The Magazine: Low Summer 2010
GRIST FOR THE MILL: Letter from the Editor
Eating and drinking in season, I suppose, is partly about living in the moment. But it’s an uncommon bayman who doesn’t dream about the next tide’s haul, a rare home cook who doesn’t fantasize about her next meal, an unusual winemaker who doesn’t hypothesize about the coming vintage. So please grant me this indulgence to [...]
Aftertaste:
AFTERTASTE: Not Your Ordinary Cup of Tea
Hankering for a break from the wine circuit? Check out Plain T, a wholesale-and slowly emerging retail-tea purveyor on Powell Avenue in Southampton. Housed in a renovated ice factory, Plain T offers a welcome respite from the sweltering heat: soothing burnedout senses with a calm, white-washed chilly interior, tasteful rustic wood furnishings, dangling glass mobiles [...]
Artisans:
ARTISANS: Sunshine for the Soul
A South Fork florist depends on a North Fork connection. SAG HARBOR – One loyal customer told Anastasia Casale, the owner of Sag Harbor Florist, that when she dies she wants her ashes spread around the florist’s shop. “A temple for the senses is what I like to call it,” Casale says. Casale is petite [...]
Cult of Taste:
CULT OF TASTE: For the Love of Wine
A powerhouse purveyor of vino continues to evolve. AMAGANSETT-The Trophy Room, the inner sanctum at Amagansett Wine & Liquor, seems inherently correct, an inevitable development in the life and restless entrepreneurial career of Michael Cinque. This store within a store carved out of former storage space in 2004, this recherché territory, stocks rare and precious [...]
Obsessions:
OBSESSIONS: Antique Power
The folks who tinker with old farm machines. It is a beautiful summer afternoon in mid-July, breezy, not humid, with clear blue skies and a comfortable heat. I am watching tractors pulling stacks of concrete blocks along a mud-dirt path. Held annually at the Hallockville Farm Museum in Riverhead, the Long Island Antique Power Association’s [...]
Indigenous Industry:
INDIGENOUS INDUSTRY: The Island’s Fish Monger
A pioneering Cutchogue family probably supplied the seafood on your plate. When you drive east on the North Fork’s Main Road, just past the center of Cutchogue village, look south as you round the corner after the Methodist church. Behind a tidy white farmhouse, you’ll see several picnic tables scattered on a shady lawn, and [...]
Worth the Trip:
WORTH THE TRIP: The Ingredients Shepherd of Quogue
A transplanted couple has been impressing diners—nonstop—for 14 years. EAST QUOGUE-On a busy Saturday night in May, Christian Mir presides over a kitchen staff of nine at Stone Creek Inn in East Quogue. In preparation for service, the sous-chef, Daniel Kennedy, pipes scallop mousse into zucchini flowers. They will later be sautéed and set atop [...]
On the Vine:
ON THE VINE: Tickled Pink
A happy bunch of Long Island wineries quench a voracious thirst for rosé. Near the base of Long Island’s fork, we drive along Route 25 and pull into the lot of Paumanok. It’s one week before Easter and there’s a chill in the air, but we’re dressed in down. From the lot, we can see [...]
Back of the House:
BACK OF THE HOUSE: Prodigal Chef
A Riverhead native returns. JAMESPORT-Plates of hors d’oeuvres whirl by me. Pastramicured local bluefish, plump smoked mussels skewered on sprigs of flowering lavender, Lummi Island wild salmon, and vegetable rolls decked with delicate Sang Lee early greens. Evan, the bartender, pours his pick, Paumanok’s crisp chenin blanc. The early evening sun slants through the tall [...]
Department of Wellness:
DEPARTMENT OF WELLNESS: The Patron of Plants
In East Hampton, a recovering dieter helps others eat right. In the late ’90s, Doug Mercer abruptly learned of the downside of one of the country’s most popular diets. “I’d been on the Atkins diet two or three years, when my urologist phoned and said, Doug, you have an Atkins stone!” using Columbia Presbyterian’s pet [...]
DIY:
DIY: Probiotics by the Glass
My romance with kefir. I guess you could say we are foster parents. Late last year, my husband came down with a head cold, and, as a result, we became responsible for the care and nurture of Norman and Yelena, two somewhat curdy, somewhat gelatinous life-forms that spend most of their time in Mason jars [...]
Visual Victuals:
VISUAL VICTUALS: The Latham Garden
I have been acquainted with Steve Latham over the years; we have children in the same class. A couple of years ago, I worked parttime with his wife, Jorie, and became familiar with the fact that there was an abundant, well-loved garden on the side of their house in East Hampton. In the late winter [...]
