Every time I travel I take copious notes, mostly about food and regional dishes, and wonder how I can adapt these discoveries once I get home.   The similarities between Key West, Fla., and Montauk cannot be missed.  They both claim the clever title of “a drinking town with a fishing problem,” and each calls itself “The End.” Key West, a.k.a. Cayo Hueso or Bone Islet, has the air of a place people travel to and then just end up staying in. It’s closer to Cuba than to Miami (90 miles), and the influence of Cuban culture can be found in the bread, coffee, and numerous cigar shops. Cuban cigars are not yet legal, but Cuban “seed” cigars are sold everywhere. Cuban bread is generally pretty bland and white, with a soft interior and, hopefully, a lightly crisp crust, making it the perfect bookend for a sandwich of roast pork or fried fish. Cuban coffee is a dark, lively, afternoon pick-me-up, served in tiny specimen cups, thick with sediment and syrupy with sugar.

Some of the fish I have tried are strictly regional and seasonal, stone crab claws and Florida pink shrimp being examples. Nothing compares to either of those two — not Jonah, Dungeness, King, or snow when it comes to crab flavor, or brown, white, or rock when it comes to shrimp. 

The pink shrimp are more tender and sweet. Stone crab claws are prohibitively expensive, and the sizes are no longer small, medium, or large. They are now classified as large, jumbo, or colossal. At the only seafood market in Old Town, Eaton Street Seafood Market, the claws range from $33 per pound to $47, and you are mostly paying for the heavy shells. The best ways to eat this, in my opinion, are, first, unadorned, so you can savor the pure and delicate flavor; then with a few spritzes of fresh lime juice, and lastly with a mustard dipping sauce.

Smoked fish is a popular snack in the Keys and seems to be made with random varieties of fish — mahimahi, wahoo, or whatever. These are good on plain water crackers or Cuban crackers, which resemble the hardtack crackers of yore but have a little bit more give to them. Again, have some lime slices to squeeze on the dip. It brings out the smoky flavor, saltiness, and gives it some zip.

Red snapper and grouper are everywhere here, and these two are as close to our flounder, fluke, and striped bass as fish can get. They are mild, white, low-fat, and vary in texture once cooked. I have had amazing fish tacos prepared with both, and have had a fish sandwich so banal it could have come from McDonald’s. Some places use a seasoning mix (Old Bay is popular here); some just throw on some unseasoned bread crumbs.

There are 17 types of snapper around the world. Red, blackfin, and yellowtail are the most common in the west and south Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. Grouper, whether red, black, or gag (also called gray or grass grouper), tastes like a cross between halibut and bass and cooks up firm. Both these types of fish can be fried, broiled, grilled, stewed, and souped. They are somewhat pricey, averaging $23 per pound. The 2016 Seafood Watch report classifies both as “good alternatives,” but warns that grouper has an elevated level of mercury, so don’t eat too much!

Key lime pie can be found everywhere. It ranges from the show-off slice at Blue Heaven, with a towering pile of meringue, to chocolate-dipped (can’t bring myself to try this yet), to the best piece I’ve sampled, layered with a thin sliver of guava paste in the middle.

When my brother Sherman arrived from Key Biscayne for a few days, he kept remarking on how much Key West reminded him of Sag Harbor: the closely spaced old conch and “eyebrow” houses, similar to saltboxes, the waterfront with schooners and yachts, and the eclectic restaurants. We explored the lighthouse, Hemingway’s house, and took a sunset sail on the America 2.0, a replica of the original America’s Cup winner of 1851. Fun fact: This schooner won the race because it was modeled after the fastest crafts of the time — New York Harbor pilot boats! 

By his second day, partly spent wandering the streets alone, Sherman admitted that there were some creepy, rundown aspects of the island that are not so charming. He was ready to go home. It is indeed a sunny place for shady people . . .

January in Key West is windy and bug-free, with temperatures ranging from 60 to 80. It was pure luck that my trip coincided with pink shrimp and stone crab season. 

There were also two noteworthy events taking place. The Key West Literary Seminar focused on “Revealing Power: The Literature of Politics.” What could be a better and more timely subject as our current political climate is leading us down the road to perdition? Also, the Key West Seafood Festival was held over the weekend, offering a chance to sample yet more shrimp, stone crab claws, and conch fritters. (Conch fritters are just a way to make tough, relatively tasteless conch meat palatable by beating the heck out of it and turning it into hushpuppies.)

