He was a punk, a hoodlum, a bard. He survived years of addiction to heroin and cocaine. He was occasionally snarky and cynical, but never unkind or disrespectful.

Anthony Bourdain was a chef, traveler, writer, father. His departure from our planet is a crushing blow not just to those in the food world, but to anyone and everyone who enjoyed his books and programs.

Did you know he had a blue belt in Brazilian jujitsu? Did you know he had his own publishing imprint (Anthony Bourdain Books, Ecco Press) under HarperCollins? That he wrote and illustrated a series of graphic novels and a crime series in addition to his restaurant exposés and cookbooks from 1995 to 2016?

Anthony Bourdain was born in New York City and grew up in Leonia, N.J. His father was a record company executive, his mother an editor at The New York Times. He spent time in Montauk in his youth and in later years rented a house somewhere on the East End. He would hang out with his good buddy Eric Ripert, the executive chef and co-owner of Le Bernardin. They even modeled together for Hamptons magazine in 2012. In the pictures they are lounging around outside Sunset Beach on Shelter Island, both lean and lanky, handsome and relaxed. Their witty repartee goes back and forth: Mr. Ripert mentions Hayground School and his favorite charity events; Mr. Bourdain says he intends to putter all summer and wants to be like Ina Garten.

Mr. Bourdain’s book “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly” came out of his 1999 New Yorker essay “Don’t Eat Before Reading This.” Everyone in the food world read it. A lot of chefs didn’t like how restaurant kitchens were portrayed — full of cursing, thieving, addiction, and other forms of debauchery. The restaurant where he worked wasn’t fancy. Les Halles was a big brasserie. He once said that if you can survive brunch service (“Three hundred eggs Benedict, not one of them returned!”), you can survive anything. He was prompt for meetings, in fact, always 15 minutes early. “It shows respect,” he pointed out. 

His television career began with “A Cook’s Tour” on the Food Network in 2002. From 2005 to 2015 he was the host/writer for “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel, along with the shorter-lived “The Layover.” In 2013 his “Parts Unknown” debuted on CNN.

“I have the best job in the world. I decide where we go. If I’m not having a good time it’s nobody’s fault. It’s a fault of the imagination.”

He traveled for work more than 200 days of the year, with a skeleton production crew. They would pick up extra help at their various shooting locations around the world.

A month ago, my son started working at CNN. The first office picture he sent me was a black-and-white portrait of Anthony Bourdain in the hallways of the Time Warner Center. It got me to thinking how interesting it was that a mother and son, two different generations, would equally admire this man.

Mr. Bourdain, Tony to his friends, was found by his friend Mr. Ripert in his hotel room in Kaysersberg, Alsace, in France. He had missed dinner the night before, then breakfast. He had hung himself. According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than half of all suicides are not related to depression or mental illness. They are related to stress, loss, substance abuse, and relationship problems. Will we ever know why this peripatetic talented man chose to die? Would it really help if we did?

People often hate journalists after a tragic event because they stick a microphone in your face and ask how you feel. But I wanted to get words and thoughts and reflections from people who knew Tony Bourdain. From his friend Geoffrey Drummond (Eric Ripert’s producer for “Avec Eric” on PBS) I received the following:

“It’s so shocking, sad, and certainly a huge loss of someone with immense talent as a writer, charisma as a performer, and insightful wisdom as a commentator. Tony saw food and cooking not so much as an end product but a medium to explore and present people, places, culture and politics through the plates of food they shared with him, and his audience. Having worked with Julia Child, who was a great cook, writer, beloved and iconic TV personality, I see Anthony Bourdain as our contemporary — iconic and iconoclastic. A true and deep loss not just for fans of food, but the world.”

From Chris Cuomo, a colleague of Mr. Bourdain’s at CNN:

“I am not a foodie per se, and so when Bourdain asked me about personal passions, I said ‘my family.’ He was like, ‘no kidding.’ I said ‘fishing.’ He rolled his eyes. Then I said ‘fighting’ and his eyes went wide. He had just fallen in love with BJJ [Brazilian jujitsu] and whenever I would see him thereafter, we would talk fight training and the love of the grind. That’s the weird thing for me — just weeks before his suicide, he told me how into struggling he was; how he loved fighting through challenges. It’s very sad.”

