Fighting Hunger With The Foodies
By The Foodies./ foodie@longislandernews.com

Coindre Hall was the destination for foodies Nov. 13 as restaurateurs, wine, beer and chocolate purveyors set up shop in the stately, historic waterfront mansion to raise money for the Island Harvest food bank. And as one might expect at any gathering of culinary practitioners, Huntington was well-represented in the 20 or so restaurants dishing out small plates of their favorites.

The event, an annual magazine cover party hosted by Long Island Pulse, has become a November tradition to support Island Harvest, Long Island’s largest hunger relief organization dedicated to ending hunger and reducing food waste. Volunteers distribute food to nearly 570 pantries, soup kitchens and other local feeding centers.
“We raise a lot of money, we get to meet a lot of new people who don’t know about hunger on Long Island and it’s just a great opportunity for us,” said Randi Shubin Dresner, the organization’s President and CEO.

In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, Island Harvest and all of Long Island’s food pantries have been pressed into extraordinary action. As of Nov. 13, they moved 1 million pounds of food in the last week and a half, and she expected to move many millions more by the end of the year. Sandy was a catastrophe that hit home for the organization, she said.

“I have 35 people on staff, and each one of them has left their families at home in the dark. Many of them have left 5 feet of water to come to work so that we can help to feed other people that are really in need,” Shubin Dresner said. “The dedication of our staff has truly been tremendous.”

Shelby Poole, owner of Jackson’s (6005 Jericho Turnpike, Commack 631-462-0822) joined her manager, Ryan Ullah, in dishing out hearty Jambalaya, smoky and satisfyingly spicy, bursting with chicken, Andouille sausage, shrimp, peppers, onions and Creole rice. They also had light and refreshing Mama Loo Salad, combining napa, crispy noodles, carrots, cucumber, red dressing and Tahini dressing in a light, refreshing dish. And for traditionalists, there were classic, fizzy Chocolate Egg Creams.
Legal Sea Foods (160 Walt Whitman Road, No. 1108, Huntington Station 631-271-9777) was on hand with hearty clam chowder and delicately seared Blackened Ahi Tuna, paired with seaweed salad, pickled ginger, wasabi sour cream and sesame, all served in a crunchy wonton. The combination marries complex flavors and textures into a harmonious, complementary package.

Moving on, we decided to check out a new old friend, visiting Dena Fenza’s table for Two Blondes and a Stove (26 Clinton Ave, Huntington village, 631-673-1300) where she was ladling out shot-glass-sized samplers of Roasted Butternut Squash soup. Autumn gourds were a popular theme at several restaurants’ tables, and Dena stood out with a savory, textured soup that warms you up with salted fall flavors and an ever-so-faintly-sweet finish from the crushed amaretto cookie crumble garnish. Keep an eye for this one in their rotating soups of the day, especially as the temperatures drop.

For our main course of sorts, where better to go than Coindre Hall’s in-house restaurant? That brought us to the setup for the Chateau at Coindre Hall, where head chef Matt Kozak was presiding over a winter vegetable medley and fork-tender braised beef short rib in a red wine reduction, a traditional fall-winter offering that really hit the spot.

With four courses down, that leaves us with dessert, and we decided there’s no better way to close out the night than to visit Mary Alice Meinserman and her daughter Susannah to see what Bon Bons Chocolatier (319 Main St., Huntington, 631-549-1059) had on hand to satisfy the ol’ sweet tooth. With a selection of chocolate-covered goodies, truffles galore and hazelnut chocolates, there was something for any chocoholic - or earthling, for that matter - to delight in.

Ninety-six percent of all cash donations go to support Island Harvest’s programming, collecting and distributing food, Shubin Dresner said. Couldn’t make it, but want to give? It’s as simple as texting “hunger relief” to 266266 and selecting a donation from $10 to $500.