I have yet to go to the Mallory Square sunset celebration or ride the conch trolley or lazily observe reefs from a glass-bottomed boat. But I have met some characters, made new friends, gotten some recipes and the family discount from my favorite haunt, Nine One Five, and helped create a spicy new cocktail at the Orchid Bar. These are worthy little accomplishments here in tiny Key West.

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Restaurant Week

The first-ever wintertime Long Island Restaurant Week lasts a few more days, through Sunday. A three-course prix fixe meal is being offered for $27.95 at more than 100 restaurants across the island, which are listed online at longislandrestaurantweek.com. On the East End, they include Le Charlot, Union Cantina, and Saaz Indian Cuisine in Southampton, Page at 63 Main in Sag Harbor, and the Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton. The special is offered nightly during the promotional week, though only until 7 p.m. on Saturday. 

A springtime Long Island Restaurant Week takes place in April, and a fall one in November. The 15th annual Hamptons Restaurant Week is scheduled for March 26 to April 2.

Homemade Pasta

Slow Food East End will sponsor a pasta-making class on Feb. 9. Pierre Friedrichs, a chef and vice-president of the group, will lead the session at his own house, along with Laura Luciano, a food writer, photographer, and recipe developer for Edible East End whose blog, Out East Foodie, focuses on growing, cooking, and eating locally on the East End. In the fall, the two represented the East End’s Slow Food chapter at Terra Madre, the Slow Food international gathering in Italy. 

The pasta class will focus on the fundamentals of making fresh pasta using different flours, including flour made locally with grain from Amber Waves Farm in Amagansett. Traditional Italian flour and everyday flour that can be obtained from the supermarket will also be used. Traditional hand-shaping methods will be taught as well as the use of a pasta machine. 

The class is limited to 10 students who will share a pasta dinner made from the fruits of their labor. The cost is $95, or $75 for Slow Food East End members. Proceeds will support the group’s projects. Reservations may be made at the Slow Food website. 

If you are what you eat, then Donald Trump is a basket of, I mean, bucket of, deplorable K.F.C. chicken, washed down with Diet Coke.   “If he had any class, he’d eat Popeye’s,” grumbled my gourmet offspring when he heard this revealing tidbit.

The eating habits of presidents and presidential hopefuls has been a fascination of mine for many decades. If Dukakis had beaten Bush in 1988, would there have been glorious Greek dishes served at the White House state dinners? Perhaps, but instead we got Barbara Bush’s ultra-WASP-y layered pea salad, redolent with mayonnaise and iceberg lettuce petals. Dubyah and Laura enjoyed Blue Bell ice cream, Richard Nixon ate cottage cheese with ketchup, the Clintons tried to emphasize American foods and wines, and the Obamas brought a little bit of Chicago and Hawaii to the table. More importantly, Michelle Obama tried to improve American children’s eating habits with her “Let’s Move” campaign, and installed a kitchen garden and beehives at the White House. 

White House chefs do not necessarily change with administrations. Many chefs have overlapped between Democratic and Republican presidents. Cristeta Comerford, Sam Kass, Walter Scheib, and more have worked through many First Family’s tastebuds.

I fear the White House kitchen garden will be turned into a putting green with gold-plated markers. Mr. Trump has already declared he’d like to do away with state dinners. “We should be eating a hamburger at a conference table.” He likes his hamburgers well done and his steaks so overcooked they “rock on the plate,” according to a former butler. 

Perhaps none of this should be a surprise. A lot of super busy, hugely successful businessmen can’t be bothered with micro greens and farm-to-table stuff and meals with the family and those things called “vegetables.” If you attempt to research Donald Trump’s favorite vegetables you are led to a site showing corn silk and its resemblance to his mysteriously fascinating hair job.

So here are some favorite foods of Trump’s: See’s Candies, cherry vanilla ice cream, burgers, pizza without the crust, bacon with overcooked eggs, the Trump Grill taco bowl, Cornflakes, Caesar salad, spaghetti, his mother’s meatloaf, the aforementioned K.F.C. chicken, and McDonald’s “fish delight,” as he calls it. He eschews tea, coffee, and alcohol and drinks Diet Coke with everything. He said once: “I’ve never seen a skinny person drinking Diet Coke.” Neither have we, sir, neither have we. 

