A feature such as Top Foodie Towns from our August issue is a difficult assignment considering the number of Westchester municipalities that are replete with top restaurants, cafes, and food retail, and having to whittle down the contenders into the allotted pages (14 pages).
Once the towns have been selected, there’s the additional task of curating of which food and dining businesses in each town to highlight — there are always more worthy candidates than can be profiled in the space plus only so such time for field research. In the case of Irvington, there was a business I became familiar with after the issue published that would not be out-of-place in the feature: Suzanne’s Table.
Equal parts gourmet takeout shop/café/caterer, the business was founded in 2015 by caterer and Irvington resident Suzanne Hart. Other than some classes she took at ICE (Institute of Culinary Education) while food editor at Vogue in the mid ’80s, Hart has no formal culinary training (“I’m a cook, not a chef,” she says humbly).
In relation to the food offerings, the lack of food industry experience doesn’t matter; fresh, bright flavors abound on the seasonal menu with lots of homemade touches: warming house-made soups, colorful salads, and toasty panini. Bread comes from Balthazar Bakery and Orwashers, plus much of the produce is via Hilltop Hanover Farm in Yorktown Heights.
The chalkboard menu on my visit included a delicious avocado BLT on an onion roll with sriracha mayo and flavorsome turkey meatballs. Chicken salad with apricots, almonds, and basil is a signature, as is a beet, goat cheese, and honey salad. Baked goods, especially incredibly fudgy brownies and moist banana bread are stellar.
The 11-seat interior is comely and cozy: lots of gray accents, marble counters, a large hutch with country-style serving pieces, and a backroom with communal pine table that would fit in as part of the set on many a cooking TV program.
Hart knows her customers by name, and her connection with them she sums up simply by stating, “I love cooking for people and seeing them happy.”
Suzanne’s Table
75 Main St
Irvington
914.231.9055
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