could feel a bit queasy about making dinner out of the precious little caterpillars, extracted from silk-wrapped cocoons, that created China’s thriving economic export silk production, a multi-billion dollar industry producing about 150,000 metric tons of silk a year. After bequeathing their cocoons to silk fabrication, the dead pupae are used for animal fodder. There are many legends about the discovery of silkworms. This the one I like best: In 3,000 B.C, Empress Leizu, wife of the mythical Yellow Emperor, was sipping tea under a mulberry tree when a cocoon suddenly dropped into her steaming tea. Lo and behold, the casing unraveled magically into shimmering, spider-web threads. Entranced, Leizu pulled out a filament about 3,000 feet long and wound the silken strands around her finger. Her skillful ladies-in-waiting invented a loom to weave the threads into silk cloth and created a silken robe from about 2,500 un-

lucky cocoons. Thus the art of silk weaving began. Leizu became known as the Silk Goddess. The miraculous natural fiber became a status symbol of royalty, so precious that it was kept secret, under penalty of death, for 2,000 years. Today, after some 5,000 years of careful sericulture, the manufacturers claim that one ounce of eggs, laid by a species of blind, flightless moth, (Bombyx mori), can produce about 39,000 worms which, after consuming a ton of mulberry leaves, can produce 12 pounds of silk filaments. Between the fourth and fifth centuries B.C., silk spread to Europe and Egypt. The Egyptians and Europeans knew nothing about sericulture and called the mulberry tree a “golden tree.” Greece claimed silk was obtained from moistened mulberry leaves. China became known as the land of silk. It was not until 440 that the secret of silk leaked out due to the vanity of a Chinese princess betrothed to a prince in the Central Asian kingdom of Khotan. The princess, desiring silken robes, smuggled silkworm eggs and mulberry seeds in her headdress as she rode along the Silk Road to Khashgar. Still, her beautiful robes remained a mystery until 550, when two Christian monks in Chang’an (Xi’an) smuggled silkworms and cocoons, hidden in hollow bamboo staves, into India. Silkworm breeding spread to Central Asia and on to Greece in the sixth century. Eventually, the art spread farther west. Camel caravans carrying silk and luxury products from many countries vastly enhanced economic and cultural exchange between East and West. The Chinese art of paper, made from the bark of the same family of mulberry trees that nourished the priceless silkworms that in turn sacrificed their cocoons to create the raw silk that women spun into beautiful textiles, was also brought to the West along the Old Silk Road. Silk sparked the main trade along all the Silk Routes that brought ancient civilizations together for the first time in history. In 2013 China’s President Xi Jinping revealed his “CHINA DREAM” — a New Silk Road. Xi called it “the project of the century,” the “Belt & Road Initiative” (BRI). His aim is to reincarnate the Old Silk Road by developing contemporary trade routes and building modern infrastructure worldwide. The embryonic BRI looms at a scale unprecedented in modern history involving more than $1 trillion. So you see it all began with a bountiful mulberry tree, a mysterious silkworm and some ingenious women. There must be a message here. Perhaps it can be found in the words of Sinologist and historian Johan Eital (1892): “The Chinese see a golden silk thread of spiritual life running through every form of existence and binding together, as in one living body, everything that subsists in heaven above and in the earth below.” So let’s keep silkworms off the menu and let them continue producing silk.

A D E S T I N AT I O N S PA R E S O R T

As American as the hot dog? It’s a favorite of summer holidays like Fourth of July and has its own day July 19.

(HOT) DOG HAS ITS DAY BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

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t’s the star of many a summer barbecue and holiday, particularly this month as a Coney Island eating contest featuring it marks the Fourth of July. We’re talking, of course, about the hot dog, which has its own special day on July 19. The hot dog is as American as apple pie and baseball, whose shrines feature it as standard fare. But it is European in origin, the frankfurter, or pork sausage, dating from 13th-century Frankfurt, Germany. (The wiener, a pork-beef combo, got its start in Vienna, whose name in German is “Wien,” while the nickname “dog” referred to the suspicion — not always unfounded, unfortunately — that the sausage contained dog meat.) Nineteenth-century German immigrants to America brought their sausages with them and are even credited with that most brilliant stroke in eating them — the bun. According to one story, a man named Feuchtwanger sold them in the Midwest

with gloves so patrons wouldn’t burn their hands as they enjoyed the hot treats. It was Frau Feuchtwanger who came up with the innovation of encasing the sausages in a roll, as her hubby was losing money on all the unreturned gloves. The frankfurter roll has also been attributed to Coney Island restaurateur/pie-maker Charles Feltman. Today, he is probably best remembered for an employee who went out on his own — Nathan Handwerker, as in Nathan’s Famous. Coney Island and, by extension, New York is the home of what is considered the classic dog — a grilled beef frank on a bun with spicy mustard, sauerkraut and perhaps onions. New Jerseyans like theirs Italian-style, with bell peppers, onions and potatoes. You can have your dog the Chicago way, on a poppy-seed bun and topped with just about everything but the kitchen sink — tomatoes, onions, peppers, relish, dill pickles, mustard and celery salt. Or enjoy corndogs — battered, deep-fried and presented on a stick — from Minnesota to Texas. For some, nothing beats a hot dog that’s teeny, as in the cocktail weenie. However you enjoy them, Happy National Hot Dog Day.

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FROM CORPORATE COG TO ‘CHOPPED’ CHAMPION BY ALEESIA FORNI

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For Silvia Baldini, the love of cooking began at a young age. Born and raised in Turin, Italy, Baldini says she was always interested in the culinary world. “I grew up under my grandma’s table,” she recalls. Despite that lifelong passion, her cooking skills were always a hobby, something she’d use at home or during vacations to feed large groups of friends and family. “I always enjoyed it,” she says, but she never considered putting those skills to use professionally. Baldini’s family moved to California when she was 17 years old, and she soon applied to and was accepted into the prestigious ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. After graduation, she moved to New York City, landed a job as an art director and went on to work in high-profile firms like J. Walter Thompson. She worked her way up in the industry to become a partner at the marketing and advertising agency Hanft Raboy and Partners. “It was very exciting,” she said. Still, by the time she reached her mid-30s, Baldini was ready for a change. “I was exhausted all the time,” says the mother of two. “The older I got, I just worked nonstop, and I just needed a little break.” After mulling the decision with her husband, Baldini decided to make a dramatic career change. She began taking night classes at the International Culinary Center in Manhattan and earned her degree in restaurant management. “I just went for it,” she says. “I jumped in.” Later, she and her family relocated to London, where she eventually enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu. From there, her career included stints at Michelin-star kitchens in Europe and with the Ritz-Carlton company in London. “It gave me so much energy and I loved what I was doing,” she says. Eventually, the family returned to the U.S. and settled in New Canaan. “We were looking for a place that was good for the family. We looked around a lot and ended up coming here. There’s so much space and it’s beautiful,” she says. “From a cook’s point of view, it’s such a beautiful farmland and people forget that.” While still living in London, Baldini launched catering company Strawberry and Sage, a business she brought with her when she returned stateside. “The more and more I grew my business, the more I found my niche,” she says.

“The more and

more I grew my business, the more I found my niche.” — Silvia Baldini

Though the food and advertising industries may seem wildly different on the surface, Baldini says there are many parallels between the two. “Both are high stress. You have to think on your feet. You have to present yourself and kind of put yourself out there for criticism. Things happen and you have to manage that stress.” Baldini’s stress management was put to the test in 2015 when she was cast on the cooking competition show “Chopped.” During that appearance, Baldini’s Balsamic Strawberry Soup and Sweet Canederli not only won her both the top spot and $10,000, but also the high praise of judge and celebrity chef Chris Santos, who called it “one of the most delicious desserts” he’d ever tasted on the series. “It was absolutely exhilarating,” she says. “It’s a high-stress situation, and then you’re being judged by these high-quality chefs. It was quite stressful, but it really helped me get to the next level in my career.” Since that time, Baldini has appeared on other Food Network programs, including “Chopped Champions.” She’s also recently partnered with subscription box company FabFitFun to produce a series of cooking and wellness videos. Other appearances range from CNN to “The Dr. Oz Show.” “That is something I enjoy,” she says. “I enjoy the television and a little bit of the craziness.” Her work and recipes have been featured in publications like Readers Digest, the Jamie Oliver food revolution blog and The James Beard blog. She has also partnered with Real Eats, a company that delivers healthy, chef-prepared meals to subscribers’ homes.

Silvia Baldini. Photographs courtesy J. Shotti.

Silvia Baldini.

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“You don’t have to be a chef,” she says. “You can still eat beautiful cooking.” In June, Baldini hosted the launch of SMEG appliances at New Canaan’s Caravan Curated Home, which marks the marriage of two of her favorite brands. “I love Caravan,” she says. “They carry this incredible selection of cooking things and now they will carry SMEG, which are these beautiful Italian appliances.” As if that wasn’t enough to keep her busy, Baldini is also in the throes of launching a new company, The Secret Ingredient Girls. She says the new e-commerce site, which offers a range of olive oils and other pantry items, will focus on wellness and wholesome ingredients. “We spend so much time injecting Botox or going to the gym,” she says. “If we eat well, we can really take care of our bodies. I think we don’t talk enough about that.” For decades, Baldini has thrived in high-stakes, male-dominated industries in both the advertising and culinary worlds. So, does she have any advice for those who hope to do the same? “You need to be a tank,” she says. “You have to grow a thick skin. People will always have opinions and judge you, but you have to move on and not even listen to them.” For more, visit silviabaldini.com.

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Baldini at work.

The Building and Realty Institute of Westchester Invites you to celebrate the ongoing work of

SHORE & ICARE at the

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President, The Building & Realty Institute of Westchester

A SHORE Founder

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THE TOAST OF TEXAS (VIA WESTCHESTER) BY MARY SHUSTACK

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JULY 2018

Carla McDonald may now be the toast of Austin, Texas, society — but the founder and editor-in-chief of The Salonnière, an elegant website that celebrates the art of entertaining, traces it all back to her Westchester roots. But it’s not all fun and (party) games. In addition to sharing party tips and profiles, McDonald also focuses on the potential for parties to make a difference. McDonald, who has chaired dozens of nonprofit gatherings and planned events around the world for many a global luxury brand, has also shared her expertise as an on-air authority for television and been quoted in publications ranging from The New York Times to The Washington Post, from Town & Country to Women’s Wear Daily. She moved to Austin when her husband founded a software company based there. For our hospitality-themed issue, McDonald graciously — how else? — shares a bit of her story with us: Tell us a bit about The Salonnière. How did it come about? Who is your target reader — and how do you describe the site to someone who’s not yet familiar with it? “The Salonnière is the nation’s leading site dedicated to the art of entertaining. Our content encompasses everything from party tips to profiles of great party hosts, past and present, and our readers run the gamut from celebrities and well-known philanthropists and dignitaries to business people and event professionals. What they all have in common is they’re social — they love going to and throwing parties. I founded the site in 2013 because I wanted to shine a light on the incredibly talented and generous people in America who are carrying on the tradition of the great salonnieres of the 17th and 18th centuries, like Madame de Pompadour, who leveraged the power of parties to make a huge difference in the lives of others. Party hosts play a vital role in our lives and communities and, before The Salonnière, there was no media outlet shining a light on — and celebrating — their efforts and achievements.” One thing that really impressed us is that while The Salonnière has a polished and elegant look, there’s a definite feeling of playfulness found throughout. You speak about “giggle water and other libations,” offer tips on “teeny” accessories to fit into your evening bag or suggest “The Turkey Top 40,” holiday-party playlist. Was keeping it conversational — with a sassy attitude to boot — always part of the plan? “Yes. Everything about The Salonnière is intentional. For example, our stories are designed to be

Carla McDonald, founder and editor-in-chief of The Salonnière. Photograph by Nell Seilor Carroll. Below, classic summertime entertaining. Images courtesy The Salonnière.

read in three minutes, which is the average length of an informal cocktail-party chat. And we try to keep our writing style light and amusing to create a cheerful context that makes people feel like they’re at a party when they’re visiting us online. I guess you could say that we try to be ‘tipsy’ in both tone and content.” How do you decide what topics to cover? Do you draw on trends, news of the day, etc.? What is your research process like? “We’re a party-loving group, so there’s never any shortage of story ideas. Our ideas come from a variety of places — from the latest trends in socializing to reader requests to our own curiosity about how to entertain more effectively and with greater joy. One thing we always strive to do is shine a light (highlight or focus) on the people who use parties to enhance the lives of others. That’s why The Salonnière 100, our annual list of America’s 100 best party hosts, is such a vital part of who we are.” Your site has a lot of “bold-faced names.” These include the annual Salonnière 100 list that recognizes top hosts known for throwing “parties with a purpose,” as well as interviews with those noted for their ex-

ceptional entertaining skills. These profiles have ranged from Cathy Graham, whom we featured in our May issue, to Mark D. Sikes and Bunny Williams, who both created dazzling rooms at this year’s Kips Bay Decorator Show House in Manhattan. How do you decide on whom to feature — and what do you think these features add to your site? “In our RSVP section, which features Q&A-style interviews with party hosts, we tend to feature those who have made The Salonnière 100, because our readers are hungry to know more about how the best party hosts in the country entertain. They want to know their secrets, favorite resources, what products they trust and use and how they’ve overcome party challenges. They want to learn and be inspired. Those stories are full of what we call ‘fêtespiration.’” Do you think people today are well-versed in entertaining or are more in need of tips than in the past? “There’s a more relaxed approach to entertaining today, which is both a positive and a negative. On the plus side, many barriers to entertaining have come down. For example, there are great resources available today that make planning parties easier, like

JULY 2018

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Paperless Post, which makes the invitation process affordable, effortless and eco-friendly. On the flip side, people are taking a more lackadaisical approach to the RSVP process. Today, guests think nothing of ignoring an RSVP request or deciding at the last minute not to attend a party. That creates such a headache for party hosts and turns many off to the very idea of entertaining. Technology and social media have also introduced a new facet to entertaining that requires fresh considerations. For example, today, party hosts think, ‘What will be my party’s Instagram moment?’ and ‘How am I going to deal with so-and-so seeing a post from my party when I didn’t invite her?’” Can you share a bit about your own background, especially in relation to both Westchester County and then to entertaining? Did you grow up in a home always filled with parties and special events? “I spent a number of years living in Westchester County. I went to elementary school in Pleasantville, middle school in Yorktown Heights and graduated from Harrison High School. And I lived in Larchmont for a few years after college, when I first started working in New York. “As for my love of entertaining, I’ve always been very social. I’m a classic extrovert. As a kid, I watched my dad entertain with flair. He loved having his friends over for cocktail parties. I would see all these people

A tablescape inspired by the sea.

dressed up, laughing and having a wonderful time. I thought, ‘When I grow up, I’m going to throw a lot of parties!’ When I was in college (and the drinking age was 18), I spent the summers working as a bartender. That was a dream job. Essentially, I got to go to a party every night and get paid for it. Then I spent my career in public relations, which included organizing events for luxury brands and celebrities. Parties have been a big part of my life since I was a little girl.” And finally, what is the best advice you’d give for successful entertaining?

“The best advice I can give is to relax and have fun. The mere fact that you’re hosting a party is a huge gift to those you’ve invited. You’ve invested time, energy and money to bring people together to create magic and memories. If someone meets the love of their life, a new business partner or a wonderful new friend at your party, they’re not going to care one bit if the steak was overcooked or the soufflé collapsed. Laugh off any party mishaps and raise a toast to the joy of life’s surprises.” For more, visit thesalonniere.com.

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JULY 2018

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RESHAPING THE HUDSON’S FOOD SCENE BY JENA BUTTERFIELD

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JULY 2018

Lamb chops aside, Michael Kaphan has a lot on his plate. The Hudson incarnation of his much-lauded flagship restaurant, Purdy’s Farmer & the Fish, is entering its first summer season on the Sleepy Hollow waterfront. (Gramercy Farmer & the Fish in Manhattan opened in 2016). This much-anticipated third location from the F & F team has an outdoor patio and breathtaking water views. The New England-inspired menu and riverbank location means that when the weather picks up, so will business at Hudson Farmer & the Fish. Clearly, Kaphan’s plate is full. But that doesn’t mean he’s satiated. “Purdy’s has sheep this year,” he says excitedly of the 15 lambs that just started roaming the 3 acres of pasture on his Purdy’s farm. The new arrivals have his farm and family abuzz but it’s his organic produce, harvested daily from an additional 4 acres in North Salem, that’s earned Kaphan a foodie following. “These guys grow every leaf of lettuce” for the restaurants, he says with a reverence for his farmers’ toil. “You can stand on our fields, watch us never spray (chemicals) and pull every weed by hand,” he says. He should know. As “the farmer” in the farmer and fish scenario, Kaphan drives the passion for pure food cultivation. It’s a strictly enforced philosophy that places his restaurants at the forefront of “farm-to-fork” dining. To keep up with expansion, 1,000 asparagus plants were added this year and he’s growing chamomile to start a tea program. “We’re trying artichokes and iceberg (lettuce),” he says, noting how difficult lettuce is to grow in New York. Kaphan is the kind of chef who has his own peach trees and won’t put tomatoes on the menu unless he grows them himself. His diners taste that connection to the soil and seek him out. “We get people from all over — the city, Westchester and Connecticut,” he adds. “People that get who we are.” Then there’s “the fish” partner, Edward Taylor, whose Down East Seafood supplies all three restaurants. Taylor’s fresh caught seafood has its own following. His passion for the ocean’s bounty means foodies at F & F are covered on both the

The patio at RiverMarket Bar & Kitchen. Courtesy RiverMarket. JULY 2018

WAGMAG.COM

sea and the land. “I do this, because I just love to do it,” says Kaphan, who tries to be in the fields on the farm “as much as I can.” And, just like that, Sleepy Hollow arrives on the culinary map. A short stroll downriver, it is lunchtime at another hub for the locavore ethos, RiverMarket Bar & Kitchen in Irvington (profiled in WAG’s November 2013 edition). RiverMarket is the more casual outpost from the folks at Crabtree’s Kittle House, an upscale restaurant in Chappaqua with an eat-local pedigree as well. “We...felt that the location, being right next to the river, really would allow us to stand on the soapbox about the Hudson River Valley and all the good things that are happening here,” says Glenn Vogt, owner and managing partner of RiverMarket. The eatery strives to extol “all of the farms and farmers who are growing their products naturally, sustainably, humanely and all those words that used to mean a lot less than they do today,” he says. Diners at this stretch of the Hudson have a front-row seat to a decades-in-the-making transformation of this expanse of riverfront as it morphs from a longtime industrial site to an

The patio at RiverMarket Bar & Kitchen.

“eco-corridor” filled with native plants, luxury housing and sought-out restaurants. Both Hudson F & F and RiverMarket help anchor the sprawling, architecturally appealing Hudson Harbor condominium development that has enticed residents with expansive water views, bucolic towns and walking access to the train.

“When we got here, only half of the Hudson Harbor condominium complex was built,” says Vogt, who is also a partner, general manager and wine director at Kittle House. Both restaurants bookend a newly paved stretch of Riverwalk. The winding path is an easy stroll between the two eateries and offers stunning views of the Manhattan skyline, the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, still informally known as the Tappan Zee, and cliffs of The Palisades. This segment is part of a planned 51-mile path, an important part of a bigger design that should revolutionize Westchester County’s relationship with the river. “We’re very excited about the new project that’s going on about a quarter of a mile away from us just north on the old (General Motors) plant site,” Vogt says. “They are planning to have 1,200 more residential units and a full hotel right on the river. And they’re also looking at some operators for restaurants on that property as well, so we’ve only started to see the beginning of what I think will be a really amazing transformation of Tarrytown that will probably continue to take place over the next 5 or 10 years. “It’s been like watching a dream come true.” For more, visit farmerandthefish.com and rivermarketbarandkitchen.com.

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JULY 2018

exceptional care, every day. At White Plains Hospital, we strive to provide exceptional care to our patients 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It’s because of this tireless effort and devotion from our physicians, nurses and staff that the Hospital has once again received the Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ from Healthgrades®. White Plains Hospital is among just 15% of hospitals nationwide to be recognized for superior patient experience, and one of only seven in New York State to achieve this impressive distinction. It’s just another example of White Plains Hospital delivering exceptional care, every day.

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CHAIR OF THE (FOOD) BOARD BY DANIELLE RENDA

ou could say that Shari Ivler has always been a planner of sorts. Having spent a number of years in the fashion and interior design industries — most recently working as a freelance stylist for Bloomingdale’s — Ivler found that planning get-togethers with friends and family was a piece of cake. Or, rather, a slice of cheese (with bread). In anticipation of her guests’ arrivals, Ivler started creating food boards — delicate assemblies of garden-fresh fruits and vegetables, artisanal cheeses and crisp baked breads displayed on wooden boards that proved appetizing, satisfying and aesthetically pleasing and that were soon drawing raves. Seven months ago, Ivler opened Graze, her New Rochelle-based business offering a selection of these creations for all occasions. Ivler’s boards are a collaborative effort, as each of them is created using produce sourced from local farmers’ markets, particularly those in Scarsdale and Nyack. Her clients are a part of this effort as well, Ivler says, as these boards are also conversation starters. “These Graze boards are for friends, family and get-togethers. They’re for someone to put out on the table while opening a bottle of wine, talking and hanging out and snacking all night long,” Ivler says. “The idea behind Graze was to have it be a one-stop shop.” Ivler didn’t always intend to create food boards. Having graduated from Syracuse University with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, she spent eight years working as a fashion merchandiser and stylist in New York City for brands, including Hugo Boss and Juicy Couture,and later for an interior design firm. In 2011, Ivler started freelancing as a blogger and consultant, while also designing visual displays for storefronts. On the side, she began party planning — which eventually led to Graze — but only as a hobby.

WAGMAG.COM

JULY 2018

Photographs courtesy Shari Ivler.

“I’ve always loved being creative,” she says. “When I was in the fashion world, I was out doing displays and styling mannequins, and I loved doing interior design. I feel like I’ve always dabbled in parts of it, whether it’s fashion or design or food. I’ve enjoyed doing the creative side.” Currently, Graze offers three lunch and dinner boards. The meat and cheese ($75 to $175) board includes a selection of artisanal cheeses, cured meats, olives, cornichons, dried and fresh fruits, nuts, crunchy crackers, flowers and fresh herb garnish. The crudité board ($75 to $175) offers a range of assorted raw, seasonal vegetables and traditional hummus. The bread board ($60), a new addition, is the perfect pairing to the former two boards, offering fresh-baked breads, baguettes, bread sticks and crackers. Graze also offers breakfast and dessert boards. Ivler’s breakfast board ($125), an idea inspired by one of her clients, includes a mélange of fresh

fruit, artisanal cheese, biscotti, mini croissants, cinnamon rolls and mini muffins with two different jams. Finishing off the list is Ivler’s dessert board ($75), with fresh and dried fruits, nuts and dark chocolate ($75 to $175). If Ivler could pick one for herself, she says, it’d be the meat and cheese board. “One-hundred percent, hands-down. I can live off of meat and cheese with bread. That would be my heaven. Throw in a bottle of red wine and it’s perfect.” Since launching Graze, Ivler has already added two new boards to the selection, with plans to add more in the future. But for now, she’s just “enjoying the ride.” “I really enjoy doing this and I think, for me, the best part is that I’m passionate about it,” Ivler says. “It isn’t work for me. I think of every board as a canvas. I really like making each one a piece of art.” For more, visit grazenewyork.com.

