Fans and readers of The
Hamptons & Long Island Restaurant Homegrown Cookbook – described by Long Island Newsday as my “love letter” to the best Long Island Restaurants and the growers and artisanal
food makers that inspire them, know that the bi-annual Long Island Restaurant week
is akin to gilding the lily.
This fall’s campaign is slated to offer more than 250
restaurants that will participate in the week-long food fantasy, scheduled from
Sunday, November 3 through Sunday, November 11.
The participating restaurants offer a three-course prix fixe
for $27.95 every night except Saturday when the special menu if offered until
7pm.
The menus off a minimum of three appetizers, entrees, and
desserts. Many offer more variety and
choice to showcase their culinary talent and the bounty of Long Island, which
is New York State’s most productive farming region.
Plus, the award-winning, incomparable vineyards that dot the
East End of Long Island, offer wines and spirits that celebrate the terroir and
complement the sweet and savory flavors teased from the homegrown ingredients
by the magic of the Island’s culinary artists.
Dare you to resist the elixir of Long Island oysters and Paumanok
Vineyard’s Chenin Blanc….
The waters of Long Island too offer their seasonal gifts of
stripers, bass and blues not to mention, Peconic Bay’s own oysters: Peconic
Pearls – as featured in The Homegrown
Cookbook and raised by Karen Rivera and her Noank Aquaculture Cooperative
team.
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| Oyster farmer, Karen Rivera, & her Peconic Pearls |
With only eight days and more than 250 restaurants to choose
from, Long Island foodie fans need to get eating and drinking!
Here are my recommendations – a roadmap -- to the
best places to dine during Long Island Restaurant Week:
Jewel Restaurant
– Chef Tom Schaudel’s menus are exciting and delicious. Jewel offers new American cuisine. 631-755-5777
Double your pleasure: Jewel, in Melville, is also the site
for this week’s Edible Long Island magazine launch on November 6th No surprise, Chef Tom Jewel was a sterling showcase for last evening's salute to Edible Long Island Magazine and the food and drink professionals who grace the pages -- and the landscape that marks the Island's devotion to food.
Chef Tom served up pure and elegant local oysters -- with a mango-as-cavier and coconut and cilantro topping. It was crisp, cold and a refreshing, reverential salute to bi-valves that I -- oyster lover supreme - had never tasted before. Smashing success!
Here’s the link to the event last evening: http://www.ediblelongisland.com/events/
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| Jewel Restaurant's Chef Tom Schaudel |
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| Rock Star Chef Tom Schaudel, serving oyster magic @EdibleLongIsland |
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| Master Chef Guy Reuge, Mirabelle and his wife/partner, Maria, served delicious, delicate Long Island duck @EdibleLI launch party |
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| Everything goes better with bacon! Dickens Cider |
Not to be left out, the other restaurants in Chef Tom’s
portfolio of spectacular eateries will participate in Long Island Restaurant
Week, too: A Mano in Mattituck, and CoolFish in Syosset.
And pssst, I heard it from the master
chef himself, he will soon be opening a sushi-inspired restaurant within Jewel: "Bijoux" was the be-jeweled moniker being floated. It fits.
Kitchen A Bistro
– St. James 631-862-0151. Chef Eric
Lomando expanding restaurant empire began here with his dedication to quality
and a benchmark for excellence that wins awards, stars and homegrown
loyalty. Chef Eric’s father in law, Bill
Pisano, tends to the kitchen’s garden steps from the kitchen so field to fork
couldn’t be shorter.
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| Chef Eric Lomando, grower Bill Pisano |
Kitchen A Trattoria
– St. James 631-584-3518. Up until
today, Chef Eric owned this restaurant too but just signed off on passing the
toque to his long-time chef associate, Steven Gallagher. Prior to working for Chef Eric and his
restaurants he worked at another featured Homegrown Long Island Cookbook star:
Chef Starr Boggs! In Westhampton. Kitchen A Trattoria serves up informed Italian
fair and local ingredients.
Mirabelle – Stony
Brook 631-751-0555 Chef Guy Reuge is the grand master of Long Island dining. His
tradition of excellence has inspired generations of chefs and food enthusiasts.
Don’t miss a chance to sample fine dining as it was dreamed to be. Every dish is a culinary wonder lovingly
prepared. Many of the ingredients are selected from Chef’s potager located right
off the kitchen. And Chef Guy’s wife,
Maria, creates a warm and exquisite dining ambiance.
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| Master Chef Guy Reuge selecting greens from Mirabelle potager |
Almond Restaurant
– Bridgehampton. Chef
Jason Weiner menu is creative, seasonal and local. And in another lucky-strike twofer – Almond will
host a special evening, Thursday, November 14th.
Wine makers Kareem
Massoud and Christopher Tracy will be on hand to pour, and Brian Halweil, co-publisher
and editor of a portfolio of Edible Magazines:
Edible East End, Long Island, Manhattan and Brooklyn -- will talk about
the East End's rich duck farming history and culture.
Halweil wrote the
Foreword for the Homegrown Long Island
Cookbook.
Yet another link to
the Homegrown Long Island Cookbook food network is Paumanok Vineyard’s Massoud.
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| Paumanok Vineyards |
The esteemed vintner and his Aquebogue family vineyard is a featured
grower in the Homegrown Cookbook -- selected by Chef Tom Schaudel as his Homegrown
culinary inspiration.
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| Paumanok Vineyard Vintner, Kareem Moussad & Chef Tom Schaulel |
Further, Doug Corwin’s
Crescent Duck Farm is featured in
the Homegrown Cookbook, noted as the North Fork’s Scrimshaw’s owner and chef
Rosa Ross’s Homegrown inspiration.
Corwin and his family have been breeding and harvesting delicious,
world-class Pekin Long Island duck for generations.
Mitch & Toni’s
– Albertson. 516-741-7940 A Long Island
native, Chef Mitch SuDock’s menu is revered for its mix of classic dishes with
inspired twists and flavors using local, seasonal ingredients. Toni’s welcome
and homegrown-inducing charm is the reason diners can’t resist frequent visits
to their American Bistro.
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| Chef Mitch SuDock, Mitch & Toni's American Bistro |
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| Chef Mitch selects local ingredients: at the farm or farmers markets |
Fresno – East
Hampton. 631-324-8700 Chef Gretchen Menser is a true artist at
heart. Her devotion to the bounty of local farms, artisanal food makers and her
restaurant’s own garden narrates her good-food story and the “kaleidoscope of
homegrown recipes” she serves up with
tempting, never-tried before flavors.
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| Chef Gretchen Menser, Fresno Restaurant |
Jedediah Hawkins Inn
– Jamesport 631-772-2900
The Living Room
at the Maidstone – East Hampton 631-324-5006
A Mano Osteria
and Wine Bark – Mattituck 631-298-4800
Bistro72 at Hotel
Indigo – Riverhead 631-369-3325
Fresh Hamptons –
Bridgehampton 6310537-4700
Noah’s – Greenport,
631-477-6720
For tickets to Long Island Restaurant Week: http://longislandrestaurantweek.com/nassau.php
631-329-2111
