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by Chris Selin with Book Group members
May 31, 2010

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Former Councilperson Chris Selin, for years a member of a book group with six other long term New Rochellians, dined at Mo’s New York Grill. Group members joining Chris left to right were Geri Kearns, (a Board member of  the New Rochelle Historical Society); Barbara Benjamin, (member of the New Rochelle Council on the Arts); Arlene Kamer, (former President of the Board of Education and a Board member of the Southern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES); Pat Bolger, (historically active in the PTA and her neighborhood association); Chris Selin, (Board member of the New Rochelle Public Library Foundation); and Eileen Niedzwiecki, (Director of Placement at The Ursuline School).

Our book club members, all of whom have been active members in the New Rochelle community including the PTA, neighborhood associations, and/or various charitable organizations, love getting together as a group to share insights into books, and to sample New Rochelle restaurants. It also gives us a chance to catch up on the recent events in each other’s lives, and the City in general.
In April, we dined at Mariano Rivera’s “Mo’s New York Grill”. Mariano (Mo) is well known as the popular and acclaimed closer for the New York Yankees. The restaurant features many of his photographs and memorabilia within an elegant interior, warm and inviting with touches of mahogany trim, that sets the stage for a great dining experience. Tables and dining booths are beautifully set and comfortably spaced, as would be expected for an evening of fine dining. Families, a group of sports fans, or a women’s night out such as ours, will all feel at home here.
Mo’s has an extensive wine list, in addition to a full service bar. We found the wine list contained a variety of reasonably priced selections, from which we chose a bottle of Beringer Chardonnay. My friends were delighted that the dinner menu had a wide variety of tempting seafood dishes in addition to Mo’s signature steaks.

Our six meals covered the gamut and thoroughly tested the menu. The Jr. Filet Mignon with green peppercorns was tender and cooked exactly as ordered, medium rare, as were the excellent grilled lamb chops.  From the seafood menu, we sampled Chilean sea bass with a lemon garlic sauce; salmon with spinach and risotto, with a lemon-garlic sauce; grilled salmon; and shrimp scampi, all of which were delicious and the shrimp dish was praised as being “succulent and zesty”. Our waitress efficiently took our orders, noting our individual preferences, and also suggested various sides to accompany our a la carte orders. We chose sides of creamed spinach, steamed broccoli, and carrots, which were crisp and flavorful.  The servings were ample, cooked to order, all reasonably priced, and thoroughly enjoyed by our group.  

Over coffee and dessert, after a leisurely evening of superb food with excellent wine and wonderful conversation, we all agreed that this was one of our better book group get togethers, and oh …yes, the book was good also!