Sadie’s Kitchen: Hot colors and warm dishes abound at Sadies

By Carol Brock

Sadie’s Kitchen

249-30 Horace Harding Expwy. Little Neck
281-2515 fax 281-2487

Color is in. I know because I’m involved with a decorator whose doing a redo. I’ve been shopping. And chartreuse, yellow, raspberry, purple and orange are also the hot colors for fashion. But somehow I didn’t expect to be dazzled at Sadie’s Kitchen, a new casual American eatery in Little Neck. Color, it seems, has invaded the world of restaurants, too.

Sadie’s Kitchen is the love child of the Wolman family: Dad-Bobby, Mom- Roberta and daughter-Loryn, now Mrs. Rosoff. Roberta is an amateur decorator with experience at Michael’s at Maidstone Park in East Hampton and the Elephant Room in Roslyn, both of which the family previously owned. Now they step into Navajo green from the Santa Fe collection of Ralph Lauren, and it’s exhilarating. Add to that the hot, mod, vinyl patchwork cloths, French doors across the front to capture summer breezes, and a cove ceiling.

Loryn studied at the Peter Kump School—now the New York Institute for Culinary Education. She’s great! (And how many women are manning professional kitchens?) I especially enjoy her desserts. “Offer a menu that lets each diner choose the type of meal that fits their dining desires this day,” is the philosophy at Sadie’s. He wants a sandwich. She wants a meal. Or after a lunch out she wants a salad. He wants meal. So the menu is geared accordingly. The Wolmans live in Little Neck and know their customers. A casual restaurant was their goal.

There’s a wonderful rapport between the staff and the diners. They are greeted warmly with even a kiss or two and the waitress may do the same. (Incidentally, our perky waitress was the fastest talker in these parts.) By the time we licked our dessert plates, a wheelchair diner had been seated and another with a seeing eye dog. That says a lot!

True to Sadie’s dining philosophy, there are burgers in the evening served with lettuce, tomato and French fries. Choose from char-grilled beef or turkey or a vegetarian. Add cheeses (there’s a selection) sautéed onions or mushrooms and bacon. As for salads there’s goat cheese salad with tricolor greens and pistachio-crusted goat cheese; club salad with chopped turkey, bacon and tomato or Southwestern chicken salad with Monterey Jack cheese, crunchy tortilla strips and corn and zesty cilantro. The special delights are grilled chicken melt, a crab cake or poor boy sandwich, a Cajun shrimp and crabmeat wrap, and a Chinese chicken salad. Which will it be? All very, very nice. Me? I’m thinking of the homemade meat loaf.

We were bowled over by our “hot” dinner. My dining companion kept saying “out of this world” whenever we spoke. She raved about the crock of French market onion soup with melted cheese on top. I was most pleased with the mussels stylishly brought to the table in a handsome white tureen with a simple white wine and garlic broth under a parsley barrage.

My skirt steak marinated in herbs and spices was dramatically presented. (Who would think a skirt steak could have style?) Loryn fanned angle-cut, perfectly cooked slices out on the plate, then dotted each with a snippet of red pepper. Baked potato and spinach were the go-along. My dining companion ordered shrimp encrusted in Japanese bread crumbs, served with an herbed mayo. She chose broccoli and French fries. A fresh looking/tasting salad preceded the entree—hers with Caesar dressing, mine with Roquefort.

We were seated by the dessert blackboard, so I had been wrestling with the final selection for sometime. I’d made my mind up—chocolate truffle cake. It was Oreo cheesecake for her. Quite jadedly, I was thinking, “Another chocolate cake, another cheese cake. (Creme brulee and apple tart were possibilities.) But both were “Something!” The chocolate truffle cake was the ultimate to-die-for rendition. The cheesecake was very sophisticated! Loryn loves to create desserts. Sometimes it’s cappuccino cheesecake. Sometimes it’s strawberry. Sadie’s most delightful hostess, who couldn’t be slimmer, couldn’t be trimmer, is a, pictorial reason not to weaken at dessert time. Your taste buds will definitely say “Do!”

The Bottom Line

A family feel with a Southwestern look. A meal for anyone and desserts to die for (though ignore the skinny hostess when you order).

CHEFS CHOICE

French market onion soup (baked in a crock)…$4.95

Crab cakes (corn salsa, herb mayonnaise)…$7.95

P.E.I. Mussels (white wine and garlic broth)…$7.95

Goat Cheese Salad (tri-color greens with pistachio crusted

cheese)…$6.95

Southwestern chicken salad (grilled chicken breast, romaine, Monterey Jack cheese, crunchy tortilla strips, corn and zesty cilantro dressing)…$6.95

Chinese chicken salad (Napa cabbage, carrots, celery and with a ginger soy vinaigrette)…$6.95

Crab cake sandwich (served with lettuce, tomato and herb mayo)…$6.95

PoBoy sandwich (fried shrimp served with lettuce, tomato, herb mayo)…$4.95