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Jewel: The Newest
Gem To Hit 110
By The Foodies./ foodie@longislandernews.com
The glass exterior and sparkling
trees in front of Melville’s newest restaurant, Jewel,
were just as welcoming as the lit blue and green water fountains
on the sides of the entrance.
Restaurant proprietor Tom Schaudel opened up his latest gem,
Jewel, located in the Rubie Corporate Plaza, on Dec. 6. He
had help from his partners Mark Beige, who owns the building,
and longtime friend Michael Ross. Schaudel also owns CoolFish
in Syosset, A Mano in Mattituck and A Lure in Southold.
After the host asked us if we would like to hang our coats
in coat-check, she brought us to our booth which could easily
have fit six people. The venue has a modern feel to it; décor
is adorned with black and beige, except for the “bubbles”
on the ceiling which resembled the blown sugar Cake Alchemy
used on the show “Amazing Wedding Cakes.”
We started off our meal with an “Almost ‘Caesar’
salad” ($10). The multicolored baby romaine and radicchio
lettuce is crisp and fresh, and the dressing isn’t your
typical Caesar. Instead, it’s a lemon-anchovy, which
tastes exactly like Caesar but thinner and lighter.
Entrees are of perfect portion. We ordered the salmon ($28),
and we highly recommend it. Cooked to perfection and very
moist, the salmon is paired with a fresh cream herb sauce,
foraged mushrooms, fingerlings and tomatoes. The sauce tastes
like a combination of mayonnaise and pesto. The presentation
is just as wonderful as the meal – it is topped with
a yellow and purple flower (and yes, it was real).
The 8-ounce filet mignon ($39) comes with one side, we chose
stewed broccoli rape and two large onion rings. The meat is
extremely tender and juicy, which can be challenging considering
we like our steaks cooked medium-well. Compliments to the
chef.
Our server brought us three sauces, served with each steak,
to choose from. One is a soy ginger, which tastes like a teriyaki;
the second is mango chipotle ketchup, which is sweet like
mango and tangy like ketchup with an extra kick. Lastly is
Jewel’s own homemade sauce, which has a tangy flavor
that tastes like a combination of barbecue sauce and sweet
and sour.
Even though the entrees were filling, we still managed to
save room for dessert. We chose to split the pistachio ($8).
The handcrafted dessert made by Schaudel himself is basically
an ice cream sandwich, with pistachio ice cream in the center
of two moist cakes. The dessert is also paired with chocolate
syrup, something that tastes like a cinnamon wafer stick,
and a mini root beer float (with two straws). Amazing is the
only thing that we can say about the treat.
If you have a major sweet tooth and decide to be daring, the
restaurant also offers the “Jewel Box” ($50), which
feeds between four to six people. The concoction has 12 scoops
of ice cream, cookies, chocolate syrup, caramel, bananas and
many more sweets.
What separates this restaurant from most is the fact that
everything on the menu is designed by the owner, even the
appetizer menu offered in the lounge area. Schaudel described
Jewel as a “Long Islander restaurant, brought to you
by a Long Islander.”
The owner has lived on Long Island the majority of his life
and has been cooking since 1968. He opened up his first restaurant
in 1983 and has had nearly 20 restaurants since then.
“When I was in high school I worked for a chef who drank
about three quarts of vodka a day and inevitably I ended up
running the kitchen because he was enabled,” Schaudel
said. “After high school I went to the Culinary Institute
and I worked around and got my first chef’s job at 24
and I opened up my first restaurant when I was 30.”
Originally, Schaudel wanted to play the guitar and be the
next Eric Clapton, but he joked that when he applied for the
rock star jobs they were all full.
Becoming a chef was somewhat of an accident, driven by young
love.
“Through a comedy of errors I ended up having this girlfriend
when I was about 15 years old and I realized early on that
if I wanted her to like me I had to buy her something, a bracelet
or a movie ticket or something, so I needed a job,” Schaudel
said. “So I walked into this restaurant and I lied about
my age and got a dishwasher job and that’s how it all
started.”
Schaudel is also a wine connoisseur. He teaches classes and
has studied wine for over 35 years. He said that people have
a negative perception of Long Island wine and he wants to
get rid of that stereotype. Therefore, his wine list includes
many from Long Island, as well as all over the world.
What we really wanted to know was how Schaudel came up with
the name for his new Melville hotspot.
“Because of the connection with the name rubie [where
the venue is located] and jewel,” he said. “This
building was sort of named the Jewel of the 110 corridor because
it’s so beautiful.”
Jewel Restaurant
400 Broadhollow Road (Route 110), Melville 631-755-5777
www.jewelrestaurantli.com
Atmosphere: Elegant, trendy
Cuisine: New American
Hours:
Dinner: Mon.-Thurs. 5-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 5-11; Sun 5-9 p.m
Lunch: Mon.-Fri. 11:30 a.m - 3 p.m
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