In Good Taste The American Foundation For Suicide Prevention and Response of Suffolk County, Inc. hosted their 2nd annual In Good Taste event at The Carltun on the Park on Monday May 12, 2008. This evening was held to help raise funds and awareness for suicide prevention.
Dale Camhi, Regional director of AFSP and Meryl Cassidy, (above right) Executive Director of Response co-chaired the event along with Robin Baren, Ellen Birch, George Brennan, Stan Camhi, Pat Devito, Bill Denbergh, Laura Granelli, Frank Gulotta, Lisa Maldando, Debbie McDonald, Monica Rutsky, and Lawrence Sprung. The committee worked together to invite more than forty top restaurants, wineries, and specialty shops to cater the event. An honorable mention is also in order for the generous sponsors and donors of the evening. Thanks to Southwest airlines, an entire room was dedicated to raffles and a silent auction to help raise even more funds for the foundation. Charlotte’s Bistro (below left) of Cold Spring Harbor offered their Seared Salmon topped with fresh homemade Guacamole. The sushi grade salmon “made the grade” with us. It was fresh with a light flavor that gave room for the incredibly creamy guacamole to shine. The unconventional combination was a delicious starter.
La Bottega Italian Gourmet (above right) of Garden City South served a few of their signature Panini’s. The Terra is a vegetarian style Panini with roasted Portobello, broccoli rabe, roasted peppers, grilled vegetables and Asiago cheese on whole wheat bread. The Juicy veggies made this Panini soft and tasty. Another excellent item was the Crudo. This Panini was simple; it had aged Prosciutto di Parma, fresh mozzarella and baby arugula on ciabatta bread. The salty Prosciutto in combination with the sweet and juicy mozzarella made this sandwich a palette pleaser. La Parma (below left) of Williston Park is known for being one of the first family style Italian restaurants on Long Island. We sampled one of the Chef’s signature dishes Chicken Scarpariella, which had boneless chicken, potato, sausage slices, onions, and peppers, in a lemon white wine sauce. All ingredients were incredibly tender and full of flavor- a great example of the traditional Italian American classic.
City Café (above right) of Garden City presented a superb stuffed mushroom. The mushroom was cooked to perfection- tender and succulent, but not mushy. There was just the right amount of breadcrumb to soak up the flavors produced when the mushrooms were cooked. The Penne with crumbled sausage in a pink sauce was also scrumptious. There were ample amounts of crumbled slightly spicy sausage that went well with the sweet pink sauce. On a sweet note, LL Dent (below left) provided guests a sample of their sweet southern hospitality through their authentic Georgia peach cobbler. Much to our delight this was just the beginning of the dessert portion of the evening.
The guests were then treated to a chocolate after party in the Havana Club, the Carltun’s well-known cigar lounge on the second floor of the building. The room was dimly lit with an ultra exclusive aura and there were chocolate goodies everywhere. Chocolate dessert bars (below left), mousse stations, chests full of chocolate baubles, trays upon trays of chocolate covered strawberries (above right), cupcakes (below right), and lest we forget the chocolate themed martinis (below middle)! The three martinis guests were able to try were the chocolate martini, the Carltun’s snowball white chocolatetini, and the espressotini. Willy Wonka, eat your heart out!
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