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THE TIFFANY STORY,IN FULL BY MARY SHUSTACK

WAGMAG.COM

JULY 2018

A mention of the name Louis Comfort Tiffany will most often draw to mind intricately crafted tabletop lamps or elaborately detailed stained-glass windows. These decorative elements that have been coveted for decades are what Tiffany (1848-1933) is perhaps best known for. But this summer’s exhibition at Lyndhurst in Tarrytown sheds new light on his legacy, crafting a well-rounded examination of Tiffany as an artist of varied talents. “Becoming Tiffany: From Hudson Valley Painter to Gilded Age Tastemaker,” in both the Lyndhurst mansion and its gallery, takes visitors on a journey that focuses on the development of Tiffany’s career from the 1870s through the early 1900s. “We are not a Tiffany-focused museum or institution,” says Howard Zar, the executive director of Lyndhurst. But the exhibition and its subject have drawn elements from Lyndhurst, a National Trust for Historic Preservation site, and around the world. Lyndhurst notes there are more than 50 works, with a focus on creations both early and rarely exhibited, include glass and mosaics from the Haworth Collection in Accrington, England, the hometown of Tiffany’s glass foreman; rare textiles from the Mark Twain House in Hartford, for which Tiffany created designs; rarely seen early paintings from the Brooklyn and Nassau County art museums; and furniture and decorative arts from the Driehaus and other notable private collections. “This is a really rare opportunity to see these things,” Zar says. After the exhibition, he adds, “These things are likely going back to storage for your life — and their life.” Prompting the exhibition, Zar explains, was Lyndhurst’s strong connection to Tiffany, a longtime Irvington neighbor to Lyndhurst’s Gould family, and the growing knowledge of how Helen Gould, elder daughter of railroad magnate Jay Gould, was a significant Tiffany patron. “We had been getting documentation from descendants of the Goulds,” Zar says, which helped frame the exhibition. A NEW SPOTLIGHT Tiffany’s lifelong work as an artist is not widely known, Zar says. “I think one of the things that’s interesting to me is when we tell people, ‘We got his paintings,’ they say, ‘Whose paintings?’” “Becoming Tiffany” indeed explores how the son of the founder of Tiffany & Co. used his fami-

Louis C. Tiffany, “The Reaper,” n.d. Oil on canvas, 30 x 20 in. National Academy of Design. Images courtesy Lyndhurst.

JULY 2018

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Clockwise from left: Tiffany Studios Peony library lamp, c. 1905, Leaded glass, bronze, 31½ x 22 in. The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass, Queens, NY; Tiffany Studios Vine-border reading lamp, c. 1905, Favrile glass, bronze, 22 x 18 in. Lillian Nassau, LLC; and Tiffany Studios Enameled table lamp, after 1902, Favrile glass, enameled bronze, 22 x 16 in. Richard H. Driehaus Collection, Chicago, IL. Photo courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.

Louis C. Tiffany, (ca. 1908), head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front. (Photograph) Retrieved from the Library of Congress.

WAGMAG.COM

JULY 2018

ly’s position and connections to carve out his own career, first as a painter and then in the decorative arts (though he would paint throughout his life). It traces Tiffany from his days as a daring Hudson Valley painter — one whose themes and techniques challenged the norms of the day — to his worldwide travels that would influence his work at every step. As Zar takes us through the exhibition, he points to the selection of paintings. “This is art,” Zar says. The rest of the work, he notes, “was commerce.” The Tiffany paintings, from “Pushing Off the Boat at Sea Bright, New Jersey” (1887) to the undated “Caravan Tents Before Village,” trace Tiffany’s unique approach in both technique and subject matter. “He’s not painting the Gilded Age. He’s looking for ‘real life,’” says Roberta A. Mayer, professor emerita, art history, Bucks County Community College, who offered a lecture on “Louis C. Tiffany: ‘A Young and Promising Artist’” during the “Becoming Tiffany” symposium held June 3 at Lyndhurst. Tiffany, as the exhibition follows, would explore racial inequality, begin sacred commissions with the Jewish community, comment on industrialization, introduce Orientalist subjects based on his travels and more. It was only when Tiffany had trouble finding a market for his challenging work that he then transitioned into decorative goods, first becoming a partner in Associate Artists with Lockwood de Forest

and Candace Wheeler. “It gives a sense of the whole period and how these people interacted,” Zar says of the works of other artists featured in the show, with scene setters including a stunning carp-themed Wheeler fabric from the Mark Twain House and an elaborately carved de Forest table. Throughout the exhibition, which does include the more familiar Tiffany lamps, vases, windows and more, the connection to the Goulds is also reinforced. Photographs, catalogs and inventories recently received from Gould family descendants helped establish the family as consistent and early purchasers of Tiffany’s works. Jay Gould, for example, commissioned an early Tiffany window for the Gould family mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery, while the exhibition’s concluding section focuses on philanthropist Helen Gould’s important Tiffany commissions for churches and libraries, including an early turtleback tile sconce from the recently restored Irvington Public Library. In addition to works displayed in the Lyndhurst exhibition gallery, Tiffany lamps are exhibited in the rooms of Lyndhurst mansion to recreate those purchased by Helen Gould. It all adds up to a new examination of a most familiar name. As Zar says of “Becoming Tiffany,” which continues through Sept. 24, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.” For more, visit Lyndhurst.org.

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FIGHTING FOOD ALLERGIES BY LAURA JOSEPH MOGIL

happaqua resident Stacey Saiontz knows exactly what to do if her son Jared, 10, has a severe reaction to one of the foods he is extremely allergic to. But not everyone does. That’s why Saiontz has been advocating in Albany for New York state to enact legislation that will enable bus drivers, schoolteachers and other school personnel to administer an epinephrine auto-injector (one brand name is EpiPen) in the case of emergency circumstances. “When a child eats something they’re allergic to, they can have an anaphylactic reaction, where their throat closes up in seconds to minutes,” she says. “If you don’t administer epinephrine immediately, the child can end up dying. That’s why it’s so important to have this protective legislation.” While her older son, Elliott, age 12, has no issues, Saiontz says she noticed there was a problem with Jared’s reaction to food when he was just a baby. “The first few months of his life he was constantly covered in rashes and hives, and he was throwing up all the time. I kept bringing him to doctors and they said he might have acid reflux or baby acne,” Saiontz recalls. She finally took Jared to an allergist who said he was highly allergic to dairy, eggs, wheat, oats, rye, barley, sesame, tree nuts and several alternative grains, as well as dogs, cats and bees. “When Jared was younger, it was very hard because all my friends’ babies would be crawling around and licking toys or putting them in their mouths,” she says. Saiontz had most of Jared’s play dates at her house so she could wash off and clean everything he touched so it wouldn’t be contaminated by foods he couldn’t tolerate. Jared was able to attend World Cup Nursery School and Kindergarten in Chappaqua where teachers made sure everyone cleaned his hands with disinfectant wipes so Jared could play safely with the kids in his class. Saiontz adds: “I brought in his snacks and lunches, and the school made every effort to keep the area where he ate very safe.” It was around this time that Saiontz, who is a

WAGMAG.COM

JULY 2018

Jared Saiontz with New York state Assemblyman David Buchwald.

graduate of the University of Michigan and American University Washington College of Law, began to lobby in Albany for bills that would protect children with severe food allergies. Among the first pieces of legislation for which she advocated was to allow schools to stock and administer epinephrine. “What we found was that a lot of children try a new food in school and don’t know they’re allergic to it,” she says. “Teachers’ and nurses’ hands were tied, because even though they had epinephrine, they couldn’t use it unless a child had a prescription for it.” It became law on Oct. 30, 2014, and now New York state schools stock epinephrine and the nurse’s office is allowed to use it on anyone having an allergic reaction. Saiontz also helped advocate for a self-carry law to allow New York state students to carry and use their own epinephrine auto-injectors in school. “Where this really came into play was in middle and high school when children were going home on the bus with other students to their houses and they weren’t allowed to have their epinephrine with them.” This bill, which also passed several years ago, permits children to carry their life-saving medication with them on the bus. Just recently, Saiontz worked to expand protection for children with severe allergies by lobbying to pass legislation authorizing school bus drivers and employees of certain other school contractors to administer epinephrine using an auto-injector. Saiontz and Jared, along with a group of local moms and children, spent many hours writing, calling and visiting Albany to meet with legislators to advocate on behalf of the pending legislation. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed it into law on Aug. 22, 2017. Separate bills had been sponsored by State Assemblyman David Buchwald and State Senator Terrence Murphy. Saiontz says she was spurred to lobby for this be-

cause of a case in Massachusetts in which a school bus driver had saved a child’s life by administering epinephrine. “My son said he wished we could have something like this in New York, so that he, along with all other children with food allergies, could ride the bus safely,” she recalls. As a result of his mother’s efforts, Jared can now ride the school bus. “It it makes such a big difference, because he can be on the bus with all his friends. It was a social aspect he was missing out on all this time.” In addition, Saiontz had been pushing for a law that would require every newly certified teacher in New York state to take a free online course on recognizing life-threatening reactions to food allergies and administering epinephrine. At press time, a bill was awaiting a vote in the State Senate, and an identical State Assembly bill was still in committee. Other legislation Saiontz is working on includes bills to require New York state ambulances to stock epinephrine and for first responders to be allowed to carry and administer the medication. On a national scene, she has recently visited Washington, D.C., to advocate for better FDA labeling for sesame, which can be a dangerous allergen. “We want to do as many things to help as many people stay safe and educate as many people as we can about food allergies and prevention,” says Saiontz, who was just honored by the nonprofit Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) for her advocacy work. “It’s a really easy to keep children safe, as long as you know how to use an epinephrine auto-injector in case someone does have a reaction. “Obviously, I’d love to have a cure, but I’m not a doctor so I won’t be able to find one. My goal is to to be able to keep all children with food allergies safe and included, so they can live the same exact normal life as everybody else.” For more information, visit foodallergy.org.

One of the area’s top squash clubs, is not actually a squash club. It’s much more. Ox Ridge offers a unique combination of activities for the whole family, with the unique benefits of belonging to one of the premier private sporting clubs in the Northeast. Squash at Ox Ridge will feature 6 Singles and 2 Doubles courts — all with glass back-walls to enhance viewing and coaching — and includes spectator seating, adjoining locker rooms and Pro Shop. Club members will compete in local, regional and national competitions. Pro Tour level professionals with a focus on junior development and adult programs work daily to enhance player skills at all levels, offering individual and group lessons, clinics and summer camps. But membership at Ox Ridge will mean much more: gatherings on the events lawn or on the pub/dining room’s wraparound terrace, enjoying the expanded equestrian complex with indoor and outdoor riding rings, playing platform tennis on one of our four lighted courts, or working out in the state-of-the-art fitness center. Unique membership options include our Founder Member class with a very attractive ”member’s interest” financial structure. Contact info@oxridge.com , 203.655.2559 or visit oxridge.com

SOUTHERN CHARM STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEESIA FORNI

new eatery in Pleasantville is hoping to give Westchester County restaurant-goers a good dose of Southern hospitality. “I’m thinking we’re going to be a real destination,” said Michael Ferrara, owner of newly opened eatery Southern Table. “I’m hoping to have a line out the door.” Ferrara, along with business partners Gerry Petraglia, Frank Carenza and Mike DiCostanzo, opened the 2,400-square-foot dining spot at 39 Marble Ave. earlier this year. The eatery sits just a block away from another restaurant owned by Ferrara and his partners, the 3-year-old hotspot Wood and Fire. As for Southern Table, “There’s nothing like this in Westchester,” Ferrara said. “You don’t see this anywhere. So far, it’s been really well received, and it’s been busy every day since we opened.” The menu, created by Wood and Fire’s own chef Pasquale Abbatiello, offers a variety of southern staples, such as fried chicken, deviled eggs, shrimp and grits, pulled pork and fried green tomatoes. There’s even a section of the menu devoted entirely to mac and cheese. Cocktails range from a “Rhinestone Cowboy” to a cheekily named “White Trash Mojito.” “I feel like there are a lot of people out there looking for this,” said the Westchester native. “It’s an even bigger market than people knew about.” “Everybody thought I was a little crazy, because we went from opening a Wood and Fire to a southern restaurant real quick, but once this was built, it really started to kind of make sense for everybody,” he said. Prior to returning to Westchester earlier this 52

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JULY 2018

Owner Michael Ferrara opened Southern Table in Pleasantville earlier this year.

“There were a lot of

restaurants like this in south Florida and I figured if southern comfort food works in south Florida, why wouldn’t it work in New York? — Michael Ferrara

year, the Dobbs Ferry resident spent the last few years living in southern Florida, opening a second Wood and Fire location in Delray Beach. “There were a lot of restaurants like this in south Florida and I figured if southern comfort food works in south Florida, why wouldn’t it work in New York?” he said. Southern Table is housed on the ground floor of a newly constructed building on what was once the site of a Pizza Hut restaurant, which was demolished to make way for the new structure. “(The building’s owners) were looking at a restaurant, so instead of somebody else opening in my neck of the woods, I decided to come up with a new concept and open up right here,” he said. “Wood and Fire is an Italian restaurant with a modern twist, so we decided to do a southern restaurant with modern twist.” In the spirit of Wood and Fire, the restaurant also houses a wood-burning grill. “We’re called the Wood and Fire group, so it really sticks to who we are,” he said. The restaurant features an open kitchen, exposed pipes and white brick walls, metal chairs, an outdoor patio with plush seating for the warmer months and more than 80 varieties of bourbon

Southern Table features industrial fixtures and brick walls.

displayed above the bar. “We’re hoping to work it up to about 300” types of bourbon, Ferrara said. Though Ferrara has now opened a trio of restaurants in just under three years, he doesn’t plan on slowing down just yet and is already planning his next venture. “There’s not another place in Westchester County where I see myself opening a Wood and Fire,” he said. “I think we’d have to branch out to

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Long Island or outside of the state. Our goal is to eventually take both of these concepts nationwide.” That vision is especially true for his newest venture, Southern Table. “This store is really scalable,” he said of the new eatery. “We could take it all over the country. “I don’t have another restaurant in the pipeline, but we’re always looking.” For more, visit southern-table.com.

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A RETURN TO HIS ROOTS STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEESIA FORNI

hen you walk through the doors of Único, a popular new eatery at 10 N. Central Ave. in Hartsdale, one of the first things that is likely to catch your eye is a painted mural that takes up an entire wall of the restaurant’s interior. The portrait is of a lion’s head perched atop the body of a slender man, one who is enjoying a glass of red wine and wearing a wedding ring. “This is actually my body. This is me,” said Brian Sernatinger, the owner and chef at Único, though he quickly added, “It was my wife’s idea. She thought we should do a lion, because I’m a Leo.” The mural is similar to another portrait painted by the same artist thousands of miles away in the other restaurant owned by Sernatinger and his wife, Deya. That restaurant, also named Único, is in Tulum, a popular tourist town on the Caribbean coastline of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. The artist made her way to Hartsdale and created the mural prior to the restaurant’s opening. “In Tulum, it’s a full wall. Lots of people come in and take pictures with it, so we wanted to do it here, too,” he said. A Westchester native, Sernatinger opened the doors of Hartsdale’s Único, a 1,500-square-foot restaurant near the Four Corners intersection of Hartsdale and Central Park avenues, after more than a decade abroad working in kitchens across the globe. “We really care about what we’re doing here and I think that’s important, and I think it comes through in the service and our food,” Sernatinger said. “We want to make people happy that’s what we’re trying to do here.” The restaurant’s name translates to “unique” in Spanish, a word Sernatinger describes as his

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Brian Sernatinger prepares a dish.

mission for the restaurant, where menu items are largely focused on seafood, but range from fried goat cheese to steamed mussels to purple basil pappardelle. “I think my style of cooking takes little pieces of everything from everywhere I’ve lived and everything that I’ve tasted and kind of puts it into my own little style,” Sernatinger said. Sernatinger attended the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan before going on to work in New York City restaurants Gramercy Tavern and Craft. From there, hoping for a change of scenery, he moved to Spain, a country he fell in love with during a study-abroad trip in college. After six years in Spain, he returned to New York, where

another love affair dictated his next travel plans. Sernatinger met Deya while in New York, though his future wife soon returned to her home country of Mexico. “I moved to Mexico just trying to steal her and bring her back,” he said with a laugh. “And we ended up just staying there.” While in Mexico, the couple opened the first Único restaurant in Tulum. “She could never understand why I loved working in restaurants so much,” Sernatinger said of his wife. “It’s brutal, but she’s learned to love it. And I get to hear her laugh all night when I’m in the kitchen.” After five years in Mexico, Sernatinger and his

wife decided to return to New York, with hopes of opening a second Único restaurant. “It’s nice to be closer to home to see my family more often,” he said. “Westchester is a great little area.” The couple moved to Westchester last year and spent months searching for vacant space. “We tried finding something in New York City. We almost closed on three places, but it was very discouraging,” he said. “It’s expensive and the way people do business there is pretty shady, so we got really discouraged.” Frustrated, the couple decided to search a little closer to home and decided on the site in Hartsdale. After five months of work, which included a fresh coat of paint, flooring and renovations to the bar and new kitchen equipment, the 40-seat restaurant opened in March. Sernatinger hopes to offer a tasting menu in Hartsdale, something that has proved successful at his Tulum restaurant. “In Tulum, we have people that go there on vacation every year and they come to us every year,” he said. “We want that to happen here.” For more, visit unicony.com.

A mural inside Único represents chef and owner Sernatinger.

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The Boqueria restaurants, conceived by Yann de Rochefort, are by all accounts a success. And who doesn't love a restaurant success story? Especially when it results in a hefty and impressive jacketless, paperover-board cookbook. At almost 300 pages (286 to be exact), “Boqueria: A Cookbook, From Barcelona to New York” (Bloomsbury Publishing, Absolute Press, $35) is a formidable compilation of recipes for traditional tapas and other dishes representative of Spanish food and drink, particularly those of Barcelona. The cover of the book, released on May 1, features simple block-red letters against a white background, like the restaurant's logo. It begs to be opened and perused. The recipes are presented in 10, sensible sections, spanning the spectrum of Spanish cuisine. Headings are clear and the narrative introducing each recipe provides a nice overview of the flavors and construction of each dish. One page — no more, no less — is dedicated to each recipe, many with beautiful photographs to provide a compelling visual. Included are classics — meats, seafoods, vegetables, paellas, salads, desserts and more — plus a section dedicated solely to the drinks and wines from all the regions of Spain. It's useful, highly informational, and offers the home chef a substantial collection of recipes that may be prepared for everyday dining, as well as for dinner parties and festive occasions. There truly is something for everyone. I met with Yann de Rochefort, a former marketing executive, at the original Flatiron outpost of Boqueria prior to a public book signing with executive chef and

BOOUERIA, THE RESTAURANT – IN PRINT BY GINA GOUVEIA

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Courtesy Bloomsbury Publishing.

Ham and melon salad. Photograph by James Pomerantz.

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co-author Marc Vida, at the nearby Rizzoli Bookstore. Born in France and raised in the U.S. from the age of 12, de Rochefort had enjoyed summers sailing all around Spain with his family. "It was not as luxurious as it sounds," he tells me. "We were a family of six in crowded quarters, but we ate very well, stopping at ports to gather Spanish delicacies for meal preparation on board or at the docks." Now, there are six Boqueria restaurants — four in Manhattan, one in Brooklyn and another in Washington, D.C. — all offering predominantly Barcelona-influenced cuisine with some French and other European inspirations. De Rochefort was joined in 2010 by Vida, who serves as executive chef for all locations. The cookbook and six restaurants under this growing empire are named for the largest marketplace in Barcelona, Boqueria, which sells every conceivable ingredient of Spanish food on the famed promenade known as La Rambla. How Vida and de Rochefort came to forge a working relationship is serendipitous. Vida, a Barcelona native who followed a passion ignited in childhood at his family's restaurant, went on to formal studies and cooking in Paris. His father was supportive of the decision, paying for his education, but his maternal grandmother objected. "Don't do it," she advised. "You're crazy. Too much work. Don't you see what we go through in this business?" Eventually, his hard work paid off with stints at

Yann de Rochefort. Photograph by Aaron Zebrook.

Michelin-starred restaurants such as Alain Ducasse, and, following a period in Miami, he ultimately landed in New York. A social trip to Manhattan prompted Vida to meet de Rochefort at the Boqueria in SoHo. Shortly thereafter he was recruited to join de Rochefort's burgeoning business, and, in the past eight years, has brought his influence and talents to the menus and kitchens of the group. He rotates among them all but holds weekly meetings every Friday with

his culinary teams to share ideas and maintain a consistent dialogue. Zack Bezunartea, director of operations for the group, provides much of the voice in the narratives that open the book and are interspersed throughout in just the right places. This color, together with the well-constructed recipes, make for a substantial and attractive cookbook. At the Rizzoli signing de Rochefort referred to the cookbook as a "passion project — something that felt more personal," like the care and attention he pays to each of his restaurants, building the vibe and conviviality between the bar and the tables. Together through the book, they are bringing that experience not only to their customer base, but to those who may never dine in one of their restaurants, de Rochefort tells me. Boqueria, the cookbook, was not undertaken lightly. I learn from Vida that he retreated to his home kitchen in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to produce each and every recipe, making adaptations along the way, ensuring that they would be suitable for the home chef. This endeavor took about 100 hours over the course of two months. Finally, the culmination took place at a large photo studio in Chelsea where meals were prepared, photographed and shared "con la familia" over the course of just one week. Like a restaurant, a cookbook is a labor of love and, in the case of Boqueria, this team has seemingly gotten it all right. For more, visit boquerianyc.com.

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Curtis West, Sprout Creek Farm’s creamery manager, adjusts cheese wheels in a brine bath.

HIGHER LEARNING ‘SAVES THE FARM’ BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH PHOTOGRAPHS BY BOB ROZYCKI

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JULY 2018

he aged cheeses produced by Dutchess County’s Sprout Creek Farm are a staple of the Hudson Valley’s top restaurants and markets, but less than a year ago the nonprofit farm was in jeopardy. It took a deal that merges higher education with high-quality cheese to save the farm. Marist College announced in January that it would take over operations at the farm in LaGrange. The announcement came three months after Sprout Creek’s Executive Director Mark Fredette posted a message on the nonprofit’s Facebook titled “Save The Farm.” He wrote that farm needed help closing a $250,000 budget gap to continue its decades-long legacy as an education center and top cheese producer. The farm hosted fundraiser events and collected donations online, raising a reported $175,000, before making the announcement in January that Marist College would take over the operations. The college will expand the farm’s educational programming and find ways to utilize the space for its own academic programs. The farm, meanwhile, remains an independent nonprofit but with the financial backing of Marist. For Sprout Creek, it’s an

opportunity to continue building on an enterprise that stretches back 30 years. The farm was founded in Greenwich in 1982 on the campus of the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a Roman Catholic K-12 girls’ school, as a way to help connect students with nature. The program moved to its current 200-acre sight eight years later. The farm was named for the stream that runs through it. Sprout Creek Farm established an independent board of directors in 2012, though Convent of the Sacred Heart remains involved in the farm. Today, the farm defines its role in the community as threepronged. There’s a working farm that raises free-ranging cows, sheep, goats, turkeys, chickens and pigs. Its market sells award-winning cheeses and farm-produced meats, along with Hudson Valley milk, eggs, vegetables and crafts. Then there’s the educational center, which offers day, weekend and summer programs that help connect young people to agriculture and outdoor work and experiences. Geoffrey Brackett, Marist’s executive vice president, said the partnership came about in part through serendipity. The university’s president, David Yellen, connected with a farm board member through a mutual acquaintance. Faced with the potential loss of a neighboring

business and long-standing educational institution, Marist officials stepped in. They also recognized the many ways the farm could align with the college’s operations. “There was a natural synergy between the operations of the farm and the college, and the many sustainable initiatives our faculty and staff are involved in,” Brackett says. He noted that Marist joins a long line of colleges and universities that are partnered in some way with operating farms. Marist even has a student-run vegetable garden on campus that provides fresh produce for the cafeteria. “There’s a whole focus on ecological sustainability and farming and the ancillary interests that surround that, in addition to the educational programming, that lined up quite well,” Brackett says. “So there were a number of things that led us to believe this was going to be a good move for the farm and for the college.” The farm’s mission and operations will remain the same, but will there be some shiny new equipment and facilities? Marist has promised significant investment to help the farm’s cheese reach more people and its programs more students. Brackett outlined a three-year plan for the college to stabilize the farm’s operations. Since taking

A sample of two of the farm’s cheeses.

over in January, the college has made improvements to the farm’s utility systems and classrooms, along with other small physical improvements. Next year, the college will roll out additional educational programs. Marist will then use the third year to consider how to expand the sale of the farm’s cheese products, though Brackett stresses that Marist has no plans to grow Sprout Creek Farm into a cheese powerhouse. Rather the focus will be on “growth appropriate to the farm,” as he describes it, to provide stability to its operations and educational mission. Marist will also begin to use the farm for its own college-level academic programming during that time. “As we develop over the next couple years, we will involve our students and faculty in the planning process to determine exactly what types of programs might best be expanded,” Brackett says. “We are a comprehensive master’s granting institution… so there is a whole suite of opportunities for students to engage in the operations of Sprout Creek Farm and get real-life experience. “This has been a great institution in the county and region for years,” Brackett adds. “And we’re very happy to have helped continue its mission.” For more, visit sproutcreekfarm.org.

