Friday night after work, I stopped by Table 9 in East Hills. The restaurant which succeeded Brivo had opened only the night before, and there was a good crowd given that this was the second dinner being served. I imagine that owners Dean Phillips and Tom Abraham put the word out among loyal customers of their other two restaurants, Piccolo in Huntington and Mill Pond House in Centerport.
The new owners expunged many of Brivo’s more baroque furnishings (no more waterfall) but the room now labors under a black ceiling, loud geometric wallpaper and live piano music that lends the proceedings a distinctly…mature air.
For the time being, Table 9’s chef Nelson Rothstein (formerly of Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse in Midtown) is working alongside Piccolo’s executive chef Joseph Fuscaldo. While the regular menu hews pretty close to Italian-American standards, the daily specials are more adventurous. We split a special first course, a rather decorous seafood panzanella. Block Island swordfish was a tad overdone; my companion’s veal Parmesan was standard but good.
A couple of unexpected highlights: excellent chicken liver pate served, alongside olive oil and tomato salad, with the bread. My swordfish’s green-bean accompaniment was perfectly cooked. I was pleasantly surprised by a generous slab of classic chocolate layer cake, though the overgarnished plate—blasted with cocoa and powdered sugar, drizzled with dark chocolate, white chocolate and whatever else the pastry chef had at hand—looked like it had been through a war.
Table 9 is at 290 Glen Cove Road, East Hills, 516-625-9099.
--Erica Marcus
This poor cake never hurt anyone. Newsday photo / Erica Marcus