On Good Land:
ON GOOD LAND: No CSA Is an Island
Reflections on a farm’s first year feeding its neighbors. SHELTER ISLAND-When last we saw Bennett Konesni, he was singing a lullaby to a large sheep nestled in his arms (Edible East End, Low Summer 2008). Since then, he has been able to feed other lambs: Shelter Islanders who agreed to pay an annual fee in [...]
Peconic Forager:
PECONIC FORAGER: Crabbing on Georgica Pond
What some savory swimmers tell us about the luxe lagoon. EAST HAMPTON-It was a perfect day last November. Kevin Miller, L. J. and I headed to Georgica Pond to catch the last blue crabs of the season on the clearest of fall days. “We’ll be lucky to get enough for dinner,” says Miller, aka Apey. [...]
Seaworthy:
SEAWORTHY: Reporting Live from the Gulf
Explosion. Deaths. Slicks. Disaster. Closed fisheries. Shrimp boats grounded. Birds covered in crude. It probably dawns on you pretty quickly that we’re talking about the Gulf of Mexico and the catastrophic oil blow out that is still ongoing as of the first week in June. Once that realization is made there may be an exhale, [...]
Winemaker's Wonderings:
A WINEMAKER’S WANDERINGS: All the World’s a Stage
Allison, the general manager of Channing Daughters, my wife and my partner in past theatrical pursuits, likes to say, “The curtain goes up when you turn into the winery driveway.” Indeed the long dramatic path through the sea of vines is bucolic and magical-an everyday reminder of the dramatic life of the winegrower and wine [...]
Behind the Bottle:
BEHIND THE BOTTLE: Sparkling Pointe 2004 Blanc de Blanc
The upstairs room at the Sparkling Pointe winery in Southold is called the Bubble Room. A bubble-like chandelier hangs from the high ceiling. Bubble-like tile surrounds the bar. And only one type of wine is served-bubbly. “It wasn’t even our idea,” says Tom Rosicki, about producing nothing but sparkling wine. He and his wife, Cynthia, [...]
Melting Pot:
MELTING POT: Pupusas on the North Fork
How a sublime Central American dish landed on Long Island. I never thought I would discover the national dish of El Salvador on the North Fork of Long Island. But all hail the pupusa, a delicacy now available in two small restaurants (and in Latino home kitchens) east of Riverhead. Related to the taco, the [...]
Farmgirl Angst:
FARMGIRL ANGST: Control Issues
This past winter I went to a farmers’ convention and attended a few sessions on high tunnels. When a member of the audience said, “I can sleep at night.” I was sold. I marched into the trade show, found the sales rep and wrote a check. What I invested in is a hoop house tall [...]
Notable Edibles:
NOTABLE EDIBLES: Know Thy Farmstand (And What They Have Now)
It starts slowly in May with asparagus. Come June, local fruit and vegetable fans are just starting to whet their appetites. Strawberries can show up the end of May, but by Father’s Day, they are in full swing. June also provides the East End-weather willing-with shell peas, green zucchini and string beans. Lettuces also start [...]
Notable Edibles:
NOTABLE EDIBLES: Get Your Goat
She almost didn’t make the drive, but Lynn Fleming took a deep breath and committed to the eight hours it would take to commute round-trip between Pine Bush, New York, and Bridgehampton for a Slow Food dinner at Almond restaurant. There, a fivecourse meal featuring the fruit of her farm, Lynnhaven, was on offer for [...]
Notable Edibles:
NOTABLE EDIBLES: East End Oenophiles Take Note
2010 will mark the year that the East End started two traditions to celebrate the region’s emerging (though many will say eternal) status as a food and wine destination. Over the weekend of June 25, winemakers and food artisans will assemble for the inaugural Long Island Wine & Food Festival, intended-like similar festivals in Aspen [...]
Notable Edibles:
NOTABLE EDIBLES: The Big One
Nearly everyone on the East End has heard the tale. One of the greatest shark fishermen in the world sailed out of Montauk. He made international news in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s for catching sharks weighing thousands of pounds. He was the inspiration for Quint, the shark-hunting character in Jaws. He was Frank, Pat [...]
Notable Edibles:
NOTABLE EDIBLES: May the Best Winemaker Guess
If you’re a winemaker, should you be able to tell the difference between a California chardonnay and a French chardonnay? Or, to narrow it a bit, if you’re a winemaker on Long Island, should you be able to tell the difference between a California chardonnay and a Long Island chardonnay? Let’s go one step further. [...]