News for Foodies: 03.28.13

    The traditional foods of Umbria will be the focus of the next in a series of Italian cooking classes offered at the Loaves and Fishes cooking school in Bridgehampton. On the menu for the class, which takes place Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m., is homemade fettuccine with shaved truffles, stuffed pork tenderloin with a wine sauce, asparagus wrapped in pancetta, and Perugia nut cake with chocolate gelato. The cost is $165.

Lobster Roll Rumble

    The Lobster Roll restaurant on Napeague will be a contender at a “lobster roll rumble” contest sponsored by the Tasting Table, a foodies’ Web site. It will be held on June 6 in New York City. The winner will be deemed “America’s best lobster roll.”

For Easter

    The Living Room restaurant at c/o the Maidstone inn in East Hampton will serve brunch on Easter Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It will be followed by an Easter roast dinner to be served between 5:30 and 10 for $52 per person. The dinner menu will include herring served three ways, roasted lamb with bean salad and rosemary roasted potatoes, and desserts.

    A family-style Easter dinner will be served at Almond in Bridgehampton on Sunday from 5 to 9. Three courses, for $42 per person, will include a choice of appetizers such as antipasti, spring salad, or shrimp cocktail, and entrees including roast leg of lamb with three sauces, or spinach and ricotta gnocchi with grilled asparagus and caramelized baby carrots. Dessert will be strawberry-rhubarb cobbler a la mode.

    At Manucci’s in Montauk, an Easter dinner served from 3 to 8 p.m. will include three courses for $31.95, with a choice of filet mignon, rack of lamb, broiled fluke, a roasted half duck, or frutti di mare as an entree. It includes a choice of soup or salad, and a dessert. A children’s menu, and limited selections from the regular menu, will also be offered. Reservations have been suggested. 

Prix Fixes

    Diners at three different restaurants may choose either a two-course or three-course prix fixe. At Fresno in East Hampton, an appetizer and entree is $30 per person and three courses are $35 per person, plus tax and gratuity, on Sunday through Thursday nights as well as on Friday and Saturday between 5:30 and 6:32 p.m. Appetizer choices include soup, salad, white bean and roasted garlic hummus with pita and olives, and chicken liver pate with pickled beets and rye toast points. For entrees, the choices are fettuccini with shrimp and  vegetables, orecchiette with hot and sweet sausage, broccoli rabe, and white beans, chicken Milanese, moules frites, pan-seared Scottish salmon, or a burger.

    At the Bell and Anchor in Sag Harbor, the same options are available, with a menu including fish and clam chowder, salt cod brandade, and salads for starters, and, as entrees, fish of the day, and flat iron steak frites.

    In Southampton, the prix fixe at red/bar brasserie is $29 for two courses and $34 for three courses, and is offered all night on Sundays through Thursdays, excluding holidays. Among the appetizer choices are steamed mussels and crispy calamari salad. Entree choices include mustard-crusted Scottish salmon, truffled chicken breast with wild mushroom risotto, and braised pork shoulder with littleneck clams, potatoes, tomatoes, and Linguica sausage.

Coming Soon

    New to Sag Harbor’s Main Street this spring will be Madison and Main, an eatery housed in the space that was formerly the Paradise Cafe. The restaurant is the newest venture by Michael Gluckman, the restaurateur behind three former East Hampton spots, the Lodge, the Boathouse, and the Beach House, and is being billed as a “seafood tavern” with “quintessentially American cuisine with a gourmet twist.” Eric Miller, the co-owner of Food & Co., an East Hampton catering concern, will be the head chef. The interior of the space has been renovated, with its historical touches preserved, and the restaurant is expected to serve lunch, brunch, and dinner year round.

    A sampling from the dinner menu includes both raw bar and sashimi tasting platters and items that can be ordered for the table, such as crabmeat-stuffed deviled eggs, crispy stuffed meatballs, and grilled calamari with charred chili peppers. Starters include whole-belly Ipswich clams, organic chicken osso buco, and shrimp with creamy grits and braised duck. The restaurant will offer steaks made on a wood-fired grill as well as fish, pasta, and poultry dishes, and a list of side dishes.