Reopenings

Bay Kitchen and Bar, the restaurant at Harbor Marina on Three Mile Harbor in Springs, will reopen for the season tonight and serve dinner on Thursdays through Sundays until July, when it will be open daily. From 4 to 7 p.m. nightly, the restaurant has a happy hour at the bar, with $1 oysters and $5 glasses of rosé.

New menu items this year include red snapper ceviche, mustard and herb-crusted Montauk tuna, seafood pasta, and mushroom fricassee polenta. A new beverage director, Maura Mc­Guigan, has joined Eric and Adam Miller, the restaurant’s father-and-son co-owners, and will be offering new libations.

Also open again this week is Rowdy Hall in East Hampton, which suffered damage in a fire that gutted most of a neighboring Main Street building last month. The restaurant opened its doors last Thursday for a thank-you party for emergency responders, and was back to regular lunch and dinner service on Friday.

New Hampton Seafood

The Hampton Seafood Co. in East Hampton has new ownership and an executive chef, Ian Lowell. Catering services include a clambake menu, barbecue menu, and a la carte dishes including appetizers, hors d’oeuvres, entrees, sides, desserts, and raw bar items.

Parties can also be catered with a variety of food stations: a taco station, pasta station, slider station, and “artisanal” station featuring fruit, cured meats, dips, crackers, cheeses, and vegetables.

The shop continues to offer a takeout menu with tacos, burritos, and sides, as well as fresh fish and shellfish.

Montauk Eateries

O’Murphy’s in Montauk has decamped from the circle downtown and reopened near the harbor at the Tipperary Inn on West Lake Drive. The restaurant is serving lunch and dinner every day, and breakfast on Sunday.

Dave’s Grill, with a spot overlooking the docks, reopens for the season tonight and will be serving dinner Thursdays through Sundays.

Juice and More

Lisa’s Lovely organic juice bar has opened on Race Lane in East Hampton. The menu includes a wide selection of juices and smoothies as well as acai bowls and daily salad specials. A selection of local and organic products is offered as well.

Get Happy

Bar food, tap beers, and house wine and liquor are half-price at Fresh Hamptons in Bridgehampton each day between 4 and 6 p.m. Among the specially priced menu items are grass-fed beef sliders, organic whole wheat pizza, fish or spicy vegetarian tacos, and snacks such as baked kale chips, steamed edamame, and hand-cut Sagaponack potato fries.

A new happy hour at Indian Wells Tavern in Amagansett will be held Mondays through Fridays from 4 to 6 p.m. and feature discounted drinks and a wide selection of half-price dishes. They include chicken wings, calamari, mussels and fries, nachos, quesadillas, potstickers, and a Medi­terranean platter with pita bread, hummus, olives, and eggplant caponata. House wine and well drinks will be $6.

Little Leaguers’ Dinner

At the Harbor Grill in East Hampton, East Hampton Little League players who dine at the restaurant with their families after a game will get a burger for half price, and receive a free scoop of strawberry, vanilla, or chocolate ice cream to top off their meal. They must be in uniform to be offered the deal.

Farmers Markets Open

It’s that time again. Farmers markets are beginning their season all over the East End. Tomorrow will be the first day in 2015 for the East Hampton Farmers Market, which will continue each Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Nick and Toni’s parking lot on North Main Street. There are a number of new vendors this year.

On Saturday, the Springs Farmers Market sets up shop on the green outside Ashawagh Hall, where it will continue each week from 9 a.m. till 1 p.m. The Sag Harbor Farmers Market on Bay Street starts its run the same day, and has the same weekly hours.

Also beginning its season tomorrow is the Hayground School farmers market, which occurs on Friday afternoons from 3 to 6:30.

There is a Sunday market in Southampton on Job’s Lane starting this week and continuing throughout the season, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Montauk farmers market, held on the village green on Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., begins on June 12.

Stonecrop Wine Tasting

The Baker House 1650, an inn on East Hampton Village’s Main Street, will host Sally Richardson and Andy Harris, Montauk residents and owners of the Stonecrop vineyard in New Zealand, for a tasting on Saturday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. For $20, those who attend can sample Stonecrop’s pinot noir, sauvignon blanc, and rosé. Reservations are required and can be made by calling the Baker House.

Celebrating Rosé

The Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton will have a “pink event” next weekend, starting with an All Things Rosé dinner on Friday, May 29. It will feature rosé wines by Sagaponack’s Wolffer Estate, paired with four courses. Tickets are $195 per person. The weekend festivities continue with a  pool party on May 30, where Wolffer wines and light bites will be served. The cost is $85. On May 31, Topping Rose will host a brunch featuring seasonal fare, live jazz, and, you guessed it, rosé. Attendance is limited, so advance reservations have been suggested.

Foraging Trip

Chandra Elmendorf, a naturalist, will lead a foraging walk for wild edibles in Bridgehampton on June 13. Ms. Elmendorf will discuss how to identify more than a dozen edible plants, how to harvest safely and with care, and how to store and prepare the foods.

