Food

   As Valentine’s Day is a holiday that gets even the most stalwart homebodies out for a meal, here is the scoop on some places where diners can celebrate.

    In Montauk, Manucci’s, which specializes in seafood as well as Italian cuisine, will offer a special Valentine’s Day menu. Items from the regular menu will also be available. Dinner is served nightly at Manucci’s beginning at 5 p.m. Reservations have been suggested.

Oyster Prelude

“If this combination doesn’t fire up the love engine, I don’t know what will.” Woo hoo! Just let it cool down first.

Valentine’s Day is coming and perhaps you have been planning a special meal for that certain someone. We tend to think of Valentine’s meals as an indulgence, perhaps an elaborate recipe, some expensive and rich ingredients, all topped off with a gooey, chocolaty dessert. Ca­vi­ar, champagne, steak with béarnaise sauce, oof!

   I am going to just say it, even though I may be labeled un-American: Super Bowl Sunday is as much about the food as it is the football.

    One of the great pleasures of working in the restaurant industry and writing about food is getting to know our local chefs. And when you get to know the chefs, sometimes you can get recipes from them. If you’re really lucky, you may get some of their signature recipes or favorite dishes to cook at home.

A “Barefoot Contessa” episode that aired on the Food Network on Monday featured cheeses selected by Ina Garten at the Lucy’s Whey cheese shop here in East Hampton. Ms. Garten was putting together an “all-American cheese plate.”

    The shop will be closed for a winter break during February and March. Tomorrow through Sunday, all jams, chutneys, honeys, and crackers will be 15 percent off. During the East Hampton store’s hiatus, items can be ordered from Lucy’s Whey online, or purchased at the shop’s New York City location at the Chelsea Market.

Cooking Demo

   My editor, Jennifer, recently turned me on to an awesome Web site called HauteLiving.com. The reason being they featured a little article called “Top 5 Power Lunches in the Hamptons.” Power lunches in the Hamptons? In January? Who does that?

    The Fair Foods market continues on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Sag Harbor through May, at the Bay Burger building on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike.

    Among the vendors that gather there are Anke’s Fit Bakery, Goodale Farms, Greek Sweets, A Taste of the North Fork, Harbor Small Batch, the Mecox Bay Dairy, Regina’s Farm Stand, and Wolffer Estate Winery.

East End Chefs Program

    This is the time of year when soups are on my mind. And my stove. On a recent trip to High Falls, N.Y., to visit our friend Nancy at her bed-and-breakfast, she prepared a ribollita. It was so delicious we had it two days in a row and I begged her for the recipe. I have made it twice since then.

    Hilary Herrick Woodward will demonstrate vegan versions of some favorite dishes at the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton on Wednesday at noon. The program is free, but reservations are required. They can be made by calling the library or online at myrml.org

Carnivores’ Night

    Steak night is Wednesday at both Michael’s restaurant at Maidstone Park, where a full steak dinner is $21.95, and at Cittanuova in “downtown” East Hampton, where diners can choose one of three ways to have their New York strip steak prepared, for a $19 prix fixe.

Cafe Max

Do you think of New Year’s Eve as a time to reflect on the past year, make resolutions to improve your life and the lives of others, or as an excuse to be as debauched as possible, drink too much, stay up late, and make a fool of yourself? Yeah, me too.

    How can you not love a place called the Corner Bar that has an address of 1 Main Street? So American, so Americana. Throw in a primo view of passing citizens, the windmill, and Long Wharf and you’ve got Norman Rockwell and Edward Hopper all wrapped up into one cool bar.

    The Corner Bar is charming and cheap, cozy and lively all at the same time. That is what I had to remind myself of when we went out for our review: It is a bar, not a restaurant.

For the Holidays

    Stuart’s Seafood in Amagansett has the makings of the traditional Italian Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes: all kinds of seafood, including bacalao, eels, smelt, sole, calamari, scallops, and clams.

    Nick and Toni’s in East Hampton will be closed on Christmas day, but will serve dinner beginning at 6 p.m. from Tuesday through New Year’s Day.

    Driving back and forth on County Road 39 in Southampton recently I noticed that Meson Ole was gone, and in its place is a big sign announcing the arrival of Greek Bites Grill.

    There is a Greek Bites Grill in Moriches. It is a casual, gyro and souvlaki-on-a-stick kind of place. The Greek Bites Grill in Southampton is its white-tablecloth cousin. And what a lovely cousin it is! And who better to go with than my friend Spyros, who knows his way around a Greek menu.