Mr. Bourdain’s programs won numerous Emmys and a Peabody Award. He enjoyed the road less traveled. He touched on politics in his shows but didn’t judge. He ate fermented shark and warthog anus. He said “your body is not a temple, it’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.” He had guests ranging from Iggy Pop to President Barack Obama.

He loved the “struggle.” Until he didn’t. Rest in peace, dear man, you can never, will never, be replaced.

Click for recipes

Since Friday, South Forkers have been given the chance not only to continue eating very well indeed at the Almond bistro on Ocean Road and Main Street in Bridgehampton, but also to take home food that has been prepared in the Almond kitchen from the new L&W Market next door.

Eric Lemonides and Jason Weiner, business partners and co-owners since 2001 of Almond, have expanded their endeavors to include a market that sells many of the delicious things Almond is known for.

Mr. Weiner, Almond’s executive chef, and Jeremy Blutstein, the chef de cuisine, have introduced a line of fermented foods, Kimchi Jews, that includes kimchi, pickled garlic scapes, different fish sauces, sauerkraut, fire cider, and miso. L&W also offers harissa and other Asian-inspired foods that are made in the Almond kitchen. Customers will  find all sorts of prepared foods, thanks to the market’s doubling up with Almond’s kitchen, including sandwiches, lobster salad, green salads, baba ganoush, pickled herring, hummus, sausage, farro tabouleh, curried mussels, smoked fish, rillettes, gravlax, and even marinated octopus salad and roast striped bass.

Various chutneys, caponatas, and murabbas from Le Bon Magot can be bought at the market as well. In addition to sourcing their produce, grain, and protein from the East End, the team carries items from nearby farms such as Quail Hill, Amber Waves, Balsam Farms, and Foster Farms, and cheeses from Art Ludlow’s Mecox Bay Dairy. 

Coffee and pastries baked on site are  available, and, just in case you need a beautiful knife to cut them with, the market is carrying a line of knives made by Dereyk Patterson of East Hampton.

Mr. Weiner’s wife, Almond Zigmund, for whom the restaurant is named, said on Friday that her husband and Mr. Lemonides had spoken of the idea of a market for quite some time. Once the antiques furniture store next door moved out and the space became available, the partners pounced. With some design input from James McChesney, a Southampton architect, they actually built a lot of the market themselves. It is airy and spacious yet cozy, with a mosaic tile floor, black-grouted wall tile, and a pressed-tin ceiling — and a slightly old-fashioned Manhattan feel.

The market will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.

Cooking and Culture

Daniel Isengart, a private chef and a cabaret performer, will talk about his new book, “The Art of Gay Cooking,” at BookHampton in East Hampton tomorrow at 5 p.m. Laura Donnelly, The Star’s food columnist, will moderate the discussion. Mr. Isengart’s work, which contains 250 recipes, is a “culinary memoir” that traces the author’s cooking experiences from his grandmother’s kitchen in Germany through his childhood years in Paris and up to his adult life at home in Brooklyn Heights and at work for clients in New York City and the Hamptons.

Lounge Debut

A new event space and lounge called the 324 will open today at 44 Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton, an address that has seen a long succession of nightclubs and restaurants, most recently Harbor East. In its newly renovated space, the 324 contains three full-service bars, two interior dining and entertainment spaces, two outdoor patios, and can accommodate up to 500 guests. A tour of the facilities for those planning an event will take place from 5:30 to 8 p.m., and afterward the lounge will make its debut. The lounge, which will serve a variety of craft cocktails and frozen drinks, will be open Thursdays through Saturdays starting at 8 p.m.

Oyster Special 

The North Sea Tavern is offering a special of five oysters  plus a choice of draft beer, wine, or champagne for $10 every Thursday from noon to 11 p.m.