The event is sponsored by Slow Food East End; advance registration with the organization is required, and can be accomplished through its website at slowfoodeastend.org. The cost is $20, or $15 for Slow Food members. Space is limited.

Shellfish Event

Slow Food East End will hold its second Shellabration, a waterfront food and drink event celebrating local shellfish, at the Montauk Lake Club and Marina on June 18 from 5 to 8 p.m.

Tickets, which sold out fast last year, are $60 per person, or $45 for Slow Food members. They will be offered soon through the Slow Food website at slowfoodeastend.org. Seafood Safari, a locally owned business that provides seafood caught in a sustainable manner, will provide the raw materials for numerous East End chefs to prepare their shellfish specialties. Proceeds from the event will support Slow Food East End programs. A cash bar will be available.

Backyard at Sole East

The Backyard Restaurant at Sole East motel in Montauk will be serving dinner tonight through Sunday, lunch on Saturday, and Sunday brunch, which will feature live jazz and bossa nova music from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Seven-Day Schedule

Also in Montauk, 668 the Gig Shack is now open seven days a week, serving from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. The bar stays open even later.

Italian Specialties

The Montauk Bake Shoppe is now offering products from the Villa Italian Specialties store in East Hampton. Items such as fresh mozzarella, sausage, and ready-to-heat dinners will be brought daily from East Hampton to the Montauk store.

Taste the East End

Taste the East End, a food and drink extravaganza, will bring chefs and craft beverage makers to the Long Island Aquarium on Sunday for a foodies’ experience from 7 to 10:30 p.m. More than 40 vendors will be on hand as well selling food and beverage products, and there will be live music. Tickets, which must be ordered in advance at tastetheeastend.com, are $64.95 per person.

Winston’s Bar and Grill

100 Montauk Highway

East Hampton

267-5400

Lunch and dinner seven days,

breakfast soon (from 8 a.m.)

Gosh, I love it when a restaurant is a pleasant surprise! I don’t know what I expected from the new Winston’s Bar and Grill where Nichol’s used to be on Montauk Highway in East Hampton, but I just didn’t expect such good food.

Nichol’s was extremely popular for many years, serving large goblets of reasonable wine and a pretty good burger and potpie. While many of my barfly friends liked it, it was never my cup of tea. As far as appearance goes, not much has changed. Many wine crate panels adorn the walls and ceiling of the small, two-room restaurant, and British memorabilia is plentiful. A Union Jack flag is stuck on the ceiling, and there are pix galore of Queen Elizabeth. One of the few hints of change are the little Jamaican flags out front.

The rooms are cozy and comfortable with brown banquettes and some tables in the front room, higher stools and bar tables in the second room, and a nook with two large tables for bigger dining groups. There are two small patios, one close to the parking lot and one very close to the highway, which on the night of our visit was unfurnished. Maybe when our population explodes this weekend more furniture will arrive.

We dined on a Sunday night, which is billed as Caribbean Night, and since the chef, Winston Lyons, is Jamaican, I thought this would mean some interesting and unusual dishes would be offered. However, other than an oxtail special the menu is pretty much straightforward seafood and meats. We began with crispy fried oysters, a Thai kale salad (Whah? How did you sneak onto the menu?), and a grilled artichoke. All three appetizers were absolutely delicious.

Apparently, Mr. Lyons worked at East Hampton Grill (along with a few other good local restaurants) for some time, and he has definitely picked up some tasty tricks from these establishments.

The fried oysters were served on thin slices of toasted baguette with a lemon aioli drizzled on top. The crisp batter was slightly spicy and the oysters were juicy within. Kale salad is everywhere, and it can be delicious when treated properly or a frickin’ nightmare to chew and chew and chew if the leaves are too big and haven’t been massaged properly and marinated into submission. This version was kale cut into chiffonade, thin ribbons, lightly dressed and tossed with crushed peanuts. The Thai flavors, a bit salty and citrusy, came through, but it wasn’t spicy or overwhelming with fish sauce. It was so good I took the leftovers home. The grilled artichoke, definitely reminiscent of East Hampton Grill’s version, was three large globe halves, marinated and charred and served with a beautifully balanced remoulade sauce.

It’s worth mentioning here that we ordered a few specialty cocktails as well. They are worth mentioning because they were so good and only $9 each. One was a watermelon Cosmo, made with freshly pressed watermelon juice, and the other was called the Eastbound Jitney, a mixture of fresh grapefruit juice and vodka. We enjoyed riffing on what the Westbound Jitney would be if it existed, no doubt three times more powerful to make the ghastly ride back to N.Y.C. more bearable. Neither of the drinks were overly sweet, which is a deal breaker for yours truly.

For entrees we tried the jerk chicken, the Fisherman’s Pot, and crispy fried lobster. Again, all three were great successes. The jerk chicken was moist and tasted brined, it was seasoned all the way to the bones. You could detect all the traditional spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and a wee bit of cayenne, well balanced. The half chicken was served on top of fried plantains, a tasty combo of soft and sweet beneath the warmly spiced chicken.