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A CHECK ON HEALTHY EATING BY JENA BUTTERFIELD

n a light-filled space on Church Street in TriBeCa, guests gather amid flora for a multicourse meal designed to make them feel good about themselves. Vertically stacked planters overflowing with edible greenery and fragrant herbs are backlit by large windows so the leaf-filtered sun envelops diners in a greenhouse-like setting. This is Bouley Botanical, chef David Bouley’s living event space and urban farm in Manhattan. It’s a multiuse facility with a performance kitchen that can be rented for professional or personal events (organic wedding, anyone?) and is perhaps the most obvious expression of the direction Bouley has taken in life and in food. The “living pantry” provides a perfect location

for his ongoing series, “The Chef and The Doctor,” in which Bouley collaborates with health professionals to focus on the benefits of food for well-being in a multitude of areas. Diners attend expert lectures on a wide range of subjects like gut-health, holistic dentistry and joint pain while Bouley cooks and serves his latest iteration of the ingredients on topic. For example, “the spirulina sauce we make contains organic spirulina, organic pumpkin seed butter, organic lemon scented cod liver oil and Bragg’s apple cider vinegar,” he said. “These ingredients composed together makes it an off-the-chart omega food.” Bouley is the influential chef who headed the kitchen at Montrachet in 1985 and opened his much-lauded Bouley in 1987. He went on to open Bouley Bakery, Danube, Upstairs at Bouley, Brushstroke, Ichimura at Brushstroke, Bouley at Home and the private event spaces Bouley Test Kitchen and Bouley Botanical. Botanical provides Bouley with an opportunity to learn from the plants that he cultivates. It’s where he can explore techniques, combining and cooking with the more than 400 plant species he grows and experimenting with ways to optimize their healing power. After all, plants and herbs have a long history in mitigating disease and boosting health. In the heady days before symptom-suffocating pills were our first line of defense, wasn’t it an apple a day that kept the doctor away? It’s ancient wisdom that foods can have anti-inflammation and antiaging properties, boost immunity, affect mental health and support the fight against cancer and obesity. Now professionals in the medical field are revisiting and incorporating some of that

Above: Bouley Botanical. Left: Chef David Bouley speaking at a “The Chef and the Doctor” dinner series program.

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wisdom. This coming October, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will begin implementing a Nutrition Research Plan in an effort to accelerate progress in that area. It’s further indication that food is being considered part of the prevention as well as the cure, supporting medical treatment in a more integrated way. The adage “we are what we eat” is starting to mean something again. At Bouley’s “The Chef and The Doctor” series, the caliber of professionals willing to bring nutrition back into the discussion on health is also encouraging. Previous guests have included Lloyd Sederer, MD, chief medical officer of the New York State Office of Mental Health; Dennis Goodman, MD, clinical professor and director of integrative medicine at New York University, where he instructs students on how to use ingredients to combat heart disease and stroke; and Charles Czeisler, MD, director of Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard University. These guest speakers mingle with diners while, back in the kitchen, Bouley works his magic (mushrooms). On a recent night, the woodsy, umami treasures of the mushroom kingdom got his star treatment in his “Forager’s Treasure” dish. Wild Alaskan Salmon was served with the nutrient-dense fungi known to “boost your immune system, destroy cancer cells and fight obesity,” Bouley said. “Mushrooms… are popular because of results. Most countries in the world eat more mushrooms than Americans because of health reasons.” Another specialty was Bouley’s coconut garlic soup. It’s one of his oldest dishes and he prepares it to coax maximum medicinal properties from the two headlining superfoods. “The Chef and The Doctor” series is Bouley’s expression of the hope that, armed with the right information, anyone could implement these ideas in their everyday lives. Indeed, everywhere you look, it’s starting to happen. Superfoods like turmeric, kale, blueberries, eggs and avocado have been finding their way to more home tables across the country. “Pure, nutrient — dense ingredients form the building blocks of a wholesome kitchen,” Bouley said. On another evening at Bouley Botanical, Vincent Pedre, MD, was the guest speaker at a dinner entitled “Happy Gut: Going Back to the Roots of Digestion.” According to the National Library of Medicine at the NIH, the human microbiota is made up of 10 to 100 trillion microbes, including bacteria, viruses and fungi, the benefits of which health professionals are just beginning to understand. Pedre’s presentation was followed by a “gut-friendly” wine dinner. The higher the diversity of microbial species in your gut, the healthier you are. When it comes to cultivating good health, it’s good to know that at the microbes’ dinner party as well as at Bouley’s, the more the merrier. For more, visit davidbouley.com/bouley-botanical/.

MINDING THE BUSINESS BY JEAN CAMBARERI

rom scooping ice cream and breaking down wine boxes as a teenager in Stew Leonard’s supermarkets to marketing and advertising its wines as an adult, Blake Leonard has always been part of the family business, sharing its passion for quality food and wine. “I remember making my first 25 cents putting sprinkles on an ice cream cone,” she says of her early days. Even so, working for Stew Leonard’s full time was never a given, and Blake’s father, Stew Jr., CEO of the company, always encouraged all of his children, nieces and nephews, to explore their own passions before deciding whether or not to join Stew Leonard’s signature winding aisles. “We have a rule that you have to work three years outside the business before even being considered for a position,” Blake Leonard says. Another rule: Work hard while staying humble. “I have all of these memories of a work ethic being instilled from a very young age,” she says. She took those memories with her to The New School, where she graduated with a B.A. in cultural and media studies, and to the wine industry, working for Gallo Wines in Los Angeles and Terroir Selections in New York. Despite her name, her career has not been without challenges, which have only solidified her determination to succeed. “What I have learned from obstacles is to not take ‘no’ for an answer,” she says.“When I ask a question now, instead of saying, ‘Can I do this?’ I say, ‘How can I do this?” That attitude has been paramount in navigating her way through the male-dominated wine industry. Growing up the oldest of four daughters, Blake was surrounded by women. The world of fine wines was a bit of a shock. But, she says, “You can’t think about being the only woman in the room. You just need to be yourself.” When asked where her passion for wine came

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Blake Leonard. Photograph by Sebastián Flores.

“I have all of these memories of a work ethic being instilled from a very young age.”

— Blake Leonard

from, she says that when given the choice of stacking boxes of wine or boxes of milk as a teenager, the decision seemed simple. “Milk or wine, what would you chose?” she asks jokingly. Her stock girl days behind her, she has been enjoying working as a marketing consultant and spokeswoman for the past two years. Integrating what she has learned from the marketing expertise of both her father and grandfather with the new advertising tools provided by social media, she has been focusing on expanding the company’s digital market and media influence. “Each of the wine stores have their own Facebook and Instagram accounts,” she says. Looking forward to the future of Stew Leonard’s, Blake adds that it is important to recognize the foundation of its success — family. “I’m definitely incredibly proud of the business that my family has built. As our generation transitions, we need to understand all of the intricacies that come with running a successful family business.” For more, visit stewswines.com.

REPORTING FROM THE EDGE OF PARADISE BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

If there’s one person who knows Puerto Rico — its resilient, independent spirit, its recent fiscal challenges and even more recent physical ones as a result of Hurricanes Irma and Maria — it’s Julio “Gaby” Acevedo. Not only is he a lifelong resident who played center for the Puerto Rico Men’s Volleyball National Team, but he leads the San Juan bureau of NBC 4 New York and Telemundo 47, which serve the metro area. So who better to update us on the state of the island — where tourism/hospitality is the number one industry — 10 months after Maria took some 4,600 lives? When WAG caught up with him over Memorial Day weekend, Acevedo said that there were still 14,000 clients of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority without power. (A client may be a building so that the number of individuals without power is actually larger, he added.) Most of these consumers are in nine municipalities on the southeast coast, the Eastern Valley and the Central Mountain corridor. “The roads are severely damaged, also the infrastructure,” he said. “Thousands of people still have blue tarps on their roofs.” But there is good news. There are no food shortages and 98 percent of the island has clean drinking water. “In the rural areas, you have to keep an eye on the water sources,” Acevedo said, adding that this was true before the recent hurricanes. As for the hospitality industry, he said: “It has been tough. It is the most important industry on the island, and it took a beating. But it is back.” Not only are the boutique hotels and the Hy-

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att, Intercontinental, Marriott and Sheraton hotels in San Juan fully operational, but others are coming back on line over the next six months. The San Juan Hotel & Casino; Dorado Beach, A Ritz Reserve; and The St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort are expected to be back in September-October, while The Condado Plaza Hilton and the Meliá Coco Beach hotel are set to return in November-December. The Ritz-Carlton, San Juan; El Conquistador, A Waldorf Astoria Resort; and the Caribe Hilton are expected to follow in December-January. When Maria hit, these hotels had a vital role to play. “Every hotel during the crisis in the metro and coastal areas had generators,” Acevedo said. These places were lifelines for the journalists and emergency workers who flooded the island. They in turn contributed to the economy by staying and eating at the hotels. But Acevedo was far from this relative comfort zone in Morovis, a municipality in the Central Mountain corridor, where 155-mile-an-hour winds were more like 200-mile-an-hour gusts. Acevedo and his experienced camerawoman, Tania Dumas, arrived on Sept. 19 then hunkered down as the storm hit on Sept. 20 and cut them off from the world until they could return to San Juan three days later. But Acevedo had Plan B — record everything they could for when they could get the story out to the world. “There was a lot of suffering,” Acevedo said. “People got on the ground and were praying.” But then they got up and went about the business of survival. “On Sept. 21 to see people grabbing machetes — elderly women and men — to clear the land, that was something,” Acevedo said. “It was time to live up to our history and our ancestors and reclaim our land.” Acevedo included. “We had to help not only others but to ensure our survival. “Our story was capturing the reactions of the people there and what they had lost. But while I was covering it, I had to wonder: Have I lost everything, too?” He needn’t have worried. Wife Mariana Thon, neighbors later told Acevedo, was like “G.I. Jane,” up on the roof of their San Juan home, clearing

debris. (A professional volleyball player for Puerto Rico, she is the daughter of former Major League Baseball player Dickie Thon, who survived a beaning to return to play pro ball.) Before leaving for his assignment, Acevedo had told the couple’s then 5-year-old, Liam, to look after his mother. The boy was shaken by the storm, coming so close after Irma’s punch, as were many of the island’s children. In all, Acevedo and his family were without power for almost three months, a challenge for children in the digital age, Acevedo said. But he and his wife did what they had to do to survive and thrive. That rugged individualism that is seen as quintessentially American — and on the island as quintessentially Puerto Rican as well — makes the gentlemanly, humble, dignified Acevedo loathe to blame the federal government’s response to the crisis, which has been characterized as treating Puerto Ricans like second-class Americans. He is grateful for the work of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the countless volunteers from the mainland. “Mistakes were made,” he said. “Puerto Rico was severely in debt, historically in debt. We were living at the edge, and Maria pushed us over. But Puerto Ricans have to take responsibility for themselves. We can’t wait for Washington. That’s not going to move the ship ahead. This is an opportunity to remodel the island’s ancient structures.” That disciplined attitude was born of an athlete who played volleyball at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and professionally for 15 years. Soon he was covering games on radio — “a match made in heaven” — and then the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. (Today he is the chief press correspondent for the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee.) “Playing center in volleyball is a pressure-packed position,” he said. “It takes stamina and spirit.” All of which have served him well in covering his troubled homeland, which nonetheless lives up to its nickname, “the Pearl of the Caribbean.” “Come down and visit,” he said, encouraging those who want to help. “I guarantee, it will capture your imagination. It will capture your soul.” For more, visit nbcnewyork.com.

But there is good news. There are no food shortages and 98 percent of the island has clean drinking water. “In the rural areas, you have to keep an eye on the water sources,” Julio “Gaby” Acevedo said, adding that this was true before the recent hurricanes.

Julio “Gaby” Acevedo. Courtesy WNBC/WNJU.

JULY 2018

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If God is in the details, then surely he must live in this 1930 Norman chĂ˘teau on Mayfair Lane in Greenwich, which has a trove of exquisite details. Start with six fireplaces, flamed bluestone floors and leaded glass windows and doors, with the French doors opening to a wraparound terrace and 13 acres fashioned into an English park. The first floor features of this 11,927-square-foot house, which has been given a sensitive update by Bray Schaible Design Inc., include an inviting coffered-ceilinged two-story mahogany library, a stunning formal living room, a stainless steel chef's kitchen with Garland, Miele and Traulsen appliances and an adjoining breakfast room. The seven bedrooms include a three-exposure master suite with a dramatic cathedral ceiling, two luxe bathrooms and two mahogany dressing rooms. (There are nine full and two partial baths in all.) Secluded in its own wing is a gym and a 60-footlong indoor pool that is as serene as it is modern in its angular design. A separate carriage house adds to the luster of this $14.9 million estate. For more call Joseph Barbieri at 203-940-2025 or 203-618-3112; or Gretchen Bylow at 917-743-4115 or 203-869-4343.

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PLAN Y OUR SEASIDE ESCAPE TTOD OD AY YOUR ODA RELAXING, UNIQUE AND FULL OF PERSONALITY

LESS THAN TWO HOURS FROM NEW Y ORK YORK Plan your next getaway and spend a relaxing escape on the Connecticut shoreline. Enjoy vast water views, delightful meals at Fresh Salt, take in a sunset at the Marina Bar or unwind at Sanno Spa. Our historic Three Stories and Tall Tales luxury guest houses offer exquisite rooms that allow for total privacy and relaxation among the picturesque shoreline of Connecticut. Located just two hours from New York, with easy access via Amtrak, discover your seaside escape today. Learn more at SAYBROOK.COM.

2 Bridge Street, Old Saybrook CT 06475 I 860-395-2000 I saybrook.com

BILL TAIBE,CURATOR OF CONTEMPORARY CUISINE BY GINA GOUVEIA PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN RIZZO

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Spend a couple of hours in the company of Bill Taibe, Weston resident and native son of Patterson in Putnam County, and you will instantly understand the role of the contemporary executive chef-restaurant owner — mentor, creative force, innovator and curator. With a devoted following and a collection of glowing reviews amassed over his career, Taibe has dominated the culinary landscape in Fairfield County for some time now. He currently has not one, but three hugely popular and distinctively different restaurants, all within a 2-mile radius in Westport. Each offers a particularly unique experience for diners. But then, creating that perfect experience is the driving force behind this visionary. The Whelk, Kawa Ni and Jesup Hall represent an impressive portfolio, each offering a dizzying take on varying types of cuisines. Kawa Ni, a Japanese pub whose name means “on the river,” opened in 2014 at Bridge Square on the Saugatuck River at the site of a former Chinese takeout joint. Taibe tells me that he used to leave the kitchen at The Whelk — his seafood bar and restaurant, which opened in 2012 around the corner on Riverside Avenue — and walk over to get Philly-cheesesteak spring rolls for his kitchen crew. One night he discovered it had shuttered and subsequently convinced his partner, Massimo Tullio, that it would be the perfect spot for an Asian-influenced bistro. He secured the space and went off to Japan for three weeks to understand, as he puts it, “what it felt like to be in a restaurant in Japan.” You see, for Taibe, it all comes back to the experience. How a guest feels upon entering his places is what matters most. “I want them to get the concept the minute they walk in.” In fact, this raison d'etre is evidenced in all of Taibe’s past endeavors, whether working for owners or collaborating with partners. It was a combination of the scene and the food at the critically acclaimed Wildfire in Greenwich, where he earned a lofty “27” food rating from Zagat. Prior stints, most as a sous or executive chef, included time at Two Moons in Port Chester, Napa and Company and the g/r/a/n/d in Stamford. Of the Stamford eatery, he says, “this was probably when I was really the most food-focused. We were making food no one was doing at the time (15 years ago), offering twists on French classics like braised oxtail and incorporating foie gras into American standards.” Then, in 2009, along came LeFarm, a farm-to-table hotspot with a Taibe twist. In 2015, Taibe chose to close it after six successful years, but during its tenure he was a James Beard Foundation semifinalist four times for its annual Best American Chef award. In 2016, he landed a plum space in the historic, original Westport Town Hall building. With its beautiful stone façade and storied Westport past, it seemed to Taibe like the perfect space in which to conceptualize his latest venture, Jesup Hall, an accessible contemporary tavern with a focus on reinterpreted 74

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Bill Taibe at Jesup Hall.

New England fare. Once again raising the bar in both the food and experience categories, he continues his mission of sourcing the best possible ingredients from local farming partners with whom he has cultivated lasting relationships over the past 10 years. He credits Annie Farrell of Millstone Farms in Wilton for teaching him everything he knows, “about using food from the ground.” At his latest venture, vintage maps and historic photos of Westport dot the earth-toned dining room, a comfortable space where we met during those quiet hours between lunch and dinner service. During the day, the space is filled with beautiful light from its large windows, in stark contrast to the dark and cozy bar area. The evolution and trajectory of Taibe’s success are my focus. What drove this talented chef, who at 42 has accomplished what many others fail to do in many more years in the back and front of the house at restaurants across the globe? I ask when he knew he wanted to do this forever. “You’d have to go back more than 20 years,” he tells me. Growing up in Patterson and attending Carmel High School, Taibe struggled academically. “There’s

Beef carpaccio with pickled onions, mussel aioli and lovage.

not a lot of glamour to my story. I just found food,” he says. Whether exploring the woods in his hometown, discovering the smell of spring onions or working odd jobs with his buddies — breaking down animals in a butcher shop at the age of 16 — Taibe found his passion and, with a little coaxing, pursued it. His parents, an Irish mother and Italian father, had roots in Queens, and several family members were police officers, a career path he had considered. Their cuisine at home was basic, as he describes it, “typical American family fare, nothing extraordinary, but we ate well.” The odd kitchen jobs along the way led to a stint in a popular Armonk catering business, The Brown Bag. At the age of 20, he started in their prep kitchen performing basic tasks, before assuming additional responsibilities on the line. It was the chef-owner there who recognized his natural talent and encouraged him to attend culinary school. Taibe’s accelerated track at the Baltimore International Culinary College — completing a two-year program in 18 months — ironically landed this lifelong Yankees fan an enviable spot as a lead chef in a private club at nearby Camden Yards. Long days on campus preceded nights at the ballpark for pregame service and paved the way to his first internship in New York City, another coveted spot with Larry Forgione of The Grill Room and An American Place. With that internship completed in nine months, he turned to the reliable Zagat guide and targeted the highly rated La Panetiere in Rye where Bernard Bouissou was the chef-owner at the time. At only 23, he found himself on the line in a pressure-filled kitchen where orders were shouted in French and the atmosphere was highly competitive and demoralizing, something he had yet to encounter in his short culinary tenure. “The industry is different now,” Taibe says. But those experiences laid the groundwork for his success as a chef, as he quickly rose up the ranks of

One-half poussin with porcini jus and pea shoots.

some of the area’s most important restaurants. A hands-on professional with family in key supporting roles, Taibe takes great pride in the service and experience offered at his restaurants. “I have always pushed the envelope,” he tells me. “At LeFarm, we opened with seven employees. We had 36 seats, no bar, a dark dining room looking into an open kitchen and loud music blaring at all times. It was chaos, but in a good way.” Clearly the formula worked, earning him the highest accolade, an “excellent” from The New York Times. The dishes at Jesup Hall, like those at The Whelk and Kawa Ni, are full of flavor and texture. Surprise ingredients you don’t expect to find in a dish take it from excellent to extraordinary. Taibe’s menus draw in diners, pushing them to be pleasantly surprised by dishes of such creativity and complexity that they want to eat them time and time again. This is the experience that Taibe and his team have built upon, success after success, leaving one to wonder what the future holds for his loyal customer base. For sure, the not-so-distant future will bring outposts of Kawa Ni, his approachable Japanese bistro with its transporting ambiance, he reveals. “It’s just a matter of finding the right real estate,” he says. He admits, as well, to his love of Mexican food, traveling to Mexico City as often as his schedule permits. That schedule also includes his active engagement on the board of the Westport Farmers Market where he is a frequent fixture and innovator of many market programs. Taibe serves, too, on the volunteer board of Food Rescue US, an innovative app-driven operation whose mission is to recover and deliver excess food from restaurants and grocers before it spoils, eliminating countless tons of waste and stress on landfills and the environment. The Norwalk-based operation serves numerous communities across the country. If someone wants to help, they can connect via the app to find opportunities

where their transportation services are needed. Innovative and unique, it is not surprising that Taibe was drawn to its model. Now, with 78 employees among his three establishments, he has assembled a strong team, and it’s obvious that he takes his responsibilities to both customers and employees seriously. In his 20-plus years in kitchens from Manhattan to towns and cities across Fairfield County, and now in his beloved Westport, Taibe has earned his esteemed position as a celebrity chef and true culinary talent. Seemingly, one thing Taibe is not? Impulsive. Every step, every decision, every detail of his operations has his signature flourish. His empire is small by restaurant group standards, by design. His expansions occur slowly, providing him with control over the product and experience his diners have enjoyed for years. He does not rest on his laurels, nor does he agree with his reputation of being a bit difficult. “I’m just always trying to improve. There is a need to constantly evolve and become better to be successful in this business. I like to stay on top of what is needed in the area.” It is his level of involvement in his businesses and his generosity to Westport and its surrounding communities that no doubt have prompted the Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce to bestow one of two “First Citizen of the Year Awards” to Taibe recently at The Westport Inn, a banquet he was proud to attend, he tells me. I leave our time together with a far better grasp of the role of the highly evolved chef-owner in our current-day culinary environment. To stay competitive, it becomes clearer that what's needed in addition to good space, superb food and a talented team of professionals is a “concept guy,” like Taibe, whose vision, commitment to his brand and penchant for reinvention is carving out a successful niche in a highly competitive space.

Black fish soup with green chickpea, turmeric, barley and ramp pickles.

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A FRUITFUL PARTNERSHIP BY DANIELLE RENDA

ow fresh is chef Christopher Colom’s food, you ask? Well, for starters, we picked it ourselves. Colom, the executive chef at Equus — a fine dining restaurant in Tarrytown’s Castle Hotel & Spa — is committed to a menu featuring seasonal produce grown by artisanal farmers in the Hudson Valley. To obtain the freshest produce, Colom recently formed a partnership between Equus and Taliaferro Farm in New Paltz. Colom was familiar with the farm — purchased by Robin and Sylvester Taliaferro in 1995 — having attended grade school with the couple’s son, Peter, who works as a farmer. Taliaferro Farm holds a prominent place in the Hudson Valley food circle, providing produce to The Culinary Institute of America’s restaurants in Hyde Park, Main Course Catering in New Paltz, Mountain Brauhaus Restaurant in Gardiner and The Would Restaurant in Highland. The farm runs according to a community supported agriculture (CSA) structure, with locals purchasing shares of the crops a farmer is growing. For a membership fee, shareholders in Taliaferro Farm are provided with a weekly basket of farm-fresh produce, year-round flower cuttings, fruits and vegetables for canning and freezing, a weekly newsletter with recipes and an open invitation to enjoy the farm any time. And any food that’s left over is donated. “I donate whenever I get a chance, because I don’t want to throw (the food) out,” Taliaferro says. “I put a lot of hard work into growing it,” he adds with a smile. Which Colom appreciates. “The restaurant supports the farm with monthly payments and, in exchange, we have the run of what we need from the farm,” he says. “We’re able to create a true farm-to-table concept, where we’re actually putting the food from this farm onto your table.” Colom also wanted Taliaferro to be recognized for his efforts. “I’d like to get to the point where the farmer is the celebrity, not the chef,” Colom says. Colom and Taliaferro offered WAG a tour of Taliaferro Farm, which is inconspicuously nestled in the mountains of the Hudson Valley, amid vibrant green fields and charming farmhouses. It was a picturesque scene: Taliaferro and the rest of his workers quietly tending the crops, indicating the many hands that it requires to maintain the farm. For the months of July and August, the farm is grow76

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Chef Christopher Colom, left, celebrates the produce grown by Peter Taliaferro, a childhood friend and farmer at Taliaferro Farm in New Paltz. Photographs by Elijah Riess.

