News for Foodies: 09.20.12
Opened, Closed
Tom Colicchio opened his restaurant at the Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton last weekend. The restored 1842 Greek Revival mansion will also house a luxury inn. The 50-seat eatery will have a locavore focus, with a vegetable-centric menu that includes dishes made with produce grown on an on-site garden plot.
Mr. Colicchio, the recipient of five James Beard Foundation Awards and the head judge on the Bravo TV show “Top Chef,” has a résumé that includes numerous prominent Manhattan restaurants, among them the Quilted Giraffe, Gotham Bar & Grill, and Gramercy Tavern, which he opened with Danny Meyer in 1994.
In East Hampton, Spring Close restaurant is shuttered after reports of management and financial difficulties. Its phone has been disconnected and its Web site taken down.
The Blue Parrot
Southwestern specials at the Blue Parrot in East Hampton include $10 enchiladas on Wednesday, tacos plus a Tecate beer or tequila on Thursday for $12, and a daily happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m. featuring $7 margaritas. For Sunday sports lovers, free chips and salsa are served, along with “touchdown shots.” The Blue Parrot opens at noon Friday through Sunday and at 4 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday.
Oktoberfest
The annual Oktoberfest at Rowdy Hall in East Hampton will get under way with a kick-off party on Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. The restaurant will be transformed into a traditional German beer garden, with picnic tables in the courtyard and communal dining tables inside. German bar snacks will be offered, such as fresh-baked pretzels with mustard, and knockwurst, bratwurst, and bockwurst platters. There will be traditional Bavarian music, too.
Beer specials are to include brews served in a Rowdy Hall commemorative beer mug for $7, with refills for $4. Several Oktoberfest beers will be available on tap as well as bottled, and a tasting flight will be offered for $9.
Throughout Oktoberfest (through Oct. 7), Rowdy will offer a daily “fester preis,” or prix fixe, featuring German fare for $24 each night starting at 5. The dinner specials will change weekly. The first, to be offered beginning Saturday, will include wienerschnitzel with herbed spaetzle and gold beets, with Black Forest trifle for dessert.
Osteria Salina
At Osteria Salina in Bridgehampton, a “stuzzichini,” or late-night menu, is available starting at 9. It includes Sicilian classics such as fritto misto — shrimp and squid with zucchini, capers, lemons, and arrabiata sauce — and meatballs. Charcuterie plates with imported olives and cheeses and cured meats, served with orange blossom honey and fig marmalade, are also available, as are seafood dishes such as jumbo lump crab cakes with saffron citrus aioli, and yellowfin tuna served with pepperoncino oil, cucumber, and avocado.
Pork and Football
The football season at Townline BBQ in Sagaponack features not only the games on TV but also specials on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 p.m. to closing, as well as on Monday nights after 7, during the games. They include a Sunday “pigskin special” for $16, with a half-pound of pork served with potato bread and barbecue sauce, or with tortillas and avocado salsa, plus two sides. A can of Porkslap beer can be added for an extra $3. Townline will also offer beer specials on pints, cans, and pitchers, plus specials on bar snacks to nosh on during the games.
Fall Prix Fixe
“Economy gastronomy” at Muse in the Harbor, on Sag Harbor’s Main Street, means a $30 prix fixe that includes a choice of appetizers, entrees, and desserts. The special is available all night on Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, and on Friday and Saturday nights from 5 to 6:30.
Gourmet to Go
Fall hours at Pepalajefa, a takeout food shop in Sag Harbor, are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday through Tuesday. The shop is closed on Wednesday. Among the offerings are sandwiches, salads, including lentil salad, Argentinean potpies, figs with goat cheese and bacon, roasted potatoes with lemon and cumin, meatloaf, and figs with goat cheese and bacon.
At Lucy’s Whey cheese shop in East Hampton, the seasonal hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. However, the shop can make up a platter or gift box during the week, if orders are placed by calling its other location at Chelsea Market in Manhattan.
At Camaje
Abigail Hitchcock, the chef and owner at Camaje Bistro on MacDougal Street in downtown Manhattan and a local girl who attended the Hampton Day School in Bridgehampton and East Hampton High School, has announced a lineup of special events at her restaurant this fall.
Camaje features Dark Dining Projects, evenings in which diners are invited to explore “new frontiers of sensory experience” that combine new gourmet dishes by Ms. Hitchcock along with music and other elements. One such event was filmed by VH1, and those interested will be able to view it later this fall.
Also starting up at Camaje is a 13th season of cooking classes, held in the restaurant’s kitchen during service hours. After preparing their own meal, students repair to the dining room to enjoy it with wine. Additional information is on the eatery’s Web site at camaje .com.
Seasonal Cupcakes
Hamptons Cupcake Lounge has new fall varieties of its cupcakes and “cuptails” — an adult version of the sweets, containing spirits. They include pumpkin spice, caramel apple, Oh So Gingy! and Blueberry Bliss, which uses Duck Walk vineyard blueberry port.
The cupcakes are made with natural ingredients such as unsweetened applesauce and fruit purées in place of butter and oil, and with Truvia, a natural sweetener, instead of sugar. Eggs are limited, and organic grains are used.
The cupcakes have been sold at farmers markets, including the Southampton market on Sundays on Job’s Lane, which continues until Oct. 10, but they can also be ordered online at hamptonscupcakelounge.com.
Cooking Demo
Silvia Lehrer, a Water Mill cookbook author and cooking teacher, will be at the Williams-Sonoma store in Bridgehampton on Saturday. At 11 a.m., she will demonstrate how to prepare mushroom caviar, served on crostini, and an apple galette using local ingredients.