The Fisherman’s Pot was a variety of calamari, shrimp, mussels, and clams in a light tomato sauce with spaghetti. The tomato sauce was briny and spicy, and the seafood was cooked just enough.

The crispy fried lobster (we got the smallest size offered) seemed bigger than a one-and-a-half-pounder, which was fine with us. The menu said it was served with a ginger scallion sauce, which was either forgotten or perhaps had been drizzled on the lobster and just couldn’t be detected. The crispy bits clinging to the shell may have been the same batter used for the oysters, and they were fun to chomp on with the sweet lobster meat. My guests said they would have liked some lemon butter for dipping. It was served with a little dish of shoestring plantain fries, not as crisp as potatoes because the plantains have more moisture, but a nice addition.

The service on the night of our visit could have been better, but that is only because our waiter was woefully under-trained. He was as friendly as can be but continually reached all the way across the table to deliver dishes and clear the empties. Replacement utensils had to be requested and empty glasses cluttered the table, but in the casual atmosphere it wasn’t too bothersome. The busboy was super attentive, refilling our water glasses constantly, but we were pretty sure it was because he was crushing on our lovely Kerrie. Prices are moderate. Raw bar items, appetizers, and salads are $8 to $22, entrees are $22 to $43, sides and desserts are $7.

One of the things I liked best about Winston’s, besides the food, was the mixture of clientele. Admit it, there aren’t very many places out here where you see a lot of Hispanics and African-Americans mixed in with us tighty whities, but such was the case here. Quite refreshing.

The desserts are made in-house. There were only two available this particular evening, cheesecake and bread pudding, so we tried both. They were just okay. The cheesecake was New York style, simple and fluffy with no crust and was topped with a bright red cherry compote. The bread pudding was served with a warm apple compote and was a bit dense. Both had a slight taste of refrigeration fatigue. These were the only flaws of our meal.

There are rumors that the rickety old Quiet Clam/Nichol’s/Winston’s building may be torn down at some point. If this is the case I hope it is rebuilt or that Winston Lyons can find another place in our community to serve his delicious food. Or as my friend Orlando Satchell taught me in a few words of Jamaican slang, “all fruits ripe, everything cook and curry, mash it up, Winston! Irie!”

The Hampton Seafood Co. in East Hampton has not changed hands, as was mentioned here, but is under new management. Besides fresh seafood, the shop offers prepared dishes, groceries, and takeout, with a lunch and dinner menu daily at hamptonseafood.com. Specials are posted on its Facebook page, and on Thursdays from 4 to 7 p.m. during a happy hour, there are fish tacos for $3 and shrimp tacos for $4.

Futerman at the Reins

Bryan Futerman is now the chef de cuisine at Nick and Toni’s restaurant in East Hampton. Mr. Futerman has worked with numerous well-known chefs including Daniel Boulud, Andrew Carmelini, and Guy Reuge, along with Joe Realmuto of Nick and Toni’s. The former owner and chef at Foody’s, which was in Water Mill, Mr. Futerman is vice chairman of Slow Food East End and Edible School Gardens of the East End, and involved in culinary and gardening programs at the Springs, Hayground, and Bridgehampton Schools. As of yesterday, Nick and Toni’s is serving dinner seven days a week, beginning at 6 p.m.

Gurney’s New Restaurants

Gurney’s Resort and Seawater Spa has launched a new array of dining options. An opening party at Scarpetta Beach, the restaurant housed in the inn’s large oceanfront dining room, took place on May 19. The eatery is the East End outpost of Scarpetta, a restaurant with locations in Manhattan, Miami, Beverly Hills, and Las Vegas. The menu includes a selection of pasta dishes, seafood and meat entrees, and starters such as beet salad, creamy polenta with truffled mushrooms, braised short ribs, seared scallops, and burrata with tomato, garlic, and eggplant.

Also open at Gurney’s is a bistro called Tillie’s that serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and brunch, and the Beach Club Bar and Grill, an oceanside spot for beverages, appetizers, salads, and sandwiches.

Eileen Roaman’s Legacy

Tickets are on sale for a June 28 fund-raiser for the Springs School’s Springs Seedlings gardening program and Project Most, an after-school program. To be held at Estia’s Little Kitchen restaurant in Sag Harbor, the event will feature food by a number of East End restaurants and vendors, including Debbie Geppert Events at Dreesen’s Catering, Balsam Farms, Cavaniola’s Cheese and Gourmet, Silver Spoon Specialties, the Sea Bean Natural Foods, Townline BBQ, and the Southampton Publick House, along with Estia’s.

Eileen’s Angels Art Auction and Garden Party, as it is called, will include live music and live and silent actions of art donated by more than 40 artists. It commemorates the late Eileen Roaman of Springs, for whom the Springs School greenhouse will be named.

