Huntington.....

[morebarn]

New to this particular area of Long Island and this board.

What are some of the best restauants in the Village of Huntington. Thanks!

[antipode12]

When you compare food-to-price, 34 New Street is a great place.

Also, I love Ariana (Afghani-Italian blend), and Sri Thai is the better Thai restaurant.

Samurai is fun is you're looking for loud and festive, if not great food.
Avoid Thai USA and House of India,

[mcf]

I haven't been to Samurai, but if it's a hibachi place, I would never venture into one. Thai USA serves flat out inedible food, we've found.

34 New is okay, but we haven't felt inspired to go back, and while Ariana can be a good deal for lunch, dinner is pricey for the little you get and the service can be so surly that we're staying away. I haven't been to House of India for any meal but lunch and that was years ago; we live in Huntington, but drive to Hicksville for Indian food.

[synergy]

I too would recommend going to Hicksville for Indian rather than Huntington. We ate at House of India once and while it was ok, nothing memorable and it didn't earn a return trip. We always go to Hicksville instead.

[antipode12]

Yes Ariana is not cheap. Never had that problem w. service though. In fact, the owner, Ali, usually is incredibly warm and polite. Often, his wife is the waitress.

[Scott_R]

I've had some oddities with when Ariana's opened for lunch: several times I've gone there around 12 to 12:30 and they'd been closed, despite their posted 11:30 opening time.

I've enjoyed their food when I've been able to eat there, though.

[mcf]

I don't mind paying for good food, and often spend more than at Ariana, I was just saying I don't think the value was there at dinner as it is at lunch.

I think the wife is the one who was so imperious with me, disapproving of what I ordered and my asking for no rice. Not in a gracious way. We were the only ones there for dinner at first, and she was slow and absent when we needed her, too. I have always found the owner very warm and gracious during my many lunch visits in the past.

[LRS]

Aside from Oaxaca, are there other good Latin food places? I just to Stony Brook from the city and am looking for nice places to eat nearby. I am particularly interested in peruvian, puerto rican, brazilian, salvadorean, ecuatorian, and venezuelan places, but also turkish, vietnamese, a good chinese, ethiopean, indian, even a good slice or a good burger...as long as is good and relax. I'll appreciate your help.

[Scott_R]

Are we limiting it to Huntington (in the thread's heading)? If so, then the only other place really is Cafe Buenos Aires:
http://www.cafebuenosaires.net/
Great reviews:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFDF153EF93AA15757C0A9619C8B63
http://www.exploreli.com/restaurants/...

I'm a little puzzled at the rest of your question, as Turkish, etc. aren't Latin.

[LRS]

Scott R: thanks for your reply. no, I'm not limiting to Huntington, I was reading this thread and replied instead of creating a new one. I'm looking for anything near (30-40 min drive) Stony Brook. And no, I'm not limiting to Latin American or Caribbean food either. I'm Latin American and started my reply with that interest in mind but then expanded while writing, as you saw. I got hungry and was thinking 'out loud'. Any suggestion will be welcomed.

[Scott_R]

You'd mentioned a good burger: have you tried Gourmet Burger Bistro in Port Jeff (a quick drive from SB)?
http://gourmetburgerbistro.com/
I've send a bunch of people there recently and they've raved about it.

Right near SB University, there's Curry Club:
http://www.curryclubli.com/
I used to go there some years back for the lunch buffet, and at that time it was almost as good as some of the better Indian places on the Indian corridor in Hicksville.

I don't know of *any* Ethiopian on LI, let alone a good one. My fav Turkish place is down in Massapequa Park (Ephesus) but Pita House in East Setauket (again, close to Stony Brook),
http://pita-house.com/
has had some good reviews; see:
http://www.exploreli.com/restaurants/...

-----
Pita House
100 S Jersey Ave East, Setauket, NY

Curry Club
766 Route 25A, East Setauket, NY 11733

[LRS]

Thanks for the recs. I haven't tried any, but will try them all this week for sure. I'm literally new around here. I spend half of the week here and half of it in the city and am trying to convince my friends to visit me so I'm very dedicated to finding good places to eat (and drink) here since that's what we do in the city 80 % of the time. Thanks again.

[Lono37]

RE Gourmet Burger Bistro - ate there recently with my wife. Two run-of-the-mill cheeseburgers, one fries to split, two sodas, $33 + tip. Never again. I know it's "down Port," but $9.50 for a cheeseburger is really pushing it.

[Scott_R]

De gustibus non est disputandum.

[mcf]

If you're in Stony Brook, the nearest concentration of good Portuguese restaurants is in Farmingville, with maybe some spillover toward the west in Selden, south of you. Curry Club in Stony Brook has very good Indian Food; it's on 25A, just east of Nicolls Rd. East Paviliion (I t hink that's the name) has decent Chinese food in E. Setauket, and Lotus East in St. James and Mt. Sinai do, too.

[OLIVER_J]

your best bet is to walk around new york ave & main... plenty of lil spots there...

[mcf]

We've tried Honu over the years in its various incarnations and liked it some, but were never very impressed by the price/value or the ambience. We've been looking for a cozy, unfussy new favorite since Bistro Cassis slid way downhill and this has become ours lately.

The new menu is hearty, very well executed, and some of our favorites come out now and then with new and improved preps, like the fabulous, fresh creamed spinach, very garlicky with parmesan now, in large bits, not finely chopped. They have a nice assortment of sides a la carte and you get to choose one for each entree ordered.

The value per plate is higher than in past years, too, and the food is homier, kind of upscale comfort food. No teeny weeny portions, presentation is very nice, and servers actually are very professional, efficient, polite and know who gets what, a rarity these days.

Excellent dishes we've had are the Friday dish of the day, crab encrusted halibut with a nice lemon butter sauce, chopped salad, pumpkin tortellini, cabernet braised short rib (huge!) and occasional specials. So far, not one clunker, never left hungry.

When you can get a table in the rear of the first floor by the fireplace, it's quieter and less difficult to have a conversation, which can be a problem on the rest of the first floor unless you eat early, before it fills up or the bar scene gets going.

We're loving Honu after avoiding it for years, not one single disappointing thing about it so far, and a lot to love.

[jnab121]

Black and Blue- Good modern american

[phofiend]

Osteria da Nino - Italian
Bistro Cassis - French
Buenos Aires -Argentinian
Besito -upscale Mexican
Red - American
Ariana - Afghani
Kura Barn - Japanese
Piccolo - Italian

And so many more. Huntington is a great food town. Welcome, and enjoy exploring.

[dougnash]

PortoVivo, go Wednesday night for the roasted suckling pig special, it is the best and so flavorful...

[lrbarbie]

Jonathan's ristorante on Wall St........
Red on New York Ave

http://www.jonathansristorante.com/

[CornflakeGirl]

Mediterranean Snackbar on New York Ave. has always been reliable.

Canterbury Ales (also on New York Ave.) for a pretty good burger and a pint.

And my parents have developed a habit of ordering the fries from European Republic (again, on New York Ave.) whenever they grill a steak. I just had some last week and they're pretty good. They also informed me that the wraps aren't half bad either.

[missmar79]

Prime- for trendy steaks-a real scene
Blue Honu - for hawaiian fusion food- great bar scene
Mediterranean Snack Bar - for no frills greek food

[chaz]

34 New Street
Marcia's Kitchen
Mangiamo

[synergy]

If you repost this in the Tristate section you will get responses...the Outer Boroughs doesn't cover LI.