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ing cabbage, mesclun mix, green beans, early girl red tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes, tatsoi (an Asian green), chioggia beets, green and red basil mix, garlic, cantaloupes, sweet bell peppers, yellow zucchini and sunburst squash. Additional available products include certified organic milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, peanut butter, fudge, pickled goods, honey, meats, grains and baked items. Says Colom: “I create whatever inspires me based on what’s growing here.” For a brief moment, we paused to admire the asparagus spears, which haphazardly stuck out of the ground. Taliaferro and Colom cut a few stalks, which were three to four inches in length, and handed me one to taste. The flavor was exceptionally clean, which is no wonder, because all of Taliaferro’s products are grown organically — free from fertilizers, pesticides and hormones. “The food that comes from here is really something special,” Colom says. “We try to celebrate that as much as we can.” Colom always highlights the beauty of the produce he uses, while adding his own touch, of course. Having attended The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, Colom was trained in traditional French cuisine, but with his background — he is of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent — and having lived in Mexico for five years, his food often draws on Latin influences.

A tractor tends to one of the many crops at Taliaferro Farm, which supplies many households and select Hudson Valley restaurants with fresh produce.

In the way he presents his product, I think he succeeded, Taliaferro says of Colom. After hopping out of Taliaferro’s truck bed (because it wouldn’t be a true farm visit without a bumpy ride in the back of a truck), Colom invited WAG to Equus for a light lunch made with the produce from Taliaferro’s farm. He showed WAG around the Castle — which had once welcomed the likes of John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie — before we made our way to a peaceful

sunroom overlooking the Hudson River. With clear skies overhead and birdsong as a backdrop, the experience was nothing short of magical. Having chatted with Colom earlier about our shared fondness for scrambled eggs and rice, he created his own version — a dish of risotto topped with an over-medium egg, crisp scallions, sautéed mushrooms and squash flowers, all of which — excluding the rice — was from Taliaferro Farm. The dish was light, with the golden yolk delicately coating the vegetables underneath for a blend of natural flavors. Next was a scallop, cooked to perfection, topped with sautéed spinach, asparagus and mushrooms — also from the farm — alongside droplets of black bean emulsion and horseradish mustard for added zest. Each forkful was a savory experience. Perhaps most satisfying of all, however, was the chili-rubbed quail, which was topped with baby spinach, cornbread and a mole vinaigrette. The afternoon food journey culminated with a gooey, chocolate pudding pie, topped with sweet sauces and fresh berries. After tasting Colom’s meal, we can say — with confidence — that Colom and Taliaferro are both succeeding in celebrating the natural flavors of the Hudson Valley. For more about Taliaferro Farm, visit Taliaferrofarms.com. For more about Equus, visit castleonthehudson.com.

SAVE THE DATE

13th Annual Honoring Joy and Avi Avidan Thursday, September 13, 2018 Boutiques open at 10:30 a.m. | Lunch Program begins at 12:30 p.m. Tappan Hill Mansion, Tarrytown, NY Featuring Meredith Vieira Come shop at our luxury boutiques and purchase raffle tickets for a chance to win some amazing prizes! All proceeds benefit the National MS Society. Purchase tickets at WomenOnTheMoveNYC.org.

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Cool down your backyard this summer!

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Images courtesy Jim D’Angelo Photography.

PICTURE PERFECT BY KRISTEN RUBY

hen it comes to party planning, not everyone will hire a professional event planner or PR agency to make his or her event a success. If you are planning a party on a budget this summer, steal these tricks from me:

MAKE IT EXPERIENTIAL Think about how you can make the event more Instagrammable with user-generated content. Turn the event into an experience that people want to share on social media. Add visual elements to make the party pop, such as a flower wall, a balloon wall or even a colored background. People crave shareable social experiences, so think about how you can create this for them.

LEVERAGE SOCIAL MEDIA If you have already chosen an event theme but need more ideas for bringing the party to life, search under relevant hashtags on social media. For example, search “Tutu Baby Shower” on Pinterest, #TutuBabyShower on Instagram or the full phrase on Facebook.

CREATE A CUSTOM HASHTAG One of the best ways to capture photos is to create a custom hashtag that guests can use on social media. Be sure to make the hashtag visible with signage at the event. You can follow the hashtag on Instagram to keep up with all of the tagged images so guests can see all of the images post-event.

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DON’T FORGET THE SWAG The best part of any PR event is always the swag bag. You can create your own custom swag bags and include branded items with the name/details of the event. For example, if you are planning a baby shower, you can give guests custom-branded lip gloss that says “Jessica’s Baby Shower.” If you don’t have a printer or graphic design skills, you can have these custom-made for you on Etsy. THINK VISUALLY Sometimes the most beautiful ideas can come from simple elements that you already have in your home. Make a splash at your next event with three simple elements — a silicone ice cube tray, distilled water and fresh flowers. Simply pour the fresh flowers into a tray, fill it up with distilled water and allow it to freeze overnight. Consider using an extra-large silicone ice cube tray if you want to fit a full rose in there as well. You can display the floral ice cubes in a large ice bucket with a large bottle of Champagne for a stunning display that will wow your guests. CREATE A ‘MOMOSA’ BAR “Momosa” Bars are all the rage at baby showers. To create your own pop-up “Momosa” Bar, buy two dozen pink baby bottles and cut the top of each bot-

tle open. Insert pink and white straws and tie the tops of the bottles with ribbon. Serve cocktails such as pink lemonade or pink Prosecco in the bottles. Top off the bar in true “Momosa” style by offering guests fresh fruit in large glass canisters. MINIMALIST CENTERPIECES If you want to wow guests, consider making centerpieces out of three simple household items — Champagne flutes, roses and ice cream cones. Cut the fresh roses and insert them into the ice cream cones, then put the cones into the Champagne glasses. Line up several flutes in a row for a dazzling effect. This simple trick can be used for anything from a baby shower to a kid’s birthday party or even a private dinner party with friends. TULLE IS YOUR FRIEND Tulle can be used for everything from a dessert table skirt to beautiful chair skirts. It can also be used on water bottles to create a “tutu” effect. To create your own, simply get tulle, elastic and satin. COVER THE FLOOR WITH MINI BALLOONS One of the most overlooked types of balloons are actually the mini ones that are between two to five inches. You can turn the gift area into a pink-andwhite wonderland by blowing up 200 mini balloons and covering the floor with them. This creates a stunning effect and also looks great in photos, too.

1 VAN DER DONCK ST, YONKERS, NY 10701 • CAFEHUDSON.COM • (914) 338-7542 JULY 2018

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Courtesy Pablo Cunningham/ The Image Maker.

THE CANDIE CART KEEPS ROLLING ALONG

BY MICHELLE BARBERO

tephanie Soliman, owner of The Candie Cart in Yonkers, has been creating events in the tristate area for six years. But she’s been interested in the hospitality industry since she was a teenager. When a friend asked her to plan her baby shower, The Candie Cart was soon rolling. “I unleashed a talent I never knew I had,” Soliman says of the winter wonderland-themed party. After this success, Soliman expanded her horizons to include bridal showers, christenings, first Holy Communions, Sweet 16s and more. The most popular requests are for baby and bridal showers. To prepare, Soliman first meets with a client to discuss the location and theme of the event as well as who will be attending. This meeting also establishes what types of candies and sweets the client wishes

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to have at the function. Then, a creative vision begins to form. “The fine details that make a first impression are key” reveals Soliman. The Candie Cart encompasses full event planning, including party favors if desired. Decorations are made to fit the needs of each occasion. “I work with graphic designers as well as doing the designs myself,” Soliman says. An element of this event planning service that sets Soliman apart from competitors is a candy cart as opposed to a candy table. When planning a Cinderella-themed Sweet 16, Soliman came to the realization that she needed to introduce something new and innovative. Inspired by a common trend in Europe, Soliman built a candy cart. A 3½-foot-tall Ferris wheel has also recently been added to The Candie Cart’s inventory. The goodies include chocolates, Oreos, Rice Krispy treats, strawberries and more. Oreo and pretzel bags are made for clients who do not want the

cart. Soliman has even made sugar body scrubs for one of her clients. One of Soliman’s personal favorites was a baby shower that she planned for parents expecting a little girl. The candy cart was given a vintage look with the incorporation of lace and pearls. A chic color scheme of blush, gold and white and the words “sugar, spice and everything nice” were used to adorn the cart. Another baby shower that Soliman enjoyed working on was an elephant-themed one in which “everything just came together.” Among the features she added to the cart for this event was a blue cake decorated with an elephant design and cookies that took on the appearance of circus peanuts dipped in blue icing. Soliman also notably took pleasure in creating a Candie Cart project for a first Holy Communion. The color scheme of mauve, ivory and blush was “a little bit of a challenge at first.” Soliman worked around the lack of mauve-colored candies by incorporating the color into accessories like the ribbons. In the end, she says, “the cart looked nice and elegant.” The Candie Cart has rolled into The Surf Club on the Sound in New Rochelle and the Waterside Restaurant & Catering in North Bergen, New Jersey. In March, Soliman was invited to showcase her skills in Lord & Taylor’s “Shop Smart, Do Good” charity event in Eastchester. The store focused on the color rose gold for the occasion, due to the color’s prominence in the fashion world. “For this particular event, I added rose gold accents to all the jars and table décor while also adding rose gold shimmer to the Oreos and pretzels,” Soliman says. With bridal and baby shower season in full swing, there’s no telling where The Candie Cart will travel next. For more, visit thecandiecart.com.

Contemporary Seafood Restaurant Causal Fine Dining Atmosphere Metro Chic Bar/Lounge Alla Fresco Dining Overlooking The Hudson River Private Parties from 15 to 200 Guests 1 Van Der Donck Street ] Yonkers, NY 10701 914.751.8170 ] www.dolphinrbl.com

A ‘SAGE’ APPROACH TO MUSIC AND DANCE

BY GREGG SHAPIRO

prolific award-winning musician, dancer and visual artist, Port Chester native Rachael Sage is a creative visionary. On her new album “Myopia” (MPress Records), she covers Howard Jones (“No One Is To Blame”), sings in Yiddish (“Umru Mayne”), and ventures into new musical territory. Best known for her keyboard work, with her instrument usually decked out in feather boas and sequins, Sage has been turning her attention to guitars, both acoustic and electric, as of late. This shift gives songs such as “Haunted By Objects,” “Alive” and “Olivia” an exciting vitality. Now based in New York City, Sage took time out of her busy recording and performance schedule to answer a few questions about her career and her new album. Rachael, your performance style draws heavily on the piano and vocals tradition. Who would you consider to be your strongest influences? “I’ve been playing piano since I was 2 ½ years old, so it’s hard for me to separate my later more conscious influences from those around me at an early age. A good cross section from early childhood through my teens would have to include classical music that I heard in ballet class; Broadway music from shows like ‘Oklahoma,’ ‘Annie’ and ‘A Chorus Line’; The Beatles, Elvis, Buddy Holly and ’50s doowop music via my dad; Carole King, James Taylor, Jim Croce and Cat Stevens; Chicago; Journey; Elton John; Billy Joel; Howard Jones; David Bowie; Prince; The Police; Bruce Springsteen; U2; Maria McKee; Tracy Chapman; Sinead O’Connor and Suzanne Vega.” Since 2004, you have released one album every two years. Was this a conscious decision? “No, not really. But apparently it takes that long for me to write, record, tour and repeat. (laughs)” What kind of discipline does it take to do that? “What’s that saying? ‘If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.’ So, yeah, technically I know I possess a great deal of what most people

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Rachael Sage. Photograph by Erin Baiano.

define as discipline. But discipline to me is cooking dinner, or paying bills, or exercising, not burying my head and my heart into something for 12 hours at a time that never ceases to fascinate me. I am certain that my early career as a young ballet dancer gave me certain attitudes and skills, which have helped my focus as a musician, but I am also just very fortunate to love what I do.” I’m glad you mentioned ballet. Your 2016 album was titled “Choreographic.” Can you please say something about the intersection of music and dance in your life? “Dance was the most defining influence on my childhood and teen years, without question. While I played piano naturally by ear, dance and specifically ballet was a structure within which I was raised and through which I learned not only to master a difficult physical vocabulary with a rich cultural history, but it also exposed me to the greatest classical composers, the most spectacular costumes, sets, lighting and, perhaps most significantly, the magic of being part of an ensemble. “Through my studies at The School of American Ballet, I became a mature, artistic, expressive person who learned to absorb lessons from great teachers and to work well with my peers, whether they were nice, mean or worse. I learned to be a professional artist and the crystallization of this is a memory I have of stepping on a hot curling iron someone’s mother had carelessly left on the floor. In spite of an immediate third-degree burn, I knew no one else could fill my part in time so I shoved my foot in my ballet shoe, jumped and pirouetted my way through the Candy Cane role in ‘The Nutcracker’ and, as they say, the show went on. It’s a fine line between commitment and obsession, but I chose to think of it as fulfilling my responsibility as a dancer and it was a microcosm for many scenarios that would arise once I became a professional musician, as well.” Your music has also been featured on Lifetime’s “Dance Moms.” “When ‘Dance Moms’ began using my music, my primary emotion was excitement, because I was already a huge fan of all of the talented members of the ALDC (Abby Lee Dance Company). I remember seeing Maddie Ziegler perform a solo to one of my older songs, ‘Down My Spine,’ and crying like a baby. I just couldn’t believe someone so young could have such a sophisticated sense of musicality and so much emotional depth. All the young girls I met on the show were mature beyond their years, seemed surprisingly grounded and had an openness to their personalities which truly impressed me. I suppose in many ways, even though I was strictly a ballet dancer, their precociousness reminded me of myself as a kid. “I’m really eager to share my video for ‘Alive’ from the new album, which features dance prodigy Elliana Walmsley, who got her start on ‘Dance Moms,’ as well as choreography by Gianna Martello, who created most of the dances on the show and was a featured

“I am certain that my

early career as a young ballet dancer gave me certain attitudes and skills, which have helped my focus as a musician, but I am also just very fortunate to love what I do.” — Rachael Sage cast member. It was a dream come true to work with them both, and I hope people enjoy the collaboration.” You also run your own record label, MPress Records. “Well, that takes more discipline. Running a business of any kind is inevitably very hard work. Overseeing even a very small staff and roster of artists in whom you believe profoundly is a perpetual challenge that can be both humbling and exhausting. I describe it as a labor of love, through which I’ve learned to be a better leader, to be a teacher in some respects and, of course, a perpetual student of the ever-shifting landscape we call ‘the music business.’ “I’ve always been very hands-on at MPress, from graphic design to writing promo spiels to overseeing photo shoots for our artists, including Grammy nominee Seth Glier and Independent Music Award winner A Fragile Tomorrow. But these days I’m also very grateful to have a fabulous team, including Jojo Gentry and Meredith Tarr, who’ve both been helping me implement my glittery, eclectic vision for well over a decade.” The title of your new disc is “Myopia.” Do you wear glasses? Contact lenses? “I’ve been wearing glasses since I was a little kid, maybe 6 or 7. I remember the dark day when I had to wear them to ballet class for the first time and put them down on the floor while I did pirouettes. I think I’ve felt a little bit like an outsider ever since. “When I was 11, I was able to finally get contact lenses, which I wore pretty much continually until my 20s. Before that, I only wore my glasses early in the morning or late at night, because I’d been raised to think they were unattractive and made me look,

well, nerdy for lack of a better word. But at some point, I found some funky glasses that reflected who I was — colorful, a little quirky and outgoing. Since my 20s, I’ve mostly reserved contacts for onstage and leaned more on glasses day to day. My eyesight has also worsened, and I’m now legally blind without corrective lenses. Thanks to my equally myopic parents for that, oy. (laughs)” “Myopia” has been described as an edgier album and features you playing more guitar as you did on 2014’s “Blue Roses” disc. “I’ve been playing acoustic guitar for a number of years now, but I play a lot more electric guitar on this record. I think it just suited the songwriting more and, as a producer, I’m always looking to serve the vibe and the feel of the song, so I pushed myself to approach the arrangements a bit differently, used a couple new instruments — both fantastic Gretsch guitars — and had a lot of fun being out of my element until it became my element. I would liken it to making the jump from acrylics to oils, as a painter, something I’m still working up to.” You are primarily known as a singer/songwriter, but over the years you have included cover tunes such as Hall & Oates’ “Rich Girl,” Little Children’s “Mexico” and Neil Young’s “Helpless” on your albums. The new album features a cover of Howard Jones’ “No One Is To Blame.” Why did you choose that Jones song? “I chose that song because it’s been my favorite pop ballad since my youth, and because last year my dream came true when Howard Jones invited me to tour with him. I suppose meeting him and forging a beautiful friendship gave me the confidence ultimately. It just made sense.” Fellow Westchester County native (and a September 2017 WAG subject) Dar Williams can be heard on the reprise of “Invisible Light” from 2012’s “Haunted By You.” How did that come to pass? “I’ve known Dar for a while now and she’s always been so down-to-earth and ridiculously charming. I adore her music and respect her across the board. There are moments when chutzpah meets fate. Reaching out to her to ask her to sing on that song and having her actually agree to do it was one of them. She was such a pleasure to work with, so easygoing, funny and creative. I love Dar.” Speaking of Westchester County, do you have any fond memories of growing up here that you would care to share with the readers? “I was born in Port Chester and lived in Rye until I was 5, but honestly, I don’t remember too much from that time other than wanting a bunny and my parents saying ‘no.’ (laughs) However, my longtime co-producer and mix engineer Andy Zulla actually went to high school in Chappaqua with Dar Williams and they did all kinds of collaborations there, unbeknownst to me. How’s that for a small world? (laughs)” For more, visit rachaelsage.com.

JULY 2018

WAGMAG.COM

WHERE SCOTT AND ZELDA KICKED UP THEIR HEELS BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

"Mostly, we authors must repeat ourselves — that’s the truth. We have two or three great and moving experiences in our lives — experiences so great and moving that it doesn’t seem at the time that anyone else has been so caught up and pounded and dazzled and astonished and beaten and broken and rescued and illuminated and rewarded and humbled in just that way ever before. Then we learn our trade, well or less well, and we tell our two or three stories – each time in a new disguise – maybe ten times, maybe a hundred, as long as people will listen…."

— F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “One Hundred False Starts: Twice Told Tales”

Scott Fitzgerald stood at the end of the dock of the imagination where he conjured tales of the unattainable American dream and the elusive women who often embodied it. This was never truer than in “The Great Gatsby,” his seminal 1925 masterwork — routinely acclaimed as one of America’s greatest and most popular novels — about a poor boy turned soldier and successful bootlegger who fatally amasses legendary wealth and fame, all for a first love whose virtues and vulnerability exist mostly in his mind. Those of us who have read the book in school — or who are acquainted with any of several movie versions — are familiar with its crucial New York locales, including The Plaza hotel in Manhattan and the ash heap that was subsequently the sites of the 1939 and ’64 World’s Fairs and is today the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens. Fitzgerald scholars have long thought Jay Gatsby’s over-the-top mansion to be situated on Long Island. (He wrote the book while living in Great Neck.) But what if his time in Westport — then a blend of struggling farmers, artists and new money —were an equal inspiration? That’s the premise of a new book and documentary. Richard Webb Jr.’s “Boats Against the Current: The Honeymoon Summer of Scott and Zelda” (Prospecta Press, $40, 178 pages), the companion

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to Williams’ film “Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story,” explores the five months Fitzgerald and his bride, Zelda, spent writing and (mostly) partying in the spring and summer of 1920 at a modest gray house on Compo Beach Road in Westport — and the influence this had on “Gatsby.” “Some 200 pages of (Fitzgerald’s 1922 novel) ‘The Beautiful and Damned’ feature Westport to such a degree that you can walk through the town, using the book as a map,” says Webb, a Westport historian who grew up on Compo Beach Road near the Fitzgerald house. “The Beautiful and Damned,” he adds, is often considered a forerunner to “The Great Gatsby.” Then there was the 1996 New Yorker article by Westport writer Barbara Probst Solomon, who connected the dots, particularly between Gatsby and Frederick E. Lewis II, the wealthy Tarrytown-born adventurer, explorer, inventor and sportsman who threw cinematic parties at Longshore, his 175-acre estate on Compo Beach Road — now a public country club and park — which was separated by a hedge from the Fitzgerald home. Among those in ice cream-colored clothes who wandered Lewis’ ivy-covered terraces, perched beneath umbrella-ed tables and strolled past pools studded with water lilies were ballerina Anna Pavlova, Broadway impresario David Belasco, actresses Ina Claire and Marie Dressler, magician Harry

Houdini, Connecticut Gov. Marcus Holcomb and, on one occasion, Zelda Fitzgerald, whom Lewis asked to leave. That was the story of Zelda’s life. Beautiful, self-indulgent and exhibitionistic, the spoiled Southern belle turned international flapper was always getting kicked out of some place with her hubby, mostly for their alcohol-fueled antics. (It was their exile from the Commodore Hotel in Manhattan, now the Grand Hyatt New York, that led them to Westport.) No one could deny, however, that Zelda was a compelling figure, one who offered, along with her diary entries, continual inspiration to her husband’s work. “They were America’s first rock stars,” Webb says. “They were actually pioneers of celebrity.” Though Lewis kicked Zelda out of his party, the much-married tycoon continued to allow the socialite, who had a predilection for skinny dipping, to use his private beach. “He could see Zelda from one of his windows,” says Williams, a Westport filmmaker, author and musician, who met Webb at a 2013 Westport Historical Society panel discussion on the town’s great writers, which launched them on what Webb calls their “epic journey.” “While there’s no mention of F. E. Lewis in their diaries,” Williams adds, “their house was next to the 175-acre estate. There were no other houses around.”

Robert Steven Williams, creator of the documentary “Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story.” Photograph by Carl Timpone.

Richard Webb Jr., author of “Boats Against the Current: The Honeymoon Summer of Scott and Zelda.” Photograph by Jim Swaffield.

It doesn’t take much, then, to imagine Zelda bringing tales home to the Fitzgeralds’ more modest dwelling. Their parties were less lavish than Lewis’ but no less unmistakable. Flush with cash from the sale of Fitzgerald’s first novel, “This Side of Paradise” — his income ballooned from $800 to $18,000 (about $235,000 today) in an era when people averaged less than $2,000 a year — Scott and Zelda let the good times roll. “They had friends in from the city all the time,” Webb says. “Weekends started Thursday and ended Wednesday. One day they spent $500 ($6,500 today) on liquor. Food was rarely mentioned in their diaries. It was all booze….and orgies.” The booze was bootleg, the Fitzgeralds’ move to Westport having coincided with the early days of Prohibition, and the orgies included key parties, in which the men put their keys in a bowl, and the women went off with the man attached to the keys they selected. Such hedonism, the cut of the coastline, the elaborate Longshore parties and Lewis’ intriguing presence — even the names, Easton and Weston, Connecticut, possibly for East Egg and West Egg, Long Island in “Gatsby” — make a strong case for Westport as the prime inspiration for the novel. But some — like the late Fitzgerald scholar Matthew J. Bruccoli, who may have been protective of his own academic place — have dismissed the theory, shooting down Solomon’s original research and subsequent New Yorker article. Williams and Webb were skeptical, too. “We asked people to disprove the theory,” Webb says, “but at every step people said, ‘No, you’re dead on.’” Besides Solomon, their supportive sources included Eleanor “Bobbie” Lanahan, a Fitzgerald granddaughter; Sam Waterston, who played “Gatsby” narrator Nick Carraway in the 1974 film starring Robert Redford; Charles Scribner III, grandson and namesake of “Gatsby’s” publisher; and actor Keir Dullea, who reads the Fitzgeralds’ words in the new documentary. In the end, the story of “Gatsby” in Westport is really the story of the literary imagination’s ability to conflate experiences. Germinated in Westport but incubated in Great Neck, “Gatsby,” Williams says, is “a beachy blend.” Richard Webb Jr. and Robert Steven Williams will be appearing at Westport Library Oct. 10 and at the Union League Club in Manhattan Dec. 6. For more, visit gatsbyinct.com.

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WEAR

A ‘HEAVENLY’ EXPLORATION OF ART AND RELIGION BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

“Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” — The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s much-ballyhooed Costume Institute exhibit running through Oct. 8 — is not what you would imagine, delightfully so. Yes, there are some who have taken umbrage at such a visceral presentation of the fashion world’s long-standing appropriation of Roman Catholic imagery for everything from nightwear to wedding gowns. But then, these are generally the people who are outraged by everything, n’est-ce pas? Of course, the images of similarly attired celebrities at the recent Met Gala haven’t helped. (Why do women at these events always look as if they’re sporting draperies, channeling the Carol Burnett takeoff on Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind”? All that was missing, in the gala’s instance, was the curtain rod.) For the open-minded, however, there is a powerful idea at play in “Heavenly Bodies” that threads this show more surely than the gold in the papal vestments and Chanel cocktail dresses; and gleams more certainly than the rubies and emeralds in the papal tiaras and colored crystals in Dolce & Gabbana’s Byzantine-style dresses. That idea is how Christianity in general and the Catholic Church in particular conquered first an empire (Rome) and then a world by appealing in part to the tactile and the visual — much as fashion does.