Tickets for the 5 to 8 p.m. event cost $150 and can be purchased at projectmost.com. Artwork to be auctioned will be posted online beginning tomorrow at paddle8.com, where bids may be placed beginning June 12, and at Estia’s Little Kitchen as of June 3.

At the Yacht Club

Ron Duprat, who appeared on the Bravo TV show “Top Chef,” is the new executive chef at the Montauk Yacht Club. This summer, Daniel and Derek Koch of DMK Entertainment Group will host a series of Sunday-afternoon events at the yacht club, including brunch, along with some Saturday-night parties.

Fresh peas are my favorite springtime vegetables. Asparagus, morels, and fiddlehead ferns are also fleeting and early spring treats, and I love them all, but there’s just something extra special about fresh green peas. Even shucking them is a Zen-like pastime on the porch. It’s slow, and you don’t have a great yield for your work, but it is so worth it.

In other words, don’t plan on shucking peas for a dinner party of eight. This will make the process feel more like a Sisyphean exercise than a little dinner-prep. You would need to start with about six pounds of peapods to get four cups of shelled peas. So save the work for smaller gatherings of two or four, or stretch the peas by incorporating them into a risotto or pasta primavera with asparagus, mushrooms, and fava beans.

Peas will be available locally soon, so keep your eyes peeled when you go to the farmers markets. I found some pea vine shoots at Quail Hill Farm this past weekend, and they are another delicacy, either tossed as a salad when super-young or quickly stir-fried as a side dish. Alice Waters, in her “Chez Panisse Vegetables” cookbook, suggests sauteing the vine shoots in duck fat for no more than a minute.

There are basically three types of peas you can eat raw or barely cooked. English peas, also called shelling or garden peas, should have large shiny pods. These peas are like corn; they begin to convert their sugar into starch within hours of harvest, so freshness is key. This is also a reason why frozen peas are not such a bad alternative in a pinch, or in winter. These peas must be shucked (the pod is not edible); one and a half pounds of peapods will yield about one cup of peas.  

Snow peas are flat pods that are picked before the seeds, or peas, begin to grow large. They are also called Chinese peas, because they are ubiquitous in so many Asian stir-fried dishes.

Sugar snap peas are tender, crunchy, and sweet, and don’t need to be topped and tailed like snow peas, or shucked like garden peas. They are called mange tout in France because you can, in fact, “eat all.” Pea greens or pea shoots should come from a particular cultivar of snow pea that is grown for its tender shoots.

There are hundreds of varieties of peas. Thomas Jefferson was obsessed with them and grew over 30 kinds. Here are a few more familiar types: Green Arrow has slim pods and small peas. Lincoln can tolerate warmer weather and bears a lot of pea pods. Champion of England is an heirloom variety with impressive yield, and Canoe packs as many as 12 peas per pod.

Look out for toughness and dryness when buying or harvesting peas. They should look moist and succulent. In the case of sugar snaps or snow peas, bruising or scars are okay, just not yellowing or dried tips. Chives, parsley, mint, dill, chervil, and lemon are perfect and delicate accompaniments to fresh peas. And, of course, your best butter!

In the 16th century, it was Italian gardeners who developed the more tender varieties of peas for eating raw or barely cooked. They became a huge fad, but were still a luxury item in France by the 17th century. They were grown in manure under glass globes and were presented to kings and queens, then shucked and cooked. It was referred to by Madame de Maintenon as “a fashion, a craze, a madness!” Apparently, the ladies of those times would eat peas before going to bed, thinking they would aid digestion after a rich feast.

Peas were one of the first vegetables to be offered frozen by Clarence Birdseye in the 1920s. Do not even think of eating canned peas, they are gray and mushy and gross. Stick with fresh, in season, or frozen.

Here are some recipes to inspire you for the upcoming pea season!

Click for recipes

I recently attended a C.I.A. boot camp, and golly did I learn a lot. And no, I’m not talking about the spy agency next to the house I grew up in in McLean, Va. It was the Culinary Institute of America campus in San Antonio, started in 2009.

Our group of club managers and hospitality professionals was randomly divided into two smaller groups. My foursome was put on the New Orleans Cajun and Creole food team. Having made enough étouffée, gumbo, popcorn rice, and bread pudding in my lifetime, I asked to be moved to the Latin cooking group, which they allowed. Each group was divided into smaller teams and tasked with a number of dishes that had to be ready for judging and sampling by 12:45 p.m. (We began this adventure at 8 a.m.) I was psyched; I just knew that my friend Ken’s and my team would win. Our team leader’s name was, I kid you not, King Hussein.

The New Orleans class was taught by Brannon Soileau, a real Louisianan chef. Our Latin team was led by Geronimo Lopez-Monascal, a chef from Venezuela. The New Orleans team was tasked with making crawfish étouffée, gumbo, fried oyster po’ boys, popcorn rice, and bread pudding. By my count, that’s five fairly simple dishes. The roux for étouffée does require some patience and finesse as it can take up to an hour to get the proper consistency, color, and flavor from the simple combination of flour and oil.