He prefers individually wrapped butter pats because, “I don’t like those little flower butters, there’s always a fingerprint on them.” He is known to be germaphobic and insists that fast food is cleaner than other foods. “I think you’re better off going there than maybe someplace that you have no idea where the food’s coming from. It’s a certain standard.” Ingredients of the McDonald’s Filet O’ Fish, a.k.a. “fish delight,” 390 calories, 19 grams of fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 590 milligrams of sodium: pollock, American cheese, tartar sauce, and too many preservatives and flavor enhancers to list here.

What about the rest of the family? His daughter Ivanka keeps a kosher kitchen at home and says she enjoys a pastrami sandwich from the Second Avenue Deli. She offered up a recipe for broccoli kugel for a glossy magazine. It is made with frozen broccoli. 

One of the salads at Trump Grill is named after her, so let’s assume she likes that too. It is a chopped mixture of tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, feta, cured olives, and romaine lettuce with Greek dressing. It is somewhat reminiscent of the Palm’s Monday Night Chop Chop salad or, dare I say, Rowdy Hall’s Mr. Smith’s salad!

Melania Trump, whippet thin like all the ladies in his life, obviously eats a different diet from her husband’s. She eats seven portions of fruit every day and says she enjoys chocolate and ice cream in moderation. She claims to also only drink Diet Coke with meals but methinks that’s just the geisha girl in her speaking.

Eric Trump is said to be the real cook in the family, and he reportedly makes many dishes he learned from his grandmother, Ivana’s mother, Marie Zelnickova. Chicken paprikash, borscht, and strawberry dumplings are some of his Czech specialties. 

The Trump family may or may not install its own kitchen staff at the White House. Some chefs rumored to be in the running are David Burke, a talented man with a significant restaurant empire who cooked on the Trump Princess in 1988. Joe Isidori, who was a chef at Southfork Kitchen on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike, is another possibility. He cooked for Trump from 2003 to 2008 and specializes in burgers and milkshakes. Awesome. Perfect.

So don’t expect any soigné state soirees serving extraordinary or even interesting foods. It could be more like the Hamburglar, Papa John, Wendy, and Colonel Sanders at the First Table.

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Super Bowl Sunday this weekend will bring food and drink specials at Indian Wells Tavern in Amagansett beginning at 6 p.m. while the game is shown on five TVs and through a large projector. There will be free appetizers served during the game and giveaways each quarter, with a chance to win a smart TV. 

Artists and Writers Night

At Almond in Bridgehampton, the next Artists and Writers Night on Tuesday at 7 will feature Scott and Megan Chaskey, both poets. Mr. Chaskey is also a farmer who oversees the Peconic Land Trust’s community supported agriculture farm at Quail Hill in Amagansett and the author of the book “Seedtime.” Ms. Chaskey is a yoga teacher, musician, educator, healing practitioner, and holistic life coach. Her book of poetry and memoir pieces, “Birdsong Under the Wisdom Tree: A Book of Hours in the Life of a Poet,” was released in 2015. A $45 fee for the evening includes a three-course family-style meal with a glass of craft beer or wine. A tip is included. Reservations are a must.

Highway Restaurant and Bar

The Highway Restaurant and Bar in East Hampton is serving brunch on Sundays beginning at 11 a.m. On the menu are avocado toast with chili, frisee salad with lardoons, poached egg, and parmesan, and a 16-ounce ribeye steak with eggs, among other dishes. On Mondays, the restaurant serves chicken pot pies, a specialty of Anand Sastry, the chef, and Thursdays are Thai nights, when a three-course menu is available for $42.

No D’Canela

D’Canela restaurant in Amagansett has closed up shop, and the Main Street space is for rent. 

About Sparkling Wine

Park Place Wines is presenting a free weekly class on wine with its sommeliers, Lisa Schock and Chris Miller, starting next week. Each will focus on a particular topic and include a tasting of up to five wines. The first session, on Wednesday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., will be about Champagne and other sparkling wines. Reservations are required; cancellations must be made a day in advance.

It’s time for Super Bowl LI (that’s 51 for those of you who failed Roman numerals in school). The Atlanta Falcons vs. the New England Patriots! Brady vs. Ryan, chowdah vs. frogmore stew! Lady Gaga will be performing at the halftime show. Again.

Super Bowl Sunday is a great excuse to make lots and lots of food, from easy-to-pick-up finger foods to big pots of chili or stew. Since the game will be played in Houston, I’m thinking chili.

