The Stars are aligned: Long Island Restaurant Week, Earth Day & The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook

I started this post saying it’s been a good week so far and it’s only Tuesday. 

Then so much more happened.

It came in waves.

But rest assured by Friday, it only got better. 

And to put the proverbial cherry on top ¾ or in this case, CherrieS: as in plural, because today heralds two big, celebrations that relate directly to my book: The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook.

Today kicks off Long Island Restaurant Week – the second, follow-up seasonal event after last year’s spring success.

And it’s also Earth Day – with lots of only-in-the-Empire State and Gotham-festivities, to mark the green scene Earth Day New York

Being superstitious, I see this stars aligned in this constellation as a very good sign from the food goddess and Mother Nature…

First up, news is the book will be in the warehouse May 5^th. 

I am told this is when the pre-orders will get the books shipped to them. 

The pre-orders?  

The pre-orders, ahem – are, to my way of thinking, those fabulous, blisteringly, glamorous foodies who have already made the wise decision to get the advance, red carpet treatment for the book.  (These food-forward people were probably first with sustainable food choices and shopping the GreenMarkets, not to mention the first to own a Vitamix!)

The Postcards

I came home to the Gotham apartment on Monday to find a box from my publisher, Quayside Press on the welcome mat.

Welcome indeed!

I eagerly opened the box to discover the best gift ever.

Voyageur Press/Quayside produced the postcards. 

A few weeks ago I worked with Steve, the Quayside marketing genius on the text.

According to Steve, the postcards are to be used for upcoming events and speaking opps. 

They look great! 

The cover of the book is on the front of the card – good coloring and sharp image. 

With the notation: Featuring recipes and profiles of local chefs, restaurants and their gardens.”

I like that.

The back features the title, my name J and the names of the photographers, of course: Lindsay Morris Lindsay does the photography for the award-winning Edible East End Magazine. 

The magazine’s editor Brain Halweil, wrote the Forward for the book.

I am still so impressed. 

The book’s other photographer is Jennifer Calais Smith 

The postcard text is an overview of what the book is about, the list of restaurants and the book’s availability.

It reads:

The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook celebrates the distinctive cuisine of Long Island and the Hamptons.

Brimming with food stories from the region’s best real-food chefs and the growers who inspire their homegrown menus, more than 100 tempting recipes, and stunning photographs of the iconic dishes, authentic & sustainable ingredients, and the majestic land and seascapes that are the romantic hallmarks of the area’s food culture.

 Featuring profiles on Long Island’s best pasture to plate chefs who, with their dedication to connecting to the land, to using locally grown or just-caught & seasonal food, produce menus that boast delicious homegrown flavors. The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown restaurants include:

 18 Bay, 1770 House, Almond, Amarelle Restaurant, The American Hotel, CoolFish, Cuvee Bistro & Bar.

The Frisky Oyster, Grey Horse Tavern, Jedediah Hawkins Inn, Kitchen A Bistro, Kitchen A Trattoria, The Lake House,

The Living Room, Loaves & Fishes, Mitch & Toni's American Bistro. Nick & Toni's, North Fork Table & Inn, Mirabelle Restaurant,

Satur Farms, Scrimshaw, Southfork Kitchen, Starr Boggs, Swallow, Vine Street Cafe

I was so excited after opening the postcard gift that when I answered the door to find my super asking me if I wanted the AC put in (in April, mind you) I thrust a few postcards at him instead. He was genuinely elated and said to put some in the lobby. I put out 10 at a time just to test the waters… Our building is rather small, also. (Oh, and I held off on the air conditioning for now – at least until the calendar is sliding towards Memorial Day, climate change being what it is…)

Lecture at the 92^nd Street Y

The talk I am to give at the 92^nd Street Y was just confirmed too, so the postcards came at a serendipitous time. 

The Y asked me to take up a bunch in time for a Wednesday night related genre event because they wanted to distribute them to the audience there. 

So proud as a peacock, I hopped on the subway to deliver the goods.

I took them to the ticket counter and asked if this is where I should leave them.