Our team made anticuchos de cordero, or lamb kebobs; arroz con pato, rice with duck; causa de cilantro y cangrejo, a Peruvian layered potato dish with crab meat and cilantro; shrimp ceviche with peanuts; traditional ceviche with leche de tigre; chupe de camarones, a thick, Peruvian crayfish stew; empanadas saltenas; solterito, a Peruvian fava bean salad; quinoa au gratin; salad de xuxu com palmito e laranja, made with chayote, hearts of palm, and orange, and tacu tacu, a bean and rice cake.

Now does that division of labor seem fair?

The two teams used two separate kitchens with cooking equipment located in between. Our team’s recipes hadn’t been Xeroxed yet, so we tried to work from one copy for about an hour and a half.

Restaurants and commercial kitchens use large containers of herbs and spices. A lot of us were using the same spices, but one person would take it to their station and hog it. I ever so helpfully filled up little “monkey dishes” (industry lingo for little cups for miscellaneous ingredients and condiments) and distributed them to each team.

We learned from our chef that the largest Japanese population outside of Japan resides in Peru, therefore having a great deal of influence on the cuisine, especially with ceviches that are seasoned more like sashimi and sushi. My task was to make the leche de tigre, a k a tiger milk sauce, for ahi tuna tiradito to be served on freshly fried yucca chips with a bit of mashed, salted avocado. Crikey, that sauce took me almost two hours to make! Rehydrated and drained bonito flakes, juiced limes, passion fruit, aji amarillo, and eight more ingredients. Maybe I’ve watched too many TV cooking competitions, but I was running around like a chicken with her head cut off.

King Hussein was a benevolent and patient leader; he calmly sliced the beautiful fresh tuna. Ken handled the quinoa gratinada all by himself. Nothing like dousing a healthy ingredient with cream, butter, and two kinds of cheese to make it taste better.

Once in a while I checked the other kitchen to see if they were scrambling and scurrying about like we were. No, they were chatting, steaming the rice, relaxing, tasting the roux, all while Chef Brannon regaled them with tales of the Bayou. Their kitchen was bigger and brighter and cleaner than ours, too. Gosh, I was jealous.

There were so many unusual ingredients and flavor combinations in our dishes. The condiments for an Ecuadorean shrimp ceviche were popcorn, peanuts, red onion, cilantro, and plantain chips. For some reason I never found out why the empanadas saltenas (Northern Argentine and Bolivian style) were made with expensive beef tenderloin.

When we were close to being finished with our dishes and ready to garnish for presentation, I snuck back over to the other team’s kitchen. At this point, they had flubbed up the creme Anglaise sauce for the bread pudding twice, and had started drinking the bourbon provided to flavor the sauce. Now I was doubly jealous.

The time came for the two teams to present and describe their dishes. The New Orleans group’s dishes were absolutely delicious. Who doesn’t like a fresh Gulf oyster deep-fried and slath­ered with remoulade sauce? But their food was essentially brown and tan and white, with a sprinkling of slivered scallions for a touch of green.

Our presentation, on the other hand, was a staggering array of colors and textures and flavors. I did mention that we made 10 dishes, right? Carved pineapples were pierced with lamb kebabs marinated in aji panco, rice cakes were topped with creamy crab meat, the salads of chayote and fava beans and hearts of palm sparkled with citrus brightness.

Which team won? Well, it seems that the whole team-building-competition aspect of the day got forgotten somewhere along the line, but I’m pretty sure it was King Hussein’s industrious little group. Here are a few of the recipes from this wonderful, educational, but totally unfairly divided Latin Cooking Boot Camp.

Click for recipes

For centuries, residents of the East End have been farming their land and providing their neighbors with fresh produce. And for decades, this exchange of goods was done at a farm stand, as simple or elaborate as the vision of its owner-operators.

Beginning more recently with the advent of weekly farmers markets held in most village or hamlet centers and Quail Hill Farm’s early adoption of the community-supported agriculture model or C.S.A. in 1990, farmers have become more inventive in their distribution. Joining Quail Hill in the past few years in offering limited shares in their agricultural produce are Balsam Farms and Amber Waves, also in Amagansett.

Here’s the thing, if you want fresh vegetables, grown with organic methods, and like the idea of being as close to the farming of them as possible, the C.S.A. model may be for you. The catch is, you need to decide now. Most C.S.A.s have set Wednesday as a deadline for the first payment. Money that they raise now will defray the costs of the seeds and planting them until they are up and running.

Quail Hill, overseen by the Peconic Land Trust, remains a top choice, particularly for people who don’t mind getting their hands dirty. Quail Hill wants its seasonal shareholders out in the fields picking their own produce, which includes a wide variety of vegetables, flowers, and herbs. A handbook and online tip sheet for harvesting are intended to help. Summer shares for families are $915 and $470 for individuals, and harvest days are from early June through October. There are slight discounts for paying in full and using a check instead of a credit card.