If you’re rooting for the Patriots, some foods to consider serving are the aforementioned New England clam chowder, baked beans, brown bread, lobster roll sliders, and Moxie soda. (Atlanta is the home of Coca Cola so Moxie could be your anti-Falcons beverage.) Like many other soft drinks, Moxie began life as a “medicinal” drink. It was invented around 1876 by a doctor in Massachusetts named Augustin Thompson. It was called “Moxie Nerve Food,” and was sold as a syrup to be diluted with water or seltzer. The primary ingredient is gentian root, which gives it a somewhat bitter taste.

If your team is the Falcons, then your theme food could be a frogmore stew, full of shrimp, potatoes, and corn, biscuits or cornbread served with butter and honey or muscadine grape jelly, black-eyed peas, and anything peachy. Atlanta doesn’t really have any of its own regional foods so pretty much any Southern dishes will do. I am either making a big pot of chili with all the fixin’s or a lazy version of barbecued Texas brisket with spoonbread. The brisket has a dry rub and is baked all day with a homemade barbecue sauce.

True Texas chili does not contain beans or tomatoes, and the beef is cubed, not ground. It is called a “bowl of red,” the color coming from the array of dried chiles used to make it. I like beans with chili so I serve them on the side.

For the weenies in your crowd, you could make Cincinnati-style chili, a milder version with cinnamon, allspice, and a whisper of cocoa powder. This chili was created in 1922 by Tom Kiradjieff, a Macedonian immigrant. He and his brother opened the Empress Diner in Cincinnati, but business was bad. He created a concoction of mild chili with Middle Eastern spices, put it on spaghetti (gasp!), and called it “spaghetti chili.” 

Guests flocked to his restaurant. To make it with the works or “five way,” as it’s called, you serve the chili over spaghetti and top it with shredded cheese, chopped onions, kidney beans, and oyster crackers. There are now close to 200 chili parlors throughout Cincinnati serving Mr. Kiradjieff’s invention.

If you have vegetarian guests (do vegetarians enjoy this brutish sport?), you could make vegetarian chili with lots of vegetables and beans, along with some barley or tempeh or chopped up veggie burgers for texture.

My favorite chili parlor, Hard Times Chili is in Alexandria, Va. It makes all three of these versions, all excellent, and also sells spice packets to make your own version of Texas, Cincinnati, or vegetarian. At the parlor you can order the Texas chili “wet” or “dry.” “Wet” means you get plenty of the red-oil slick, which some believe contains a lot of the flavor. The chilies are served with huge onion rings and moist cornbread along with a variety of vinegary pepper sauces. I always come home with boxes of the spice mix for gifts.

Enjoy the game, have a humongous Super Bowl party, and try some of these crowd-pleasing recipes.

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Valentine’s Day is Tuesday, so that gives the whole weekend, and then some, to celebrate. 

At c/o the Maidstone inn in East Hampton, a three-course special will be offered from Saturday through Feb. 18 — from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 5:30 to 9:30 on Friday and Saturday. The price is $75 per person.

Guests at the 1770 House in East Hampton can partake of a Valentine’s Day tasting menu that will include a dozen dishes in its four courses. A fifth, a cheese course, is optional. 

Bites to start will include oysters on the half shell, spicy fluke tartare, warm mushroom salad, Maine lobster bisque, butternut squash and winter truffle risotto, and seared foie gras. Entree selections will be roasted codfish, duck breast, pork filet, and strip steak.

At Baron’s Cove in Sag Harbor, a four-course Valentine’s menu will be available tomorrow through Sunday, and again on Valentine’s Day, for $75 per person plus tax and gratuity. Wine pairings to go with the meal are available for an additional $45 per person. Choices from the a la carte menu will also be available. Menu highlights include venison chops with lemon-garlic spinach, cauliflower gratin, and roasted tilefish. Reservations are required. 

All three of the inns will not only offer holiday specials in their dining rooms, but have Valentine’s deals on accommodations as well. 

Blood Orange Menu

Blood oranges will lend their flavor to the Valentine’s celebration at Almond in Bridgehampton on Tuesday. A $75 holiday menu will include Montauk pearl oysters, a winter salad, duck and foie gras ravioli, Peconic Bay scallops, and entree choices of North African-spiced rack of lamb or smoked and roasted salmon. The a la carte menu will also be available. 

