I have dined nineteen floors above the street in New Haven (John Davenport’s) and twenty floors above the street in Hartford (PolytechnicON20). But the highest dining between New York and Boston can probably be found at 42 in White Plains’ Ritz-Carlton Westchester, which my wife and I recently tried out with friends during Hudson Valley Restaurant Week.
Sometimes the dining adventures that I chronicle take me beyond the state line (or completely out of the country). I had two purposes in visiting 42. As a Restaurant Week reporter, critic and organizer, I was interested in seeing firsthand how another Restaurant Week was run. And I was eager to catch up with chef Anthony Goncalves, former owner of both Trotters and Peniche in White Plains, whom I knew well from a decade of reviewing restaurants in Westchester County.
We parked down the street at the Westchester Mall, and then walked a couple of blocks to the Ritz-Carlton Westchester.
We made sure that we took the entrance to the right (in both senses of the word) tower.
After a rapid elevator ride, we emerged in a corridor decorated with spaghetti-themed artwork.
Soon we reached the hostess station.
We hung out in the lounge
while our table was being readied, taking in the incredible view.
Soon after, we were led to a nice table,
although it didn’t have the amazing window views that some tables had.
Note with amusement the toddler trying to hand his father a fork while the father was busy watching what I was doing.
Up a short stairs above our table was Bellota, Goncalves’ more casual tapas restaurant.
We ordered two wines, an Italian Friulano (which I forgot to photograph) and a Tinta Roriz from Portugal.
Hudson Valley Restaurant Week, which runs from March 14-27, offers three-course lunches for $20 and three-course dinners for $28. For our first course, we enjoyed a salmon tartare,
meatballs with San Marzano tomatoes and fresh ricotta,
and asparagus with Parmesan custard.
For our entrées, we ordered a spicy seafood caldeirada with Chilean sea bass (for an $18 supplement),
monkfish with caperberries, preserved lemon, Swiss chard and roasted potato,
braised lamb shank with Israeli couscous,
and skirt steak over polenta with chimichurri and mixed vegetables.
We concluded our meal with a slice of chocolate cheesecake,
a strawberry crostata,
complimentary glasses
of Late Harvest Chardonnay,
and a visit from Anthony himself.
42 The Restaurant, Ritz-Carlton Westchester, 1 Renaissance Square, White Plains, New York, 914-761-4242
www.westchesterlounge.com