This season, Quail Hill now offers a “box share” for families and individuals, prepared by the farmers and available for pickup, it is for those unable to harvest in the field and does not include the flowers or herbs that members are allowed to gather as part of their shares. Box shares must be paid in full at the time of sign-up, $720 for families and $360 for individuals, with a small discount for those using checks as payment. Unique to Quail Hill is a winter share, which is offered after the regular season ends and goes through March.

Amber Waves Farm is now in its seventh year and offers both boxes and “you-pick” options. Weekly pickup times are offered at the Amagansett farm and off-site at locations in Sag Harbor and Montauk. Those who choose off-site pickup can still visit the farm daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to pick flowers and herbs and visit the animals.

In addition to vegetables, Amber Waves C.S.A. members may opt to add weekly choices of Carissa’s Breads, Briermere Farm fruit, and locally made cheese. The farm’s full season share (from late May to Columbus Day, or 20 weeks) is $875. A 15-week summer share is $750. Adding bread to the shares will cost $180 for 20 weeks and $140 for 15 weeks. A 16-week fruit share costs $240; an 11-week share is $165, and includes strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, plums, apples, and pears. The fruit is not organic, but is minimally sprayed. A cheese share is $250 for 20 weeks and $190 for 15 weeks and features three styles of cheese from Mecox Bay Dairy and fresh mozzarella from Villa Italian Specialties.

An early season box from Amber Waves has included various lettuces, potted herbs, green garlic, pea shoots, radishes, and sprouts. The vegetables are listed the week of pickup on the farm’s website with suggestions on how to use the produce and some recipes. A high-season box offers the standard farm stand fare of tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, summer squashes, peppers, lettuces, herbs, and more. The last box of last year had winter squashes, kale and other hardy greens, carrots, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, and red and cayenne peppers.

Balsam Farms offers an a la carte vegetable-based package with similar add-ons to Amber Waves, making the packages even more customizable with a friendlier price point. According to Ian Calder-Piedmonte, who manages the share program, the farm’s produce is not certified organic, but Balsam Farms only uses material approved for organic production with the exception of the corn, which is grown in fields separate from the rest of the plants from seed that is not genetically modified. Balsam Farms harvests the produce for its C.S.A. members.

Its add-ons include Carissa’s Bread, Briermere and Milk Pail fruit, a Villa mozzarella share, and a flower share. Pickup takes place on Fridays or Saturdays at the Town Lane, Amagansett, farm stand. The vegetables are grown in several fields on the South Fork. Shares are for 15, 19, 23, or 26 weeks, and range from $475 to $825 before add-ons. The flower shares start at $132; the fruit and cheese shares at $165 each. A bread share starts at $120. The first shares are available on May 29, with a season lasting until Sept. 4, Oct. 2, Oct. 30, or Nov. 20, depending on the length chosen.

Last year and the year before, Dock to Dish offered shares in a community-supported fisheries program, with members getting freshly caught, direct-from-the-fisherman, filleted seafood packages each week, along with ideas to prepare it. The people behind the program took it down to Key West this winter and planned to come back to Montauk this season. Alas, that may not happen. Sean Barrett, one of the company’s principals, injured his back last season and has not been cleared to do the physical work necessary to keep the venture going. He said via email at press time that he and his partners were “scrambling to come up with some solutions” to offer the plan this year. He said they hoped to have a strategy soon and would announce it when it is confirmed.

Sign-up forms and complete information, including sample boxes and recipes, can be found on each of the organizations’ websites.

It all began with ice cubes, or the lack thereof. Expecting some swells for dinner, I had to choose between having enough cubes for adult beverages or using them to shock and retain the beautiful emerald green hue of my green beans to be served later. The adult beverages seemed far more crucial, so I just rinsed the beans after cooking under cold water for a minute or two until they had cooled off. Mission accomplished.

Why do “they” say you must shock them in a bowl of ice water to retain color? You have to get out a bowl, you have to empty and refill ice trays (can you tell I don’t have an ice cube maker in my old fridge?), swirl the beans about, drain again, rinse and dry the bowl. Totally unnecessary. A myth. Which got me to pondering: What other food myths are still floating around out there, just waiting to be debunked? Or in some cases, proven true?

One common myth is the suggestion to put an avocado pit in your guacamole to prevent it from turning brown. This does not work. What works is laying a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the guac. You’re welcome.

There are numerous suggestions for removing the odor of chopped onions and garlic from your hands. When it was discovered some years back that stainless steel helps remove the odors, Williams-Sonoma jumped on the bandwagon and produced a stainless steel blob in the shape of a bar of soap. Pretty silly considering how many stainless steel utensils and surfaces there are in your kitchen.