Sunday will be the day for Valentine’s celebrations at Indian Wells Tavern in Amagansett. A la carte specials, subject to change, could include starters of fried Montauk oysters, strawberry kale salad, and steak tartare. Among the possible entrees are a catch of the day, beef Wellington, prime rib, linguine in clam sauce, and chicken scarpariello.

Nick and Toni’s in East Hampton will be serving some a la carte specials on Tuesday along with its regular menu items. Specials will include Peconic oysters and wood-roasted lobster fra diavolo. Reservations have been strongly recommended.

At Rowdy Hall, also in East Hampton, the Valentine’s Day specials, subject to change, include crispy oysters Rockefeller, seared sea scallops, and chocolate desserts. 

In Southampton, Red/Bar Brasserie will also have holiday specials on Tuesday. The restaurant will be closed Sunday and Monday and reopen on Valentine’s Day, serving nightly through Feb. 18. Reservations have been recommended. On the tentative a la carte list of specials are poached oysters, seared foie gras, and forest mushroom croustade, and main courses of filet mignon with foie gras, Scottish salmon, and Maine lobster. 

New Discussion Series

Registration will open on Monday for this year’s series of conversations with local farmers and food and beverage producers sponsored by the Peconic Land Trust at Bridge Gardens in Bridgehampton. 

“Long Island Grown IV: Food and Beverage Artisans at Work” will begin on March 5 and feature Matt Schmitt of Schmitt Farms, Ron Goerler of Jamesport Vineyards, and Jason Weiner, the chef at Almond. Laura Donnelly, The Star’s cooking columnist, will moderate the panel discussions. All will begin at 2 p.m. and be followed by a reception with refreshments. 

The cost is $30, or $25 for members of Bridge Gardens. Series tickets are $100 for nonmembers, $80 for members, and include a one-year subscription to one of the Edible magazines (East End, Long Island, Manhattan, or Brooklyn). Preregistration and prepayment are required.

New York Eats

Susan Meisel, a co-author of “Shop Cook Eat New York: 200 of the City’s Best Food Shops, Plus Favorite Recipes,” will be at the Southampton Arts Center on Job’s Lane on Sunday for a talk and book signing beginning at 12:30 p.m. Admission is free, but reservations have been recommended. 

Wine Class

Park Place Wines and Liquors in East Hampton has invited guests to “discover your red wine style” at Wednesday’s free tasting and class. Lisa Schock and Chris Miller, the shop’s sommeliers, will lead the session, which begins at 5:30 p.m. sharp. Reservations are required. 

A product cannot get more local or artisanal than FoodFitness Granola Clusters, which Renée McCormack single-handedly makes and packages in the certified kitchen of her East Hampton house and delivers to some 20 fitness studios and specialty shops from East Hampton to Southampton.

The granola clusters are the recent culmination of almost two decades of health-oriented cooking for spas, ashrams, and private clients. After college, where she earned a degree in finance, Ms. McCormack attended the National Gourmet Institute in New York City, which is devoted to “food that is seasonal, local, whole, traditional, balanced, fresh, and delicious,” according to its website.

Lest you suspect Ms. McCormack is rigid, she believes that guilt has no place in the enjoyment of food. This outlook was always important to her, but it was fortified by a massive brain hemorrhage she suffered in 2013. “I think the message from that, which was a random event, was that life is precious and you just have to try to live each day to the fullest,” she said during a recent telephone conversation from her temporary residence in Florida.

Born and raised in East Hampton, Ms. McCormack started her first food venture, Bee Organic Juices and Smoothies, in 2000, the summer her son was born. She sold the product at the Red Horse Market and other retail stores. “Although it was a success, that summer involved a lot of juggling between my baby and my other baby of a small business. The timing was a little off, so I let it go. Now, if you look at all the fresh juice places that have sprung up, it’s clear I was onto something, but my priority was to put the time toward my family.”

The idea for the granola clusters arose from a desire to offer her two children healthy snacks at any time of day. The enthusiasm of her friends and family encouraged her to develop the endeavor into a business. 

“I wanted to have an artisanal product. I decided on granola because I could really experiment with different ingredients and flavors. That’s when I came up with the three flavors of the line: maple vanilla peanut butter, coconut cranberry cocoa nib, and sunflower superseed bee pollen.”

While on an exercise bike at Railroad Fitness, she was thinking that the last thing she needed to move forward was a name for the product. LifeFitness manufactured the bike. “That was the ‘aha’ moment. And that’s what I wanted to project to my customers. Yes, you have to exercise but you also have to eat right, and if you can get a balance between the two, that’s your fitness.” She launched the business in 2015.

