News for Foodies: 11.21.13
Holiday Treats
Debbie Geppert, an East Hampton caterer, along with Dreesen’s Catering, is taking orders for Thanksgiving pies and cookies. Choices include pumpkin, pecan, apple, and apple crumb pies, as well as peanut butter, oatmeal, molasses, and chocolate chip cookies.
Ms. Geppert is also offering classes for holiday-time cooks at the Dreesen’s kitchen on Lumber Lane in East Hampton.
An Easy Entertaining class on Dec. 3 at 6 p.m. will help students learn what to have on hand for last-minute entertaining, from holiday cheer to savory bites and items to set a festive table, and cover easy recipes using phyllo dough and puff pastry; one recipe that can be used to make three different appetizers; freezer and pantry must-haves for easy entertaining, and great holiday cocktails for a crowd, as well as tips for setting a beautiful holiday table. The cost is $50, prepaid. Class size is limited to 12, and reservations may be made by e-mailing [email protected].
Ms. Geppert will also continue to offer her Holiday Cookie Bake Shop sessions. A three-hour class for mothers and children will be held tomorrow afternoon at 3, with a second on Dec. 12. Sessions for adults, which are four hours long, will take place on Dec. 4 at 3 p.m., Dec. 7 at 10 a.m., and Dec. 15 at noon. Several varieties of cookies will be prepared, and students will be sent home with all the recipes and enough cookie dough to make 10 dozen cookies, which can be kept in the freezer or refrigerator for six to eight weeks. The cost for adult classes is $75; mother-and-child classes are $100.
Ms. Geppert will schedule additional sessions if requested for groups of eight or more. Among the cookies students will learn to make may be molasses cringles, vanilla and almond spritz butter cookies, peppermint cream chocolate sandwich cookies, lemon gems, and holiday biscotti.
Oysters and Wine
Fresh is taking reservations for a dinner pairing Howard Pickerell’s Pride Oysters and Paumanok Vineyards wines on Dec. 6. The six-course dinner will cost $95 per person, plus tax and gratuity, or $85 plus the extras for members of the Paumanok Wine Club or Fresh Hamptons Rewards programs.
For Taco Lovers
At Fresh restaurant in Bridgehampton, Tuesdays are taco nights, with a family-style taco dinner served from 5 to 8 p.m. at a cost of $19 per adult and $10 for each child under 12, plus tax and gratuity.
Thursday is the taco night at La Fondita in Amagansett, when a taco dinner to go for four, at $30, includes ingredients to assemble a meal at home: 12 handmade soft corn tortillas, a quart of filling (carne asada, carnitas, chorizo, chicken, or chayote) and fixings such as lettuce, cheese, cilantro, and onions. A quart of rice and a pint of black beans are also included, and a salad can be added for $8.
La Fondita also regularly offers a “nachos supremo” kit for preparation at home, for $11.50. It features meat and vegetable options, along with tortilla chips, refried beans, cheese, pico de gallo, and crema.
Fall Special
Bostwick’s Chowder House in East Hampton, which is open Thursday through Monday, offers a three-course dinner special on Thursdays and Sundays, from 4:30 p.m. until closing. It includes a choice of starters, such as salad, chowder, baked clams, fried calamari, steamed mussels, or chicken wings, and a soft-serve ice cream with two toppings for dessert. Entree choices, which will dictate the price of the special, include daily specials as well as dinner entrees on the menu, or a lobster roll.
New Face in Kitchen
Justin Finney has joined Ed Lightcap in the kitchen at Rowdy Hall in East Hampton, as a co-chef. Mr. Finney, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, was a sous chef at Meeting House in Amagansett before working in that capacity, most recently, at Nick and Toni’s in East Hampton, where he also was in charge of the restaurant’s vegetable garden.
The two chefs have created a new snack menu that includes chipotle deviled eggs topped with house-made tasso ham, steamed pork buns, candied bacon with blue cheese dressing, crispy eggplant fries with spicy tomato sauce, butternut squash pierogi with spiced sour cream and gingersnap crumbs, and house-pickled vegetables, among other items.
Last Meals
Some changes are afoot on the Water Mill restaurant scene. Foody’s, the unpretentious but acclaimed restaurant run by Bryan Futerman for the last eight years, closed as of Sunday.
Word has it that Mirko’s, a longtime Water Mill mainstay, is closing as well.
At Driver’s Seat
The Driver’s Seat in Southampton, which saw a drop-off in business in early fall after it was reported that a former waiter had been treated for hepatitis A, has issued a press release and copy of a County Health Department report verifying that the illness was confined to the one worker.
A number of the staff and patrons were inoculated against hepatitis at Southampton Hospital as a preventive measure, and, according to the press release, the Health Department found no evidence of illness among the staff during several visits, and, the release said, found the restaurant “spotless.”