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Collaborating with colleagues in The Met’s Department of Medieval Art and at The Cloisters, Andrew Bolton — the Wendy Yu curator in charge of The Costume Institute — has fashioned a show that upends our expectations. You would think the more than 150 ensembles from A (Azzedine Alaïa) to V (Versace) would grace the Anna Wintour Costume Center galleries. Instead they are home to some 40 dazzling papal vestments and accessories from 15 papacies spanning the 18th through early 20th centuries — marking the most significant loan from The Vatican to The Met since “The Vatican Collections” show in 1983. Meanwhile, the designer creations dot the medieval and Byzantine galleries and The Robert Lehman Wing in the main museum on Fifth Avenue as well as The Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park farther uptown — a clever marketing ploy that forces fashionistas who might not be as interested in the fine arts to commune with them as well. In these art-filled spaces, mannequins stand on pedestals for the fashion faithful to gaze up at. They cluster like choirs. They flit among topiaries. They worship at altars, like so many nuns or brides taking the veil — and thus taking on new identities. And, in the end, they lie in state alongside real effigies. By placing the vestments in the costume center and the clothing in the art galleries among objects that once had real devotional purposes, Bolton and medieval curators C. Griffith Mann, Barbara Drake Boehm, Helen C. Evans and Melanie Holcomb have underscored the connection between the

Top: Gallery View, Fuentidueña Chapel. Bottom, left to right: Gallery View, Medieval Sculpture Hall. Gallery View, Medieval Europe Gallery. Images © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Top: “Madonna” Wedding Ensemble, John Galliano for House of Dior, autumn/winter 2005-06 haute couture. Courtesy Dior Heritage Collection, Paris. Image courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art, digital composite scan by Katerina Jebb. Bottom: Gallery View, Robert Lehman Wing. Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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sacred and the profane, as it were, that exists in religion and all the arts. In the costume center, you’ll find vestments like the dalmatic of Pius IX (reigned 1846-78), made of white silk gros de Tours embroidered with polychrome silk, gold and silver metal thread and gold paillettes. Students at Verona’s Istituto Femminile di Don Nicola Mazza meticulously embroidered intricate compositions such as the Flagellation and the Crowning with Thorns — scenes from Jesus’ Passion — depicted here. They specialized in figural work. Yet what is particularly striking is not just the craftsmanship but the sensuousness of the forms. This Jesus may suffer but he does so beautifully. And that speaks of a religion, of a Church that co-opted the Greco-Roman emphasis on the body, not just during its rediscovery during the Renaissance but from the very beginning. (Look, for instance, at the conflation of the tragic pastoral musician Orpheus with Jesus, the Good Shepherd, in the images in the Catacombs that helped succor the nascent Christian flock.) There is a sensuousness to the papal vestments — and perhaps a sensuality as well. Certainly, that’s captured in the clothes throughout the exhibit — shimmering Versaces studded with crosses; a sheer gray silk net Valentino (2014) embroidered with Lucas Cranach the Elder’s “Adam and Eve” (1526) on the skirt; plunging, peekaboo Rodarte goddess gowns in Virgin Mary pinks, blues and golds. If the spiritual finds a home in the sensual here, the sensual finally rests in the spiritual. At The Cloisters, where the strains of Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” sung by Barbara Bonney, waft through the Romanesque and Gothic interiors — this is first Met show we’ve seen in which sounds are as important as sights — unadorned wedding dresses stand at attention in apses. There they perhaps await bridegrooms — instead of the other way around — but also remind us that nuns are the brides of Christ. One of these gowns — an ivory silk gazar and organza ensemble by Cristobal Balenciaga (1967) — faces the apse of the Fuentidueña Chapel, its rounded train mirroring the slice of light carved by the arc of one of the Romanesque windows. There is something so pure, so serene about the feelings the scene evokes. It’s like communing with the divine. For some, such a thought borders on the sacrilegious. How can a dress — even one as seamless as the robe Jesus was stripped of — compete with the concept of God? It can’t, of course. But then again, the Church can’t have it both ways. Some 2,000 years ago, it created a brand that has stood the proverbial test of time. It can hardly complain if others have chosen to run with it. For more, visit metmuseum.org.

WEAR

ERIC BUTERBAUGH BY A NOSE BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

loral artist and perfumer Eric Buterbaugh did the flowers for Princess Beatrice’s 18th birthday party in 2006. “I’ve known them since they were girls,” he says of Beatrice and her younger sister, Princess Eugenie, daughters of the Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Andrew and the former Sarah Ferguson. “They’re both lovely.” Buterbaugh also did the flowers for actress Salma Hayek’s Venetian

wedding. So when he says he has a story about Elizabeth Taylor he’s never told anyone before, we lean in. The earthy, compassionate Taylor — whom he says was “a broad in the best sense of the word,” one who “could get anyone to do anything” — was also one of the first celebrities to create her own fragrances, including White Diamonds, launched with Elizabeth Arden in 1991. Buterbaugh was with her when the first shipment arrived and she began spritzing everything — and, presumably, everyone. He found the results less than nose-worthy. “It was so awful,” he says of the fragrance, although he notes that “fragrance is such a personal thing.” Buterbaugh is like that — honest, as warm as his pale pink cowboy boots and the gold rings he sports on every finger and passionate about scents. Indeed, they have been important to him from the moment he lined up Polo by Ralph Lauren, ck one by Calvin Klein and other fragrances on his bureau in Oklahoma where he grew up. So it’s no surprise that he should become not only a floral artist but a perfumer as well, working with fragrance industry expert Fabrice Croisé, fragrance powerhouse Firmenich and what he calls master “noses” to produce EB Florals by Eric Buterbaugh. The 19 fragrances, along with candles in six fragrances, that make up EB Florals would seem to be contradictions in terms. Like fine wines, they’re complex creatures with fruity top notes and woodsy base notes. What makes these unisex

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Eric Buterbaugh. Courtesy Eric Buterbaugh.

scents special, Buterbaugh says, are the ingredients. Many perfume brands use a lot of chemicals. “Our brand,” he says “is one of the purest.” Indeed, there is a filigree delicacy to these fragrances that gently invites the nostrils to explore their essence. Take Velvet Lavender, which he happens to be wearing as we talk just off of the airy, lucent new Beauty floor on the lower level of the Main Shop that anchors The Saks Shops at Greenwich. Do we detect some bergamot, apricot, sage, sandalwood and, lavender’s frequent companion, vanilla? We do but, in the end, it’s all lavender. Buterbaugh wasn’t always a perfumer or a floral designer. He began his career in the fashion industry with Versace in London. Those were the days of the supermodels, the Naomis and Christys. It was a heady time, but Buterbaugh, a chatty charmer, didn’t like the fashion world’s bitchy atmosphere and so relocated to Los Angeles in 1998. His floral designs for a friend’s event netted him more requests, giving birth to Eric Buterbaugh Flower Design. As the designer in

residence for the Four Seasons in L.A., he created arrangements that spanned the movie industry, the fashion world and nonprofits. Two years ago, he moved to a stand-alone space on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. But the flower shop, he says, was always a way into the perfume business, which launched in 2015. Today there is a perfumery and garden on Beverly Boulevard as well as a gallery for emerging and established artists whose work explores flowers and scents. Some of Buterbaugh’s scents play on his signature love of roses. But though he’s known as “the king of the roses,” he says that if he had to go with just one bloom, it would be the peony. “Peonies are pretty amazing,” says Buterbaugh, whose scents include HRH Peony. “I love that salmon pink that opens to yellow. “You just stop and look in amazement at how nature can make something so beautiful.” For more, visit ericbuterbaugh.com and saksfifthavenue.com.

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Craig Tifford, MD

WARES

It’s the little things that make guests feel at home.

ROLLING OUT MORE THAN THE WELCOME MAT

BY JANE MORGAN

had already invited a few people to a dinner party in my recently post-college apartment one summer when a classic New York City heat wave descended. My finances being modest, I could only afford to have one air conditioner, and it was strategically located in the bedroom. I routinely abandoned the living room and kitchen when it was this hot, but I could hardly expect my guests to tolerate such conditions. They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and so it was that night I decided to embrace the situation and host the entire party in my bedroom. One thing I realized then and it still holds true — if you decide something is going to be fabulous, it will be. I repositioned my large drafting table, moved it into the middle of the room, threw a tablecloth over it and, voilà — intimate dining for four. Adding atmosphere with music, wine and the dim-

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mer switch, the space was transformed into a private lounge. Although the cooking portion of the evening was practically stroke-inducing for me, my guests felt only cool comfort as they clinked their glasses in glee at the novelty of the experience. Entertaining and hospitality are all about intention. One of my favorite comedians, Sebastian Maniscalo, devotes a considerable portion of his routine to explaining why he never stays with friends — being relegated to sleeping on Star Wars sheets, “…is that C3PO??,” on an old single bed in a room with an unidentifiable smell and then being asked to squeegee the glass on the shower in the bathroom when he’s done, “…what, do I work here?” His hosts then give a long and winding discourse on the state of their wonky plumbing and instruct him not to use the sink or else the entire first floor will flood. I myself have been a guest at friends’ homes with little to no heat, no shades on the windows to keep

the neighbors from becoming intimately acquainted with my bedtime routine and no (even instant) coffee in the morning. No one is saying you must redecorate, but please put some thought into it. Conversely, I will never forget my stay with one friend who put a bottle of water and a glass on a tray next to my bed along with a travel alarm clock and a tiny vase with one flower in it. Delight is in the details. My notes on this subject are pretty straightforward. Just a little effort goes a long way. Don’t make your friends forage for towels, soap, toothpaste or shampoo. Your bathroom needn’t be a spa, but a night light is an extremely considerate touch. Always give two pillows instead of one in addition to fresh sheets and towels. Offer your guests extra blankets and show them how to make the room warmer or cooler. A light next to the bed helps. Tidy up the house. Getting rid of clutter is the main thing. Make things easy to find and give your guests a little tour of the space so that they don’t feel that they need to disturb you for every little thing. When it comes to the kitchen, set out a designated mug along with instructions as to how to make coffee or tea in case you aren’t up yet. Always provide small snacks and beverages. Elevating the mood from "we're ready for you" to "we're so happy you're here" separates a good host from a great one. If you focus on how you’d like your guests to feel instead of simply what they need, I can pretty much guarantee the experience will be pleasurable for everyone. For more, visit janemorganinteriordesign.com.

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WHAT'S COLLECTIBLE

TIFFANY’S SILVER LINING BY JENNIFER PITMAN

ithout a doubt, American silver in the Japanese taste is one of the most inventive styles in American silver, and certainly one of the most collectible today. For a 20-year period from about 1870 to ’90, American silver won worldwide acclaim. It was a period of great creativity, when form and ornament were integrated and whimsy, humor and even color were incorporated into silver. Much of the credit for the fashion belongs to Tiffany & Co. and its chief designer, Edward C. Moore (1827-1891), who was at the forefront of this movement. The effect of Japanese art on Western fine and decorative arts in the 19th century is well known, spurred on by the opening of Japan to the West in 1853, after centuries of that country’s isolation. Westerners now had access to a much richer array of Japanese material through trade and travel and though international exhibitions, in which Japan became an active participant. Dealers, art critics and designers were another important influence in promoting Japanese art. Christopher Dresser, one of the first industrial designers, was one of the biggest promoters of the “cult of Japan.” In 1876, Dresser traveled to Japan and was hired by Tiffany & Co. to bring back Japanese goods for the firm. In total, Tiffany & Co. acquired some 8,000 objects. Half of these pieces were sold at auction and the other half presumably remained in the Tiffany & Co. collection, either for sale or to serve for study and inspiration. As Tiffany & Co.’s chief designer, Moore had his own varied and extensive collections, including more than 900 pieces of Japanese ironwork, baskets, ceramics, lacquer work and ivory. Interestingly, almost none of these items were silver. It is clear from looking at Moore’s collection (now in The Met-

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Tiffany & Co. Japanese pattern serving pieces, sold for $688. Courtesy Rago Arts and Auction.

ropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan), that these works were rarely copied outright but served as inspiration — a shape, a color, a motif — for a design in silver. These different influences began to gel for Moore around 1867, when his sketchbook featured silver designs in the Japanese manner. Indeed, Moore had visited the 1867 Paris exhibition and was greatly inspired by the Japanese display there and, possibly, by Christofle’s French works in the Japanese style. Tiffany’s early silver works in the Japanese style were rather conventional, typically featuring engraved decoration — such as fish, fans, baskets and kimono-clad figures — taken from print sources like Hokusai or birds on flowering branches, inspired by other woodblock prints. Moore’s Japanese pattern flatware typifies these early works, decorated with different birds inspired by Chinese paintings. Pieces were often further embellished with engraved decoration. Introduced in 1871, the Japanese pattern was the first American flatware pattern in the Asian style. The pattern was later renamed and is known today as the Audubon pattern. By 1878, however, Moore’s silver in the Japanese taste was radically transformed and was eagerly snapped up by European, American and Japanese collectors and museums. At the Paris Exhibition in 1878, Tiffany & Co. won the Grand Prix for silver and Charles Tiffany was made a Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honor. Moore’s mature style in the Japanese taste concentrates on flora and fauna and is largely devoid

of human figures. The decoration is often cast and applied to give it a three-dimensional quality, decoration is placed asymmetrically and, in the finest works, tells a story, much as a painting could. The silver forms have an equally organic quality to them. Many of Tiffany’s pieces also featured color, known as “mixed metal.” Gold, copper and alloys stood in contrast to the silver background, which was itself adorned with a hammered and matte surface. Copper was used extensively and often patinated to a raspberry red color, which is reminiscent of Japanese lacquer work. Tiffany & Co. also mastered Japanese metalworking techniques, such as mokume, in which several layers of different precious metals — gold, silver, copper — were layered, folded and flattened to create a wood-grain effect. This charming alloy was used sparingly and for decorative effect, such as on the wings of a butterfly. A Tiffany & Co. centerpiece circa 1880 is a beautiful example of this mature style. The basket, itself of a highly original shape, has been hammered to imitate a swirling pool of water in which maple keys and mottled and decaying leaves of copper and gold float by as a beetle skirts along the water and a spotted salamander lounges on the shore nearby. Is it any wonder that imaginative pieces like these continue to enchant collectors nearly 150 years later? Jennifer Pitman, a Westchester resident, writes about the jewelry, fine and decorative arts she encounters as Rago Arts and Auction’s senior account manager for Westchester and Connecticut. For more, contact her at jenny@ragoarts.com or 917-745-2730.

I FEEL SO POWERLESS. WE HAVE TO WATCH HER EVERY MINUTE. FAMILY AND FRIENDS STOPPED COMING AROUND. HE KEEPS SAYING: “THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH ME.” IT’S DESTROYING OUR FAMILY. I FEEL SO GUILTY WE HAVE TO MOVE HER INTO A HOME. IT’S SO HARD TO CARE FOR SOMEONE WHO’S MEAN TO YOU. HE HIDES THINGS ALL THE TIME. I’M GRIEVING THE LOSS OF SOMEONE WHO’S STILL ALIVE. WE DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START.

LIVING WITH FTD IS HARD. LIVING WITHOUT HELP IS HARDER. THERE’S COMFORT IN FINDING OTHERS WHO UNDERSTAND. WE FINALLY FOUND A DOCTOR WHO GETS IT. I GOT SO MUCH ADVICE FROM OTHER CAREGIVERS. UNDERSTANDING MORE HELPS ME DEAL WITH HER SYMPTOMS. SEEING THAT OTHERS MADE IT THROUGH, I KNEW I COULD TOO. WE HONOR HIM BY ADVOCATING FOR A CURE. NOW I’M BETTER AT ASKING FOR HELP. NO MATTER HOW BAD IT GETS, WE KNOW WE’RE NOT ALONE. It can feel so isolating and confusing from the start: Just getting a diagnosis of FTD takes 3.6 years on average. But no family facing FTD should ever have to face it alone, and with your help, we’re working to make sure that no one does. The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) is dedicated to a world without FTD, and to providing help and support for those living with this disease today. Choose to bring hope to our families: www.theAFTD.org/learnmore

WANDERS

THE HOUSE OF THE (LITERARY) SPIRITS BY JEREMY WAYNE

o you pronounce your name Anthony or Antony?” I ask my host, the first time we meet, on a late winter’s evening in the cozy bar at Troutbeck, his thoroughly lovely hotel in Amenia, New York. “Well my mother calls me Anthony,” he replies, despite the spelling, pronouncing it with a hard “T” and silent “H.” “And if it’s good enough for her…” Well, precisely. Anthony’s mother is the internationally acclaimed interior designer, Alexandra Champalimaud, whose design projects — among a vast slew of clients and celebrated hotel names — include The Carlyle in Manhattan, the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles and The Dorchester in London. Along with his wife, Charlie, and with his mom, Alexandra, also on board — a setup which might look inherently risky on paper but which plays out beautifully in real life — Anthony Champalimaud has brought Troutbeck, a stone manor house and 45-acre estate dating from 1765, sensitively and sympathetically back to life. Originally the home of the poet, farmer and naturalist Myron Beecher Benton and, later, the literary critic and civil rights activist Joel Elias Spingarn, Troutbeck had long been a gathering place for writers, politicians and social reformers. Mark Twain, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sinclair Lewis and Ernest Hemingway have all been guests here at one time or another, and the literary associations of the house and its friendly ghosts are around. You could happily spend a day in Troutbeck’s library, unearthing serendipitous treasures like “Surinam Now and Then” or an early edition of Walt Whit-

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Left: Anthony Champalimaud fly-fishing. Photograph by Nicola Franzen for Design Hotels. Above: The Library at the Troutbeck hotel. Photograph by Michael Mundy.

man’s “Leaves of Grass.” Some of the rarer volumes sit behind mesh grilles but are nonetheless accessible (tip: hold the panel in the middle by its inner edges and give a good yank), but mesh or no mesh, the rewards for digging are great. A first — perhaps only — edition of “The Eternal Male” by Omar Sharif? Irresistible reading, I’d say (at least for a male); a Christmas card signed “Langston Hughes,” which flutters from an innocuous-looking paperback volume of verse? Random to say the least. And magical. “I wanted this to be a proper house, with proper service, rather than a hotel,” Anthony says. And that’s just what it feels like, a well-run house, comfortable but never showy, with original hardwood floors, repurposed furniture and pieces made by local artisans. There are some lovely old rugs, zingy upholstery, wonderful beds with Frette linens, along with white-tiled bathrooms that are an

object lesson in simple restraint, rendered deluxe with Malin+Goetz products. Other pluses include wood-burning fireplaces in the library and living room, a sun room with a pool table and an inviting pantry where you can help yourself to delectable treats from the Smeg refrigerator, signed for on an honor basis. Food is taken pretty seriously at Troutbeck but avoids that kind of pretentiousness that is often the downfall of country restaurants. In the informal, light-filled dining room, you might follow a chowder or Scotch egg salad with black bass or loin of lamb, everything sourced locally where it makes sense to do so, from local farms and top Hudson Valley producers. And, in addition to the main Manor House, with its 17 bedrooms, there is Century Lodge, a four-bedroom historic cottage; Century Annex, with 12 guest rooms; and Garden House, another four-bedroom cottage — all with living rooms

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Originally the home of the poet, farmer and naturalist Myron Beecher Benton and, later, the literary critic and civil rights activist Joel Elias Spingarn, Troutbeck had long been a gathering place for writers, politicians and social reformers.

The pantry at the Troutbeck hotel, and, right, The Manor House, Troutbeck hotel. Photographs by Paul Barbera.

and kitchens, for a quiet couple’s retreat or full-on, intergenerational family get-together. Troutbeck, naturally, is dog-friendly. As for Amenia, it’s an easy and rather lovely drive up from New York City, or indeed from almost anywhere in the Hudson Valley, although I am partial to the train. I took Metro-North all the way from Grand Central Terminal and, voyeur that I am, watched with some fascination as, after Southeast, (where you change trains, except at rush hour, when services are direct), the passengers start to thin out. The final stretch to Wassaic, which is the end of the line and the station for Troutbeck, just seven minutes away, felt like a cocktail party — or would have, if only there had been a bar car. Back in March when I first visited Troutbeck, there was snow on the ground in Dutchess County and the fires were lit. Although I drank gin and tonics with my habitual slice of lemon at the bar, glühwein, the German mulled wine, might have been more the ticket. Relatively late in the season, there was still good skiing at Catamount and on

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the Mohawk Mountain, 15 miles away. But now it’s early summer and I’m back. The outdoor swimming pool with its bar and grill is open (I’m loving the Kenyan “kikoy” towels on the chaise longues) and at my back I hear the thwick-thwack of tennis balls from Troutbeck’s two tennis courts — the summeriest of sounds. “Optimism is what you need,” Anthony says as he gets togged up, assembling his rod and whipping out a landing net like a gladiator flourishing his shield. Down by the Webatuck Creek, just steps from the Main House, he is kindly giving me and my 14-year-old son a lesson in fly-fishing. He’s a great teacher, Anthony, demonstrating the “two o’clock to 10 o’clock” casting action with the grace of a butterfly alighting on a leaf. “Don’t flick from the wrist,” he says in his smooth, soft voice, ever patient, but even at this early stage I’ve a gnawing feeling that I will never fully master the art. Troutbeck, it transpires, is a sporting paradise. Besides swimming and tennis and fly-fishing on the Troutbeck estate, there are bicycling and hik-

ing trails in the Harlem River Valley (the hotel has bikes at your disposal), horseback riding at Millerton and Millbrook nearby and English riding lessons at Pine Plains just over 10 miles away. There’s canoeing and kayaking on the Housatonic River in West Cornwall, Connecticut, and more hiking still on the Appalachian Trail, close by in Kent, Connecticut. At the Mashomack Polo Club in Pine Plains there are matches every weekend from now through the end of September, while there’s hunting, shooting and some fine angling to be had over at Tamarack Preserve in Amenia, just a few minutes from Troutbeck. Orvis Sandanona shooting grounds and Lime Rock Race Track are but a hop, skip and a jump. When you’ve had enough of sport, think about a tour of the Millbrook Vineyards & Winery, with the all-important tasting to follow. Speaking for myself, I can never tire of a crisp Hudson Valley Chardonnay. The same, as by now you will have doubtless surmised, goes for Troutbeck, too. For more, visit troutbeck.com.