Brunch With Flair

Maison Vivienne in Southampton will hold a brunch featuring a D.J. and a fashion show of jewelry from Soixante Neuf Jewels and clothing from Marina St. Barth and Elaine Kim Studio on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Il Mulino

108 Wainscott Stone Road

Wainscott 

631-658-9122

Dinner nightly

Il Mulino is like the Italian version of the Hillstone Group of restaurants. Big, expensive, efficient, and very good. It has numerous locations in New York City and on Long Island, along with outposts in Orlando (Disney World), Atlanta, San Juan, Las Vegas, Tokyo, and now Wainscott.

This big, beautiful Tudor house on Georgica Pond has seen many restaurant incarnations over the years: Sapore di Mare, Maya’s, Saracen, Georgica, Osteria Salinia. The interior is now creamy whites with wood and tile floors, several dining rooms, and a beautiful enclosed porch overlooking the pond. This room has superbly soundproofed windows. You would never know you are on the highway. There is now a wood-burning oven for pizzas, but this was not yet operational on our visit.

One of the best things about Il Mulino (the Mill) is all the goodies you get upon being seated. First a huge half wheel of Parmesan is brought to the table and chunks are gouged out and placed on your bread plate. Then you are offered a variety of focaccia breads — tomato, olive, and spicy toasted slices on this particular evening. Next comes a little plate of fried zucchini chips doused with garlic, rosemary, and red pepper flakes. After that, there are slices of bruschetta with tomato topping, all of it delicious.

We began our meal with clams oreganata, grilled octopus, fluke carpaccio, Caesar salad, and a half order of porcini-truffle raviolis. The clams were good: six small ones, lightly breaded, with a garlicky broth on the bottom of the plate. The grilled octopus (two tentacles) was tender and served with orange sections and a shaved fennel and frisée salad. 

The fluke carpaccio was not good. It was just a bit too fishy tasting. I never complain or send a dish back when I am reviewing, but on this occasion I felt it was warranted. After my guests tasted it and concurred that it was not fresh, fresh, fresh, the dish was removed . . . but we were still charged for it. 

The Caesar salad was a refined version; tender small hearts of romaine were dressed in a lemony mustardy vinaigrette, not much garlic or anchovy flavor. The half order of porcini truffle ravioli was rich and flavorful and uber-creamy, a big hit.

For main courses we ordered eggplant rolatini, lobster ravioli, and osso bucco. The eggplant rolatini was stuffed with crabmeat and shrimp, covered in a vecchia bettola (creamy tomato sauce), and served with some perfectly sautéed spinach. We all agreed it was excellent. The lobster ravioli was equally rich and creamy, topped with the same sauce. It was almost as good as the eggplant. The osso bucco was superb, as it should be at a whopping $75! The meat was tender, moist, and flavorful, the saffron risotto creamy and cooked just right, and the marrow bone statuesque. 

The service on the night of our visit was excellent, especially considering Il Mulino has only been open for a month. Our waiter, Luka, was charming and knowledgeable. There were also what seemed like at least 10 other people swarming about the table, whisking away empty (and almost empty) plates and glasses, crumbing the tablecloth, replenishing waters and utensils. When Jimmy Fallon bounded onto the porch for his early bird dinner with his wife, I figured the swarm would immediately move in his direction, but our service continued to be very attentive. 

The prices at Il Mulino are high. The appetizers, carpaccios, salads, tartares, pizzas, and other antipasti are $14 to $110. The $14 is for olives, the $110 for caviar. Pastas, meat, and fish dishes are $29 to $57, and sides and desserts are $15.

After we finished our entrees and before we ordered dessert, we were offered tiny glasses of fig liqueur. It was sweet and wonderful, like liquid Fig Newtons. All of the desserts are made in house. We tried two and both were good. One was a moist limoncello tiramisu with sabayon, the other an almond-infused ricotta cheesecake. Both were served with a scattering of berries, a generous helping of fresh whipped cream, and, inexplicably, a good bit of Hershey’s chocolate syrup on both plates.

