Food

    I’m not sure which was more exciting, attending the L.V.I.S. Fair on Saturday or being asked to work at the fair. At the cakes, cookies, jams, and jellies booth, no less! I have attended this fair almost every single year of my life, many times with my grandpa, then with my son. The Mystery Booth, cookbooks, and Rosita Medler’s iconic beach plum jelly have always been my priorities. I arrive at 10 on the dot and plot my strategy like General MacArthur. One year I scored a brand new fishing rod for $20. Another year, a first edition James Beard cookbook.

I remember a man, slicked-back hair, wire-rimmed glasses. He wore ironed blue button-down shirts with white collars and cuffs and a pink tie, pressed slacks, shining black shoes. He often carried a briefcase and he always kept his hand on his mother’s elbow, gently guiding her into her seat at their usual table in my section for their usual Thursday night dinner

Chefs Dinner at Hayground

    This weekend brings another annual Chefs Dinner to the Hayground School, a benefit for the school’s culinary center, Jeff’s Kitchen, and for the Jeff Salaway Scholarship Fund, both in memory of a school founder and restaurateur.

   John Domanic and Marsha LaTessa don’t have too many years of farming experience under their belts, but by starting small with a farm stand and leased farmland on Pantigo Road just west of East Hampton Town Hall, they think they’ve got a pretty good shot at it.

A Taste of Montauk

    Locally made beer and wine will be served along with fare from a number of Montauk restaurants on Sunday at “A Taste of Montauk,” a Montauk Chamber of Commerce event to be held at the 360 East restaurant at Montauk Downs from 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $55 in advance ($65 at the door) and can be reserved online at montaukchamber. com. Sponsors, besides 360 East, include Gurney’s Inn and the Bridgehampton National Bank. 

Vegan Potluck

    There are certain foods that come into our lives and we wonder how we ever lived without them. All of a sudden everyone is talking about them, serving them, altering them, wrecking them, and serving them again. Fad foods and food trends, they’re like child stars. We love them briefly, then we just want them to go away or grow up. This is a completely subjective topic, and I would like to defend some of these foods and rip a few others to shreds.

Boisterous, done-up middle-age men wearing collared shirts and women in flowing maxi dresses dripping with bling. Six of them. For the most part all drinking vodka. Then this guy on the end of the table wearing flip-flops, jeans, and a T-shirt, asks for a beer.

   Montauk’s first Polynesian tiki bar opened in June and the people — locals, vacationers, fishermen, and even kids — have found it. Lynn’s Hula Hut, owned by Lynn Calvo, is located in a sandy “island” in the Montauk Marine Basin’s parking area.

    Before opening the Hut, Ms. Calvo was hired to serve Polynesian-style drinks at South Fork parties from her small pickup truck, which has fringed palapa leaves (dried palm leaves) hanging from its bed.

    Tickets have gone on sale for the Peconic Land Trust’s popular annual “Through Farms and Fields” event, taking place this year at noon on Aug. 4 at the Port of Missing Men estate in North Sea.

    Beth D’Alessio Catering will provide a “country lunch”; wines will be provided by Wolffer Estate Vineyards, and dessert by Tate’s Bake Shop of Southampton. There will be live music, and a live and silent auction. Individual tickets, at $350, can be purchased by calling the land trust’s office in South­ampton.

“Food Riot Dinner”

   Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, it’s been hot out here! I’ll bet all you want to do is escape to the beach and spend the entire day there, dipping in and out of the water, picnicking, and putting off the return home for as long as possible.

Fresh

203 Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor

Turnpike

537-4700

Lunch and dinner daily

Brunch on Sundays

   The well-respected local chef Todd Jacobs has taken the helm at Fresh, the restaurant in Bridgehampton that once was Southfork Kitchen, and the new restaurant’s mission statement promises a great deal. As the eating public demands more and more specialized, individualized, and de-glutenized food items, this place aims to please.

The Food Pantry Farm has taken over a stand just steps from where its volunteers grow tons of food for those in need. While sticking with its mission to deliver organically produced food to five pantries between Southampton and Montauk and a women’s shelter, the produce will now be available to the public.

Farmers Markets

    Slow Food East End has published a list of East End farmers markets, which will be distributed at the markets and at other events throughout the summer. It can be downloaded from the group’s Web site, slowfoodeastend.org.

New Chefs

Silver’s

15 Main Street

Southampton

283-6443

Lunch daily, closed Wednesday

    Silver’s is an attractive restaurant in Southampton that has been open since 1923. It is very popular and only serves lunch. Lunch at dinner prices.

    I had a pretty good meal there a few weeks ago and a mediocre one more recently.

    Tickets are on sale for this year’s Chefs Dinner, a benefit for Jeff’s Kitchen at the Hayground School in Bridgehampton on July 28. A 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. cocktail party, followed by dinner, features the fare of a number of local and well-known chefs, including Tom Colicchio of the Topping Rose House, Jason Weiner of Almond, Joe Realmuto of Nick and Toni’s, and Christian Mir of Stone Creek Inn.

    The Loaves and Fishes Cooking School’s summer series of professional culinary classes begins with a beginners’ session Monday through next Thursday at the Bridgehampton Inn. The classes will each include a lecture, demonstration, hands-on session, critique, and cleanup. Topics will include food handling, sanitation, and equipment, knife skills, stocks, soups, and sauces, roasting, poaching, and grilling, and desserts, including making cake batter, pie dough, biscuits, and muffins.