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2 DINGLE RIDGE ROAD NORTH SALEM, NY 10560 WWW.121RESTAURANT. COM (T) 914.669. 0121

WANDERS

ESCAPE TO BONITA SPRINGS

BY BARBARA BARTON SLOANE

ime to get away. The gulf breezes are warm, the sunsets sizzling. You can enjoy a spot of culture or just press pause and absorb some positive chi. On the heels of the Winter that Would Not End and The Spring that Wasn't, it’s time to get away — to the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa in Bonita Springs, Florida. There you can lie by a turquoise pool with a rum cocktail in hand. About a three-hour flight from New York, this property in paradise is a perfect weekend getaway — cosmopolitan, charming and colorful. Centrally located between Fort Myers and Naples, the resort has won countless awards, including TripAdvisor's Certificate of Excellence, AAA's Four Diamonds and the Orbitz Worldwide Best in Stay. This Hyatt is casual yet elegant with a poolscape that’s the largest south of Orlando and a collection of amenities that includes an off-shore semiprivate

island and beach. The property overlooks Estero Bay and the Gulf of Mexico and boasts four pools, five water slides, a luxury spa, multiple restaurants, shops and a golf course on its 26 acres of lush landscapes. A two-hour drive from Miami or Tampa, the resort offers tranquility from the hustle of Orlando's theme parks and the bustle of an over-the-top mega-cruise. ARE YOU BEING SERVED? Immediately evident upon checking in are the basic human characteristics of care and kindness. I was greeted with warmth and smiles — lots of them. Throughout my visit, I continued to find personal service in many small yet meaningful ways. An example: When I asked a staff member directions to the spa, she took me there instead of telling me. Later, lazing by a pool, I merely raised the small flag attached to my lounge chair and, voilà, a waiter quickly appeared to take my order. From an on-site wedding planner who provides a tearful surprise for the bride by flying in her best friend, to the recreation team fulfilling a wish for an ill child, the resort’s associates see and act for the well-being of guests. Yes, I was being served on a grand scale — and I loved it. FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD There are several distinctive dining options on the property for some remarkable culinary experiences. I dined one evening at the Tanglewood. Given the option of indoor or patio seating, guess which I chose? Warmth, splashing fountains, perfect azure sky: It was a no-brainer. I was told that I had to try the famous conch fritters — and now I know why they’re famous. The restaurant has been awarded the OpenTable Diners’ Choice Award singling out its fresh local catch and extensive wine list. Another evening, I tried the Tarpon Bay restau-

The sumptuous seafood offerings at Tarpon Bay at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa. Courtesy Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa. 102

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rant with its screened porch overlooking the resort’s pretty lake. Here I was shocked and awed (in a good way) as a Seafood Tower was brought to our table laden with mussels, shrimp, clams, oysters and lobsters. Later, a group of us strolled a long boardwalk down to the marina where we boarded a boat for a brief spin while sipping Champagne and nibbling mini-desserts. It was a perfect end to a supreme seafood feast, after which I made my sated way back to the room to sit on my private balcony and gaze down at the property, made magical with small, shimmering lights placed throughout. WHEN NOT EATING, WE’RE MOVING Move we did, as there were loads of fun activities here. Want to climb a wall? Here, you can. How about zooming down one of the towering water slides that will dump you, unceremoniously, into the Lazy River, where, on an inner tube, you’ll lazily wind your way through crashing waterfalls and catch your breath as you admire lush and fanciful flora? There’s a private boat to whisk you away to Big Hickory Island and the resort’s wildlife preserve on Estero Bay to see bald eagles, osprey, pelicans and flocks of migrating birds. Oh and let’s not forget, if you’ve brought kiddies along, Camp Hyatt kids’ camp, designed especially for guests ages 3 through 12 and managed by trained counselors, will keep your little darlings occupied with hula dancing, pottery painting, movies and some nifty educational programs. THE BAREFOOT MASSAGE At the exceptional Stillwater Spa, all 19,000 square feet of it is smooth, deep and still — precisely what I was looking for. There were facials, body treatments, a Watsu pool for aquatic bodywork, steam and sauna rooms, a full-service salon and massages. The Barefoot Massage sounded intriguing. I’d be barefoot, naturally, but what about my masseuse? Perhaps I should have known. My small, spry therapist entered the room sans shoes and quickly, yet gently stepped aboard my back and proceeded to administer a barefoot deep tissue massage, the likes of which I won’t soon forget. It was a unique experience, one I might even do again — in the distant future. GREEN MAKES THE SCENE The Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa’s impressive green initiative, which includes in-room recycling, has led to it being the first recipient in Florida of the Three Palm certification for green lodging as well as TripAdvisor’s Green Leader Gold Status award. There’s also the resort’s Raptor Bay Golf Club being the first-ever recipient of the Audubon International’s Gold Signature Sanctuary Certification. These well-deserved kudos underscore what make this Hyatt such a special place. For more, visit coconutpoint.regency.hyatt.com

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Stop in and experience the charm of this historic eatery, a neighborhood favorite since the Roaring ‘20s! Enjoy our cozy tavern where it’s always lively and cheerful or relax on our patio overlooking our horseshoe and bocce ball courts. Live music on Saturdays and some Fridays On Sundays, enjoy outdoor live music from 4 to 8:30 Happy Hour Daily from 4-6 and again from 9-11 on Thurs, Fri and Saturday nights.

105 Somerstown Turnpike, Katonah, NY (Corner of Rt. 100 and Rt. 35) www.muscoottavern.com 914 • 232 • 2800

WANDERS

A ONE IN A MILLION EXPERIENCE BY DEBBI K. KICKHAM

f you're a millionaire — or billionaire — Casa de Campo is your kind of place. I have been familiar with this Dominican Republic resort ever since my glory days at Robb Report magazine, when it was famous for its polo. (I briefly dated a polo player.) But I never actually got here — until recently. I enjoyed the perfect day in this enclave of the rich and famous that is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World. Unlike most guests here, I didn't set foot on the award-winning Teeth of the Dog golf course, which is the top-rated course in the Caribbean. So many guests come here specifically to play golf, but I went to demonstrate that you — and your entire family -- don't need to play 18 holes in order to have a sublime time. Besides golf, the resort offers tennis, shooting, horseback-riding, pottery-making and the charming Altos de Chavón, a replica of a 16th-century Mediterranean village straight out of Italy. (You must visit the jewelry store there, Everett Designs, for its one-of-a-kind treasures with pearls and gemstones.) Casa de Campo is the preferred playground for some of the world's most successful people, including lawyers, doctors, corporate businessmen, politicians, athletes and celebrities. (Martha Stewart, WAG’s July 2014 cover subject, recently stayed here while native son Oscar de la Renta, who owned one of the resort’s first villas, designed the original interiors, fabrics and employee uniforms, setting the hotel on its path in the 1980s.) It has received four stars from the Forbes Travel Guide and four diamonds from AAA. Many guests here travel by private jet and park their Gulfstreams just 10 minutes away at the private airport. Despite this, Casa de Campo remains one of the world's bestkept secrets — a luxury resort that’s hardly a household name, except on the East Coast. “New York and New England are the bread and butter of Casa de Campo,” says Jason Kycek, the senior vice president of sales and marketing. Flights on JetBlue leave New York every Wednesday and Satur-

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Restaurant La Casita Marina. Courtesy Casa de Campo.

day and arrive in La Romana, where Casa de Campo is located. It couldn't be any easier to get there. I started my morning on the 7,000-acre property in Lago Grill, where the feast is much like that you would experience on a cruise ship — oceans of OJ and other juices, croissants, doughnuts, crepes, eggs, breads, smoothies, yogurts, sandwiches and much more to start your day. I had a bowl of oatmeal with the house-made granola, and I was happy as a clam. Next, my husband, Bill, and I went to the sandy white Minitas Beach. We paid to have an all-inclusive package, so all of the alcohol and cocktails are included (though not made with premium liquors). Instead, we opted for a water and a custom-made diet lemonade that hit-the-spot. To that I say, "Cheers." Our all-inclusive package here also featured all nonmotorized water sports, so I was delighted to take out one of the blue floats and laze around in the azure waters at this gorgeous beach. Me, I always crave a visit to a first-class beach and Minitas did not disappoint. The powdery white sand was perfectly manicured, and the enticing sun beckoned at every angle as it shone over the clear waters. Waiters were at the ready to take our drink order, set up your beach chair or set down the huge Moët & Chandon bucket, filled with ice, for Champagne lovers (although I did see one patron bring her own Aperol for mixing). There are chaise longues and umbrellas galore and an extended reef so that swimming is safe and easy. As if that wasn't enough, we then took the 25-minute boat ride to Catalina Island. This is the resort's private island. There's a $41 per person charge to head over here. We snorkeled to our heart's content and soaked up the splendid sun, even though there weren't really that many fish swimming about. It was just as well. The mere act of breathing deeply, with your head in the warm turquoise waters, was a spirit-satisfying endeavor,

and the area was picture-postcard beautiful. After our beach outing, we headed to lunch. At Lago, we feasted on homemade tuna fish sandwiches with capers (delicious) and quinoa salad, along with — what else? — a Jamaican ginger beer. I'll also toast to that. We stayed in one of the 183 rooms and suites that compose the main hotel, but if you really want to travel in style, opt to stay in one of the villas. We took a tour of them, and they are as good as it gets. A classic five-bedroom villa comes complete with maid service and a private chef and can feature nannies, a caterer and whatever else you need. The backyard has a pool and a much-needed hammock, where you can lie back and pinch yourself that you've arrived in this spectacular, posh place. In low season such a villa is $2,000 per night; in high season, about $4,000 per night. If you're really looking for a good time, head to the real estate office, to discover all about the private villas that are available for purchase here. For instance, an oceanfront villa such as 11 Punta Minitas costs $13 million. This property puts you in a privileged position with seven bedrooms, including a three-bedroom guesthouse. It beautifully fuses indoor-outdoor living while offering seclusion and privacy. Sounds good, right? I'd have to say that the only thing I didn't do was to visit a spa — but I'm getting ready for that next time. They are breaking ground on the property for the Casa de Campo spa, which is sure to be a winner, like everything else here. I've never met a body scrub I didn't like, so I am eager to return. I’ll toast to that — “Here's mud on your thigh.” For more, visit casadecampo.com.do. Debbi K. Kickham is author of 'The Globetrotter's Get-Gorgeous Guide.' Follow her on Twitter at @SATWgal.

Brunch at its Best

Saturdays & Sundays 11am â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2:30pm

430 Bedford Road | Armonk, NY 10504 | 914.730.0001 ModerneBarn.com | @ModerneBarn

WONDERFUL DINING

NEXT STOP, STATION HOUSE STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEESIA FORNI

here’s a buzz in the air that I can’t quite put my finger on. It’s late afternoon on a weekday, and I’m standing inside Station House, one of the latest restaurants to open in Port Chester and the latest installment in the ongoing renovation of the city’s historic train station. Though the restaurant is quiet in the early afternoon, there remains a certain energy, one that might radiate from the adjoining rail station that helps transport nearly 3,000 commuters each day along the Metro-North New Haven line. The restaurant itself pays homage to its railroad roots, with preserved antique brass fixtures, tiered chandeliers and exposed brick walls. Elsewhere, long red and taupe drapes frame the windows, while antique mirrors and historical prints dot the walls. “We didn’t want to try to do too much. We wanted to lighten it up, yet maintain the charm,” says Michael Janetta, owner of the new restaurant. “We wanted it to be an inviting, warm place where everyone feels comfortable.” A copper-top bar sits at one end of the restaurant, while an open kitchen sits at the other. That kitchen is home to one of the focal points of the eatery — a coal-fired pizza oven. “We wanted to be able to attract people during the week, and pizza is something that is attractive to kids, to parents, to people who want to go out and have a good time,” he says. On this particular afternoon, the crowd is decidedly mixed — a businessman seated alone, chatting on the phone; a family grabbing pizza and playing a game of guessing how many trains will whiz by during their meal (the answer was 12 and the youngest boy won); a group of friends meeting for after-work cocktails.

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A separate dining area features historical prints and industrial fixtures.

Clockwise from top left: Meatballs are made with pork, veal and beef and topped with marinara, Provolone and parsley; Summer asparagus salad with farro, feta, tomato and Dijon vinaigrette; a Cajun pizza with shrimp, andouille sausage and jalapenos packs a spicy punch; and roasted oysters with verjus buerre blanc.

While pizza may be a way for diners to have a good time, Janetta takes his pizza seriously. In preparation for the restaurant’s opening, he worked with chefs from Europe for a year, even flying them to his New York City restaurant Sala One Nine, to perfect his pizza dough recipe. That recipe includes “mother” dough that contains less than 1 percent yeast, along with a 24hour cold fermentation process. Janetta says the result is a more natural and complex flavor profile. “Everyone loves pizza and I’ve always wanted to do it,” he says. “My Italian grandmother made pizza dough for me all the time, and it was great to follow her around. For me, it’s come full circle.” The menu offers a variety of pizza options, from a littleneck clam and bacon with Parmesan and chili flakes to a chicken pesto with Mozzarella, sweet bell peppers and Pecorino. During my visit, I heed the advice of the general manager and select the Cajun blackened shrimp pizza. He tells me it’s a staff favorite, and I soon realize why. Topped with jalapeno and spicy andouille sausage, this pizza is not for the faint of heart. It packs a serious kick, but for those like myself who appreciate a strong spice, it’s perfect.

As Janetta will accurately tell you himself, however, “it’s more than just a pizza restaurant.” That’s evidenced by an order of oysters, showcasing roasted blue points with verjus buerre blanc. Coal-roasted shallots add a smoky sweetness to the buttery oysters. Other dishes make use of the signature oven, like the coal-fired chicken wings that can be served in the classic buffalo style or with thyme and lemon. Crab and artichoke dip is paired with coal crackers, while a coal-fired half-chicken joins baby potatoes, rainbow carrots and wilted kale. Pizza dough is also used in more ways than just as the vessel for delicious pies. In one of my favorite dishes of the evening, dough is cut into bitesized pieces that can be dipped into a homemade whipped ricotta with honey that tastes so fresh I ask if it includes any hints of lemon. (Spoiler: It doesn’t.) Creative cocktails also pay homage to the century-old building, with names like Hop on Board, PC to Manhattan and Pineapple Express. The restaurant at 3 Broad St. was launched by Our House Restaurant Group, the team behind Rye House Port Chester and Rye House NYC taverns. Last summer, the group launched Village Beer Garden, an

outdoor dining area adjacent to the train station. “If you’re outside and you want to hang out and chill and get that simple, beer-gardenesque food, you can,” Janetta says. “Or if you want to do something a little more sit-down and have a family dinner, have pizza, you got it.” Janetta calls Village Beer Garden “sort of a happy accident.” Initially, he planned to open the inside eatery before expanding to the outdoor dining space, but a series of delays shifted those plans and led to the opening of the beer garden last summer. “It stuck,” he said of the outdoor concept, which serves mostly pub food, along with a range of beers and cocktails. “We got a nice following, so we hope to keep that going.” Janetta says he has a singular goal with his latest venture — to serve good, simple food in a friendly environment. “A lot of restaurants try to outdo each other and it’s ego driven. I believe simple is always better,” he says. “We want customers to come in there and feel well and feel that we want them there. Not only to feel well, but to eat something that’s really special.” Now I realize what all the buzz is about. For more, visit stationhousepc.com.

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RACHAEL ROBBINS MIXES IT UP BY PHIL HALL

achael Robbins is no stranger to the spotlight. She began her career in modeling in 1997, scoring attention by appearing in Playboy three times and even getting her own Playboy trading card. She made her film debut in the 1999 Troma cult classic “Terror Firmer” and became a blond scream queen favorite with her roles in the low-budget/high-energy horror romps “Screaming Dead” and “Dr. Horror's Erotic House of Idiots.” Robbins’ photogenic presence was so strong that she was featured on the DVD cover of the 2010 indie comedy “London Betty,” even though she only had two minutes of screen time in a guest appearance as a too-eager neophyte model. In the course of her 40-plus film career, Robbins also found herself in notable independent films, including the 2010 drama “An Affirmative Act” with Charles Durning and the 2013 crime thriller “Real Gangsters” with Robert Loggia and Margot Kidder. While enjoying a healthy run as a working actress, Robbins also began to branch out into stand-up comedy in New York-area clubs. Then, her career hit a major bump in the road. “About three or four years ago, the entertainment industry kind of dried up for me,” she recalls. “I was in a weird age range where I was too old to be an ingenue, but I was also not at the age to be playing a young mother.” As one door closed, however, another opened. Around this time, Robbins and her then-boyfriend opened their own cocktail lounge in New Jersey, and she realized a new spotlight was available. “In the hospitality industry, the bartender is the star of the show,” she observes. And while her relationship and the cocktail lounge did not last, she recognized she could craft a promising career that blended her performing skills and her ability to connect with audiences. “Working in a bar, I would be stuck in the same place every day,” she says. “So, I started a cocktail consulting company, which takes me to a different place every day.”

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Rachael Robbins. Courtesy of Chickologist LLC.

Based out of Jersey City, New Jersey, Robbins’ Chickologist LLC provides restaurants with a professional consideration of how they can spice up their cocktail menu by moving outside of the comfort zone of the old tried-and-true drinks with a lineup of bold creations that offer an intoxicating challenge to the imagination. “It is like ‘Bar Rescue’ but without the theatrics,” says Robbins, who also consults on liquor brands and price points to ensure that restaurants enjoy versatility and profitability when servicing their imbibing customers. One of Robbins’ most invigorating assignments involved Halifax Hoboken, the restaurant/bar in the luxury W Hotel in Hoboken. To underscore the restaurant’s focus on northeastern North American cuisine, Robbins fine-tuned a cocktail lineup that reflects both the distinctive tastes of the region and ingredients that can be sourced locally. Coming up with these creations requires more than a little ingredient testing, with Robbins recruiting a squadron of friends to offer their opinions. “If it is just me alone in the kitchen, it can be nerve-wracking,” she acknowledges. “I might like what I create, but I don’t know if other people will like it. I do my testing with friends who have really great palates. And it is definitely a science to engineer cocktails — you have to keep tweaking it to get it right.” Robbins also strives to create cocktails that can be assembled by both professional mixologists and people eager to recreate the drinks at home. “I want to make drinks that are very accessible,” she continues. “I don’t use crazy things like liquid nitrogen. When people taste them, they can be able to go home to make them.” Alas, this creates a new problem — claiming proprietary ownership of her cocktails. “It is near impossible to copyright a recipe,” she says, noting that

she has gone in the opposite direction and granted permission for online sites to run her recipes with proper credit. “If you can’t copyright it, you might as well share it with as many people as possible.” That strategy seems to be working. Robbins’ calendar is busy for the foreseeable future, with consulting work across the metro New York area plus hospitality trade show appearances lined up across the country. Robbins’ talents have been spotted by New Zealand’s VDKA 6100 vodka brand, which named her as its inhouse mixologist in its U.S. rollout. If that’s not busy enough, she is also in talks about a potential TV show related to mixology — which would bring her back in front of the cameras after several years off the screen. And more than a few people who recall her Playboy photo shoots and scream queen flicks will gladly raise their glasses to cheer the glamorous mixologist’s latest venture.

RECIPE FOR “SUMMER OF ’69”

• • • •

INGREDIENTS: Two ounces of vodka One ounce of Meyer lemon juice One ounce of mint simple syrup One ounce of blackberry purée DIRECTIONS: To make mint simple syrup, add 2 cups sugar, 2 cups water and 1 cup tightly packed fresh mint to a saucepan and bring to a boil for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool overnight and drain mint. Refrigerate. (It will last for about a month or can be frozen.) Mix mint simple syrup and other ingredients together and serve over ice.

AMERICAN EATS & URBAN DRINKS WE ARE OPEN FOR BRUNCH NOW! EVERY SUNDAY STARTING AT 12PM Happy hour seven days a week from 4 to 6

128 Bedford Rd, Katonah, NY 10536 | 914-401-9600 | katonahwoods.com

WINE & DINE

PUTTING THE SPARK IN SPARKLING STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY DOUG PAULDING

o, what do you do if you’ve reached the pinnacle in your chosen field? Many folks would sit back, relax, reflect and enjoy the fruits of their labors. In the wine world, major producers will often look elsewhere in the world for opportunity and expansion. Opus One wine, recognized as one of the great wines in the world, is a collaboration between Château Lafite Rothschild and Robert Mondavi of California. The Marnier Lapostolle family, makers of Grand Marnier liqueur, bought up property in Chile and started Lapostolle Wines, where at the time land and labor were inexpensive. Lafite Rothschild also has partnerships/ownerships with producers in Argentina (Catena) and Chile (Los Vascos). Money is infused into a respectable winery or region, the winery’s infrastructure is improved, the winemaking style or grapes used may be tweaked and suddenly a wine appears with impressive reviews with an instant cult following. In the Champagne region, as in most recognized wine regions, the land for planting grapes is expensive and finite. When you’ve maxed out your land holdings and still feel the need for expansion, you must look elsewhere. The Taittinger family of France has been making beautiful Champagne for centuries. They bought up a chateau with vineyards in the Loire Valley and then looked to America for the next move. Of course the 1970s brought a revolution in the wine world when upstart California was accepted as a high-quality winemaking region. In 1976, wine merchant Steven Spurrier put together a blind tasting competition of noteworthy French producers from Bordeaux and Burgundy against essentially unknown California producers. Documenting this event was Time magazine’s George Taber, whose book, “Judgment of Paris,” should be required reading for anyone who ever drinks a glass of wine.

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Eileen Crane, CEO and winemaker for Domaine Carneros, is simply the most experienced sparkling winemaker in the U.S.

Claude Taittinger’s search focused on Napa Valley where he bought 138 acres in Carneros in 1987. Winemaker Eileen Crane, who began her wine career with Chandon and then Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards, not only by making sparkling wines in the traditional (Champagne) method but also overseeing design and construction of the Gloria Ferrer facility. Taittinger hired her to help plan and develop Domaine Carneros, from vineyard to winery to château. Today, Crane is today the most experienced sparkling-wine maker in the United States, with some 40 years in the industry, and Domaine Carneros is comprised of six estate vineyards totaling 400 acres in the Carneros AVA, between Napa and Sonoma. Going green is a key to Domaine Carneros. It has farmed sustainably since the late ’80s and has embraced and installed a massive solar capturing facility on the roof of the winery. I had the wonderful opportunity to meet and dine with Crane this past week at the Lalique showroom in Manhattan. We tasted six vintages of her signature sparkling wine, Le Rêve, which means “the dream” in French. Domaine Carneros makes around a half-million bottles of Le Rêve a year. We began with the most recent, her 2011, followed by the ’05, ’04, ’98, ’92 and the ’88, technically not Le Rêve because it predated the name, but from the same line and concept. Each of these wines is delicious and easy drinking. The 2011, 100 percent Chardonnay, was fresh and lively, with generous lemony, citrus notes and a lasting finish. “Our wines have a great body and a great finish,”

she said. “We aim for a pleasant and creamy sensation to create a lasting mouth feel.” The ’05 had a very light oakiness, micro bubbles and lemon and pear notes with that classic lasting finish. The ’04 tasted quite young with fresh citrus fruit and a lovely integrated new oak. The ’04 was a cool climate year in Carneros, which is perfect for long hang time in the vineyard that will contribute complexity to the resultant wine. Our next wine, the ’98, showed citrus, honey and a light toastiness that contributed to a beautifully long finish. The ’92 was fresh and young like the ’04, with peach, honey and a soft yeastiness. The 1988 was the outlier of the group. This sparkler, at 80 percent Chardonnay and 20 percent Pinot Blanc showed a slight oxidation you might find with an older wine. It had soft micro bubbles with caramel and tropical fruit. Several people in the room liked this wine best because it was so unique. There are two takeaways from Crane here. These wines are great and maybe there should be a new “Judgment of Paris” in which the Champagnes of France are blind tasted against the sparkling wines of California, notably Domaine Carneros. I hear this from many producers of bubbly when their wine is only used as a celebratory pop. Crane is confident of the outcome: “Our bubbles will pair with any food, any experience, any time of day. Make bubbly a regular part of your wine world. Choose virtually any food. And choose our sparkling wine. Perfect.” Write me at doug@dougpaulding.com.

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Grilled lobsters with summer Béarnaise sauce. Images courtesy Susan Lawrence Gourmet Foods.

STILL ENTERTAINING BY MARY SHUSTACK

ark Kramer of Susan Lawrence Gourmet Foods in Chappaqua once shared his glittering vision for holiday entertaining with us. We still remember how he artfully walked us through two approaches, from the extravagant affair to the intimate gathering. Kramer’s thoughtful attention to this virtual exercise, one that detailed everything from trends to menus to décor, was as memorable as the hypothetical parties would have been.