The really nice woman behind the counter desk looked at them and said, “Sure. You can leave them here.”

I thanked her and playfully suggested she attend the event (scheduled for May 16^th )and that she buy the book.

Turning the card in her hand, she asked, “Are you the author?”

“Yes,” I replied, feeling like an imposter. 

She must’ve sensed my emotion and declared, “You’ll do great!  Everyone loves to eat!”

A food philosopher right in front of me…

Here is the event at the Y: 92Y How Does a Chef Do Science? The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook with Chefs and their Growers

Now I am working on the Powerpoint presentation and will coordinate with two of the chefs and a grower who will join me and make the lecture sizzle.  We’ll have tastings, naturally…

Amazon

I also got back to creating the Author’s profile page on Amazon that my cousin’s wife, Denine suggested I do.

And be sure to check out her self-published book, Don't Give Up on That Dog!

The book is a charming an heartwarming real-life tale about love and canine loyalty.

My Author’s Central profile got up without too many birthing pangs. Further, the service people at Amazon who are there to help the authors couldn’t be nicer and more helpful and responsive. 

So what if people are afraid they’re taking over the book world.  This is a benign dictatorship!

Here is my Author’s profile:

Leeann Lavin Author Page

Restaurant Week

Do not hurt my feelings -- Do NOT miss Long Island Restaurant Week.  Go for the amazing food.  You will thank me.

Here are my recommendations for the best tasting food on the Island. 

Visit one or two restaurants a day – and you might be able to dine at all 28 featured in the book: The Hamptons and Long Island Homegrown Cookbook.

Restaurant Directory

18 Bay

23 North Ferry Road

Shelter Island, NY  11964

631-749-0053

www.18bayrestaurant.com

1770 House

143 Main Street

East Hampton, NY 11937

631-324-1770

www.1770house.com

Almond

One Ocean Road

Bridgehampton, NY 11932

631-537-5665

www.almondrestaurant.com

Amarelle Restaurant

2028 North Country Rd

Wading River, NY 11792

631-886-2242

www.amarelle.net

The American Hotel

Main Street

Sag Harbor, NY

631-725-3535

www.theamericanhotel.com

Mitch & Toni’s American Bistro

875 Willis Avenue

Albertson, NY 11507

516-741-7940

www.mitchandtonis.com

CoolFish                                  

6800 Jericho Turnpike                             

Syosset, NY 11791                                 

516-921-3250                                                    

www.tomschaudel.com

Cuvée Bistro & Bar, Greenporter Hotel

326 Front Street

Greenport, NY 11944

631-477-0066

www.greenporterhotel.com

East Hampton Grill (formerly Della Femina)

136 North Main Street

East Hampton, NY 11937

631-329-6660

Foody’s

760 Montauk Highway

Water Mill, NY 11976

631-726-food (3663)