How does it work? The amino acid sulfoxides in onions and garlic form a volatile gas (propanethiol S-oxide), which is also responsible for making you cry harder than watching the end of “The Bucket List” starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. When and if these sulfur compounds bind to the steel, the odor is removed. Somewhat. Which brings us to preventing tears while chopping onions. Where did the myth of holding a piece of bread in your mouth come from? It is ridiculous nonsense and a waste of bread. Other suggestions are chill the onions, chop them under water (whah?), run a fan, or wear goggles. I say just man up (woman up?), chop fast, and enjoy that cathartic minute of tears. Obviously, if you’re chopping onions you’re making something homemade and delicious. Some other bizarre suggestions for removing the odors of onion and garlic on your hands are rubbing them with lemon juice, soaking them in tomato juice for 10 minutes, or rubbing them with peanut butter. Gross.

What about fish odors? My chef friend Ellen White suggests rubbing hands with baking soda, then rubbing vigorously with a cut lemon half. She said your hands will smell like a summer day. Not quite, but we tested this method and it works. It also works for removing beet stains. Some methods suggested for removing beet stains were downright dangerous and disgusting. One website suggested rubbing hands with Vaseline before grating beets. I see a slippery accident about to happen. Another suggested using hand lotion before handling beets. I taste Jergens in my beet salad.

Bryan Futterman, a chef at Nick and Toni’s, came up with a doozie. He recalled another chef always boiling squid with a wine bottle cork in the belief that this keeps it tender. This, too, is a bunch of hooey from somebody’s nonni’s cucina.

Does searing meat seal in the juices? No, but it does cause the Maillard reaction, creating a delicious, caramelized crust. Letting the meat sit for a few minutes after cooking is what seals in the juices.

Cooking dried beans in salted water is a big boo-boo. Colin Ambrose of Estia’s Little Kitchen pointed this one out. You shouldn’t salt the water until the beans have softened. How about baking soda added to boiling vegetables like our grandmas used to do? Chef Kevin Penner supports this philosophy, saying “green vegetables stay greener in an alkaline environment.” Harold McGee, author of “On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen” disagrees, explaining that baking soda can “turn vegetable texture to mush, speed the destruction of vitamins, and leave a soapy aftertaste.” I’m staying out of this one because I steam my vegetables anyway.

What about only eating oysters and other mollusca shellfish in months with an “R”? This is a complicated one, but nowadays you can generally enjoy oysters year round, just be sure your source is reliable. How about not ordering fish in restaurants on Mondays? Nonsense, fresh fish is delivered all through the week to reputable restaurants.

Whoever made up the rule “no swimming for 45 minutes after eating?” Cruella DeVille? What if you just ate half a cantaloupe? Suppose you consumed a pastrami on rye with an egg cream and a side of fries? Use your own judgment on this arbitrary rule.

Do older eggs whites whip up better than fresh ones? Yes, but they have less structure, as will room temperature eggs. So use fresh, cold egg whites for whipping, it takes a bit more time but the tight little proteins will have stronger, more uniform bubbles.

There are many nutrition myths that come and go. Egg yolks are bad for you; just eat the white. Not true, the whole egg is a perfect little ovoid of protein. Agave syrup is good. No, it’s not. Fresh vegetables are better than frozen, so not necessarily true. Your “fresh” vegetables may have come from another continent and be weeks old. Frozen vegetables have been frozen right after harvesting. Chocolate, red wine, nuts, and oils have all gone from one end of the bad-for-you food spectrum to the other.

Aluminum pots do not cause Alz­heimer’s. Olive oil does not lose its nutritional value when heated. Cucumber seeds do cause indigestion. Brown eggs are not more nutritious than white. Chicken soup is good for a cold. And no, you cannot determine the sex of a bell pepper by the number of bumps on the bottom. Peppers come from flowers possessing male and female sex organs, but the peppers themselves are hermaphrodites.

Lastly, boiling water beforehand will not make for crystal clear ice cubes. So there you have it, many canards and myths and old wives’ tales of the food world debunked or proven true, a few even supported by actual scientific experiments.

Now that you can handle stinky fish with alacrity and chop those onions and garlic without fear, here are some tasty recipes utilizing a few of those previously offending ingredients.

Click for recipes

Three upcoming sessions of the Wednesday wine-tasting and discussion series presented by Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits will feature wine experts from the East End.

On Wednesday, J. Christopher Tracy, a partner and winemaker at the Channing Daughters Winery in Bridgehampton, will discuss his vineyard’s wines, and on April 22, Christian Troy, a partner in Indie Wineries, will discuss “Cali­fornia’s Rhone Rangers and West Coast Syrah’s Young Turks.” Indie Wineries, a distributor of artisanal wines from small producers in Europe and across the United States, was founded by Summer Wolff, a native of East Hampton who now lives in Italy.

Mr. Troy will be followed on April 29 by Eileen Duffy, an editor at Edible East End and Edible Long Island magazines, who will discuss the rise of the wine industry on Long Island.