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When we realized that story ran back in 2011, we knew it was time to catch up with Kramer. And that’s what brings us to the bustling Susan Lawrence retail shop, café and bakery on a recent afternoon, where we settle into a cozy corner table to find out what the executive chef, creative director and proprietor has been up to since our last “official” WAG visit. In a word — plenty. As he says, “It just keeps going — and growing.” Kramer has not only launched an expanded Susan Lawrence website chock-full of tempting photographs but also useful tips. “I still make them read a little bit,” he says with a laugh, noting “Mark’s Journal” remains a popular at-

traction, with his 2011 post on “The Rules” for being an ideal party guest reposted to much acclaim. Kramer continues to expand the Susan Lawrence menus with ever-evolving offerings — often influenced by his travels — of prepared foods and catering for special events, including weddings. It’s the place, as it has been for decades, to grab a gourmet salad for lunch, entrée for dinner or hostess gifts selected from the packaged goods ranging from sauces to gourmet popcorn. “The beauty of having prepared food is you can concentrate on your beautiful table setting or (on) one or two dishes,” he says. Kramer shares a menu for an upcoming party he will cater, which gives a glimpse into his unwavering attention to detail. Among the welcoming drinks is a white peach and lemon spritzer that will be served in mason jars with fresh mint, while six types of passed hors d’ouevres will include watermelon gazpacho shooters and pan-seared tuna on nori rice rolls with wasabi and sesame glaze. The “Gathering Table” offerings will range from grilled lobsters with summer Béarnaise sauce to smoke-

house sausages and hot dogs, served with toppings such as onion fig jam, lingonberry ketchup and Dijon and German mustards. Accompaniments range from pink grapefruit slaw to Silver Queen corn salad with lime, cilantro and avocado. “Even though it’s kind of fancy, people are rolling up their sleeves. It’s summer.” And the fireworks birthday cake will be complemented by blueberry streusel pie squares, lemon meringue tarts and more. A S’mores bar, anyone? A BIT OF MUSIC, A LOT OF ITALY Did we mention he continues to juggle it all while feeding his passion for classical music? Kramer is both founder of and a musician in Ars Antiqua — his specialty being the viola de gamba. The Baroque music ensemble is known for its period specialists and instruments as well as its intimate concerts at the Gothic-style The Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Chappaqua — events that most always end with a Champagne reception or elaborate dessert buffet. “It’s a really special thing, those concerts,” he says. “Musicians come from all over the world… Each concert kind of transports you for the evening to somewhere back in time.” And Kramer himself was recently transported to another world, spending a month in Italy last year on a trip that has him writing his first book, one with the working title, “Camporempoli: Italian Food for the American Table.” As they always have, Kramer’s world travels affect his perspective — and his arsenal of recipes. Last year’s “month in Italy cooking,” found him renting an 800-year-old farmhouse, Camporempoli, in Chianti. Every day, Kramer says, he entertained 10 or 12 guests, family and friends, for meals. “I would spend the entire day cooking,” he says, smiling at the memory. “The whole place is absolute magic,” he adds, with him finding ingredients on site (rosemary, apples, walnuts) or in local markets. “The Italians, they really created the idea of farm to table,” he says. “They’ve been doing it for centuries.” As an example, he shares the story of purchasing gorgeous apricots one day at the market, turning them into a galette so good he returned the next day for more fruit, to the amusement of the vendor. “She laughed at me and said, ‘Why would we have them again? This is what’s in season today.’” It was a moment that made a lasting impression: “I think that really inspires you to create.” And create he did. “We had zucchini in every form and fashion you

Selections from Susan Lawrence Gourmet Foods include, from top, Mark Kramer’s Paella Party,” which he says is “a wonderful casual one-dish supper for summer entertaining,; Watermelon gazpacho; and Classic blueberry lattice pie.

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can imagine,” he says, mentioning zucchini flowers stuffed with cheese among other preparations. “Nothing gets wasted. A piece of stale bread is like gold. I wish America could be so caring about every last thing.” Indeed, he came home with his long-held, eco-minded beliefs reaffirmed — and some new perspectives. “I don’t think I appreciated the Hudson Valley more than when I went to Italy,” he says. “How stunning Tuscany is? You realize how fertile the Hudson Valley is.” His network is tapped to source everything from free-range eggs to organic poultry, heirloom-variety apples to artisanal cheeses and honey. He also offers an organic free-stone peach variety he has trucked up from Georgia, creating a mini peach market in front of the shop toward the end of summer. Sometimes his sourcing is really close to home, as in the gardens of his own Putnam County home. “Flowers and a huge amount of fresh herbs,” from rose petals that will be crystallized to sage or French tarragon, are drawn from his own perennial and formal English herb gardens. Getting away for that memorable trip was a challenge, he admits: “I ‘paid for it’ in advance,” he says of the hectic pre-trip business to deal with. But in the end, he says, “It was probably the best month of my life, to be able to cook and live like an Italian.”

“Since then, a lot of those dishes have trickled into our repertory here,” he says. The trip even sparked a theme for one of his popular dine-in evenings at Susan Lawrence, meals likened more to a dinner party than restaurant outing, with “The Cuisine of Camporempoli: A New Menu Inspired by a Month-long Cooking Sojourn in Tuscany.” For Kramer, it’s all about bringing his experiences home to Susan Lawrence. “After 34 years, people know me and I think they trust what I bring home from traveling is going to be really special.” To that end, Kramer insists WAG take a taste of Italy with us, sharing a package of Ricciarelli cookies, a classic almond confection of Siena. On his journey, he sampled what the label further describes as “soft clouds of almond goodness” and worked to create his own recipe. “There’s a little crunch on the outside, soft on the inside,” he says. “I got back and was obsessed.” And now, thanks to his further sharing his Italian experience, so are we. The retail store, café and bakery of Susan Lawrence Gourmet Foods is at 26 N. Greeley Ave. in Chappaqua. For more, call 914-2388833 or visit SusanLawrence.com. For more on Kramer’s musical career, visit ars-antiqua.org. And for Kramer’s Camporempoli Apple Cake recipe, visit wagmag.com.

Mark Kramer

Prix Fixe 4 Course Dinner Menu Sun-Thur $40.

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The Peloso-Barnes Group at Morgan Stanley

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Strategies for Wealth

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Your finances in balance, your life in harmony. At Pell Wealth Partners we take pride in our commitment to creating a life-changing personalized experience for every client. Our knowledge, passion, and desire to see others achieve financial wellness has driven our ability to listen intently and become not only your advisors, but your advocates. As leaders in the industry we believe in the power of Impact Investing and the profound effect it can have on the world and your life. Our team is committed to offering tailored investment solutions with an eye towards environmental, social, and corporate governance opportunities through deep investment research and a broadly diversified portfolio. Our enthusiastic, highly talented team can help steer you forward more confidently in your finances, encouraging you to take actions that reflect each of your most coveted family and investment values.

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Geri Eisenman Pell, CFP®, MBA, CDFA™, Private Wealth Advisor Pell Wealth Partners CEO of Pell Wealth Partners A private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. 800 Westchester Avenue, Suite 300 Barron’s Top 100 Women Financial Advisors 2009-2018 Rye Brook, New York 10573 Barron’s Top 1,200 Financial Advisors: State-by-State Ranking – 2014-2018 914.253.8800 | pellwealthpartners.com Business Council of Westchester Hall of Fame: Women in Business Honoree 2018 Proudly serving the communities of Westchester, Manhattan, and Orange County.

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Investors could experience increased risk when limiting investment choices to a specific industry sector that may or may not perform as well as other industry sectors. Investment products are not federally or FDIC-insured, are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed by any financial institution, and involve investment risks including possible loss of principal and fluctuation in value. Barron’s® listings are based on data compiled by many of the nation’s most productive advisors, which is then submitted to and judged by Barron’s®. Key factors and criteria include: assets under management, revenue produced for the firm, regulatory and compliance record, and years of professional experience. Barron’s® is a registered trademark of Dow Jones, L.P.; all rights reserved. Business Council Hall of Fame: Recognizing professional accomplishment, community service, and leadership qualities. The Compass is a trademark of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and CFP (with flame design) in the U.S. Investment advisory services and products are made available through Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., a registered investment adviser. Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., Member FINRA and SIPC. © 2017 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Pursue Your Dreams and Passions We’ve Got Your Back You deserve a financial team that makes you feel well cared for, informed and secure. The Peloso-Barnes Group at Morgan Stanley understands the critical importance of your hopes and fears as you make life choices. We are allies who celebrate your life choices and help you plan so that your dreams can come true. If you are following a unique path, be it what you do, where you live or who you love, you’re likely to encounter complex circumstances. We understand those challenges. We are dedicated to simplifying the financial intricacies of your life. We demonstrate our deep level of knowledge, advanced training, and commitment to finding the very best solutions to match the needs of our clients. Credentials really do matter.

OUR TEAM CAPABILITIES INCLUDE: • LGBT Planning Services • Planning for Individuals with Special Needs • Comprehensive Financial Planning • Retirement Income Planning • Planning for Education Funding • Planning for Wealth Transfer • Professional Portfolio Management

Julia A. Peloso-Barnes, CFP®, ADPA®, CPM®, CRPC® WEALTH ADVISOR julia.peloso-barnes@morganstanley.com

You may have created a new path, that wasn’t expected, anticipated, desired or understood by the people around you. It may not have been planned, yet along the way you may have discovered that it’s the most authentic choice available to you. Backed by the extensive wealth management resources of Morgan Stanley, we have a distinctive approach to helping you with your unique life goals. We get you and we’ve got your back. Contact us/visit our website to see how we can help you.

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Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and federally registered CFP (with flame design) in the US. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC. CRC 2113649 06/2018

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Shifting the World’s Understanding of Wealth

The Strategies Team revitalizing a Recreation Center in Harlem, N.Y., June 2018

We empower the generations we will never meet through the conversations we have today. Our organization is committed to building relationships that shift the world’s understanding of wealth. We deliver — with integrity and unparalleled service — protection and prosperity that help transform the lives of our clients, their families and communities.

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Where Our Mission is Your Well Being

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Jonathan Moore CFP®, RICP®, Financial Advisor; Sandrina Freitas, Senior Client Service Associate; Dermod Sullivan, Financial Advisor; Ellis Moore CPM®, Financial Advisor, Portfolio Management Director.

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One Size Does Not Fit All Families, individuals, business-owners, sports figures, executives, large companies, small companies, and so much in between: They’re all our clients, and their planning and protection goals are as unique as they are. That’s why we continue to challenge the assumption that technical knowledge alone is enough to serve their needs. We’ve built a team of insurance experts and financial advisors whose broad-ranging real-life experiences are as integral to their work as their business expertise. Their diverse backgrounds and skills lend themselves to more authentic guidance for the spectrum of clients we serve. By looking at things a little differently, we’re able to offer (and gain) the insights we feel are necessary to build relationships rooted in understanding and trust. And speaking of trust, we believe that connecting to our past— to the days when business was done on a handshake and people looked out for one another—is just as important as breaking the mold. Our work has always been about helping people achieve their goals, protect their families and set a path for financial security. That’s a worthy pursuit we’re proud to take on every day.

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Proprietor, Bobby Epstein of the legendary Muscoot Tavern in Katonah, invites you to experience his newest restaurant—

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WELL

IN THEIR CUPS STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY PHIL HALL

n the realm of physical therapy, the curative power of cupping is not exactly a new idea. It was detailed in ancient Egypt’s Ebers Papyrus, written around 1550 B.C. and considered one of the oldest medical textbooks in the Western world. No less a figure than Hippocrates, a.k.a. the “Father of Medicine,” cited the benefits of cupping in his teaching, and the practice was extolled by such disparate figures as the fourth century Taoist alchemist and herbalist Ge Hong, the prophet Muhammad in the Quran and the 12th century Sephardic Jewish physician and scholar Moses ben Maimon, better known as Maimonides. However, for Darien-based physical therapist Pamela Fioretti, patient interest in the therapeutic value of cupping had less to do with the learned insight of Hippocrates and Maimonides and more to do with the image of a contemporary sports icon with cupping circles visible on his muscular torso. “After the 2016 Olympics with Michael Phelps using cupping for his competition, the phone couldn’t stop ringing with folks wanting to get cupping done,” recalls Fioretti, who received certification training to bring this ancient healing method to today’s aches and pains. “It helps to bring blood flow to the area and helps to pull some of the toxins out of the damage. It also helps with pain. Some of my patients have had great response just in increasing their range of motion.” Cupping is among the therapeutic treatments that Fioretti and her business partners Steve Melchionno and Greg Besson provide at Elevate Physical Therapy, a new enterprise that opened in Darien in April. Among the other options offered by the therapists are dry needling, Graston Technique, Active Release Technique, Selective Functional Movement Assessment and Kinesio Taping. But for Fioretti, one of the most vital health strategies she can offer involves observing and asking tough questions. “The key to success is something as simple as active listening,” she explains. “Sometimes, people

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Pamela Fioretti and Steve Melchionno at Elevate Physical Therapy.

need to have their story be heard. I have found in a lot of stories that people are in pain Monday through Friday, but they are fine on the weekend. You need to get into what’s going on during their work week and why they’re miserable. There are so many psychological factors that impact people’s rehabilitation. People are not coming here because of how great they feel — they are in pain and need help.” With elderly patients, Melchionno is aware of the emotional trauma that often accompanies their injuries and illnesses, especially the apprehension that their physical mobility — and, by extension, their independence — could be imperiled by infirmity. For these patients, Melchionno takes a holistic strategy that makes the patient an equal partner in the treatment. “You treat the whole body, you just don’t treat the hip replacement,” he says. “You want to work on balance, you work on cardiovascular that encourages healing — you get them on a bike, get them walking, encouraging them to be more active. If we get somebody to be pain free but they’re sitting on a couch all day, we haven’t succeeded.” At the other end of the age spectrum, Melchionno is also dealing with a new wave of teenage athletes combatting a level of musculoskeletal pain — particularly shoulder and knee issues — that was not common in earlier generations. “These kids train hard nowadays,” he observes. “A lot of kids are sticking to one sport. There’s a lot of pretty good research out there (showing that) if you switch sports every season, you are less likely to be injured because you’re giving your muscles a chance to rest.” The Elevate Physical therapists have little chance to rest, especially when keeping up on the latest information related to their profession. Daily alerts to newly published research filter into their in-boxes, highlight-

ing new considerations and approaches to wellness. “There is so much research that it’s impossible to keep up with everything,” Fioretti says. “I focus much more on the orthopedic realm. Continuing education is so important for keeping up with new techniques and interventions like the dry needling. When I graduated from school eight years ago, that wasn’t in the forefront of orthopedics.” For more insight on dry needling, Fioretti traveled earlier this year to the University of North Texas in Fort Worth to receive certification training on this technique. “I was quite sore by the end of it, because we were basically human pincushions for each other,” she adds, with a laugh. “But it was a great learning experience.” Melchionno adds that being ahead of the proverbial curve is important for the future success of their new business, noting that some patients seek them out after unsuccessful and even unpleasant sessions with less-than-capable physical therapists. “It happens quite often,” he acknowledges. “You hate to hear it because it gives physical therapy a bad name. But at the same time, all therapists aren’t created equal.” While the Elevate Physical Therapy team members are not nutritionists, they point patients to existing research on the benefits of low-inflammatory diets on the healing process. When quizzed about medical marijuana, however, Melchionno is often skeptical about why he is being asked. “I feel that a lot of times when people are asking for it, they are asking for it in the wrong manner,” he says. During his talk with WAG, Melchionno found himself fielding a text message on his cellphone. When asked about the health risks of that ubiquitously intrusive device, he sighs and remarks, “I can’t say for certain, but I imagine there will be a ton of more carpal tunnel surgeries from all of this typing.” For more, visit elevatept.net.

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WELL

Poison ivy – pleasant to look at but don’t touch.

COPING WITH POISON IVY

BY ROBERT LEVINE

f butterflies land there, don’t put your hand there:” The old children’s rhyme is my caution against the dangers of touching poison ivy and related outdoor plants like poison oak and poison sumac, whose oily substance can cause serious — and, sometimes, severe — skin reactions. In fact, allergic contact dermatitis, which promotes intense itching, burning sensation, painful skin rash and even skin infection if a person exacer-

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bates the affected area by repeated scratching, is most commonly the result of contact with poison ivy. Butterflies land on poison ivy, because they are not sensitive to the plant’s resin but are protected there from predators that avoid the plant. Although temporary, contact dermatitis can distress patients for several weeks or more. The recommended application of calamine lotion, corticosteroid creams or cool, wet compresses to the affected skin area may lessen symptoms but usually do not shorten the course of the disease. More than 10 million Americans annually are infected by urushiol, the toxic oil of poisonous

plants, and that number is expected to grow, according to scientists, who say the increasing carbon dioxide in the air due to climate change is fostering the growth of poison ivy and related flora. Urushiol is readily spread. You don’t have to touch plants directly to become infected. Simply walking through an area of poison ivy and then later rubbing your clothes or shoes can cause an allergic skin reaction. Even the smoke from the burning of plant waste that includes poison ivy carries urushiol particles that may prompt facial swelling and skin reaction in exposed areas of the body. Here are some tips for those unlucky enough to encounter poison ivy or any of its relatives: • Rinse off the exposed skin immediately in warm — not hot — soapy water and wash under your nails. Even if you are unable to remove enough of the plant oil to prevent a reaction, you can limit its spread to other parts of the body. • Wear gloves and wash off clothing, garden tools and anything else in contact with the plant. • If contact dermatitis develops, do not scratch the affected area. Scratching only worsens the condition and leads to potential infection. Cool, wet compresses placed on the skin help reduce the itch. • Take lukewarm baths of short duration and apply calamine lotion or hydrocortisone cream to the affected skin. • Go to a hospital emergency room if you have trouble breathing, experience swelling on any part of the face and genitals or develop a generalized skin rash. The best medicine, of course, is prevention. If gardening or walking through brush or forested areas, wear long-sleeved shirts and pants, socks and shoes that completely cover your feet. And, to close with another helpful rhyme, “If it has leaves of three, let it be.” Robert Levine, DO, FAOCD, is with Advanced Dermatology PC and the Center for Laser and Cosmetic Surgery (New York and New Jersey), one of the leading dermatology centers in the nation, offering highly experienced physicians in the fields of cosmetic and laser dermatology as well as plastic surgery and state-of-the-art medical technologies. For more, visit advanceddermatologypc.com.

914.304.5376 877.458.1709 www.BlossomFlower.com

WELL

REVISITING THE DAD BOD BY GIOVANNI ROSELLI

“Happy, healthy parents make happy, healthy children.”

– Dr. Miriam Stoppard

xactly one year ago, I wrote about my plan to combat the “Dad Bod” after the birth of my daughter, Juliet Rose. In this month’s column, I’m going to take a look back on the past 12 months and recap how my strategy is working so far.

TIME FLIES… I have been told many a times — “It goes by fast.” I 100-percent agree. I cannot believe that a year has flown by already and understand that it will continue to go by even faster. The older we get, the quicker life goes, and I think that once you have a child that’s when life begins really to fly by. I’ve done my best to cherish all the moments I can. I must admit, my favorite part of the day is when my daughter falls asleep on me. I wish I could find the right words to describe the love I have for my daughter, but it is literally impossible. I often say that if there were a stronger word for love, I would use it. The closest word I can use to describe her is as a “blessing.” I’ve been fortunate to work a lot of great jobs in my life and accomplish some things that I am both grateful and proud of. I’ve worked as an actor, wrestled professionally as “Romeo,” became an accomplished fitness professional, but being called ‘Daddy’ is far and away my most cherished title.

TEAMWORK Here’s one thing that’s also been confirmed — parenting a child is truly a team effort. My wonderful wife, Stacey, lets me sleep when she knows I have a big work day ahead of me, I make time for her to make sure she exercises, she still cooks amazingly healthy and delicious meals, I book massages for her,

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Giovanni Roselli with daughter, Juliet Rose. Courtesy the author.

and the list goes on. We have both made sacrifices, but we always make sure we are still taking care of ourselves with our health and wellness in mind. FITNESS, HEALTH AND WELLNESS Have my workouts changed? Yes. Has time management become even more important? Absolutely. Have I been able to manage my wellness and stay on track? I’m happy and proud to say that I have. In a past WAG article, I quoted Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby, who once said, “Those who think they have no time for exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.” This is something that my wife and I truly take to heart. Take a look at the majority of the aging, elderly population who decided not to find time to exercise. There is usually a myriad of health-related and cognitive issues, medications, orthopedic concerns and hormonal imbalances, among other conditions. In my original Dad Bod article last year, I mentioned three different types of plans — the full workout, partial workout and quick workout. This has worked well for me thus far, and no matter how much time I have (or don’t have), I’ll always make sure to do something. My advice still rings true: Doing something, anything, is better than doing nothing. Still want to say that you have no time? Here’s the

simplest I can make it: Do one pushup either when you wake up or before you go to bed — if you do that every day you will have done 365 more pushups this year than you planned on. In some instances, that may need to be the mentality. What’s the alternative? Would you have rather done zero? Chances are just doing one consistently will probably snowball into additional efforts. ENTERING YEAR 2 My daughter has yet to walk on her own. However, she can crawl like the wind, never stays still and couldn’t be more curious about everything in her sight, all to be expected from a 1-year-old. The walking is coming any day now, probably by the time this column is published. I have been told that once your child starts walking, the chase never ends and a whole new batch of time-management challenges begin. Glad I’ve been working out all these years so I can keep up to what’s ahead. I look forward to another eventful, healthy report card next year. A final note: To my daughter, Juliet Rose, I know one day you will probably read this, so I just want you to know how much I love you and how much I enjoy being your father. Reach Giovanni on Twitter @GiovanniRoselli and at his website, GiovanniRoselli.com.

Where ‘Main Street’ is Memory Lane. The Village at Waveny provides award-winning Assisted Living and a therapeutic approach to memory and dementia care. Located in New Canaan, Connecticut, our world-renowned indoor “Main Street” is a bustling site for meaningful interaction, fun activities and fulfilling programs for seniors. Discover more about everything we have to offer, including long-term care and short-term overnight respite stays for caregiver relief, by calling 203.594.5302, dropping by, or visiting waveny.org. Enjoy long-range confidence knowing all Village residents have priority access to Waveny’s entire nonprofit continuum of care, including Waveny Care Center, our 5-star Medicare and Medicaid accredited skilled nursing facility, should their personal or financial needs ever change. A nonprofit continuum of care that’s planning ahead for you.

ust a stone’s throw from New Canaan’s vibrant town center, The Inn offers distinctive independent senior living that celebrates wellness, dignity and choice. All residents at The Inn enjoy priority access to Waveny LifeCare Network’s entire continuum of care, including personal care services through Waveny at Home, and our 5-star skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility, Waveny Care Center. Call 203.594.5450 or visit us at waveny.org to discover more about life at The Inn. Schedule lunch and a tour, and come visit us today.

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PET OF THE MONTH

PLAYFUL PENELOPE PHOTOGRAPH BY SEBASTIÁN FLORES.

his soulful Shiba Inu mix named Penelope was rescued from Thailand, where sadly, many dogs are captured as part of the illegal dog meat trade. Luckily, though, Penelope made the long journey over to the SPCA to get a second chance. Just a few years old, Penelope has a wonderful disposition — sweet and playful though not overly energetic. She loves going for walks and is always wagging her tail when she makes new friends. Penelope seems to like other dogs but is also fine on her own as long as she is receiving a lot of love and affection. To meet Penelope, visit the SPCA of Westchester at 590 N. State Road in Briarcliff Manor. Founded in 1883, the SPCA is a no-kill shelter and is not affiliated with the ASPCA. The SPCA is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. To learn more, call 914-941-2896 or visit spca914.org.