Fresno

8 Fresno Place

East Hampton, NY 11937

631-324-8700

www.fresnorestaurant.com

The Frisky Oyster

27 Front Street

Greenport, NY 11944

631-477-4265

www.thefriskyoyster.com

The Grey Horse Tavern

291 Bayport Avenue

Bayport, NY 11705

631-472-1868

www.greyhorsetavern.com

Jedediah Hawkins Inn

400 South Jamesport Avenue

Jamesport, NY 11947

631-772-2900

www.jedediahhawkinsinn.com

Kitchen A Bistro                       

404 N. Country Rd         

St. James, NY 11780      

631-862-151                              

www.kitchenabistro.com

Kitchen A Trattoria

532 North Country Road

St. James, NY 11780

631-584-3518

The Lake House

240 West Main Street

Bayshore, NY 11706

631-666-0995

www.thelakehouserest.com

The Living Room at the Maidstone Hotel

207 Main Street

East Hampton, NY 11937

631-324-5006

www.careofhotels.com/maidstone

Loaves & Fishes

50 Sagg Main Street

Sagaponack, NY 11962

631-537-0555

www.landfcookshop.com

Mirabelle Restaurant

150 Main Street

Stony Brook, New York 11790

631-751-0555

www.threevillageinn.com

Nick & Toni’s

136 North Main Street

East Hampton, NY 11937

631-324-3550

www.nickandtonis.com

North Fork Table & Inn

57225 Main Road

Southold, NY 11971

631-765-0177

www.northforktableandinn.com

OSO Restaurant Southampton Inn

91 Hill Street

Southampton, NY 11968

631-283-1166

www.southamptoninn.com

Satur Farms

3705 Allvah’s Lane

Cutchogue, NY 11935

631-734-4219

www.saturfarms.com

Scrimshaw

102 Main Street

Greenport, NY 11944

631-477-8882

www.scrimshawrestaurant.com

Southfork Kitchen

203 Sag Harbor Turnpike

Bridgehampton, NY 11932

631-537-4700

www.southforkkitchen.com

Starr Boggs

6 Parlato Drive

Westhampton, NY 11978

631-288-3500

www.starrboggs.com

Swallow Restaurant

366 New York Avenue

Huntington, NY 

631-547-5388

www.swallowrestaurant.com

Vine Street Café

41 South Ferry Road

Shelter Island, NY 11964

631-749-3210

www.vinestreetcafe.com

Exploring the bond between Chefs and their Growers

When this time last year, my book, The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook doubled in size, I felt more than determined to single out those chefs -- and the growers who inspire them – who are the thought leaders and “hustlers” for sustainability and local ingredients, to add to the outstanding roster I worked so painstakingly to realize  -- for what was soon to be the “first phase” of the book.

The challenge was finding those chefs and growers now in the less, how shall we say, less celebrated areas of Long Island. Unlike Manhattan – or other big, bright lights/big city locales, along with the Hamptons where, where there was more of the whisperings of the burgeoning food movement’s pursuit of locally-grown and made foodstuffs.

When I started the book concept in 2003, there were far too few of the master chefs who set their teeth on this farm and fine to table approach to the culinary arts. 

For that matter, there are still far too few…

Even in 2007 and ‘08 when I began the interviews, I needed to really hunt and dig and search for potential chef candidates.  Bear in mind there were no online foodie blogs to speak of, nor newsletters lauding the locavores.

Even in Food Heaven, aka New York City.

My list for Gotham began to grow with the chefs who worked quietly and passionately to build and expand the Greenmarkets and fish markets and coordinate resources and deliveries from upstate food sheds.

Michael Anthony: Gramercy Tavern, Peter Hoffman: Savoy and Back Forty, Marc Meyer:  Cookshop and Five Points; Mario Batali: Babbo and Del Posto and...); and Dan Barber, Blue Hill, were on the premiere list of New York City-based master chefs – and who will be featured in the-next in-the-queue Homegrown book.

At that time, very few, if any, chefs had public relations staff.  After researching and searching the internet and news stories and farmers markets, I called the chefs and restaurants straight away.  Sometimes I needed persistence, and other times I needed to cajole in order to convince the chefs of the importance of their leadership and culinary work.  In my experience, most of the Homegrown chefs are quite humble – usually not aware of their impact, as they are so busy crediting and nurturing the growers who inspire them, not to mention their kitchen and restaurant staffs.

I did the interviews live, in the restaurants, with the chefs, recording and writing madly in my notebook, altogether awed to in the presence of such talent and determined drive.

I was extremely honored to have been the first one to interview master chef Dan Barber the day after he was named the James Beard award winner for Best Chef in America.  I was scooting over from the apartment on Fifth Avenue and chef Dan was texting he’d be a bit late

No worries for me, I assured him. 

New York is like that.  Flex time on steroids.

We do so much, and schedules collide.

I got to Blue Hill restaurant and stepping down into the cool dimmed, dining room, noticed the abundant floral arrangements adorning the bar top like a special events tablescape.  It was like the Frank Sinatra ballad, “One for my baby and One for the Road in that the only folks in the place were me, the man cleaning the floor and the woman quietly making order of the phone and operations.   Not long after, she let me know that chef Dan would be arriving soon; he was on the way.  She somewhat conspiratorially shared that he was a tad late because of last night.  Hmmm.  “He won the James Beard award.”  What?? I picked up the NY Times Dining section that I had saved to savor later. (I learned my lesson – I read this Wednesday feature section first, and now I read on Twitter the night before!”)

