North Shore Sun

JENNIFER GUSTAVSON PHOTO Chef-owners Steve Biscari Amaral and Lia Fallon of Amarelle in Wading River are hosting wine dinners on the final Thursday every month as a way to get people into their restaurant - located across from the duck ponds downtown - during the week.

While a new Wading River restaurant has elements of traditional fine dining -- gourmet entr ' es, a variety of exquisite wines and a roaring fire -- chef-owners Steve Biscari Amaral and Lia Fallon have made keeping their business new and exciting a top priority.

"We thought about how to entice people to come in during the week," said Ms. Fallon, who opened Amarelle, a French Country wine and food restaurant, last July with her partner, Mr. Amaral. "We decided that on the last Thursday of every month, we'd come up with a different wine dinner."

The chef-owners, who previously worked together at Mr. Amaral's Black Tie Catering, consult with local vineyards to feature a variety of wines. Once selections are made, they develop dinner menus around them.

"We've been open since July and we're already on our fourth menu," Ms. Fallon said.

On March 18, Amarelle will host a French Country wine dinner with a cocktail reception, featuring live French music performed by local musicians. In April, they plan a benefit dinner wines from Chile, with half of the proceeds going toward relief for victims of the recent earthquake there.

Ms. Fallon, a former Food Network chef-food stylist and culinary educator, said it's always been her passion to open a restaurant. Her first step was to convince Mr. Amaral, who had owned a restaurant in Maui for 20 years before working as a restaurant consultant from 1999 to 2003.

"I was inspiring him to go back into the restaurant business again," Ms. Fallon said.

Mr. Amaral joked that the inspiration was "more like arm-twisting."

But after a year of planning, Amarelle's owners settled on the location formerly occupied by Andrew's By The Pond restaurant, and the arm-twisting paid off. The pair said they settled on the downtown Wading River location for its multi-seasonal appeal.

"We wanted a space that we could have open year-round," said Mr. Amaral, whose artwork is featured throughout the restaurant.

Ms. Fallon came up with the name Amarelle, which is both a type of cherry and a play on her partner's last name.

The restaurant uses not only local wines but also local produce and cheeses.

"Working with local merchants has been absolutely great," Ms. Fallon said. "We're finding it a little bit more of a struggle now in the winter. In the summer it's better because the local purveyors will deliver. They just don't have the means to do it in the winter."

Beginning this Easter, Amarelle will be open for Sunday brunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., featuring live jazz performances.

The three-course brunch will include soup and salad, cheese and fruit plates and either a quiche, Belgian waffle or fresh pasta entr ' e.

"We want to portray really good prepared food, but not with a stuffy atmosphere," Ms. Fallon said. "It's fine dining, but casual."

jennifer@northshoresun.com