According to restaurant co-owner Giorgio Merrigi, Lucci’s “Dancing with the Stars” partner Tony Dovolani, was at the table-for-eight. Dovolani dined on steak “a la King.” Hubby Huber ate baby chicken and Lucci (ever the svelte starlet) chose a chopped salad followed by boneless breast of chicken grilled with wild mushrooms on top. Very little sauce.

The meal concluded with chocolate souffle (the star of "All my Children" took a tiny taste) and a big fruit platter. That, she allowed herself to nosh on.

-- Joan Reminick

Susan Lucci and Tony Dovolani. ABC Photo

We stuck emphatically to the most classic French items on a menu that veered a bit across culinary borders. A delicious salad of Bibb lettuce, bacon and a baked crottin of goat cheese reminded me that, yes, there was life before mesclun. My mother’s Dover sole meuniere was unimpeachable, as were the haricots verts that accompanied it. Ditto my coq au vin, dark and winey, and garnished in the traditional manner with pearl onions, mushrooms and bacon. There seemed no reason not to follow this up with an apple tarte Tatin.

You get served a lot of apple tarts that call themselves “Tatin,” but the real article is made by arranging large pieces of apple in a skillet and cooking them with butter and sugar until they become deeply caramelized. Then the apples are topped with pastry and slipped into an oven so the crust browns. Finally, the tarte is inverted onto a serving platter so the prettily arranged apples are on the top and the crust is on the bottom.

Chez Noelle makes individual tartes to order. Ours arrived almost (but not quite) too hot to eat. I can’t remember eating a better dessert on Long Island. Chez Noelle is at 34 Willowdale Ave., Port Washington, 516-883-3191.

-- Erica Marcus

I’ve been waiting months to see progress at the little spot across from Walt Whitman Mall, once a Starbucks. There’s a cheery little nautical mural on one side of the building and a sign that says “Greek Captain Seafood Restaurant,” which will be opened by the former owner of an established Astoria restaurant. The space isn't much bigger than a clamshell. I call owner Angelo Skentzos, who says the place (to be takeout and sit-down) will be open in a few weeks. I peek through some torn spots in the brown paper covering the windows and I'm thinking it'll be more like a few months. But one never knows.

East Buffet was closed by fire -- no signs of life there. I come upon the frayed shell of the former Laredo Grill (which, briefly, was supposed to be an Italian restaurant); I wouldn’t bet on finding anything to eat at that address anytime soon. The former Empire Szechuan Gourmet, I'm told, is slated to become a "high-end" Chinese restaurant, but there isn't any sign of construction yet.

Finally, I think about stopping into Gringo’s, which, a few months ago, replaced Peace Street Café in Melville. It's locked. I ask at the cigar shop next door and am told the place was sold and will reopen as a deli. Just what Route 110 needs – another deli.

Last month, I visited the Hoover Dam, an amazing feat of engineering that took only four years to build -- this during a national depression. Can't anybody harness some of that energy to revitalize Route 110?

-- Joan Reminick

The Greek Captain Seafood Restaurant site on Route 110. Newsday Photo / Joan Reminick

At any rate, Swingbellys goes on. Its new chef is Alexis Trolf, who cooked at Coyote Grill in Island Park and Caffe Laguna in Long Beach before that. Trolf said he spent a week learning the barbecue ropes from Forgione and plans to continue in much the same vein. “We have a very good barbecue base, and I’d be a fool to get rid of it,” he said, adding he’d like to augment the menu with a few Caribbean and Latin barbecue specialties in the upcoming months.

He can be sure I’ll be by to see whether there's fire where there's smoke.

-- Joan Reminick

Swingbellys' opening chef Bryan Forgione. Photo by George Tsourovakas.

--Erica Marcus

Photo courtesy of Schwartz Candies

--Erica Marcus

At The Feed Bag’s launch party at Eletteria, Josh Ozersky, at left, grins maniacally.