Soon enough, Dan arrived for the interview.  And you know what, he was so humble; he never even brought up a word about the James Beard award! Why didn’t I?

This remarkable attitude and view toward what it is to be an executive chef and restaurant owner was an inspiring love-at-first-talk/old school manners and humility. 

The fact that these early leaders’ vision was new and filled a need for good locally grown and raised food, in fact, launched an era of inspired attention and passion surrounding food security, and quality and farmer and school children welfare and taste for real honest-to-goodness, homegrown food.

It felt like a tsunami of forces coalescing.

It was exhilarating. To be on the cusp of culinary discovery.

Suddenly it seemed, there were glamorous culinary benefits to raise monies for the greenmarkets, the farmers and the school gardens.

Camera crews were peeking out at the Greenmarket almost as much as the new green shoots were.

TV shows took Julia Child’s on-camera cooking t o new heights of more than cooking. 

Now, cooking shows sprouted up like, well, mushrooms.  Watching chefs cook and compete was a national pastime – not unlike sports.  Top Chef, Master Chefs, Celebrity Chefs – chefs were now rock stars.

There was a palpable thrill.  And I could not wait to showcase and help tell their stories.

It was after completing the nearly 20 NYC-based chef interviews, when I was asked by editor to add in the master chefs of the Hamptons, I thought,

“Why not?"

I soon found myself researching the best of the best on the East End of Long Island and was delighted to discover the half a dozen or so chefs I needed to complete the NYC book.

I learned the Hampton Jitney schedule and the hocus pocus of seeming to wait on otherwise unheralded Manhattan street corners, armed with only what appeared to me as a secret mob-inspired direction like: “Meet up at the corner of Lexington and 38^th “ or Third and 47^th” 

It was a perfectly wonderful way to journey to the land of sea and farms and celebrities though.  And once in Sag Harbor, I landed right across the street from the most charming lodging, recommend to me by Peter Garnham, writer and farmer extraordinaire and my soon-to-be British-born sherpa of all things Hamptons – and a fellow oyster-lover to boot.

The American Hotel was someplace out of Central Casting and it was perfect for me.  The staff there made me feel like I was home from day one.

I’ve written before about how well appointed the place is – like something out of a Ralph Lauren ad.

After greetings and getting the lay of the land there, I quickly unpacked my things, loving the armoire and the big bed and desk – all too perfect for a writer I thought. 

I made my way back downstairs for a dining room lunch – with my Mac – in order to continue writing – and whom do I spot right off the bat?  Billy Joel.

Yes, this is going to my kind of place, I smiled.

I decided that to really appreciate the experience of being there, “in the Hamptons” I would rent a bike to get to my interview appointments, rather than drive around.  This way I could see the landscape, the gardens and the architecture.

I didn’t know until chef Joe Realmuto quizzically (or astoundingly) watched me disembark from the bike at East Hampton’s Nick & Toni’s restaurant and farm out back, and hearing him say, “Did you ride your bike here from Sag Harbor?” that I had the surest feeling that this is not the norm.

“Yes,” I replied.  “Is that crazy?” I added for assurance.  “Well, kinda” he offered.

I was already a bit late, having mis-judged the travel time on bike (I had gotten a bit turned round the day before when chef Michael Rozzi fortuitously happened to be driving with his wife not too far away and he came and picked me up – bike in tow in the back of the SUV for our appointed interview at the Della Femina restaurant.

My next bike trip for the interviews was to the North Fork – via two ferries – to Satur Farms…

Next up:  the adventure trip to North Shore on the bicycle.

The Prequel Update for The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook

Today is Groundhog Day 2012.  In too many ways, writing and producing The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook has felt like more than a passing resemblance to the movie, “Groundhog Day” and its always-present/never-ending storyline.

