Page 108 - Westchester Magazine - January 2011

Dining
Main Course // By Jeanne Muchnick
Hot Spots Find refuge from the cold by dining in these hot seats.
Warm and inviting flames take center stage at the Ritz-Carlton’s Lobby Lounge in White Plains.
Few pleasures compare to a crack- ling fire in the middle of Westchester’s frosty winter. Add a crisp, white tablecloth to the equation accompanied by a glass of red wine, a slab of steak, some hot coffee, and a flaming dessert (see Tango Grill below), and you’re in restaurant nirvana. The fire doesn’t have to be wood- burning to entice; all kinds of fireplaces up the ambience factor, adding warmth and romance to what normally would be a simple dinner. Here, some of my favorites. Just be warned: If I get there first, I’m not moving.
Benjamin Steak House (610 Hartsdale Ave, White Plains 914-428-6868; benjaminsteakhouse.com) in the space that formerly housed Mighty Joe Young’s, has been completely overhauled and updated with the stately serenity of a New York steakhouse (and, indeed, it has a branch on East 41st Street). The place looks good without showing off—think lots of wood accents and comfy chocolate-brown chairs— along with food presentations that shine with minimal treatment (meaning your first-rate, dry-aged steak is cooked to sizzling perfection). In fact, it’s hard to decide between dining by the flickering gas-lit fireplace off to the
left of the spacious dining room, or in the more intimate bar area where a glass wall showcases the eatery’s wide- ranging wine list. Either way, red wine is a must.
How do you top a meal at Crabtree’s Kittle House (11 Kittle Rd, Chappaqua 914-666-8044; kittlehouse.com)? Try reserving a table by the roaring fireplace in the Tap Room and enjoy John Boy’s Farm’s locally grown roast chicken (among other entrées). The fireplace is part of the original inn and dates from the 1800s, offering plenty of charm to go along with top-notch New American fare, polite and accommodating servers, and a list of wines so extensive you might want to treat yourself to an overnight stay in one of the upstairs rooms.
You’ll feel like a guest at a swanky dinner party—but without having to bring a hostess gift—when you dine at The Farmhouse at Bedford Post (954 Old Post Rd, Bedford 914-234-7800; bedfordpostinn.com), where a fireplace in the corner of the dining room ups the country-home charisma (not to mention the one in the lounge and the one in the private dining area). It doesn’t matter that the fireplaces are gas—one, because everything here is so au- thentic, you really can’t tell, and, two, because the elegant
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