For Hanukkah

    Charlotte Sasso at Stuart’s Seafood in Amagansett will be making latkes and applesauce next week for Hanukkah. Those interested have been asked to call ahead to reserve their holiday goodies.

Christmas Eve

    With December flying by, it’s time to make reservations for Christmas Eve dinner, if your tradition is to have a holiday meal at a restaurant. Among the choices is Nick and Toni’s in East Hampton, which will offer a la carte specials beginning at 6 p.m. on

    Bread by Nightowl Baker, a Montauk business that creates wild-yeasted, triple-fermented, extra-tangy sourdough bread, will be available throughout the winter at White’s Liquor Store on Montauk’s Main Street, on Fridays through Sundays. Bread deliveries can also be arranged through the Web site nightowlbaker.com.

Winter Market

    Homemade food gifts for the holidays are thoughtful, economical, and original. I love making them and receiving them. They can be as elaborate as fruitcakes, stollens, and babkas or as simple as spiced nuts and infused vinegars. No offense to Williams-Sonoma, but why spend a fortune on store-bought seasonal peppermint bark when you can make your own in literally about 10 minutes for a quarter of the price? Get your children involved in simple baking and decorating the gift boxes.

Growing up, I was lucky to live close to the Chesapeake Bay. This meant an abundance of blue crabs and bay scallops.

    It’s a good bet that a lot of foodies are in their element today, having prepared a groaning board full of delicious Thanksgiving dishes. On a holiday that’s not just about food, but also gratitude, let’s hope that those with a lot have made an effort to help those without, by donating to our local food pantries so that everyone is enjoying a Thanksgiving meal today.

Learn, For Free

Teaching cooking is both fun and challenging. I have led large groups of adults through five-hour classes with labor-intensive recipes. I have taught young children beginner knife skills and how to use a blowtorch.

    East Hampton Gourmet Food, in the back of 66 Newtown Lane, has occupied the same space for the past 17 years, although its first incarnation was as a wholesale shop, specializing in baking for Dean & DeLuca’s and Balducci’s.

    “When Ina [Garten of the Barefoot Contessa] closed the shop in East Hampton, we saw it as a nice opportunity to open our doors,” said Kate Pratt, the shop’s co-owner with Michel Mazuret.

    At Food and Co. in East Hampton, Pasquale Langella, who prepared his Italian cuisine, including homemade mozzarella, there, has departed, but the takeout shop is still serving pizzas and Tuscan-inspired prepared foods. Items include organic chickens roasted on a wood fire and local vegetable dishes, including a layered eggplant parmesan. The shop has new hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday through Sunday. It is closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Taste, Wine, and Dine

Even when dark falls early and the wind off “the End” can make a visit to Montauk feel forbidding, there are still lots of reasons to head east — the Shagwong among them.

Let us begin “Paris Part Deux” with one of the more magnificent and elaborate meals I had the pleasure of indulging in. Chez l’Ami Jean is a restaurant that Tommy and Mike had been sending guests to for years, but had yet to try themselves. Everyone would come back raving about this tiny, bustling, and rustic spot.

Spring Close restaurant in East Hampton has some new additions to draw visitors to its dining tables and hospitable bar. A pub menu has been added, as well as a new lunch menu and new items on the dinner menu. The wood-fired oven is being put to use every day to make thin-crust pizzas. Running the kitchen now at Spring Close is Justin Hoke, a graduate of the New York Institute of Technology Culinary School, who worked at Le Bec Fin, a five-star restaurant in Philadelphia.

    Green mustard, pink-flecked cakes, squid-inky-black quenelles, and oysters and crabs and scallops overflowing from sidewalk vendors. These are just a few of the sights and tastes that thrill a gourmand’s heart.

    The news for local foodies this week includes notices about restaurants one can cross off the list, either seasonally or permanently.

    Rugosa restaurant in East Hampton closed up shop for good as of last weekend. In Montauk, Dave’s Grill ended its 2011 season, and, on Napeague, the Lobster Roll will serve its final plates of seafood for this year on Sunday.

Cape Cod Scallops

    Scallop lovers can tide themselves over until local scallops are in by stopping at Stuart’s Seafood Market in Amagansett, which for now has Cape Cod scallops.

    A brunch at Nick and Toni’s restaurant in East Hampton on Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. will raise money to help Allyson Wald, a local resident who recently suffered a brain injury after having a heart attack. Tickets are $100 each and will include passed hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and a performance by Tom Postilio, a singer. They can be purchased by calling the Salon at Amagansett Square. Donations are being accepted as well, including checks or items that may be raffled or auctioned off.

Red Wine, Dark Chocolate