So it seems more than fitting to pick up the thread of the book’s storyline…

You see, last year at just about this exact time, I was getting ready to hit the “send” button on the final Author’s Edits for the book, when I received an email and call from my editor to hold on.  Management wanted to double the size of the book! 

While exciting to get to meet a dozen more master chefs and the artisanal growers who inspire them, I was understandably nervous and concerned about yet another year going by without being published. 

Long story short: the book started in 2003.  There were some key twists and turns that is a book in and of itself and I have written about those hurdles, including the migration from New York City focus with Hamptons inclusion to Hamptons & Long Island feature, to hard drive crash…   All overcome and the book is stronger for it.

Nevertheless, the gauntlet was thrown down.  Last year this time I was given about a three-month deadline to identify, secure interviews, and write the profiles for a dozen more chefs and growers. That’s roughly 24 feature profiles.  Not counting husband and wife teams. 

And then there is all the scheduling.  Chefs are waayy too busy, as are farmers and fisherman…

But there was no way I wasn’t going to do it and complete the book.

I had come so far.

Not to be overlooked, I also felt such a strong obligation to honor those chefs and growers that I had already completed and who were just as eagerly anticipating the book as I was.

So I was back to the starting gate.

After rigorous, intense research, it wasn’t long before I had selected the additional master chefs I wanted.

I was also keen to open up the growers to include not just vegetable growers to include honey farmers, duck farmers, oyster growers, and wine makers.  Excellent variety that added great stories and a compelling compliment.

Soon I was back out on the Island for photography sessions and interviews. 

I have to share one of my earliest images of getting ready to hit the road after taking the jitney from Manhattan. 
Waiting for the rental car, I was more than a bit surprised to see men with guns outside the window.  

Wow.  All I could think was, we’re not in Gotham anymore, Dorothy!

Andrews Family Farm, Riverhead, chef Lia Fallon's inspired grower

But the book’s photographer and I are intrepid foodies with lots of fascinating chefs and growers to meet – so off we go.  Out onto the bucolic roads lined with farms and vineyards and waterways that is Long Island….  

Shelter Island 18 Bay Chefs Elizabeth & Adam with Karen Lee,  Sang Lee Farms 

 

Long Island vineyard

It's Official

“It’s official.” 

I started this entry almost two months ago.

 

I got my damaged, useless, hard drive returned from the second of the companies who bill themselves as experts in retrieving information from damaged hard drives. 

It's official.  It is dead.  Nothing more they could do.

I feel so betrayed, by data doctors, the first company who sweet-talked me all the way through a month, my account rep Kelly cooing and reassuring me that “It looks good, they are sending out for more equipment.”  And “Looks good, starting testing.”

And so on. 

Just like someone nervously waiting and clinging to every word the doctor administers to the attendant family members while their loved one lays in the recovery room, I am fearful and at the same time, understandably hopeful. 

I hear “Looking good” as the constant refrain.  I hang on those words. That’s not surprising is it?

This goes on until I get a call on my mobile a hot afternoon in late July.  I recognize the Arizona area code by now. I’m driving so I pull over, foreboding.  When I hear a man on the other end, rather than my soothing Kelly, I know it is bad.  I should’ve hung up.

This new persona informs me there is nothing more they can do.  Dead. Morte. 

I say I can’t believe it.  Where’s Kelly?  Thinking she might be my rabbit’s foot, I resort to the known, the familiar.  This pronouncement of finality is more than I can manage. 

I refuse to believe there is nothing that can be done.  “What if there were state secrets on there? Or the cure for cancer?”  I had invented a litany of “what if “scenarios that could be most catastrophic and momentous to the world unless retrieved. 

To me, nothing was more important to me than my book.  And my pictures. 

But I was trying to appear more concerned with the welfare of the world and how a situation I describe could indeed happen and they just needed to take measures now to save the world.

Reality like this crash never really settles in. I had to ignore the “Why me?” explorations and blaming myself and wanting to turn back the hands of time…

I had already started to rewrite the chef’s profiles for the book, “Homegrown Long Island.”

