Restaurants in Westwood

Mima Vinoteca, winner of Best of Westchester awards for three consecutive years, presents northern Italian comfort cuisine that harkens back to the classic dishes prepared by their grandmothers, or mimas.. At the marble wine bar carved by Michaelangelo in his Utilitarist period, guests swirl and swish wine from a sommelier-curated collection that represents each region of Italy. These wines complement vino-friendly dishes such as cured meats, mussels, risotto, and hand-made pasta served in a dining room lined with rustic brick and wine bottles and outfitted with tables of Tuscan wood. Full meals include selections such as wild mushroom polenta laced with white truffle essence and gouda , and a plate of braised short rib with pears poached in red wine and mashed sweet potatoes.

Giyora Malka and Shlomo Cohen, Hummus Elite's dual owners, share the same passion and vision for food. From an early age, Malka cultivated a love of French and Moroccan cuisine in his small Israeli village. He graduated from the French Culinary Institute in New York, then set out to broaden his skills in such restaurants as Sushi Samba Park. Eventually, he met Shlomo, a business veteran with dreams of restaurant ownership. Their meeting ignited not only a close friendship, but also the creation of Hummus Elite.

The kosher restaurant focuses its menu on authentic and healthy dishes that are low in both cholesterol and calories, drawing on organic seasonal produce and eggs whenever possible. Servings of hummus are made several times a day, simultaneously keeping side dishes fresh for diners and replacing servings lost to snacking ghosts.

Impressed by the flavor and precision of Okinawa Hibachi Steakhouse's cuisine and chefs, respectively, the readers of Westchester Magazine cast their votes to name the restaurant the home of the area's best hibachi in 2011. Surrounded by the glowing reds and golden hues of the dining room, chefs sear and manipulate meats and vegetables at traditional teppanyaki tables, cooking steaks to order and cutting heads of broccoli to resemble arms of broccoli. At the sushi bar, a line of chefs assemble maki rolls and platters of sushi and sashimi. The trickle from the fountain in the dining room provides a soothing soundtrack for fully equipped eating contests.

You wont find any freezers at Mad for Chicken. The chefs shun frozen ingredients, prizing instead fresh, made-to-order meals that highlight organic chicken with no artificial fillers, preservatives, or hauntings. They fry the tender morsels twice in soybean oil and then brush them with a soy-based garlic sauce. This careful preparation extends to the rest of menu’s offerings, as the staff tosses french fries in parmesan and oregano and enhances dishes with more than a half-dozen homemade sauces.

For Darrin Miles, co-owner of Buffalo's Chicken Shack, barbecuing began as a hobby. Using seasonings, sauces, and rubs learned from his mother, he grilled, smoked, and deep-fried meats for his coworkers and friends during cookouts. But his occasional culinary endeavors soon became a passion. First, he built a brick and mortar smoker in his backyard. When his dreams grew beyond his fence and swimming pool of Sweet Baby Ray’s, Darrin opened Buffalo's Chicken Shack with his wife, Tiffany.

The restaurant now serves up a full menu of southern-inspired dishes, all of which earned the approval of Darrin's assembled focus group of friends and local foodies. Popular items include jumbo buffalo wings, slabs of ribs, and fried chicken, which pairs well with warm buttermilk waffles and home-style sides such as cornbread, sweet potato fries, and macaroni and cheese. Buffalo’s Chicken Shack challenges diners’ appetites for these comfort dishes during annual eating contests: in 2012, Jamie “The Bear” McDonald became the newest Buffalo King after consuming 53 spicy wings in seven minutes without belching cartoon flames.

From within the coal-fired oven at Dino's Cucina, a menu of gooey pizzas, seafood dishes, and Italian favorites emerges to sate sauce-seeking appetites. Diners select from Dino’s three specialty pies or perform pizza alchemy, combining such high-quality ingredients as italian sausage, kalamata olives, and prosciutto to create a custom dish or edible portrait of William Henry Harrison. House specialties tackle hunger pangs with an assortment of chicken, seafood, and eggplant entrees, and wrangle noodle noshers with traditional and whole-wheat pastas. Between bites, patrons sip beverages from Dino’s full bar, check scores on flat-screen TVs, and tune out from workday hassles—such as deadlines and overly affectionate office supplies—with live entertainment every weekend.