Our dinner was delicious and delightful. It is not clear whether Il Mulino will be seasonal or year round, but this outpost of the empire is a welcome addition to the East End.

Music at Harbor Bistro

Harbor Bistro in East Hampton will feature live bands and food and drink specials on Sundays from 5 to 8 p.m. The food specials, all priced at $8, include chicken potstickers, chips and guacamole, and oysters with a celery mignonette. 

New in Bridgehampton

The Mercado Mexican Grill in Bridgehampton has changed its name and its culinary focus. It is now the Hudson Blue Crab House. The menu has retained some items from its previous incarnation, including fish and shrimp tacos, but includes new additions such as king crab legs, soft-shelled crabs, lobster rolls, and a variety of oysters. 

Mecox Delivered

Mecox Bay Dairy in Bridgehampton will start a home delivery service tomorrow. It will be available to households from Montauk to Southampton and it will operate through August. Customers will be able to shop online at mecoxdirect.com from the farm’s selection of meats, cheeses, and other products, place an order by noon on Wednesday, and have the items arrive two days later. The delivery fee is $10 with no minimum order requirements. Orders placed after noon on Wednesday will be delivered on Friday of the following week.

Sen Reopens at 25

Sen in Sag Harbor has reopened after having closed on Oct. 1 to undergo a gut renovation. The restaurant, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary season, serves lunch and dinner daily. Lunch hours are 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner is served Sunday through Thursday from 5:30 to 11 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday from 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. 

Oyster C.S.A.

Conscience Point Shellfish, a local nonprofit that grows and harvests oysters, has started a community-supported aquaculture program. The program offers weekly and bi-weekly memberships that run through Nov. 3, and there is an option to schedule six alternating weeks of oyster deliveries. Participants in the latter program can choose to receive either 50 oysters per week (300 oysters over all) for $300 or 100 oysters per week (600 oysters total) for $575. Information on signing up is available on the Conscience Point Shellfish website.

Clubhouse Eats

The Clubhouse, the new bowling alley with mini golf, indoor bocce, and arcade games at East Hampton Indoor Tennis on Daniel’s Hole Road, will also boast a restaurant serving what its website describes “American pub” and “bistro-style fare.” It opens today and will serve lunch and dinner starting at 11 a.m. seven days a week. 

Appetizers include the sort of things you might expect at a sports bar — chicken wings and fried calamari — as well as some you might not — a marinated portobello mushroom stack and Thai chicken or shrimp lettuce wraps, for example. The restaurant will serve salads, wraps and sandwiches, burgers, pasta, pizzas, flatbreads, and more substantial entrees like fish and chips, steaks, and pan-roasted Atlantic salmon. Appetizers and shared bites range from $8 to $14, salads from $9 to $12, and sandwiches, wraps, and burgers from $12 to $16. Pizzas are $12 to $16, entrees are $19 to $28, and kids’ dishes are all $10 and come with fries and a drink.  

Cafe at the Square

Culaccino at the square in Water Mill has introduced a cafe-style menu. Lunch items include grilled salmon for $21 and an edamame pasta dish for $22. The dinner menu features a wild boar chop for $42 and a grilled Sicilian eggplant entree for $30. Lunch is served daily from noon to 3 p.m. Dinner is from 5 to 11 p.m.

On July 29, 10 renowned chefs — including our own Jason Weiner, Claudia Fleming, Christian Mir, and Joe Realmuto from the North and South Forks — will cook a dinner to honor Jacques Pépin and to benefit Jeff’s Kitchen at the Hayground School.

To list the many accomplishments of this iconic chef, teacher, writer, and artist would take thousands of words. After all, he began his cooking career at the age of 13, and at 82, he has not slowed down yet.

Mr. Pépin has written close to 30 books, has had numerous show on PBS, is the recipient of the French government’s three highest honors, and was the personal chef to three heads of state, among them Charles de Gaulle, who was the easiest of the three to work for, he said recently. “He showed up for lunch on time!” Mr. Pépin laughed. “Conversely, one of the others always wanted soufflés for lunch and he was always late. Always. I had to have three soufflés ready, one for 1, one for 2, one for 3.” 

