I LOVE food

I LOVE food. I really do. Particularly great food. Aviva and I have pretty much realized that we are snobby, snooty foodies ... sure she is a bit more discriminating that I, for instance, I kind of love the Kraft parmesan cheese in the green can (you know, the stuff that looks - and tastes - like Ajax) while Aviva holds out for the real stuff.

But really, we both just love food. But we don't eat out a lot, because we are cheap, but also because we are good cooks and don't like to pay for things we can make on our own. At least, thats how things are normally.

But this month things have been a little different, we have been a bit gluttonous by our standards ... and if you read on, I will expound on it.

We have been helped out by the fact that it is restaurant week in the Hudson Valley this month (actually, it should be restaurant 2 weeks as that is that actual length of time, but hey ...). So, to take full advantage of this occasion, last week Aviva and I met up with our friends Scott and Rachel at Xaviars X2O in Yonkers. But before I get to that, just a special mention to the Candlelight Inn on Central Ave, where we were with Rachel and Scott when we discussed going to Xaviars. Candlelight might be a small, tight, dingy place where you have to wait an hour to be seated, but it is all worth it once you taste the incredible, giant wings. Best in wings in Westchester.

Xaviars is an offshoot of the original in Piedmont, and somewhere we have been wanting to go to for a long time. It is in the kind of swanky, modern looking area in the center of Yonkers just by the water and is supposed to be some of the best food in Westchester. The place had a great atmosphere, the staff were great and most importantly, the food was really excellent (mostly). Happily for me, I thought my butternut squash bisque was the best of the appetizers, although Rachels risotto with aged parmesan was pretty great. For dinner, each couple ordered the same thing, so we had two pork chops and two braised beef ribs. The ribs were good, but the pork chops were really incredible .. I am becoming a huge fan of heritage pork. The deserts were meh, which leads me to my understanding of a truly great restaurant, which is one that excels at every course.

We will be continuing our gluttony next week at the Iron horse Grill in Chappaqua, but over the weekend, we spent some time in Philly with Rachel, Larry and the kids for Rachels birthday. Aviva helped out with some babysitting, Larry and I drove down to Delaware to get his son Marley, we walked around the Italian market and ate 5 pints of blueberrys and some chocolate covered pretzels, spent some time on Sunday at the purim carnival in Cherry Hill and saw Aviva's grandparents, but the highlight of the weekend was dinner at Varalli, an Italian seafood place, for Rachels birthday. The place was not as modern or hip as I thought it would be, the piano and lounge singer on the way in gave it a kind of 50's night club feel ... but the food was superb, from the wonderful ceviche and pesto we had as appetizers to the delicious seafood risotto (the scallops were huge and fantastic) and Aviva's agnolotti stuffed with mascarpone and eggplant. Desert was, again, a little disappointing, although the vanilla bean gelatto was pretty good. Overall the meal was fantastic, that is definitely one to hang onto.

Thats the end of our gluttonous tales for now, I will tell you how the Iron Horse Grill is this weekend :)