Long Island Restaurants

Bistro Cassis

Bistro Cassis, with its sunny yellow walls, marble-topped tables and properly aproned waitstaff, manages to seem authentically Gallic while bending a few rules. Apparently, the kitchen's unorthodoxy doesn't faze the waiting crowds that spill out into the street on weekend evenings.

After you order, your server places a slice of baguette on your bread dish and replaces it when necessary. Mussels are plump and plentiful, served in a domed copper pot. Try them Provencale-style, in a garlic-infused basil and tomato broth - they're marvelous. Another standout is the classic salade frisee aux lardons, studded with thick chunks of bacon and topped with a soft boiled egg, which, when broken, oozes mellow warmth.

Available at lunch, a salad of sauteed shrimp over warm spinach comes with a heady orange and caper dressing. Surprisingly good is a grilled chicken sandwich with caramelized onions and melted cheese on a superior roll.

For dinner, try the expertly sauteed salmon, served with little napa cabbage bundles, horseradish cream and delicious sliced boiled potatoes. Duck a l'orange comes prettily plated, the breast fanned out in slices, the leg served as a confit, the orange sauce neither too sweet nor too citric. And while the coq au vin is not the time-honored stewed-in-wine version, it is nice as roasted chicken in a savory wine sauce. Gallic tradition is upheld by the steak frites, a simple slab of grilled beef topped with herbed butter and served with crisp French fried potato sticks.

For dessert, gateau moka is a layered affair along the lines of tiramisu, coated with the kind of hard, dark chocolate icing you'd expect to find in a French patisserie. And if the tarte tatin is a letdown, creme brulee is the real deal, crackly on top, creamy beneath.

A bit too American for the streets of Paris, Bistro Cassis is very much at home on Huntington's Wall Street.

-Joan Reminick. STAFF WRITER
Reviewed 06-15-2001

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