18 MILL STREET
PORT CHESTER, NY 10573
(914) 939-3111
OWNING PARTNERS: MARIO BATALI, JOSEPH BASTIANICH, NANCY SELZER, AND ANDY NUSSER;
EXECUTIVE CHEF: ANDY NUSSER; CHEF DE CUISINE: SAM EPPS; LEAD SOMMELIER: LAURA MILLER
One of the most amazing things about the team behind Tarry Lodge is that—though it is composed of elite (as in TV-famous, nationally recognized, and multiple James Beard Award winning) Manhattan restaurateurs—there isn’t a hint of anti-suburban snobbery in the venture.
The partnership of Joseph Bastianich and Mario Batali has yielded some of New York’s most iconic restaurants: Babbo, Esca, Lupa, and Del Posto, just to name a few (there are more than twenty worldwide). Then, along with the restaurants there is the formidable television influence of Mario Batali. He’s joined in his celebrity by Lidia Bastianich, Joseph Bastianich’s mother (and, frequently, his business partner). Her series of motherly cooking shows and books have edified and entertained PBS viewers since 1998. Of course, there is also Joseph Bastianich’s serious work in winemaking and wine education to consider, not to mention his campy, Vaderesque turns on the Fox Network show, MasterChef.
It is not an exaggeration to assert that, since the 1990s, the trio of Batali/Bastianich/Bastianich has led the American discourse in Italian food and wine. Which just begs the question: Why would they bother to debut a restaurant in a burnt-out site once held by a notoriously decrepit Italian-American red sauce joint in an economically depressed suburb (hidden twenty-six miles north of Manhattan) and still keep the original restaurant’s name?
The answer has something to do with the bankability of memory. The Batali-Bastianich team wanted to tap the deep well of emotion held by locals for an Italian-American landmark. Says Joseph Bastianich, “After we bought the Tarry Lodge, we realized what a great amount of nostalgia there was for the name and the restaurant and the location. Everyone knew Tarry Lodge. Everyone celebrated their high school graduation there or their birthday there in 1950 or 1940 or whatever. So we thought, ‘This place has a lot of nostalgia associated with it. We should re-conceptualize it and bring it back to what might have been its former glory.’”
Yeah, but the old Tarry Lodge was never like this. The team installed Chef Andy Nusser, who made his bones during a five-year stint at the helm of Babbo that earned the restaurant three stars from Ruth Reichl in the New York Times and simultaneously introduced a new, lavishly carnal style of Italian eating (which has been endlessly emulated ever since). After Babbo, the trio of Nusser, Batali, and Bastianich struck gold with Casa Mono and Bar Jamon, a restaurant-bar that celebrates the food of Nusser’s youth on Spain’s Costa Brava. Nusser had always been a figure in the Batali/Bastianich empire. At the very beginning, Nusser cooked side-by-side with Batali in the minuscule kitchen of Pò, which was the very first Batali and Bastianich enterprise. At Pò, Batali/Bastianich and Nusser also snagged the talents of Nancy Selzer, who shot northward in their ranks and was a partner at Casa Mono/Bar Jamon. She also was an opening partner in both Tarry Lodges (in Port Chester and Westport, Connecticut).
What this team created at Tarry Lodge (in reverence to the original) is a reimagined ideal of an old-time Italian restaurant in America. There are the oceans of Carrera marble, the penny and hex floor tiles, and the sepia lighting of a Godfather movie. There is zuppa di pesce, rigatoni with meatball and sausage, and—you guessed it—eggplant parm. But, also, there is a top-class Italian wine list, carefully sourced salumi (some from Batali’s father, Armandino), farro, and tender wood-fired pizzas. Tarry Lodge emerges as a kindly gesture toward Italian Americana done with a seasoned restaurant group’s eye.