The sessions begin at 5:30 p.m. and cost $10. Those planning to attend have been asked to call the store or to email [email protected] to sign up.

Next to Reopen

The opening for the season of Harbor Bistro on Three Mile Harbor in East Hampton is, for some, as much a harbinger of spring as daffodils and, this  year, the trickly demise of the last of those gray lumps of no-longer-welcome snow.

It happens next Thursday evening. Dinner will be served from Thursdays through Sundays, beginning at 5 p.m. Hours will be expanded later in the season.

Goat and Wine

A dinner on Tuesday at Almond in Bridgehampton will pair Channing Daughters and Paumanok Vineyards wines with a five-course family-style menu centered on dishes made with locally raised goats. The cost is $75 per person plus tax and gratuity; reservations are required.

Lucky Perks

Page restaurant in Sag Harbor holds a drawing each week for a $100 dinner for two for those who have subscrcribed to “Page Perks,” the restaurant’s news­letter. The restaurant’s website is at page63main.com.

Indian Cooking

Penn Hongthong, an author and personal chef, will give a demonstration of Indian cooking at the Montauk Library on April 18, beginning at 1 p.m. She will prepare basmati rice, seasoned chickpeas with tomatoes, and chicken curry. Limited space is available, and advance registration has been requested by contacting the library’s circulation desk. There is a $5 fee.

At 1770

Wintertime dining deals will continue until June 11 at the 1770 House in East Hampton. They include a $35 three-course prix fixe Sundays through Thursdays and a Thursday-night $17.70 special in the inn’s downstairs tavern, offering the choice of a burger, meatloaf, or pizza, and Soave or Malbec wines at $9 a glass.

The restaurant’s early-spring menu changes weekly according to seasonal availability. Spring ingredients include entrees such as roasted Atlantic halibut with white wine and truffle emulsion, fingerling potatoes, leeks, and wild mushrooms; Maine diver sea scallops with black rice, crisp Korean pork belly, carrot-ginger puree, and snow pea salad, and braised California rabbit with black chickpea spaetzle and ragout of carrots, green garlic, and hedgehog mushrooms.

Lobster Night

Lobster night is Wednesday at the Bell and Anchor in Sag Harbor. A three-course menu will feature a choice of appetizers and entrees such as lobster garganelli, steamed lobster, and butter-poached lobster claws with filet mignon, at varying prices.

Family Night

Sunday is family night at Fresh Hamptons in Bridgehampton. A $59 (plus tax and gratuity) dinner deal, enough to feed two to four adults or a pair of adults and several kids, includes a large salad, large sides, and a choice of a whole roasted organic chicken, a pound of barbecued short ribs, or twice-baked butternut squash with vegetables and smoked tofu, plus apple crisp and ice cream for dessert.

Reservations are being taken for an April 30 wine dinner at Michael’s restaurant at Maidstone Park in Springs, which recently remodeled to create a wine bar featuring a wide selection of vintages.

The dinner will feature six courses created by Luis DeLoera, the restaurant’s owner and chef, each paired with a different wine from the Ferrari Carano Wineries of California. Among the menu items will be a fried lobster spring roll, grilled duck breast with homemade fettuccine, New York strip steak, and five-spice crusted Chilean sea bass. The cost is $75 per person.

Thursday for Prime Rib

Thursday is prime rib night at the Bell and Anchor in Noyac, with eight-ounce or 12-ounce portions of meat au jus served with a vegetable and potatoes for $34 or $39. Dessert can be added for $5.

Food and Detox

Fresh Hamptons restaurant in Bridgehampton will host classes designed to help participants detoxify while learning how to eat in a healthy manner. Lillian Grajeda, a yoga and Pilates instructor and detox specialist, will lead three, three-class sessions in upcoming weeks. While a Tuesday class began this week, a Thursday session begins today from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m., continuing next Thursday and April 30. The third option is a Saturday class, which will meet on April 25, May 2, and May 9 from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m.

A $299 fee per session includes a cleansing lunch at each class, a personalized detox program, and ongoing support.

Montauk Beer Dinner

A dinner featuring Montauk Brewing Company beers will take place on Friday, April 24, at the Harvest on Fort Pond in Montauk. The restaurant will serve seven courses paired with five different beers. Live music will accompany the meal. Among the menu items will be a seafood trio starter, spring salad, bucattini pasta with Montauk lobster, littleneck clams, and scallops, and Colorado lamb. Reservations may be made by calling the restaurant. The cost is $65.

Montauk Coffee Spot

Left Hand Coffee has opened in the South Elmwood Avenue spot that formerly housed Coffee ’Tauk,

The espresso bar’s menu features a variety of artisanal coffees and teas; cold brews will be added for the summer season. Besides beverages prepared on site, coffee and tea are available for retail purchase, along with brewing accessories. The shop also sells pastries and other baked goods and bites, and will have a selection of books, magazines, and newspapers for customers to peruse. Shop hours until Memorial Day weekend will be Wednesdays through Fridays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.