News for Foodies: 01.26.12
A “Barefoot Contessa” episode that aired on the Food Network on Monday featured cheeses selected by Ina Garten at the Lucy’s Whey cheese shop here in East Hampton. Ms. Garten was putting together an “all-American cheese plate.”
The shop will be closed for a winter break during February and March. Tomorrow through Sunday, all jams, chutneys, honeys, and crackers will be 15 percent off. During the East Hampton store’s hiatus, items can be ordered from Lucy’s Whey online, or purchased at the shop’s New York City location at the Chelsea Market.
Cooking Demo
On Saturday, a recipe from the cookbook “Country Weekend Entertaining” by Anna Pump will be prepared at the Loaves and Fishes Cookshop in Bridgehampton. Between noon and 2 p.m., visitors can learn how to make a macadamia nut tart during the free cooking demonstration.
Alsatian Week
This is Alsatian Week at Pierre’s restaurant in Bridgehampton. Specials on the menu through Sunday reflect Pierre’s French heritage. The items include a soup with chicken liver balls in a rich vegetable broth, which the restaurateur says was his grandmother’s special Sunday evening treat, and a roasted potato dish with fromage blanc, garlic, onions, and chives, which is served by his mother.
Also on the menu is Choucroute Royale, described as Alsace’s “national dish,” which is white, blood, and frankfurter sausage, pork shank, and smoked pork belly served with sauerkraut and steamed potatoes; veal kidney with spaetzle and a creamy sauce flambé with cognac, and a peasant dish of lamb shoulder, beef round, and pork shoulder cooked together, for 12 hours, with riesling, potatoes, onions, and carrots. There are special desserts as well and a list of selected complementary wines.
New, Tasty?
Rowdy Hall, open all year for lunch and dinner, is keeping it interesting by adding some new wintertime menu items. On the lunch list is a potato and French bean salad, and, for sandwiches, grilled marinated eggplant with lemon aioli, arugula, chickpeas, and feta cheese; roasted turkey on a baguette with Camembert, frisée lettuce, and a red currant vinaigrette, and a “French Market Sandwich,” which is warm ham and melted Swiss on a croissant with baby field greens.
At dinnertime, there is country paté with pickled pearl onions, Dijon mustard, and a grilled baguette as a starter, and entrees including pan-roasted local cod with mushroom ragout and grilled endive; New York strip steak served with hand-cut French fries, roasted shallots, and Bordelaise sauce; roasted acorn squash filled with spinach, leeks, pine nuts, and feta, and cassoulet made with braised pork shoulder, garlic sausage, and duck confit.
Rowdy also has specials every day of the week. They are listed on the restaurant’s Web site, rowdyhall.com.
Eastern Specials
For those whose home base is west of the easternmost hamlet, a trip across the Napeague stretch to Montauk can seem less than enticing this time of year. But the specials at two sister restaurants, East by Northeast and the Harvest, might be enough to prompt such an excursion. At the Harvest, a $24 prix fixe is served on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. In addition, for those who want to taste a dish but need less than the restaurant’s normal family-style offerings, half portions can be ordered.
At ENE, there is a $15 prix fixe served all night on Sunday through Thursday, as well as until 6:45 p.m. on Friday, except on holiday weekends.