FOODIE

Bravo Nader Earns Earns His Name
By Pete & Rosie & Mike & Lil /foodie@longislandernews.com

If pigs could fly,
they’d fly straight to Nader.
Fish do.

Let us explain. Nader is Nader Gebrin, owner, chef and the driving force behind the eponymously named Bravo Nader restaurant in Huntington. Egyptian-born Gebrin’s idea of a great meal is to catch a fish in the morning, and cook it for dinner that same day. It happens often enough and when it isn’t Gebrin hooking the fish, it’s one of his network of local fishermen. And it’s not only the locally caught fish that find their way to Gebrin. Fresh caught fish from faraway places like Alaska and the Pacific coast flies its way to Nader’s kitchen via Fed Ex..

As far as we’re concerned, fish, pigs, beef, even lowly vegetables, can consider it an honor to pass through the kitchen at Bravo Nader.

Nader grew up loving food and one of the stories he likes to tell is about how he spent the first paycheck he earned on pork chops which he cooked in his mother’s kitchen. He eventually studied cooking in Switzerland and when he came to this country worked at Orlando’s in Huntington Village. It was there he gained confidence with Italian style cooking which dominates his Huntington restaurant.

Bravo Nader is a small restaurant with room for just over 40 people at a dozen or so tables. Before it was Bravo Nader, it was Grasso’s Trattoria, and Nader tells how on his first date with the woman who would become his wife he declared that we would someday own the place. Well, 14 years ago he made that statement come true and since then he’s been pleasing the steady clientele of foodies and fans who have come to love his cooking.
It’s all fresh at Bravo Nader and in on any visit there, his specialties are consistent. Consistently delicious, that is. Those pork chops that started his career are still stars on the menu – he could cook them with his eyes closed. In fact, he recently did just that, preparing his signature pork chops stuffed with mozzarella cheese on am as-yet-unaired episode of the Food Network show Taste This.

But we get ahead of ourselves.

Our recent Bravo Nader experience started with a round of appetizers. We left the choice in Nader’s hands, trusting that whatever he sent out would delight.

And it did.

A stack of asparagus baked in a crispy filo dough was tender and flavorful with a kick from a red pepper drizzle. The crab cake was a generous patty of fresh crab meat with a crisp – baked, not fried – coating and served on a bed – or it is bath -- of fresh tomato, corn and vegetable compote. Outstanding.

Speaking of vegetable, the house salad was likewise outstanding. A towering mound of chopped – no, minced – lettuce, vegetables and feta cheese with a light dressing… it’s light, delicious, and yes, healthy.

On to the entrees, which gives us a chance to get back to that pork chop. Nader starts with a mammoth chop, butterflies it and generously stuffs it with mozzarella cheese. Braised and finished with a mushroom and Marsala wine sauce, it’s a hearty meal and has never failed to please us Foodies.

A pasta dish of Rigatoni with sausage, meatballs and tomato sauce is homemade from the ground up. The sausage is made on premises and will leave you wondering why all sausage isn’t so tender. The pasta is firm, the sauce just like Nona makes. With a generous topping of parmesan cheese, it’s like a trip to Italy on a plate.

We also shared a hearty lamb shank. Expertly spiced and cooked to falling-off-the-bone tenderness, its tomato based sauce was a perfect complement to the bed of risotto it was served on.

Finally, there was a classic seafood fra diavlolo over angel hair pasta offered the fruits of the seas in there finest form: simply, with mussels and clams and a complement of polenta.

Nader’s chief strength is the freshness of his ingredients, though his capable hands only improve matters. While our dinner for four could have fed five or six, we finished every bite and still found ourselves slurping up sauce with a teaspoon from tilted plates. That wouldn’t bode well for dessert, but on this night we had no choice. Nader again made the choices, and we somehow found room for the homemade canolli as well as the star of the dessert show, Nader’s homemade Napolean, an irresistible tower of fluffy, creamy sweetness and flaky dough. With a cup of espresso or cappuccino, it’s a perfect finish.

Bravo Nader’s not know for its décor, which highlights an eclectic mix of memorabilia that makes it evident -- Nader likes to have his picture taken. The setting’s intimate, so much so that you may find yourself moving aside for a waiter reaching for a bottle of wine from the shelves overhead. It’s that intimacy that has fans packing Bravo Nader every day but Tuesday – that’s the seventh day for this kitchen god.
Reservations at Nader are a must.

Bravo Nader
9 Union Place, Huntington
631-3351-1200
www.bravonader.com

Cuisine: Rustic Italian

Atmosphere: Intimate and family friendly

Price: Moderate

Hours: Open every day but Tuesday.

Lunch:12 – 3 weekdays; Sun, 12 – 3.
Dinner: 5 - 9:30 weekdays;
Fri. - Sat. 5 - 10:30; Sun. 4 – 9

Main Menu