   I went to a swell party the other night. The temperature and light, the setting and night were perfect. The party was a benefit for the East Hampton Historical Society and was held at Swan Cove, a piece of property as pretty as any you’ll ever see in East Hampton.

Stuart’s Catering

    Jacqueline LaBorne is the new catering director at Stuart’s Seafood in Amagansett.  While Stuart’s will continue to do its traditional catered clambakes, pig roasts, barbecues, and raw bars, Ms. LaBorne, who has worked at Fresh Flavors, 230 Elm Street, and East Hampton Point and run her own catering business in Sag Harbor, will implement new ideas to help clients plan personalized parties.  Ms. LaBorne was appointed following the unexpected death of Karl Vanston, whose wife, son, and daughter still work for Stuart’s.

For Father’s Day

    There are three new cookery-life­style-entertaining books out with South Fork connections and they couldn’t be more different from one another. One is a new paperback printing of Ellen Wright’s “Hamptons Weekends,” originally published in 2000. Another is “Living the Good Long Life” by Martha Stewart, described as “a practical guide to caring for yourself and others.” Lastly, is “What’s a Hostess To Do?” by Susan Spungen, part of a series with other such titles as “What’s a Golfer to Do?” and “What’s a Disorganized Person to Do?”

The Cuddy

29 Main Street

Sag Harbor

725-0101

Lunch and dinner daily

Brunch on weekends

   I was disappointed to hear that Phao in Sag Harbor was to be transformed into the Cuddy. What is the Cuddy? An American gastro-pub? Do we really need another American restaurant out here? Well, I have to grudgingly admit that in the case of the Cuddy, we do.

   Those looking for a quick bite or a sweet treat now have a few more choices out east in Montauk, including two offering Mexican favorites. 

    Since Nicole and Matthew Meehan opened Gringo’s Burrito Grill earlier this spring, there’s been a steady stream of customers walking in and out, fat burritos and plates of tacos in hand. Both have worked in other food-related businesses, but always wanted to own a place of their own and thought Montauk could use a build-your-own burrito, taco, salad, and burrito bowl spot.

New Zealand Wine Tasting

    Wines from Stonecrop, a 20-acre vineyard in Martinborough, New Zealand, that is owned by Andrew Harris and Sally Richardson of Montauk, will be featured at a tasting at Domaine Franey Wines and Spirits on Montauk Highway in East Hampton on Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. The couple will be on hand to pour samples of the Stonecrop sauvignon blanc and pinot noir. The vineyard’s wines have received international accolades, including a recent New York Times rating of the Stonecrop pinot noir as New Zealand’s number-two pinot noir.

   A new chef group at Ruschmeyer’s in Montauk is gearing up for a two-year collaboration with a goal of using as much as possible “from right here in our backyard,” said Matt Kliegman, part of the team from the Smile in Manhattan that King and Grove Hotels has hired to operate the restaurant along with the executive chef, Brian Loiacono.

    Sweet and savory Beurre & Sel cookies will be sold this summer at Lucy’s Whey cheese shop in East Hampton. The cookies were created by Dorie Greenspan, a four-time James Beard Award-winner, cookbook author, and blogger. On weekends in July and August, her son and business partner, Josh Greenspan, will be at the store to sell the cookies and talk about their story.

Chicken and Waffles

Into the void and other tales of a Hamptons waitress

    Ruschmeyer’s in Montauk opened yesterday. The restaurant will be a collaboration this year between the executive chef, Brian Loiacono, and a team from The Smile restaurant in Manhattan, including Matt Kliegman, Carlos Quirarte, and Melia Marden.

    A new menu emphasizing fresh Montauk seafood and local produce includes a selection of organic wines made of grapes grown using sustainable and biodynamic methods, as well as a new list of signature cocktails. Service will be provided in the main dining room as well as in a breakfast nook. 

Madison & Main

    Spring is here and with it comes one of the best vegetables, asparagus. Available at farmers markets, local asparagus can be found in chopstick-thin stalks, Sharpie-pen fatties, and even some violet-tinged varieties. You can steam, boil, stir-fry, roast, grill, microwave, and pickle asparagus. Serve it hot, at room temperature, or cold. Puree it into soups. Save some tips for risottos. You can even shave it raw into salads.

News for Foodies

    Fresh is the new restaurant this season in the spot on Bridgehampton Turnpike in Bridgehampton where South Fork Kitchen used to be. Todd Jacobs, who was the chef at Sag Harbor’s American Hotel before moving to Tierra Mar in Westhampton Beach, has opened a “farm-to-table” eatery billed as family-friendly as well as “affordable and accessible.” The menu includes organic, raw, gluten-free, and vegetarian options, with most dishes available in different-size portions, including, for entrees,  quarter-pound, half-pound, and one-pound servings.

   I was recently fortunate enough to spend some time at a health-concscious resort called Miraval. Miraval’s motto is “Life in Balance.” It is set on 400 acres next to the Santa Catalina Mountains outside of Tucson, Ariz. And it serves booze!

Nick and Toni’s

136 North Main Street

East Hampton

324-3550

Friday and Saturday, 6-10:30 p.m.

Sunday, 5:30-9:30 p.m.

Monday and Thursday, 6-10 p.m.