STEVEN PALM

If you really want to impress restaurateur Steven Palm, just yell at him for a while. “Its very flattering when people yell or they’re aggravated because they want a table,” said the bronxville resident of a May 23 restaurant encounter. The Eastchester native is content to know that people want to participate in his dinning experience almost as much as he wants to please them. Palm had dreamed of owning a restaurant since he was 5, when he would help his mother and waiters with errands at a New York City eatery. He opened Underhills Crossing Restaurant in Bronxville in 1995. “My restaurant is my home,” he said. “it’s an extension of my life”. When he was taking night classes at Iona College is his early 20’s, the Eastchester native learned lessons from peers in the restaurant industry. Palm said he grasped techniques to highlight sophistication and develop interpersonal skills from colleagues Adi Giovannetti of Il Monello Restaurant in New York City, and Mario Faustini and Nat Recine of the defunct Alex and Henry’s in Eastchester. As a Rockwells manager, Palm embraced technology and management strategies from coworker Stephen Robins.

According to food critics, its easy to see why customers clamor for tables. The Zagat Guide wrote that Underhills Crossing is “an in-spot in Bronxville, (a) grown-up New American (that) brings SoHo dinning to Westchester.” Biaggio “Bud Malfetano, a former Eastchester High School attendance officer, once knew Palm as a student who arrived late on more than one occasion. Pleased to watch Palm mature in the restaurant industry, Malfetano also is proud to see him assume Malfetano’s former role as president of the Bronxville Helen Keller Lions Club. Said the current Lions secretary/treasurer, “(Palm) is a very affable and bright boy.” Palm is also a busy one as a member of the board of directors for the Bronxville-Eastchester-Tuckahoe Community Fund, Chamber of Commerce and Jansen Hospice.

“Growing up, I didn’t come from a family of wealth,” he said. “I am fulfilling and living a dream that I never, ever, ever expected to live. If I am able to fulfill other people’s dreams – to possibly help someone that’s not as privileged as I am – than it’s my pleasure.” Palm’s dedication to satisfy his customers can be traced to the details, ranging from the soap scents to staff accoutrements. Open to constructive criticism, he encourages e-mail feedback on his restaurant’s website. Palm said he was grateful to receive a phone call two weeks ago from a loyal customer who asked him to consider a policy change. “The one thing I want to do is dazzle them,” he said. As flattering as policy proposals or public outbursts can be, Palm is equally appreciative when residents choose to send thank you notes as a form of flattery. When they look at me or my management and they say that’s the best they ever had,” he said, you cannot put a dollar figure on that.” (By Chris Serico Review Press)