(SERVES 4)
For the tomato sauce:
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 Spanish onion, cut into ¼-inch dice
4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves, or 1 tablespoon dried
½ medium carrot, finely grated
2 (28-ounce) cans peeled whole tomatoes, crushed by hand and juices reserved
Salt
For the eggplant:
2 large eggplants
Salt, as needed
Olive oil for greasing pans
2 cups flour
4 eggs, lightly whisked
2 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs
For the finished dish:
1 quart tomato sauce (above)
2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
2 cups sun-dried tomatoes
1 pound fresh mozzarella, diced
2 cups grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 pint toasted panko bread crumbs
To make the tomato sauce: In a 3-quart saucepan heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and light golden brown, about 8–10 minutes. Add the thyme and carrot and cook for 5 more minutes, or until the carrot is quite soft. Add the tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the sauce is as thick as hot cereal. Season with salt and reserve.
To cook the eggplant: On the night before you plan to make the dish, cut the eggplant into ½-inch slices and lightly salt each slice. Line a colander with the slices and allow them to drain overnight. On the following day preheat oven to 450°F and pat the eggplant dry on paper towels. Lightly oil two baking sheets. Into each of three wide-mouthed bowls, place the flour, eggs, and bread crumbs. Dredge each eggplant slice first in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Arrange each slice on the oiled pans—do not overcrowd. Repeat this process until all the eggplant slices are coated and placed on the pans. Bake the slices for about 10 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
To assemble the dish: In the bottom of an ovenproof baking dish, spread an even layer of the tomato sauce. Arrange the baked eggplant slices over the sauce. Ladle about 2 ounces of tomato sauce on top of each piece of eggplant. Place one basil leaf on top of each slice of eggplant, then place one sun-dried tomato on top of the basil leaf. Top each leaf with three cubes of mozzarella. Liberally sprinkle grated Parmigiano Reggiano over the eggplant. Repeat the process of layering the eggplant, tomato sauce, basil, sun-dried tomato, mozzarella, and Parmigiano Reggiano for two to five times until all the eggplant slices are used. Top each stack with toasted panko and bake for 20 minutes until the surface is bubbling and golden brown. Serve.
(SERVES 4)
For the ceci beans:
1 bag dried ceci beans (chickpeas)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 carrot, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
Salt to taste
For the halibut:
4 (5-ounce) pieces wild halibut, skin removed (striped bass, tilefish, fluke, or monkfish are all good substitutes)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup dry white wine
2 cups vegetable stock
2 cups cooked ceci beans (recipe follows)
1 tablespoon chopped black truffles (fresh truffles are preferable, but preserved truffles in oil make a reasonable substitute)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 bunch escarole, cleaned, trimmed, and sliced into thin ribbons.
1 dozen mussels, cleaned and scrubbed
To cook the beans: On the night before you plan to serve the dish, place the ceci beans in a large bowl. Add water to cover with a couple of inches to spare. Allow the beans to soak overnight at room temperature. Into a medium-size saucepan, pour the olive oil and add the carrot, onion, and celery. Sauté the vegetables until they are translucent. Add the drained ceci to the vegetables and add water until beans are covered. Cook the beans until tender, season to taste with salt, and reserve.
To make the dish: Choose a sauté pan that is big enough to fit all four pieces of fish without overcrowding. Place the pan over high heat and, when it is hot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil. When the olive oil is almost smoking, add the pieces of fish skin side up [where the skin had been, with presentation side down]. Sauté the fish for about 2 minutes, or until you see the edges begin to turn golden. Add 1 tablespoon butter, then check the bottom of the fish. When each piece is golden brown and not sticking to the pan, flip it over and cook the fish for an additional 30 seconds. When they are done, remove the fish pieces from the pan (leaving the pan on the stovetop). Set the fish aside while you assemble the rest of the dish.
To the pan in which you’ve cooked the fish, add the white wine, vegetable stock, cooked chickpeas, chopped truffles, and lemon juice and bring this mixture to a boil. Add the escarole to the pan and cook it until wilted. Add the mussels and then return the fish to pan. Cover the pan and cook the mussels and fish until all the mussels have opened. If some mussels don’t open, discard them. Don’t overcook.
To plate: Remove the mussels from the pan and arrange them around the outside edge of a platter. Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the chickpeas and escarole and place them in the center of the plate. Place the fish on top. Add the remaining butter to the pan containing the fish and vegetable liquid and bring this mixture to a boil. Pour this sauce over the fish and serve.