Mr. Pépin still contributes a column to Food and Wine magazine, and runs his own foundation, which among other things helps veterans, prisoners, and the homeless learn cooking skills, he still teaches at Boston University, is Oceania Cruise Line’s executive culinary director, and just so happened to be illustrating the menu for Hayground Chefs Dinner when we spoke. 

The day before he had been picking wild mushrooms and preparing clams with his granddaughter, Shorey. Soon he will be cruising on Oceania from Lisbon to Rome. His 12th menu book comes out in August.

Born in France, the son of restaurateurs, he left home at 13 to work in Paris and in 1959 moved to New York to work at Le Pavillon before opening several of his own restaurants. 

What may surprise people not familiar with his resumé is that for 10 years starting in 1961, Mr. Pépin worked with the chef Pierre Franey developing recipes for Howard Johnson. It was here that he learned about American tastes, marketing, food science, and mass production. From there he opened Le Potagerie, worked at the Russian Tea Room, and helped open Windows on the World and ran the commissary at the World Trade Center. “Without the experience at Howard Johnson’s, I couldn’t have done all that. It was a great time in my life,” he said.

When his friend Craig Claiborne purchased his first house in East Hampton, in Springs, Mr. Pépin and his girlfriend, Gloria Lemieux, were guests almost every weekend, cooking with Mr. Claiborne and Mr. Franey. When the couple were married, it was at Mr. Claiborne’s house and they all made the meal themselves. 

“There were eight to 10 chefs working together that day, we were cooking right up until the ceremony,” Mr. Pépin recalled. Howard Johnson and his wife were guests, as were the Franeys, and his best friend, Jean-Claude Szurdak, and René Verdon, both well-known chefs. 

As a pastry chef, I had to know what kind of wedding cake they had. “Jean- Claude made a big, big croquembouche,” he said.

His partnership with Julia Child began in 1960 when they were introduced by Helen McCully, then food editor of House Beautiful magazine. Mrs. McCully had just gotten the manuscript for Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and Mr. Pépin thought it was so good, he was a little bit jealous. 

It was the kind of book he had hoped to write someday, he said. Mrs. McCully described Mrs. Child as “a very tall woman with a really terrible voice.” Mr. Pépin more diplomatically called it “shrill and warm at the same time.” He couldn’t remember what he made when they first met, except for his apple galette, but a long and lasting friendship and partnership began that day.

He remembered a meal shared with the Childs at their home in Cambridge, Mass., soon after his marriage. After wrapping the newlyweds in a big bear hug, she swept the crumbs off the oil-cloth-covered kitchen table and said, “What shall we cook?” 

They started teaching cooking together at Boston University in the mid-1980s. “We argued onstage, we stole each other’s mise en place. I like black pepper and she liked white. She didn’t like kosher salt and I do,” he wrote in a tribute to her for The New York Times on her birthday in 2012. “People talk about our squabbles onstage, and it is true that we had our small differences. These were trifles without much depth. We cooked with confidence and ate with gusto.” It was exactly this back-and-forth banter and affectionate disagreements that led to the PBS specials “Cooking in Concert” and eventually to “Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home,” which was filmed in her kitchen.

“We cooked like friends, spouses, or couples do: cooking and drinking together, arguing, then sitting down and sharing the food,” he recalled in the Times piece. They didn’t even follow recipes on the shows; they made them up as they went along.

“To Julia, Jacques was not only the most accomplished and knowledgeable chef, but a dear friend, colleague, companion,” said Geoffrey Drummond, Child’s longtime producer. “When they sparred — only in the kitchen — they acted like a couple who had been together for years. They shared the same culinary DNA, even though taking very different paths acquiring it. In 1998 when Julia was 86, there was a possibility that Jacques might not be able to do it with us. We . . . searched, for another chef.” In the end, “like Fred and Ginger, George and Gracie, Scott and Zelda, there was no one who could team with Julia as Jacques did.” 