The granola clusters are organic, vegan, and gluten free. “Having those three components together is rare and sets me apart from other granola lines. That, and being small-batch made.” She is happy with where the company is, but occasionally imagines that someday the product will have to be made at a manufacturing plant. “I really wouldn’t have any hands-on part in the making of it then. Right now I enjoy being a part of every step.”

In addition to being a source for the granola clusters, the FoodFitness website offers information on two other enterprises: FoodFitness Fun for Kids and Food Chat. The aim of the former is to teach healthy food facts and cooking basics to children so they can make food a part of their daily fitness. It is offered free after school at the John M. Marshall Elementary School to kids ages 7 to 11. She has also worked with girls in the East Hampton I-Tri program.

Food Chat invites queries via email about food and health-related questions. “I get random responses ranging from a mother who has issues with a baby to a 65-year-old woman in Manhattan who wants to revamp her entire kitchen and diet.”

The McCormack family is spending the current school year in Boca Raton, Fla., where she is now distributing the Granola Clusters. Her husband, Owen, who has taught in East Hampton and Springs for 15 years, decided to take a sabbatical in order to teach at St. Andrew’s School there, where their children, Xavier and Stella, are enrolled for the year. They will return to East Hampton High School next year. “Our roots are definitely in East Hampton,” Ms. McCormack said.

Even though the ground is hard, the trees are bare, and most farmers markets are closed for the winter, locally sourced and produced food items are still available for last-minute holiday gifts. The list of artisanal purveyors on the East End seems to grow every year, and one of the newest is Two Jammin’ Chicks.

Liz Zaccaria and Renee Akkala, old friends who live in Montauk, had enjoyed picking beach plums and foraging for other local fruit together for many years. The idea for a business began to take shape two summers ago, when Ms. Zaccaria was getting married. “Renee and I were putting together my wedding favors,” she said, “and we decided to use her grandmother’s recipes for beach plum jelly and rosehip jelly. We made tons and tons of each.” 

 Ms. Akkala’s family came to Montauk from Canada in the early 1900s. Ms. Zaccaria referred to her family, which arrived there in the 1950s, as “newcomers.” The transition from hobby to business came when several of their friends asked if they could assemble some gift baskets. “They wanted to pay us, but we said ‘no,’ ” said Ms. Zaccaria. “We like doing it. So we decided to make a business of it, and it’s been great.”

Their first batch was made in Ms. Zaccaria’s kitchen, which is certified by the Department of Agriculture, and they continue to cook there as well as in the kitchen of Barnes Country Market in Springs, which is owned by Ms. Zaccaria’s sister and brother-in-law. Their products are available at that store as well as from their website. They settled on the name while whipping up a batch of jam, drinking pina coladas, and listening to Bob Marley’s “Jammin’ ”.

While their long-term goal is to open a shop, for now the rents on the East End are prohibitive. “We love being able to pass on edible traditions that were passed down to us by our grandparents,” said Ms. Zaccaria. “The traditional ones, like fig, beach plum, and rosehip, have been on the East End for nearly 100 years.”

Still, they are not bound by tradition. “We do brainstorm to come up with new ideas. Renee said that I’m creative chaos and she’s science. We were on the North Fork last year, and as we passed the lavender farm, we decided to see what we could do with that.” Lavender-infused blueberry jam has become one of their most popular flavors.

Among the other offerings, which change depending on demand and available ingredients, are cranberry-habanero jelly, tomato jam, bread and butter pickles, beach plum syrup, and candied jalapenos. “I just sold 15 jars of the jalapenos to one lady, who loves them.” Good news for them, not so good for one shopper who looked in vain for a jar at the Barnes Market.

While they do not sell gift baskets through their website, they are happy to customize baskets for anybody who requests them by telephone at 631-668-6780 or email at [email protected]. They will deliver from Montauk to East Hampton and ship to more distant locations.

Wise East End winter warriors are likely already scheming, making some plans to add highlights to the coming weeks in order to stave off cold-season boredom and ennui. 

One upcoming highlight could be the next Artists and Writers Night at Almond, when the Bridgehampton restaurant will have Laurie Lambrecht, a photographer whose work has been shown widely on the East End and in galleries nationwide, as host.

