Food

    The 2011 Great Chefs Dinner to benefit Hayground School, now in its seventh year, will be held on Sunday with its usual roster of marquee chefs from near and far — plus the designer and television personality Isaac Mizrahi, who joins as a surprise guest cook.

    This year, the art auction that accompanies the culinary action is drawing as much buzz as the tastings and wine pairings.

    Gael Greene, the restaurant critic and author, will be on the menu along with French cuisine at a special event at Almond restaurant in Bridgehampton on Aug. 7.

    Three courses prepared by Jason Weiner, Almond’s chef, and paired with wines will be interspersed with readings by Ms. Greene from her New York Times best seller, “Blue Skies, No Candy,” as well as from “Delicious Sex: A Gourmet Guide to Pleasure for Women and the Men Who Want to Love Them Better.”

    Summer is a good time for foodies, not only because of the abundance of fresh vegetables and seafood, but also because, like regular folk, top chefs enjoy a chance to visit the South Fork and ply their trade for a good cause.

    The James Beard Foundation’s Chefs and Champagne event at Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack on Saturday will feature culinary treats from a select group of more than 40 chefs. Among them will be James Carpenter, who heads up the kitchen at the Living Room restaurant in East Hampton.

Some of the descendants of the earliest European settlers, many of whom have been farmers for generations, are at the forefront of the resurrection of farming on the South Fork.

Taste of Two Forks

    The news on the scene this week, now that most of this year’s restaurant roulette has spun to a stop, is the opening of Banzai Burger on the Napeague stretch. The new eatery, which has a sushi bar as well, is in the spacious digs on the north side of the stretch between the Clam Bar and Cyril’s and is serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

    The burger menu has classic burger combinations for the adventurous, such as a burger with foie gras and Mecox Dairy cheese for red meat eaters, and offerings for those who don’t eat red meat, such as tuna or mako shark burgers.

    The Fourth of July weekend will afford foodies a number of opportunities to celebrate Independence Day with delicious fare.

Plate to Gate

   On Sunday at 4 p.m., Amber Waves Farm in Amagansett will help host a pig roast and crab boil featuring a wood-fired whole roasted pig, Long Island blue crabs steamed with local beer, and salads and grilled vegetables grown at the farm as well as at Balsam Farms in Amagansett. The roast/boil will be at Balsam Farms on Town Lane, Amagansett.

    Those with a hankering for jerk chicken or curried goat need look no farther than North Main Street in East Hampton to satisfy those island cravings. Thanks to Rena Hewie Stoutt, a long-time East Hampton resident originally from Hanover Parish, Jamaica, these Caribbean prizes, along with a large selection of dry goods, can be found at Jamaica Specialties, a store that opened last weekend.

Locavore Celebration

    At Townline BBQ in Sagaponack, Eat Drink Local Week will bring a beer and barbecue party on Sunday from 4 to 7 p.m. The cost is $40 for adults and $15 for children ages 12 and under. A wide selection of Long Island beers will be available on tap to wash down whole-smoked hog and spring lamb, griddle-roasted North Fork oysters, baby-back ribs, Balsam Farms kale, homemade bread and butter pickles, and more.

Local Week

    Jeanine Burge of Silver Spoon Specialties in East Hampton will demonstrate how to make a variety of appetizers at an East End Chefs program on Wednesday at the Old Whalers Church in Sag Harbor.

    Ms. Burge will give instruction in making mozzarella cheese, and will prepare eggplant Parmesan with tomato and mozzarella, grilled vegetable napoleon with cheese and homemade pesto, pesto on crostini, bruschetta with prosciutto, mozzarella and basil served with balsamic reduction, and homemade chips topped with chili-lime shrimp and avocado cream. Wine will be served.

Taste Top New Zealand Wine

    Andrew Harris and Sally Richardson of Montauk, the owners of Stonecrop, a 20-acre vineyard in Martinborough, New Zealand, will be on hand at a tasting of their sauvignon blanc and pinot noir wines at Domaine Franey Wines and Spirits on Montauk Highway in East Hampton on Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m.  The vineyard’s handcrafted 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.

Lovely Lobsters

    Silvia Lehrer will discuss her new book, “Savoring the Hamptons: Discovering the Food and Wine of Long Island’s East End,” at the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton on Wednesday at noon. Ms. Lehrer has been cooking, developing recipes, and writing about food for over 20 years. She will serve samples of regional dishes. The program is free, but preregistration is required by phone or online at myrml.org.

