One of my (many) restaurant bête noirs is being asked for the umpteenth time whether everything is all right. To make matters worse, the question is rhetorical and usually posed when I have just taken a large bite of whatever it is I”™m eating, so that any coherent reply is impossible. So, no, everything is not all right, although it would stand a better chance of being so if a lid could be put on all the questions. Yes, I”™m being arch and a bit grumpy ”“ I know.
This is not going to be an issue, however, at Augustine”™s Salumeria, the seven-month old restaurant facing the Metro-North railroad station on Halstead Avenue in Mamaroneck, which, let me tell you, is a veritable temple of Italian buona cucina ”“ owing to its authenticity and genuine hospitality, with nothing formulaic in terms of menus or parroted questions about how you”™re doing.
The first indication that Augustine”™s is somehow different is the warm welcome. Actually, the pre-welcome. No matter that the restaurant is fully booked. When I phone to ask if I can come half an hour later than my original reservation time, I”™m told sweetly, “Somehow we”™ll make it work.” And it”™s no matter either that when I arrive, closer to the original reservation time than I had said, I am minus my guest, who has mysteriously disappeared from my radar, so that I am now just a party of one on a busy Sunday. “Don”™t stress; it”™s all good,” says Samantha B. who greets me and leads me to a sunny table by the window before suggesting a brunch-time cappuccino to get me going. When I smile and tell her I”™d like something stronger, a cocktail or perhaps some fizz, she gives me the thumbs-up and says, “Let”™s do this.”
From that welcome alone ”“ and any number of restaurants could learn from Samantha”™s example ”“ I already love Augustine”™s. But it”™s not just the welcome: I”™m charmed by the pale blue interior with its dark trim, giving the room a kind of nautical feel, reminiscent of its Sound Shore locale; the highly decorative, comfortable, antique-style wooden chairs; and the prettily-patterned, peacock-blue plates and serving dishes I can already see runners ferrying to tables of animated diners. I like the bar, too, functional but inviting, where a handful of Sunday brunchers are already tucking in, occasionally side-spying up at “the game,” which is on at a mercifully low volume.
I”™m not saying that ne”™er the twain should meet ”“ sport and food, that is. It”™s just that I”™m more into my food than my sport. The first things you”™re going to want to get stuck into, as suggested by the restaurant”™s name, are salumi ”“ coppa, culatello, finocciona, prosciutto, cured pork appetizers ”“ along with some beautifully-made cow”™s milk and goat cheeses from the Hoofprint Cheese Co. in Millbrook, New York. Augustine”™s owner and chef, Marc Taxiera ”“ whose wife Brianne runs the front of house, and who has worked at many well-known restaurants in New York City, as well as a stint at Eataly ”“ is passionate about sourcing the best local ingredients, proud to share their provenance on the menu.
The Sunday menu is a slate of brunch classics prepared with not only the best produce but also a dollop of that most vital ingredient, love. Eggs in Purgatory (baked eggs with tomato and chili) and Mortadella Benedetto (poached eggs with Mortadella and a pistachio Hollandaise) have a kind of siren call that is hard to resist, as do “heavenly pancakes ” (the restaurant”™s description) and cinnamon French toast. But I”™m won over with the idea of duck or goose eggs over-easy. The eggs are specials of the day and can be prepared however you wish, served with house-made sausage. I”™ve made a good call.
If eggs aren”™t your Sunday thing, you could have a beautifully crafted meat sandwich instead, or any of a half-dozen pasta dishes if you want to keep it strictly Italian ”“ mafalda (a kind of ridged pasta) with Hudson Valley beef and whipped goat ricotta, perhaps, or maybe gnocchi with wild boar.
Only once does Samantha ask me how everything is and then specifically about the eggs, and whether I was happy with my choice. Not a rhetorical question but one that showed genuine interest and concern. A little later, when I tell her I could eat everything on the menu, she counsels me to “take it slow.” It”™s good advice. I order a second glass of Gaio spumante, bone-dry and refreshing, and settle back to consider. There”™s only so much the human frame can consume.
Instead, I return a few nights later for dinner, where many of the lunch and brunch dishes are repeated. The pastas are all there, supplemented with more substantial fish and meat main courses. My AWOL friend from the previous Sunday has resurfaced and enjoys cherry-braised beef short ribs with smoked mashed potatoes, the beef from Walking R Ranch. with which Chef Marc has built a special relationship. For me, it”™s a delicious pan-roasted Cornish hen with pickled cherry peppers and black garlic mashed potatoes.
Peanut-butter panna cotta is ambrosial, and we squeak with pleasure, too, at pistachio semifreddo with burnt marshmallow.
The week before my visits, Augustine”™s has been celebrating its first-time inclusion on Michelin”™s January list of recommended establishments, which is a first step to a possible “Bib” or “Star” rating. With food this good, I”™m definitely seeing stars in Augustine”™s firmament.
For more, visit augustineny.com.