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July 11

WHEN & WHERE

Through July 27

“Gordon Parks: I AM YOU,” a photographic exhibit, investigates the themes of poverty and prejudice that Parks explored throughout his 70-year career. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays, Gordon Parks Foundation, 48 Wheeler Ave., Pleasantville; 914-238-2619, gordonparksfoundation.org

Through July 31

“Images From Behind Prison Walls” is an exhibit of artworks by men and women incarcerated in New York state. It’s presented by Rehabilitation Through the Arts, in partnership with the Ossining Public Library, Ossining Arts Council and Sing Sing Prison Museum. A gallery reception will take place July 14. Hours vary, Ossining Public Library, 53 Croton Ave.; 914-232-7566, ossininglibrary.org

Grammy-nominated guitar virtuoso Gil Parris, known for his special blend of blues, jazz, rock and smooth jazz, will perform with his band and special guests in the “Picks the Hits” show, highlighting the music of Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and Jeff Beck, among others. 8 p.m., The Bijou Theatre, 275 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport; 203-296-9605, bijoutheatrect.net

July 12

“Bridge to Broadway” — Families visiting Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts will experience the evolution of musical storytelling in this program of live music, colorful characters and interactive musical games. 11 a.m., 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah; 914232-1252, caramoor.org

Madelyn Jordon Fine Art presents a film screening of “Finding Vivian Maier" in conjunction with its current exhibition, “Vivian Maier Revealed: Selections from the Archives” (through Aug. 11). Maier was a nanny who moonlighted as a street photographer. Her work was unseen during her lifetime. 7 p.m., 37 Popham Road, Scarsdale; 914-723-8738, madelynjordonfineart.com The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum hosts the opening of the exhibit “Collecting in Victorian America: The Great Divide Of The Gilded Age” (through Oct. 11). Collecting became a significant diversion from the grim realities of the Gilded Age, providing in that era of unprecedented mobility and scientific breakthroughs a way to experience new inventions and discoveries. The opening reception is at 5:30 p.m., 295 West Ave., Norwalk; 203-838-9799, lockwoodmathewsmansion.com

The final performance of The Schoolhouse Theater’s romantic comedy “The Dog in the Dressing Room,” by playwright Deborah Savadge. 3 p.m., 3 Owens Road, North Salem; 914-277-8477, schoolhousetheater.org

July 4-29

July 6

Westchester Photographic Society presents members’ photo favorites in “Out of The Box.” 8 p.m., Westchester Community College, Technology Building, Room 107, Parking Lot 11, Valhalla; wpsphoto.org

July 7

The Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden’s Ikebana Workshop demonstrates how to make flower arrangements, with Shoko Iwata as instructor. 7 a.m. to noon, 28 Deveau Road, North Salem; 914-669-5033, hammondmuseum.org

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July 15

Join the Norwalk Historical Society for a Summer Tea with Abigail Adams. Carol Bielefeld will present a lively performance of one of history’s most fascinating first ladies, while guests enjoy a unique summer party with iced teas, scones, tea sandwiches and sweets, along with some Colonial-themed surprises. Reservations required. 2 p.m., Mill Hill Historic Park, 2 E. Wall St., Norwalk; 203-846-0525, norwalkhistoricalsociety.org

July 17

July 1

“Summer Nights on the Sound,” Mamaroneck's free concert series at Harbor Island Park, features new and returning musical groups, including The Soundettes and the St. Thomas Orchestra at 8 p.m. July 4, the 3D Rhythm of Life 7 p.m. July 15, The Alpaca Gnomes 7 p.m. July 22 and The LPs 7 p.m. July 29. Bring blankets, lawn chairs and picnic baskets to the events. Food trucks will be onsite. Villageofmamaroneck.org

July 14

Songwriter Joe Jackson performs as part of Stamford Downtown’s “Wednesday Nite Live” summer series in Columbus Park, featuring songs from across his entire catalogue, including hits from his earliest albums “Is She Really Going Out with Him?” and “Steppin’ Out,” 6:30 p.m., Columbus Park, entrance on Main Street near Atlantic Street, Stamford; 203-348-5285, stamford-downtown.com

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum

July 12 through Aug. 4

Thrown Stone presents its 2018 repertory season, with the New England premiere of “The Arsonists” and the East Coast premiere of “Where All Good Rabbits Go.” Whether bluegrass, Greek tragedy or absurdist allegory, these dances are said to be characterized by lyricism and a sense of urgency. In repertory 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 3 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance, 440 Main St.; 203442-1714, thrownstone.org

July 14 and 15

The Westport Downtown Merchants Association presents the 45th annual Westport Fine Arts Festival, a juried event featuring 160 national and international artists exhibiting a wide variety of works. In addition, experience musical performances, cuisine from local eateries, specialty beverages and a newly developed interactive Kids Create area for all age activities. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Main St., 203-505-8716, westportdma.com

Experience the colors, sounds and excitement of traditional, native performing arts in “Global Arts Alive,” with members of the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, Linda Russell in American Colonial dress performing on the dulcimer and members of the Japanese Taikoza, playing large taiko drums, bamboo flutes and the koto, a stringed instrument. 10 a.m., Stamford's Palace Theatre, 61 Atlantic St.; 203-3254466, palacestamford.org

July 19

As part of “Sunset Jazz at Lyndhurst,” relax on the expansive lawn of Lyndhurst Mansion for an outdoor jazz concert by the Mike LeDonne Groover Quartet. LeDonne is a jazz pianist and organist known for his post-bop and hard-bop rhythms. 6:30 p.m., 635 S. Broadway, Tarrytown; 914-631-1000, jazzforumarts.org

July 21

The Fairfield Theater Company presents “The Magpie Salute,” bringing together the reunited guitar team of Rich Robinson and Marc Ford from the Black Crowes with bassist Sven Pipien, lead singer John Hogg, drummer Joe Magistro and guitarist Nico Bereciartua. With three guitarists, Magpie plays loud and hard, drawing on its Black Crowes’ roots as well as the Crowes’ tradition of well-chosen covers. 8 p.m., FTC Warehouse, 70 Sanford St.; 203-259-1036, fairfieldtheatre.org

July 22

Beechwood Arts & Innovation hosts its most popular community-connecting event, the seventh annual Beechwood Open. In exchange for a small donation, you can hang a piece of art, place sculpture in the garden, show a short film, perform a short piece on the stage, set up a market table with creative wares or bring a dish for the table. Or, you can choose simply to come and enjoy it all. Registration required. 2 p.m., 52 Weston Road, Westport; 203-226-9462, beechwoodarts.org

July 23

Here you are More Mobile

Keir Dullea, the star of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” hosts a 50th anniversary screening of this newly remastered classic film at The Fairfield Theatre Company’s Warehouse, which offers state-of-the-art projection and sound. Dullea will be available before and after the film to answer questions. 7 p.m., 70 Sanford St., Fairfield; 203-259-1036, fairfieldtheatre.org

July 26

Two-time Grammy Award nominee, and multiple Billboard World Music Award-winner Femi Kuti is back. The Nigerian musician brings his blend of soul, funk, jazz, R&B and African folk to the masses with his band The Positive Force. 7:30 p.m., Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 E. Ridge Road; 203-4385795, ridgefieldplayhouse.org

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July 28

Ives Concert Park holds its seventh annual Westside Reggae Festival, with music, food and fun for the whole family. Featured acts include Culture, Wayne Wonder, Half Pint, Derrick Barnett, Anthem Band, Tales Of Joy and more. 1 p.m., 43 Lake Avenue Extension, Danbury; 203-837-9227, ivesconcertpark.com

July 28 and 29

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CountryBankNY.com

“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” — In this play, an eclectic group of tweens vies for the spelling championship of a lifetime. While revealing stories from their home lives, the kids spell their way through a series of (potentially made-up) words, hoping never to hear the soul-crushing, pout-inducing, life un-affirming "ding" of the bell that signals a spelling mistake. 1 and 7 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday, Yorktown Stage, 1974 Commerce Street, Yorktown Heights; 914-962-0606, yorktownstage.org

Presented by ArtsWestchester (artswestchester.org) and the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County (fcbuzz.org).

experience something real #PAC1819

September 16 Orpheus Chamber Orchestra | Nobuyuki Tsujii, piano October 6 Jimmy Webb 13 American String Quartet and Salaman Rushdie 20 Lea DeLaria 21 Westchester Philharmonic All-Orchestral Gala Opener 26 Black Violin & Purchase Symphony Orchestra 27 Velvet Caravan November 2 NW Dance Project 4 Aida Cuevas 18 Circa Carnival of the Animals December 1 CMS of Lincoln Center Windstorm 2 The Rainbow Fish Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia 8 Orpheus Chamber Orchestra | Steven Isserlis, cello 9 Boston Brass Christmas Bells Are Swingin’ 14 The Rob Mathes Holiday Concert (also on Sat 12/15) 16 Westchester Philharmonic Winter Pops!

Tickets on sale August 8

January 19 Gina Chavez 26 CMS of Lincoln Center Esteemed Ensemble Feburary 2 Diavolo: Architecture in Motion® 10 Westchester Philharmonic Friends and Family 16 Robin Spielberg March 2 CMS of Lincoln Center Hungarian Fire 10 Shadow Play Trusty Sidekick Theatre Company 16 Aspen Santa Fe Ballet 23 Portland Cello Project OK Computer April 7 Tiempo Libre 7 Westchester Philharmonic All Beethoven Season Finale 20 The Triplets of Belleville 25 BODYTRAFFIC May 4 CMS of Lincoln Center Deeply Inspired 5 Daniel Kelly Rakonto

914.251.6200 www.artscenter.org

WATCH

HONORING VOLUNTEERS

During National Volunteer Week, more than 600 community members filled the Westchester Marriott to celebrate the 2018 Volunteer Spirit Awards. Honorees included the 2018 Volunteer New York! Legacy Award recipient, Geri Shapiro, a senior adviser to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who received a video thanks from Gillibrand and a surprise letter from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Last year, Volunteer New York! helped to inspire more than 20,000 volunteers and coordinated more than 285,000 hours of service. These hours were devoted to more than 500 local nonprofits at a value of more than $8.1 million to our community. Photographs by Paul Schneiderman and Devron Chambers. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

Christian French and Shakil Henriques Rosie Samudio and George Latimer Nick Preddice and Betty Cotton Mike Snow Kate Bialo and Elisabeth Vieselmeyer Jared Rice and Richard Nightingale David Singer and Cindy Ostrager Geri Shapiro and Robert Weisz Marjorie Lang and Joanne Taylor Mel Berger Jake Gallin and Alisa Kesten Patty and Jim Rathschmidt and Bill Higgins Jane Solnick and Suzie Ross Joe Roberto and Christine Silverstein Jill Singer and Laura Rossi Michael Grossman and Mark Rollins Len Schleifer

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Summer Season June 16 – July 29 Katonah, NY

July Highlights Include...

July 8 Marc-André Hamelin

July 14 Bernstein’s Broadway

July 21 Dianne Reeves

July 29 Susan Graham

Full Calendar & Tickets: caramoor.org / 914.232.1252

WATCH

TEE(TH) TIME Touro College of Dental Medicine at New York Medical College held its second annual Golf and Tennis Championship at Willow Ridge Country Club in Harrison. More than 150 were in attendance for a day of golf and activities on the tennis court, as well as a dinner with notable supporters. Proceeds from the event went to patient care at Touro Dental Health, the college’s state-of-the-art clinical training facility. It provides quality, affordable dental care for communities of the Hudson Valley, including underserved populations with limited access to care. 1. Edward Farkas, DDS, Evan Chafitz, DMD, Anthony J. Sparpino Jr., and Ronnie Meyers, DDS 2. Jill and Evan Chafitz, DMD, and Keikilani and Donald Brockley, DMD 3. Haithan Ennabi, DDS, Daniel Smith, Michael Hagan and Michael Kopy 4. Ken Frain, Colan Rogers, Bill Eisenhauer and Steve Sloan

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SALUTING VNSW’S VOLUNTEERS

More than 200 supporters were in attendance at the Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester Foundation’s gala at Willow Ridge Country Club in Harrison, where organizers honored dedicated board members, a longtime volunteer and a digital health care provider who have helped VNSW maintain its high standard of home health care and community services during these challenging times. The event raised more than $100,000 to support VNSW’s mission of promoting the health and sustaining the independence of the elderly and other vulnerable populations. 5. Julia Schwartz-Leeper and Amy Ansehl, MD 6. Amit Saxena, MD, George Latimer and Sumir Sahgal, MD 7. Chris Gaur, Dave Gaur, Nancy Rudolph and Carolyn Rogers 8. John Broadhurst, Anne Sweazey and Mary Gadomski 9. Donna Arce, Crista Tucker, Timothy Leddy, Sangita Karra, Peg Nolan and Angie Pasa 10. Trish Babcock and Jamie O’Connell 11. Daniel P. Buckley, Elizabeth C. Briand, Judy B. Brownstein, Nancy Rudolph and Mary Ellen Manley 12. Bob Knight, Carolyn Mandelker, Mary Gadomski and Ken Buffa

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Call (914) 849 - MyMD to find the right doctor for your personalized needs. 138

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WATCH

ABOVE AND BEYOND

Community partners, families and government and business leader, gathered to celebrate Ability Beyondâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grand opening event for its new Norwalk location. The ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house included speeches from legislative officials and community partners and a tour of the facility. This recent expansion will help the nonprofit extend its services and programs to more people with disabilities in the lower Fairfield County region, which includes New Canaan, Darien, Stamford and Greenwich.

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1. Jane Davis, Greg Smith, Mary Borba, Robert Bedoukian and Candy Shaughnessy

MAKING DREAMS COME TRUE

Recently, The Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dream Foundation held its annual Supper at the Shore at Shenorock Shore Club in Rye. Lisina Hoch was honored for a lifetime of philanthropic work and the Medical Service Award was presented to Avinash Mohan, MD. Funds raised will support the mission of improving pediatric emergency care in the Hudson Valley. 2. Claude Simpson, Daniel Roseman, David Rothenberg and David Lenter 3. Donald and Jayne Murphy 4. Donald Murphy Jr. and Nichole Bianco 5. Dean Straff, MD 6. Bruce Roseman, MD and Brian Harrington 7. Emil Nigro, MD, Lisina Hoch and Avinash Mohan, MD 8. Erik Larsen, MD and Laura and Gerry Holbrook 9. Tim Haydock, MD and Barbara Moss 10. Jeff and Elaine Allen 11. Ida Doctor and Carolyn Stevens 12. Judith Watson and George Coles 13. Shana and Sylvia Ehrlich

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WATCH

SUPPORTING ‘HER’STORY

More than 150 guests attended a dinner at the Playhouse on the Rockefeller estate to benefit the Women’s History Institute of Historic Hudson Valley. This initiative illuminates the substantial contributions made by women in the Hudson Valley region, past and present. The honorees included Dawn Fitzpatrick and Valerie Rockefeller. All proceeds from the evening went to support the institute and its many programs.

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1. Waddell Stillman, Dawn Fitzpatrick, Robert DeLaMater, Valerie Rockefeller, Kimberly Huchro and Charles Rockefeller 2. Timothy and Laura Plunkett, Kevin and Rosemary Plunkett, Mary Muecke, William and Kathryn Plunkett and Antonio Muinos 3. Jay Bryant, Linda Holden Bryant, Elizabeth O’Connell and Christopher Bogart 4. Mary Jo Bramson and Anne Murnane

HAPPY 30TH

Westchester Land Trust (WLT) supporters gathered at the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills to celebrate WLT’s 30TH anniversary and to honor the conservation legacy of David Rockefeller, along with his significant contributions to local open space protection. Corporate sponsors joined local and national businesses in donating items for a silent auction. Some 350 guests participated in the event, which raised more than $400,000 to benefit land preservation in Westchester and eastern Putnam counties. Photographs by Chris Pope. 5. Lizzy Kaplan, Bruce B. Churchill, Michael Quattrone, Lori Ensinger and Scott Horwitz 6. Tara Rockefeller and Terrance Murphy 7. Michelle and Gianna Caiola 8. Michael Rockefeller, Angelina Lipman, MD and Monte Lipman 9. Beth and Wyatt Crowell

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“Sapori (Italian for “flavors”) is the newest and the fanciest restaurant to arrive on the outskirts of White Plains near the County Center.” — New York Times

Lunch, Dinner, Private Wine Room, Outdoor Dining • Valet Parking 324 Central Ave, White Plains, NY • 914-684-8855 • saporiofwhiteplains.com

WATCH

TEEING UP FOR A CURE

A little rain couldn’t dampen a day of fun for the sixth annual Breast Cancer Alliance (BCA) golf outing held at Glen Arbor Golf Club in Bedford Hills recently. The fun-filled event included a long-drive contest against a pro, the chance at a Mercedes with a hole in one and a lunch and dinner. The outing raised more than $100,000 for Greenwich-based BCA, which provides critical funding for novel, early-stage research in the field of breast cancer. Photographs by Elaine Ubiña. 1. Crystal Stoute and Yonni Wattenmaker 2. Maris Pascal and Bridget Queally 3. Carol Crapple, Nicky Johnson, Sandy Vasey and Margie Warwick 4. Joan Whipple, Angela Walsh, Jaime Warner and Jane Canning 5. Tim and Suzanne Sennatt and Helen and Brian Fitzgerald 6. Catherine Marcus, Joy Laughtenbach, Jill Weiss and Nancy Risman 7. Margaret Sinclair and Mary Quick 8. Brian Nurse, Kim Jeffery, Larry Lindsey and Tom Tamoney 9. Anne Harrison, Jim Daras and Patti Fast 10. George Whipple and Trish and Scott Shannon 11. Tim Powers and Justin Nelson 12. Chip and Lisa Skinner 13. RJ Jacoby, Robin Bodell and Mary Jeffery

MOVING TOWARD HOPE

Hundreds of runners and walkers of all ages laced up their sneakers for Breast Cancer Alliance’s annual 5K Run/Walk for Hope in Greenwich. The rain held out for a fun and meaningful morning as participants remembered loved ones who lost their lives to the disease and honored survivors. This year, BCA expanded the event with an inaugural “Walk or Run Where You Live,” held throughout the U.S. to give others the opportunity to join supporters in Greenwich by running or walking in their hometowns. “Walk or Run Where You Live” reflects BCA’s ever-broadening fundraising and efforts to extend vital research grants beyond the New York metro area. Photographs by Elaine Ubiña.

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14. Mia Gyesky, Mary Jeffery, Courtney Olsen, Susan Weis and Yonni Wattenmaker 15. Daniel and Barbara Pozzi 16. Lisa Fleming, Jamie Tyndall and Cara Gilbride

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KENYA, TANZANIA, ETHIOPIA & RWANDA TOURS Exceptional Camps & Lodges | Authentic Experiences | Private tours for groups and families with children

“WE MET THIS YOUNG GIRL WHILE WALKING ON A WORN PATH THROUGH TALL GRASSES. SHE WAS CARRYING A HEAVY CLAY POT ON HER HEAD, FILLED WITH WATER. SHE IS A SURI GIRL, FROM SOUTHWESTERN ETHIOPIA, RAISED IN THE TRADITIONAL WAY AND FULFILLING HER DUTIES IN HELPING WITH THE FAMILY CHORES. THE LIGHT WAS BEAUTIFUL, SO WE STARTED TAKING PHOTOS OF HER. UNSURE OF ALL OF THE ATTENTION AND FOR A SPLIT SECOND, SHE SMILED. IN THE DISTANCE, WE HEARD HER MOTHER CALLING FOR HER.” –Antonio Deciccio, New York

“OUR ADVENTURE IN EAST AFRICA WAS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE, FROM THE EXTRAVAGANCE OF WILDLIFE IN AMBOSELI AND REMOTE VILLAGES IN SAMBURU, TO BREAKFAST OVERLOOKING NGORONGORO AND SCENERY ALONG THE PLAINS OF THE SERENGETI. THIS WAS A TRIP NOT EASILY FORGOTTEN.” — Evan Anthony, Cambridge MA

All packages include photography lessons | John Rizzo is a former Newsweek photographer, has worked on 6 continents & winner of two Arts Alive Grants, 2013 &2016

Africa Photo Tours Inc. | 455 Tarrytown Road Suite 1302 White Plains NY 10607 | (646) 221-6186 worldwide mobile | www.johnrizzophoto.com

WATCH

A COOL OPENING

Nordic Edge, a modern health and wellness center, celebrated its official grand opening in Scarsdale, marking the third location for the growing company. Nordic Edge offers a variety of cutting-edge health treatments, including whole-body and localized cryotherapy; infrared heat therapy; compression therapy; salt therapy; vibroacoustic therapy and the Nordic Facial. Nordic Edge also has centers in Eastchester and New Canaan. Photographs by Roger Rojas. 1. Marie O’Connor, MD and Joshua Silverman 2. Christina Rae, Marcia Pflug and Gina Valentino 3. Andrea Chnowski, Lara Sullivan, Alessia Bicknese and Rachael Engelhardt 4. Nancy Silverman, Lisa Verboys and Andrew Verboys 5. Taylor Verboys, Nadia Viera and Lauren Nardone 6. A demonstration of Nordic Edge’s whole-body cryotherapy machine 7. Brian Daly and Adrian O’Connor 8. Rachael Engelhardt and Alessia Bicknese relax in the salt therapy room

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CARAMOOR ‘INSPIRE’S

Caramoor in Katonah recently celebrated the launch of its “Inspire” capital campaign, leading up to its 75th anniversary celebrations in 2020. The campaign is focused on securing the future of the institution by increasing Caramoor’s endowment as well as restoring and modernizing the grounds and gardens of the Mediterranean-style arts center — site of an acclaimed summer music festival — to make it a true meeting place for the community. Photographs by Gabe Palacio. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

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Abigail Murthy, Lisa Welch and Jon and Nancy Bauer Jeffrey Haydon and James A. Attwood, Jr Overhead shot of Launch Party with Verona Quartet Lawrence and Adela Elow Peter Kend Susie Freund

PLAYING THE PALACE

The Palace Theatre in Stamford recognized three high school students from Fairfield and Westchester counties with the 2018 Ernie DiMattia Emerging Young Artist Scholarship Award for their writing of an original one-act play. The young playwrights witnessed their voices and visions come to life with a staged reading, guest directed by Broadway veteran Luis Salgado and featuring professional actors. Photograph by Allen Louis. 15. Joshua Schirtzinger, Carol Bryan, Jacob S. Louchheim, Will Donovan, Noel Houle von Behrenis, Andrew Casturo-Burnette, Kristina Dignelli, Danielle Rivera and Luis Salgado

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WATCH

A WIN FOR WAG

It was a great moment for the WAG team as editor-in-chief Georgette Gouveia accepted a 2018 Folio Women in Media award in the Motivators category June 7 at the Edison Hotel Ballroom in Manhattan. Winners ranged from Bleacher Report to the Harvard Business Review to Pop Sugar – proof that WAG is on the right track in striving to represent the best in niche journalism — and in great company. 1. Georgette Gouveia receiving the Motivators Award 2. Lifetime Achievement honoree Martha Stewart

WOMAN POWER

New York Secretary of State Rossana Rosado was the keynote speaker at the 10th annual “In the Company of Women” luncheon hosted by the YWCA White Plains & Central Westchester. The event, held at the Doubletree by Hilton in Tarrytown, attracted more than 500 local community leaders. This year’s theme was “Strong Alone, Fearless Together,” which encouraged attendees to join with others who make a difference in the community. Proceeds from the luncheon benefitted the empowering programs at the YWCA White Plains & Central Westchester.

3. Mecca Santana, Umran Beba and Sandra L. Richards 4. Natalie Santoro, Maria Imperial, Rossana Rosado, Virginia Kuper and Patricia Mulqueen

HITTING THE LINKS FOR ST JUDE

Statewide Abstract Corp. hosted its first charity golf outing to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and support its ongoing mission of never charging families of sick children for treatment, travel, housing or food. More than 100 golfers turned out at Westchester Hills Golf Club in White Plains, raising $55,000 for the cause. Photograph by Risa B. Hoag.

5. Michael Meccia, Kenneth Meccia, Richard Krasner and Michael Okamot

CARING ABOUT CAREGIVING Community and business leaders helped raise thousands of dollars for Burke Rehabilitation Hospital’s new Marsal Caregiver Center at the annual Burke Award Dinner at Brae Burn Country Club in Purchase. The evening featured an awards presentation and a live auction and paddle raise, with proceeds going to support the Caregiver Center, which is the first on-site caregiver center at a rehabilitation hospital in the country.

6. Matt Yallof, Amy Yallof, Jeffrey Menkes, Donald E. Foley, John McCarthy, JoAnn Murphy, Joseph Murphy, Carolyn Murphy and Joseph Murphy, Jr.

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WE WONDER:

WIT

WHAT MAKES YOU R MOUTH WATER?

Charles Bell

Florence Dyke

Tamara Goode

Meredith Hodges

Jonathan Kipps

“I think the sun, the heat, makes my mouth water. I know you probably meant a food, but I’m sticking with that.”

“Mmm, nothing makes my mouth water like a big, juicy slice of watermelon. Especially on hot days in the summer.”

“Pretty much all sweets make my mouth water. Especially ice cream, because I’m always trying not to eat it.”

“I hope this isn’t too risqué, but… my husband. Oh dear, I can’t believe I said that.”

“My mother used to make homemade pies for us growing up. She used to stuff them with fresh fruit and all kinds of other spices and sauces she’d concoct. To this day I can’t smell baked pie without licking my lips and inhaling that incredible smell.”

John MacDonell

Frank Martin

Irene Mascatello

Nancy Smith

Alison Stone

“It doesn’t take much to make me salivate, but I’d say what gets me the most is a nice, medium-rare cut of steak.”

“I’m a sucker for cookies, any cookie. They’re my biggest weakness.”

“Just thinking about fresh fruit makes my mouth water. I love going blueberry picking with my family on vacation. We’ve done it since I was a little kid. I think our strongest feelings are attached to memories. I bet most of the answers to this question come from some comforting memory the person has related to their food of choice.”

“Well, if I’m thirsty then water makes my mouth water. I know that sounds a little silly, but even right now thinking of a tall, cold glass of water makes me crave it.”

“I think being in different settings makes me crave different things. If I’m at a ball game, then all I want is a hot dog with mustard and relish and I won’t stop thinking about it until I have one. If I’m at home, then all I’ll want is a plate of my mom’s famous lasagna. It depends where I am.”

Retired, Rye Brook

Carpenter, Stamford

Retired, Scarsdale

Teacher, Pelham

Actress, New York City

Graduate Student, Edgemont

Interior Decorator, Greenwich

Retired, Greenwich

*Asked throughout central and northern Westchester County at various businesses. 152

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Lawyer, White Plains

Receptionist, Tarrytown