David DiBari, my friend and one of the most innovative and creative chefs in Westchester, earned a coveted Bib Gourmand from the first Michelin Guide to cover Westchester for Eugene’s Diner.
(He earned one for another Westchester restaurant, too: The Cookery.) Eugene’s is a retro diner meant to evoke memories from the ’70s, and does it ever. Dave and his wife, Cathy, scoured eBay and Home Depots everywhere to fine the kitch decor that makes Eugene’s so much fun to visit.
To get the paneling, Cathy told me, they had to visit almost every Home Depot across Long Island, because each store only had a few panels in stock. They were just meant as replacement panels. Nobody would think of actually decorating this way anymore. Would they?
There’s even, as you can see in about the middle of this photo, a vintage glass dessert case.
But while the decor is retro, the food is as contemporary as it gets, and all of it outstanding. Here, we have avocado toast. But not just any avocado toast.
The avocado is whipped into pure lightness, and garnished with slightly Asian flavors of coconut and herbs. Home run.
Pastrami on Rye. With fries. With gravy. This was a knockout, too.
What retro diner would not have a meatloaf on the menu? This was was decadent and delicious. The mushrooms are flavored with maple, which brings a touch of Montreal to a very American dish.
We didn’t really have room for dessert, but Cathy, having noticed we were there, sent one out.
This is Dave’s version of Pudding Chomeur, a classic dessert from Montreal. (He loves Montreal, and gave us many recommendations when we visited last year.)
It’s maple-y, eggy, pudding-y and just out of this world.
What a great meal. We will be back as soon as we can.