At the end of our conversation I ask the rather trite but revealing questions I ask every chef: Do you have any guilty pleasures, food wise, and what would you like for your last supper?

“No guilty pleasures. I am a glutton,” he said. “I have no complex about what I eat. But no junk food.” As far as his last supper, his answer was a lot longer than the one he gave on season five of “Top Chef,” which was “roast squab and fresh peas.” He said he hoped his last supper would take at least six months to make. “It would include everything from caviar to squab. Definitely a hot dog, ham and eggs, the best bread and the best butter. And Fig Newtons.”

The concept and allure of the “American in Paris” has been romanticized for many years. But here we have a Frenchman who has made America his home and has taught us, for decades, how to cook, how to live, laugh, and eat well. 

Let us raise a glass, or Fig Newton, to this true gentleman, artist, chef, icon, and renaissance man.

Tickets for the Hayground Chefs Dinner, which begins with cocktails at 4:30 p.m., start at $1,500.

“What we talk about when we talk about lobster rolls are ingredients.” Ha! I’ll bet that’s the first time Raymond Carver has been paraphrased in a lobster salad roll story! But that really is what it’s all about: ingredients.

People have very strong opinions about what should go into the roll. So first of all, let’s straighten out the difference between a lobster roll and a lobster salad roll. A lobster roll is served warm with no more than melted butter drizzled over the meat, and hopefully presented on a toasted and buttered bun. A lobster salad roll is cold, with the lobster meat lightly bound with mayonnaise, and perhaps a bit of celery and/or red onion, depending on one’s taste.

I recently conducted a random taste test of various lobster salad rolls available in our area. Because it was a random tasting, several well-known lobster joints did not make the list, but this does not make them any less worthy of mention. In an informal, “lazy research,” a.k.a. Facebook, poll, many folks voted for the Canal Cafe in Hampton Bays. I have had this roll and can vouch for its exceptional quality. Also not on the list: the Lobster Roll, also known as Lunch. I have had plenty of lobster and lobster salad rolls from here and they, too, are swell.

The lobster salad rolls I did try came from the Seafood Shop in Wainscott, Loaves and Fishes in Sagaponack, Duryea’s and Gosman’s of Montauk, the Clam Bar on the Napeague stretch, Lulu’s Kitchen and Bar, and Dock House in Sag Harbor. The prices varied wildly from $18 (Seafood Shop) to $38 (Duryea’s). The quality of every single one was consistently good, with only slight variations in additions and serving size.

A lot of people think that the lobster meat used in restaurants, takeout establishments, and seafood markets comes from local, freshly caught, steamed in-house, and cleaned-by-employees lobsters. This is not the case, so get over yourself. Most places use the precooked, shelled, and Cryovac-sealed meat from Maine and Canada, sometimes in combination with freshly caught, depending on prices.

The Seafood Shop sources its lobster meat from a company called Rocky Point. Alex Fausto pointed out that some companies add a considerable amount of water, increasing the cost. The categories are C.K., T.C.K., and B.C.K., that is: claws and knuckles; tails, claws and knuckles, and broken claws and knuckles. The Seafood Shop generally uses half pre-shelled, half fresh, and all fresh if lobster are plentiful. At $18, its no frills lobster salad roll served on a hot dog bun was the best value and absolutely delicious.

The first one (of the season) I tried was at the Clam Bar, and there is something to be said for atmosphere. Being able to sit outside on one of our rare, warm spring days, with a stiff ocean breeze and a cold can of Montauk Driftwood Ale, this was a delightful interlude. The salad had a tiny amount of minced celery and the platter came with a lemon wedge and coleslaw. I am a firm believer in a spritz of lemon to heighten the sweetness of the lobster and cut through the richness of the mayo. This roll was $26. 

