Nick & Maggie’s: A raw bar with class

By Carol Brock

NICK & MAGGIE'S

265-11 Union Turnpike , New Hyde Park
347-4846, fax 347-4846

Seafood Bar and Grill. That's NIck & Maggie's in 2000. And that's what attracted me.

A raw bar has class. Grand hotels and upper East side eateries are wont to feature raw oysters and clams and lobsters and shrimp cocktails. Now you can go to Union Turnpike in New Hyde Park and sit in the outdoor or the newly enlarged bar (or the two dining rooms for that matter) and order from their raw bar menu to savor with wine by the glass or a bottle of beer. Summertime and the living is delicious. For those who know their onions but not oysters, taste descriptions of Belon, blue point, Bras d'or… are listed since the selection changes daily. (Re: clams: cherrystone, littleneck.) The shellfish sampler for two or more ($22.50) boasts a half lobster, 2 cherrystone clams, 4 little neck clams, 4 oysters (chef selection) and jumbo shrimp. It's served embedded in ice set on a stand.

For those so inclined, the appetizer is spinach pie wrapped in phyllo with a chopped onion and tomato salad with a saffron vinaigrette. (Mmm!). If you're thinking potato crusted salmon with dijon cream sauce or fresh fetticini with rock shrimp, scallops and mussels in white wine sauce or grilled marinated veal chops served with port wine sauce or halibut Mediterranean will do the trick.

That's the new image for NIck & Maggie's, formerly a steak house. Fourteen months ago, the Dirlco'n family took over and renovated, enlarging the bar and getting an outdoor permit. The awning has been changed and the front has been brightened. The color scheme indoors uses olive gray, and the bar lounge has a '20s cruise ship ambiance with striped burgundy banquets. In the main dining room the mammoth blackboard still hovers over the fireplace,

American-born Guy (of Italian extraction), is the new executive chef. He came aboard 10 months ago – after time spent in the Sign of the Dove and Maxims among other hot spots, and after a stint at the CIA. His expertise is very much of that order with an eclectic menu with Asian over tones. My SRO Saturday night indicates it pleases the clientele.

Guy handles fish, the way others handle steak. Our blackened Montauk swordfish with sweet potato crab meat hash in a voodoo sauce was superlative. (My petite dining companion kept eating and eating until it was almost all gone – not her usual thing.) Here was an inch-thick swordfish steak, charred on the outside, moist and lovely inside, set on incredibly delicious hash with a fine sauce. It doesn't get much better than that.

My roast Nova Scotia halibut with black bean and corn salsa nosed in second. Loved the salsa. Here a small ultra thick cut of halibut was set on a large steak and then heaped high with buttermilk fried onion rings and toasted corn sauce (Intriguing.)

Our appetizers exhibited Guy's mastering of the Asian

palate. Crispy lobster spring rolls were so homemade marvelous: a tender wrapper, fresh carrot shreds and haricot sized beans cut in 34 inch pieces combined with lobster. It was charmingly served on gold rimmed bone plate, cut in halves diagonally with a dipping sauce at either end-. Oriental calamari salad layered with crisp-fried wonton skins and baby greens was an inspiration. The wonton was so thin and delicate. Fried calamari rings were magnificently tender and circled, but did not overpower the soup. If you are a soup devotee, I can heartily endorse the grilled corn lobster bisque with chiolte sour cream afloat on a crouton raft.

So far we are heading toward four stars. Will dessert disappoint? Not likely. The desserts are to die for. Nick & Maggie's dessert menu lists eight magnificents from the puff pastry Napoleon layered with fresh cream bananas and strawberries to assorted seasonal sorbets in a homemade cookie cone. The warm chocolate cake with cappuccino ice cream and vanilla creme anglaise takes, “Eight minutes, please.” The interior is molten chocolate.

P.S.: Aged steaks are still served at Nick & Maggie's!