The gathering will feature a discussion as well as a family-style three-course meal created by Jason Weiner, Almond’s executive chef. The cost, excluding tax, is $45, which includes a glass of local wine or craft beer, and gratuity. Reservations are required. 

The fireplace has been crackling nightly at Dopo La Spiaggia, an Italian eatery with a Sag Harbor location that recently opened another restaurant at the former Race Lane in East Hampton. The East Hampton Dopo is open nightly at 5:30 and for lunch and/or brunch on Saturday and Sunday. Happy hours are Sunday through Friday at 6:30, with half-price cocktails, beer, and wine by the glass as well as complimentary bar snacks. 

For a regular old night, or lunch, out, Service Station in East Hampton, which opened this year on Montauk Highway where Winston’s was, is open every day year round from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays, brunch is served. 

Cozy Italian food is always a winter highlight, and can be found at Serafina on East Hampton’s North Main Street on Fridays through Sundays throughout the winter. Dinner hours on Friday and Saturday are 5 to 10 p.m., while service on Sunday begins at noon for lunch and continues until 9 p.m. 

If you haven’t yet made it to Zigmund’s, the bar and small-bites venue in Bridgehampton opened in mid-2016 by the restaurateurs behind Almond, this weekend will be the last chance to do so: It is closing after a karaoke night from 8 p.m. Sunday to 1 a.m. the next morning.

Zigmund’s was a pop-up, its owners, Jason Weiner and Eric Lemonides, recently explained, designed to temporarily fill the empty Bridgehampton Turnpike space after Fresh, a vegan-centric restaurant and music venue, closed. Zigmund’s followed suit with a music lineup and added a late-night menu. The Almond locations in Bridgehampton and in Manhattan’s Flatiron district remain open year-round.

Cafe Closes

The Manhattan offshoot of East Hampton’s well-regarded Nick and Toni’s, a North Main Street restaurant that draws high-profile diners as well as dedicated locals, closed its doors last weekend. Nick and Toni’s Cafe opened two decades ago on the Upper West Side, near Lincoln Center. Along with Nick and Toni’s here, Rowdy Hall, Townline BBQ, and La Fondita, it was among the restaurants operated by Mark Smith and partners in the Honest Man Restaurant Group, and the only one in New York City.

Art of Eating Moves

Art of Eating Catering and Event Planning, which has used the former Honest Diner in Amagansett as home base for years, is moving to Bridgehampton. New headquarters with a larger kitchen and offices, tasting room, and commissary, will open next month on Butter Lane in a building partially occupied by Soul Cycle. The move, according to a press release, will accommodate both “a substantial growth in business” for the caterers and “a new vision” for the diner, which is owned by the aforementioned Honest Man Restaurant Group. 

With one restaurant in the group’s holdings newly closed, could there be a plan in mind for the diner? So far Mr. Smith is mum.

Half-Price Wine 

Indian Wells Tavern in Amagansett is offering diners half-price bottles of wine with certain meals on Thursdays and Sundays. On Thursday, it is a $29 prime-rib special, which includes soup or salad and the entree served with baked potato and vegetables. On Sunday, the wine special is available to those who order the weekly a la carte chef special.

At Beard House

Damien O’Donnell, the chef and co-owner of East Hampton’s Harbor Bistro and Harbor Grill, has been invited to cook at the James Beard House in Manhattan, which honors guest chefs from around the world with the opportunity to present a five-course meal.

On Jan. 28, Mr. O’Donnell will present “East Meets East End,” a menu using local ingredients to create his signature Asian-style dishes. Each course will be paired with wines from the Wolffer Estate in Sagaponack. The dinner begins at 7 p.m. with passed hors d’oeuvres: yellowfin tuna poke, winter fluke ceviche, tandoori-spiced fried oysters, Bonac clams, and Mongolian beef short-rib lettuce wraps. 

Courses will include Maine lobster tail tempura, sea scallops, roasted duck breast, Kobe beef tataki, and a pistachio financier for dessert. The cost is $175 per person, or $135 for James Beard House members. Reservations with the James Beard House are required.

At D’Canela

D’Canela restaurant on Amagansett’s Main Street is open daily, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On Mondays, margaritas are half price. Tuesday nights are fajita nights, with a $16 special, and on Wednesdays, burger nights, a $16 meal includes a glass of wine or beer. D’Canela also offers senior citizens, ages 60 and up, a 20-percent discount on Mondays through Fridays.