The only hitch came at the beginning when I asked our waiter if he had a list of wines by the glass. Was it because I’m a youthful-looking female that he responded by grunting out a desultory litany of pinot grigio, merlot, Chianti, etc.? When I asked which Chianti he mumbled something I didn’t understand. I ordered the Super Tuscan which wound up costing me $16. It was only when I was leaving the restaurant that I discovered there is indeed a printed menu of wines by the glass, and that it was full of more reasonably priced wines (dolcetto d’Alba, Nero d’Avola) I would have happily ordered.

The food, however, was superb. I was immediately heartened by the sight of bottles of Frantoia Sicilian olive oil, a favorite in my kitchen. Instead of a fussy melange of overthought rolls and focaccia, the bread was a good, crusty rustic loaf served, properly, at room temperature.

I started with a generous salad of baby argula and grilled calamari. The cherry tomatoes were too cold, but otherwise it was just about perfect. My pal’s seafood salad—tasting like shrimp, mussels and calamari, and not like vinegared rubber—was excellent too. We both had the daily pasta special, a tagliolini with shrimp, crab, zucchini and cherry tomatoes. The pasta was springy and light, a clear sign that it had actually been made on the premises; the seafood had real flavor, and everything came together wonderfully.

I am looking forward to trying more of chef Karlo Dobric’s pasta dishes—no matter the noise that may accompany them.

--Erica Marcus

Newsday Photo/Bill Davis

Festivities include live music, bbq sold by vendors, bbq demonstrations and lectures. On Friday, there will be a chili cook-off, on Saturday, a grilling and kids’ event and, on Sunday, the big bbq contest.

The Brethren are still accepting applications for competitors as well as judges; you can apply at http://www.bbqbattleli.com/. An informant tells me that both Will Breakstone (of much-missed Willie B's in Bay Shore) and bbq enthusiast/restaurateur John Cantwell (of the former Taste in Garden City) will participate.

Can't you just smell the ribs and brisket smoking in the autumn air?

-- Joan Reminick

Logo courtesy of BBQ Brethren

--Peter M. Gianotti

The monks of the Abbey of Scourmont at Chimay belong to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, known generally as Trappists. Photo courtesy of chimay.com.

With that in mind, David Santoro, chef-owner of Roots in Sea Cliff (242 Sea Cliff Ave., 516-671-7668) is teaming up with an organization called LIFT (Long Island Farm to Table) to stage a dinner on Monday, Oct. 20, that will spotlight local, sustainable food.

Here's the menu as it stands:

■ Watermelon radish bruschetta on toasted ciabatta with chives and parsley
■ Seared sea scallop with crushed fingerling potatoes and red pepper chili
■ Makinajian Chicken vindaloo with rutabaga and Toscano kale
■ Sweet dumpling ravioli with Catapano’s chevre, carmelized leeks and brown butter
■ Lewin Farm Macintosh apple crumble with Leonetti gelato

Organic vegetables will come from Golden Earthworm in Jamesport, chicken from Makinajian Poultry Farm in Huntington, bread from Tom Cat Bakery in Astoria, pasta sheets for ravioli from Pasta People in Lindenhurst. Wine and beer pairings, offered with every course, will feature wine from Pellegrini Vineyards in Southold and beer (the only non-local product) from Peak Organic Brewing in Portland, Maine.

The cost of the evening is $55 a person - pretty moderate for such a menu. Want to sign up? You'll have to register and pay online at canvasli.com/long-island-farm-to-table-lift.htm.

-- Joan Reminick

Newsday photo of David Santoro by Ken Spencer

Perhaps you remember a restaurant of the same name that, years ago, occupied the downtown Huntington space now housing American Roadside Burgers. As Taxi's manager Todd November tells it, owner Peter Ambrosio spent the past 5 years scoping out a location such as this, with onsite parking.

I can’t say enough about the wondrous fries, hand-cut Idaho potatoes soaked overnight in water before being blanched and, finally, deep-fried. The cheese steak, served on garlic bread, is made from thinly shaved grilled ribeye. Although you can get yours topped with any number of cheeses (like mozzarella or provolone), November touts the Cheez Whiz. I took one glorious bite and half the filling squirted out the other side. Messy eating but grand.

This is a simple joint where you order at the counter and eat off paper using plastic utensils. With such fare, who needs utensils anyway?

- Joan Reminick

Newsday photo/Joan Reminick