By Carol Brock
The sharing of food and wine at Easter brings family and friends closer together. And happily, restaurants are adding traditional favorites and party touches to their March 31 Easter Sunday menus. The celebration becomes more festive, more meaningful. There’s a ham, and lamb – even roast baby lamb – and pork, a Northern European favorite. You may toast with peach champagne or a spring martini. You many be treated to hard boiled, decorated Easter eggs or Easter candy for the kid in all of us, compliments of the house. You may opt for an 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. seating Easter brunch instead of dinner. Here are a half dozen early birds who have determined just what their Easter offerings will be this year.
Gebhardt’s
Gebhardt’s two locations – on Myrtle Avenue in Glendale and on Jericho Turnpike in Floral Park – have a special Lenten menu on Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent, through March 29. It features a variety of entrees, salad, fish and pastas, and meatless favorites. On Easter Sunday, with seatings by reservations only from noon until 8 p.m., there will be complimentary Easter candy for “the kid in all of us.”
Patrick’s Pub & Cafe
Patrick’s Pub on Northern Boulevard in Little Neck offers its standard menu of shellfish, steaks and chicken, as well as corned beef. In addition, there will be an “Easter menu supplement” with baked Easter ham and grilled yams; roast leg of lamb with light gravy and garlic mashed potatoes; sauteed veal Marsala with mushroom sauce; poached Norwegian salmon with hollandaise; and roast loin of pork. In Northern Europe, pork is an Easter treat. And after dinner, you can go Easter gift shopping in the Claddagh Shop next door.
The Coles House Restaurant
At Coles House in Glen Cove, the festivities start with an Easter Sunday prix-fixe brunch with seatings between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. There’s a choice of appetizer, entree, dessert, coffee or tea – $25 for adults, $12 for children. Appetizers include an early spring asparagus soup, vegetable cheese puff pastry, a bunch salad of greens, olives, blue cheese, pecans, bacon, hard boiled eggs and balsamic vinaigrette. Entrees include a smoked salmon platter, ham steak and eggs, Coles House crepes and grilled chicken Caesar salad. Easter dinner has a first seating from 3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. and second eating from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The prix-fixe dinner (with a choice of appetizer, entree. dessert and coffee) is $50 for adults and $25 for children. First course choices are: early spring asparagus soup, roasted artichoke and arugula salad with fresh ricotta and a tomato vinaigrette; homemade mushroom ravioli with slivered asparagus and truffled mushroom essence; Coles House salad; and classic Caesar salad. Entrees include grilled filet mignon with Yukon whipped potatoes, haricots verts and bourbon beef sauce; pan roasted rack of New Zealand lamb with honey whipped sweet potatoes, red cabbage, natural lamb sauce; and glazed ham steak with whipped sweet potatoes, brocollini and raisin rum sauce.
Conti’s
On Easter Sunday, Conti's, a new Northern Italian restaurant on Northern Boulevard in Little Neck, will feature a roasted baby lamb, rack of lamb, baby rabbit, hard boiled decorated eggs, and “many other dishes we are putting together.”
Maine Maid Inn
The Maine Maid Inn in Jericho, located on a 22-acre preserve, is the oldest restaurant on the North Shore. You may choose to begin with peach champagne (champagne with a touch of peach schnapps), a spring martini (with Stolichnaya Orange, Cointreau, dry vermouth, and orange twist); or a cosmopolitan (Absolut Citron, triple sec, cranberry and lime juice). The appetizers include stuffed mushrooms with artichoke and spinach stuffing, a fresh fruit plate and baked stuffed clams (a Maine Maid recipe). Entrees include maple baked ham, roasted Long Island duckling, herb crusted rack of lamb with a rosemary demi glaze with a vegetable platter (yellow squash, green zucchini, red peppers, broccoli and twice baked potato), roast beef, scampi, salmon, turkey, chicken Francese and chicken Marsala.
Merry Pedlar
Moran’s Merry Pedlar in Floral Park is an intimate American bistro. It offers complete Easter dinners with appetizer and dessert buffet. Shell steak (center cut of sirloin of beef), chicken piccata (breast of chicken with lemon and capers), shrimp amandine (jumbo shrimp sauteed crisp with sliced almonds, honey mustard sauce and rice pilaf), shrimp ravioli (in light sauce with crushed tomatoes and basil), leg of lamb (in its own juices), loin of pork (served with fresh vegetables) and tortellini della nonna (cheese tortellini in a light Parmesan sauce with peas and mushrooms) are all included. There will also be their fish of the day and a children’s menu.