The next roll (and the only one I tried in a restaurant) was at Lulu’s Kitchen and Bar in Sag Harbor. It was served on a toasted, buttered, house-made brioche roll, with a huge mount of sweet potato fries, some tart slaw, and grilled lemon half. The lobster meat was more finely chopped than others, which I don’t mind at all.

Next was Dock House in Sag Harbor, on Long Wharf. This place looks like what you want a seafood shanty to look like. It is tiny and rustic, with a small menu and a few stools in front of a window where you can enjoy looking at the boats in the marina. At $22.50, this one was served with a bag of chips, a lemon wedge, lettuce, and tomato. It had the biggest portion of lobster salad of all the ones I tried, and the quality was excellent. This was one of my favorites, and not just because it’s in my ’hood!

Loaves and Fishes was next, and it is well known for charging the highest price for its lobster salad. For comparison, Dock House charges $58.50 per pound, the Seafood Shop’s is $70 per pound, and the salad from Loaves and Fishes is $100 per pound. Its roll is $28 and is served on house-made ciabatta bread. The salad has dill and capers in it. Sacrilege? I think not. Of all the salads tasted, this one had the highest quality and most tender chunks of meat, probably mostly knuckle.

The last two I tried were at Gosman’s ($28) and Duryea’s ($38). The Gosman’s roll was very tasty. It was well seasoned with celery and red onion and served on a toasted hot dog bun. The Duryea’s version was even better, served with very salty sweet potato chips and a zippy purple cabbage slaw. The bun was buttered and grilled on the outside so it stayed crisp.

A number of chefs and restaurateurs commented on the cost of this treat. Robert Durkin, former owner and chef of Robert’s in Water Mill, said, “There is a reason lobster rolls and lobster salad command the price they do. It’s called yield. One and a halfs and deuces (two-pounders) yield the best meat to shell ratio, and after 25 five years of working with them, 25 percent is the best that can be expected. So if the wholesale price is $10 per pound, that makes the usable lobster meat $40 per pound for the chef. So to produce a respectable lobster roll, you’ll be required to use near a half a pound of meat, or near $20 in raw ingredients prior to roll, accompaniments, and labor.”

Chef Brian Futerman replied: “I made some lobster salad this weekend and I picked the meat from five fresh lobsters. It’s worth the work, but expensive, the meat was over $55 a pound in a yield test. If you want good lobster salad, don’t complain about the price. . . . It’s also a lot of work to get those bugs alive to the market.”

Summer’s coming, and I’ll bet you’ve now got a hankering for a fresh lobster salad roll enjoyed on a deck or beach or boat. 

I’m going to make pilgrimages to the North Fork Table’s food truck in Southold and Canal Cafe for my next rolls, for those two got the most votes for the best. In the meantime, I’m going to make my own, with homemade mayonnaise and a spritz of fresh lemon.

Click for recipes.

Fresh Direct, the grocery delivery company, has begun servicing the South Fork for the summer season and is offering produce from a range of local businesses, including vegetables from Satur Farms, oysters from the Montauk Shellfish Company, beer from the Montauk Brewing Company, and wines from the Wolffer Estate Vineyard and Channing Daughters. A minimum order of $99 is required, and there is a service fee of $15.99.

Vegan Bites

Jack’s Stir Brew Coffee has launched a vegan lunch menu at its Amagansett and Sag Harbor locations. The menu items include avocado toast, gazpacho, and a soba noodle bowl. All the items are made on-site daily and will be available through the summer.

Paying It Forward

Sam’s Beverage Place in East Hampton will be donating proceeds from its sales through June 30 to the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter’s summer camp scholarship fund. The donation will be amassed by rounding up every purchase to its nearest dollar amount.

I often wonder, who was the first person to taste rhubarb? Did they sample the big, beautiful, triangular leaves and die from an overdose of oxalic acid?  Or did they reach down to the red, pink, and green edible stalks, slice off a piece, and declare it “tart, yet delicious. I think I can work with this.”  