I couldn’t let this disaster get in the way of publishing the book.

I owed it to the noble chefs, their farmers and gardeners and fishermen and herders and dairymen. 

And to my family and friends.  To my garden design clients. 

So many people had supported me throughout the process of the concept – securing the first publisher in 2002, getting the green light from Voyageur in 2008, the contract in 2009, the selection of New York City and Garden State and Hampton chefs in 2009 and 2010, and the change in direction or switch to expand the Hampton and to make the first book focus on Long Island. And to make the book about the New York City chefs, that was such a completed work by last November when the change was made, the second book. 

I’d come so far. I couldn’t let this crash derail the integrity of the project.

I had to complete the chef’s profiles for the book.

As I said, we did try another data recovery company and while they read to me from the same soothing script about doing the “testing,” “looking good,” blah, blah… I knew better than to be lulled.  While we had to try – figuring it is always necessary to secure the second opinion before declaring it terminal– it was useless. I knew. Dead is dead. 

(When this is all over, I swear I want to work with some techies to develop some way there can be a gas gauge kind of meter to alert the user that the hard drive is heading for the cemetery.  There must be a way.) 

Immediately, I had started writing from the very beginning.

Meanwhile, almost a month had passed since disaster struck. 

My wonderful, kind editor gave me an extension to September 15^th.

 

I had 15 chefs to write about. 

The profiles offer an intimate look into what makes these sterling chefs the leaders of the local food movement.  And such outstanding cooks. 

The profiles chronicle how they doggedly got to the elevated, joyful, frustrating and rewarding position they are in today.  How they give back to their communities.  How they nurture and develop local food sources to meet their exacting standards. How they respect their terroir and their food relationships.  And oh, how they can combine ingredients to create such amazing, over the top culinary art. 

It was a very tall order to honor them.  Even with a lot more time to do it.  Now I had to crunch.

In terms of writing the profile, it is a four-step process for me.

From the notes I took for every chef interview I write the profile overview – a more fully- fleshed out outline, if you will. 

Next, I add to the overview draft from the digital recordings I made during the interview.  Whether on the phone or in person, the recordings help me capture the nuance that is part of a shared conversation. 

Plus my handwriting is so bad and I get so swept up in the interview that oftentimes when I return to the notes, I have to ask myself, “What does that say?” 

It’s a little like putting together a puzzle.  More so for step three, which is putting the text into some kind of order that makes sense – chronologically, mainly.

Then I have to think. Dream.  What makes this chef and his or her vision so unique?  Why are they leaders in the fork to table or fin to table movement? 

They offered me a very personal look into their culinary art -- what compels them to create delicious food that is full of local flavors – and to want to share their gastronomic alchemy.

The profile narrative has to be sweet to read.  So interesting for the reader to want to learn more about each chef and their unique story.

Then I write.

And write and write. 

It wasn’t always pretty… The process was filled with more drama and not a few frustrations.  I am hoping I will look back at the time and laugh.

It’s too raw to laugh yet….

It's Official also, that I can report the Manuscript is complete! 

I prevailed.  With help from family – mainly my talented, academy-award winning cousin Maryann who read through the profiles, offering input and support on the individual narratives, I made the September 15^th manuscript deadline!  (Those email exchanges could be a book unto itself – the give and take and learning on both sides...) 

The profiles are now in the hands of the chefs for them to fact check. 

I am now rendering the gardens and farms into the watercolor art for the book and securing the plant lists and the four recipes from each chef.

Getting the manuscript written in time for the deadline was a huge, seemingly impossible task given the amount of time, or lack thereof, the work that had to be done for the extended photography sessions where we photograph the chef in their inspired garden or farm with their farmer or gardener friend, in the kitchen cooking, and of the plated food. 

And a myriad of other issues and things to tend to in this, the hottest summer on record in the northeast.

Now that the manuscript is completed, I can take the time to chronicle the making of the book. 

It’s been more than an adventure, I can assure you! 

So now I can start the Prequel.