At Lucy’s Whey

New for the Season

    Memorial Day weekend marks the big start-of-the-season flashpoint for the chefs in the kitchens of most of our nearby restaurants, which will be presenting menus full of new dishes and some special events for the holiday weekend.

Thai at Old Whalers

    Thai food will be on the table at Sag Harbor’s Old Whalers Church tonight, when the sous chef from Phao restaurant prepares a sampling of dishes such as summer rolls, lemongrass soup, pad Thai, and coconut ice cream. The event, part of a series called East End Chefs, will begin at 6:30 p.m. and cost $30. Space is limited. Advance reservations can be made by calling the church.

Restaurant Roulette

    There is always lots of restaurant news in the mad scramble toward Memorial Day. Here’s this week’s scoop.

Primed Beachhouse

Spring Openings

    The annual springtime parade of seasonal restaurant reopenings continues this week.

    The Hideaway will show its Mexican roots by offering food and drink specials at its 2011 premiere tonight, for Cinco de Mayo. The restaurant is at the Diamond Cove Marina in Montauk.

Tomorrow might be a good time for a jaunt east, with a couple of stops that will remind you that winter is truly over, and summer on the way.

On Easter Sunday

    Easter Sunday brunch and dinner menus at numerous restaurants will feature fresh springtime fare this weekend.

    At the Southampton Publick House, a noon to 2:30 p.m. brunch will be followed by a three-course Easter dinner prix fixe for $25 plus tax and gratuity, served from 3 to 9 p.m. A la carte dishes will also be available. Entree choices will include leg of lamb, half of a roasted Long Island duck, pan-seared monkfish, shrimp tempura, and New York sirloin steak. Reservations have been recommended.

For Passover

    Homemade gefilte fish and other items for Passover are available now at Stuart’s Seafood Market in Amagansett. Orders can be called in for baked goods, noodle kugel, and full custom dinners.

Thanks, From Astro’s

Pizza rustica, an Italian Eastertime specialty — a savory pie made with eggs and Italian meats and cheeses — is available this month at Food and Co. in East Hampton, where Pasquale’s Home­­made has set up shop and is offering all kinds of traditional homemade foods, including roast chicken and pizzas.

   Things are looking up for sure when Saturdays bring the chance to visit a farmers market. Given the season, the Sag Harbor Farmers Winter Market will be held indoors weekly from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through mid-May at 34 Bay Street, a building across from the Breakwater Yacht Club. Local vendors will be selling preserves, pastas, wine, cheese, baked good and other treats, and handcrafted gifts.

    Also on Sag Harbor’s Bay Street, the Dockside Bar and Grill will reopen for the season today. It will be serving lunch and dinner daily, except on Tuesday and Wednesday, plus brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.

When I make granola I add almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame, and flax, all healthy . . . if a bit fattening. Try different kinds of nuts and see which you like the best. They are often more affordable bought in bulk at health food stores but be sure there is a high turnover, they can get stale quickly.

 I love to cook but I also like shortcuts. I am not averse to using the occasional cake mix, envelope of Knorr sauce, cube of bouillon, or box of frozen white corn. These convenience foods deserve a place in every pantry and freezer.

Jack Mazzola’s organic fair-trade coffee company has expanded into roomier quarters in Amagansett Square.

It’s a pity this is the only time of year we start to think about cranberries. Chances are, the only time any of us eat them is in their canned or jellied form, courtesy of Ocean Spray, a

Mussels could be considered the pasta of the bivalve mollusk world. They are cheap, versatile, and easy to cook. Last night I had them in coconut broth with lemongrass and lime wedges served alongside. Tonight a friend is going to prepare them in a Thai green curry sauce. They are abundant in many parts of world and particularly revered in Belgium and France, where they are served with French fries as moules et frites.

I eat a lot more vegetables and whole grains than meat. If I were to sit down and analyze my diet, it would almost seem vegetarian. Nutrition is important to me, but I don’t obsess about foods, fats, cholesterol, mercury, carbohydrates, acai (Oprah’s miracle fruit!), corn syrup, tapeworms, sugar, blue and orange fruits, lead in my ancient crockery, or anything else that 90 percent of the people I know worry about.

I read recently that Spam is making a comeback. Is this because times are hard and buying a canned pork product that requires no refrigeration is some people’s idea of a way to save money and feed their families a balanced diet? Or is it a retro return to the foods of our youth that gave us some comfort? Perhaps a little of both. 

What could be better than a summer meal of lobster, corn, and tomatoes? The lobster and corn merely need to be steamed and perhaps buttered generously, the tomatoes sliced and dressed. Couldn’t be simpler.