Rhubarb probably originated in China several thousands of years ago and was used for medicinal purposes. It reached Europe in the 14th century, was first planted in the U.S. around 1730, and was planted at Monticello by Thomas Jefferson in 1809 and 1811. He declared the leaves “excellent as spinach.”  Well, HE survived!

In medieval times, transporting rhubarb across Asia was very expensive — it cost more than cinnamon, opium, and saffron. When the price of sugar came down, rhubarb became better known for culinary uses, in pies, compotes, wines, and savory dishes.

When you see rhubarb at a grocery store, it is most likely hothouse-grown, with big, thick stalks as wide as two inches. At farmsteads and farmers markets, you will find locally grown rhubarb with thinner stalks. The colors can range from bright red to hot pink to pale green. The flavor difference is not that discernible. Some people suggest using a vegetable peeler to remove the stringy exterior, but this isn’t always necessary. Once it is cooked, the strands melt away.

Rhubarb is technically a vegetable, but in 1947 the U.S. Customs court ruled that it is a fruit, either because that’s how it was most commonly used, or because taxation on it became lower.

According to Deborah Madison in her book “Vegetable Literacy,” “the roots and stems of rhubarb have been used as a curative herb to clean up after excesses of various kinds — culinary, sexual, and so forth.” Because of the toxicity of the leaves, they are also used in insecticides. The roots are an ingredient in bitters and are used in the inexplicably popular liqueur called Fernet-Branca. Ever tasted it? It is ghastly, but is widely regarded as an effective digestif. Prescribed by Dr. Marquis de Sade, maybe.

Rhubarb seems to be a polarizing vegetable/fruit. People either love it or hate it. I love it in all forms: by itself in a simple compote to serve with yogurt, ice cream, or really good ricotta cheese; especially good in a pie with strawberries, sweet, tart, pretty, and perfumy. When I started to think of more uses, I figured that any recipe that calls for tartness could use some rhubarb.  So perhaps it could be used in lieu of tamarind paste in Indian recipes.  Besides, who the heck has tamarind paste lying about the kitchen cupboard? How about chutneys and cocktails? Hot and sour soup? The possibilities are almost endless.

Besides being one of the first vegetables to appear in spring, rhubarb is inexpensive and can last in your refrigerator for a few weeks. It is easy to freeze as well. Simply wash, dry, and chop. Place on a sheet pan and freeze.  From there, just put the chunks into Ziploc bags and pull out as needed.

Some of the many compatible flavors are berries, apples, ginger, cardamom, almond, vanilla, citrus, and cinnamon. A rhubarb chutney would be good on white fish like sword, striped bass, fluke, or flounder. You can make a tangy barbecue sauce for pork and chicken. Rhubarb is good in muffins, cakes, galettes, and custards. It can also be an ingredient in, or sauce for, ice creams, sorbets, and souffles. Some countries serve the stem raw, sprinkled with salt and chili pepper. In Scandinavia, it is eaten raw as a snack, dipped in sugar.

I made a strawberry-rhubarb pie the other day and tried orange zest and one teaspoon of vanilla extract as flavor enhancers. It was delicious but too juicy, so the bottom of my oven now has a layer of hardened sugar napalm. 

It’s a matter of taste, but most recipes call for two-thirds rhubarb to one-third strawberries, or half and half of each. It is hard to predict how much thickener you will need, and it also depends on whether you want the filling clear or don’t mind it a bit cloudy. For clear, use cornstarch, approximately a quarter-cup per six cups of fruit, enough for one eight or nine-inch pie. You will also need to use one to one-and-a-half cups of sugar. I used one cup and it was TART, but I like it that way. If you don’t mind a cloudier filling, use one-third to one-half a cup of flour. 

You should also be aware that if your rhubarb is mostly green, it will turn a muddy, tan-green when cooked, so keep that in mind if color is important in your recipe.

Strawberries are already coming in on the North Fork and should be available locally within the next few weeks. They are a match nonpareil with rhubarb in spring, like morels and asparagus, or peas and mint.

Rhubarb is one of our first fresh garden gifts.  Give it a try in some classic recipes and a few with a modern twist.

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