Southern brunch party spot 32 North opens in Valley Stream
The mimosa flight at 32 North in Valley Stream includes passion fruit, mango, peach and guava versions. Credit: Newsday/Andi Berlin
Just one mimosa is not enough at 32 North, a boozy Southern brunch spot that recently opened in Valley Stream. Every table in the house has a drink, although the place is as tiny as a hallway. A couple trading cocktails back and forth recommend the mimosa flight ($20). Minutes later, four snifters of varying colors arrive on a wooden tasting board. You can't really discern the peach from the guava or the passion fruit from the mango. Here, it's more about the music, which bops between Afrobeats and R&B and sets the mood for the robust dishes coming out of the kitchen.
Owner Andy Dorant designed everything himself, converting the space from a video store to a clubby restaurant with a feminine look. After decades in the logistics business, he opened East Rock Coffee in Island Park, and plans to continue expanding with a hybrid of East Rock and 32 North in Garden City later this summer.
His short-but-sweet menu skirts between American soul food and Jamaican flavors. Chicken and waffles come in three varieties — red velvet, Baileys Irish Cream and a more savory take on the Southern classic that features Scotch bonnet pepper in the maple syrup. Deviled eggs and crab cakes grace the appetizer menu, but don't pass up the homemade buttermilk biscuits with a side of crumbly pork sausage gravy ($15). The biscuits are on the stouter side rather than being fluffy and tall, but they are heavenly and so buttery crisp.
The jerk shrimp and grits also stand out, with five plump shrimp atop a thick moat of peppery cornmeal that is laced with so much spicy cream that each bite feels like a meal. It's so hearty that you might forget the shrimp is supposed to taste like Jamaican jerk. The side of explosive Scotch bonnet sauce (available upon request) helps kick it further into gear.
32 North, 32 N. Central Ave., Valley Stream, 516-593-0105, 32northrestaurant.com. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.
Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.
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