White Flamingo Restaurant
By Howie Doyle
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White Flamingo restaurant
offers fine dining in a sprawling layout
that has a rich and artful ambience. |
The White Flamingo is a pretty unusual place.
Like the flavors of the menu items, the ambience is
rich and artful. The food is worth going a little
out of the way for. As you drive down Aldine
Westfield Road looking for the Flamingo, you will
know it by the palm tree, the hunter green entrance
canopy, and – of course – the white script calling
out, “White Flamingo Restaurant” on the awning. But
you still might drive right by it.
The probability of the restaurant I am about to
describe being run out of an aging strip center,
surrounded by nice but under-a-hundred-grand
subdivisions, is just not very high.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing the least
bit threatening about this location. The center will
remind you of the place you take your kids for dance
class, or where you go to eat Mexican food because
you got a two-for-one coupon on the back of your
grocery receipt.
But when you walk in the door here and your eyes
adjust to the subdued light, you will see an
eclectic array of fixtures, accents and colors that
– while bordering on excess – is at once elegant and
very comfortable.
The tables are cloaked in starched white linen,
the place setting is formal, and the drinks are
served in crystal glasses that are ample enough to
cure thirst while maintaining a traditional look at
the table.
The White Flamingo, which has been open just over
a year, is owned by partners Gerard and Evelyn
DeChiro. Evelyn also owns the building in which the
restaurant is operated. Initially the restaurant
looks modest in size, but the layout is sprawling
with expansion. A bigger kitchen is next on the
list.
A small lobby leads into the main dining area,
off of which a smaller area holds several additional
tables. Another side room provides privacy for tea
parties and and frequent gatherings of Red Hat
ladies.
On the far side of the dining room, a small door
leads into a substantial banquet hall, decorated
more sparingly but in the same theme as the
restaurant. The White Flamingo, which hosts many
wedding receptions, treats the brides well by
providing a small, cozy room in which the lady of
honor can prepare to meet her guests.
Gerard’s construction expertise came in handy
during the build-out process (you’d never know it,
but the space formerly housed a daycare facility),
and he pitches in – capably – as chef when needed.
This talent served the team well when they were
cooking up the restaurant’s menu.
Executive Chef Carl Flowers has taken that menu
and added a high quality of preparation that has
patrons frequently requesting his presence in the
dining room so they can shake his hand. The best
restauranteurs know that a talented server makes a
good meal great. Enter our waiter, John Coleman, a
young man whose attentiveness – and sincerity when
suggesting favored menu items – enhanced the meal.
Not Your Routine Cuisine
The menu items we tried at the White Flamingo lived
up to the fancy decor. The filet mignon was a
quality cut prepared to our request, served with
delicious rice pilaf that was moist without being
clumpy. Even more exceptional was the mahi mahi,
seared Cajun style, with a compote topping of
tomatoes, scallions, shrimp and Hollandaise sauce.
The fish was firm and mild and tasted very fresh. I
would order fish all the time if it was always
prepared this well, though I must admit that some
palates may prefer slightly less grilling time. The
entrees are served with a side order. We had the
vegetable du jour – which on that day was grilled
zucchini and yellow squash, which tasted better than
squash has a right to. The overused term, “grilled
to perfection” fits here, as they were neither
undergrilled and crunchy, nor overcooked to
mushiness.
Backtracking to the beginning of the meal, the
wonderful house salad was built on a bed of baby
lettuce with oranges, red onions, and walnut bits,
drizzled with a citrus and honey dressing. It was
light, tasty, and different.
Dessert was not a necessity for our sated
appetites, but the dessert tray looked so amazing
that it was not going to be passed by... and indeed
it was amazing. The crème brûlée cheesecake is a
blissful marriage of two classics. The
custard-and-caramel flavor, delivered in cheesecake
form and consistency, might be the best cheesecake
hybrid ever invented.
Not to be outdone, another combination confection
made its mark on our sweet tooth. The pecan cobbler,
served with vanilla ice cream, has the buttery-soft
crust of cobbler, caramelized karo filling, and a
generous portion of tasty pecans. This is ambrosia
for those who are serious about dessert.
There are many intriguing items on White
Flamingo’s menu... so much food, so little time.
Next time we might try one of almost a dozen
sandwich offerings (perhaps the Pinwheel Club); or a
pasta dish like Grill Marinated Splash Chicken,
served over angel hair pasta and fresh asparagus,
and topped with a cream sauce. If the seafood is all
as fresh as the mahi mahi, then you couldn’t go
wrong with the grilled shrimp, Tilapia Meunier (egg
battered and sauteed), or the sweet salmon, grilled
and served with a brown sugar and Dijon glaze.
Any of White Flamingo’s steak cuts can be ordered
with mushrooms and caramelized onions served au jus
Bourgonione-style.
As for the chicken dishes, even the descriptive
names of the entrees are flavorful: Princess
Chicken, Hawaiian Chicken, and Chicken Saltim Bocca.
In addition to rice pilaf and daily vegetable
selection, White Flamingo offers baby asparagus,
potatoes either garlic-mashed or baked, and the
limerick-worthy side dish, “green beans Almandine.”
There is an array of appetizers and salads from
which to select, and the server will tell you about
the soup du jour.
There is a popular conception that the flamingo
is a flightless bird, and even though scientists
tell us that’s not true, for the first time I have
first-hand proof. The White Flamingo is a local
oddity, but it soars above a forest of mundane local
eateries. It would be worth your time to track it
down.
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