Edible East End

Why Buy Local Wine? Asimov Weighs In

Eileen M. Duffy — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:03:45 +0000

Today’s The Pour column in the New York Times by Eric Asimov takes on the question of whether locavore should include local wine. (We know many winemakers and vineyard owners out here could come up with more than one reason; Bedell winemaker Rich Olsen-Harbich came up with 10 in our last issue.) Asimov concludes “… the best rationale of all for buying local wines [is] not because they come from up the road or across the state, but because the producers are farming well, making wine sensitively and offering wines that are good and distinctive. This, ultimately, is wine’s greatest contribution to community and cuisine.”

Sounds about right.

Plant Sale to Benefit Long Island Native Plant Initiative

Eileen M. Duffy — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:24:51 +0000

In the last issue of EEE (or ‘triple E’ as Brian likes to call it), I wrote about Stephanie Gaylor of Invincible Summer Farms and her seed-saving mission to generate local varieties of nightshades.

The Long Island Native Plant Initiative has been doing something similar: providing “bulk seed for grassland restorations, landscaping, roadside plantings, and for nursery stock. These seeds are from plants that have evolved to withstand the particular climate and challenges on Long Island.”

The initiative’s fourth annual native plant sale and benefit will be held on June 1, 2 and 8, 9 (rain or shine) at the Suffolk County Community College Eastern Campus greenhouse (121 Speonk-Riverhead Road) in Riverhead. On sale are plants like Long Island’s only native cactus, the eastern prickly pear, New England asters and native grasses such as little bluestem and switchgrass. Long Island native wildflowers, vines, and shrubs are also available. They are all propagated from seed harvested locally, the benefit being these native plants are the most environmentally and ecologically appropriate, require little to no amendments or care. All proceeds will benefit LINPI’s program to help preserve Long Island’s biodiversity and ensure the commercial availability of ecotypic plants across Long Island.

Mother’s Day Fixed Price Menu at Southfork Kitchen

Eileen M. Duffy — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:50:55 +0000

Chef Joe Isidore

Southfork Kitchen, which we covered in our low summer issue last year, will be opening for its second season this weekend. And for Sunday they will be offering a three-course Mother’s Day dinner for $50. Expect to find grilled Block Island squid with smoky romesco and La Quercia Farm salumi, smoked North Fork duck breast with speck Americano, black kale and sous vide farm egg and pappardelle pasta Arrabiata with Lake Montauk clams and pickled chilies. The restaurant will open from 5 to 9 p.m. Entire menu is below.

American Meat to Screen at Guild Hall; Reception Follows at Nick & Toni’s

Eileen M. Duffy — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:05:52 +0000

The state of production for meat hungry Americans is reaching a crisis point. Here’s some stats: Each year the average American eats 48 pounds of pork, 60 pounds of beef, and 82 pounds of chicken. In total, it is over 59 billion pounds of meat. Only 1 percent of the 59 billion pounds of meat comes from animals raised outside, on grass.

One of our heroes, Joel Salatin, is the hero of a new movie about this crisis point, which will be shown at 2 p.m on Saturday, May 19, at Guild Hall.
Tickets are available here and cost $10 in advance, or $12 at the door. The film will be followed by a panel of people to briefly discuss the film. The panel will Include Graham Meriwether, Joe Realmuto, Scott Chaskey, Alex Balsam and Ian Calder-Piedmonte. After the panel, at 4:30, there is a reception at Nick and Toni’s featuring small plates of local food, and local beer and wine. Tickets for the reception are sold separately for $25 (includes food and drinks) and are available here.

Tom Schaudel’s Jewel Restaurant Selling Lots of Long Island Wine

Eileen M. Duffy — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:08:10 +0000

Tom Schaudel‘s newest restaurant in Melville, Jewel, has a wine list that’s heavy on Long Island wine and it’s paying off. “The vision is a restaurant for Long Islanders by Long Islanders,” Schaudel said for an article in an upcoming issue of Edible East End. “I have always stayed true to the ‘hood, but I want to make more of a statement with this. We use a lot of local farms, local produce.” Jewel’s wine list is heavy on Long Island; 130 out of 300 wines are local, including wines from small producers, like the 2007 Leo Family Red.

“I took a big stand with the wine,” Schaudel said. “Out here in western Suffolk, people just aren’t that familiar with it, and I want to change that. We sold 65 cases of Long Island wine in the first two months – those are unheard-of numbers for this area.”

Check out the rest of the story when our new issue comes out in mid-June.

School Food Protest, La Fondita Opens, and Tilefish and Asparagus Look Good

Brian Halweil — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:53:46 +0000

: Tilefish, an underused local species, is in the case at Hampton Seafood Company and other seafood shops.

A selective roundup of what food’s in the news, in season and in business.

Sag Harbor. Sag Harbor continues to be a hotbed of edible activity. The school board is considering rolling back food buying standards to allow for high fructose corn syrup and other suspicious ingredients for the cafeteria to the chagrin of parents and community members, who are signing a petition. And the DEC closed Sag Harbor’s waters to shellfishing after saxitoxin, which can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, was found in oysters raised by a local marina owner. This is the first detection of this toxin, which has been found farther UpIsland, in Peconic Bay, and, along with the deadzone in Shinnecock Bay, points to the threats to our local water quality.

East Hampton. Baymen continue to lobby for their survival, including filing for endangered status with the Preservation League of New York State, a tactic that they hope will ease escalating regulations and costs; the tactic has been used with varying success by other traditional trades and occupations.

Restaurants. Work continues at The Bell & Anchor, scheduled to open in May, with sister restaurant the Beacon set for a mid-May opening. La Fondita in Amagansett is now open (Wednesday-Sunday), rolling out several exciting tweaks this season, including buying only natural or organic meat and making their own tortillas (for sale by the kilo, we hope). Asparagus is showing up at the Sag Harbor farmers market, at the early-opening farmstands and as a side on many restaurant menus.

Seasonal seafood. Stuart’s in Amagansett still has bay scallops for sale, while Colin Mather at the Seafood Shop in Wainscott says tilefish, monkfish, flounder and scallops are among the most abundant local catches right now. Hampton Seafood Company on Race Lane is offering tilefish, as well as some huge porgies (pushing 4 and 5 pounds, and jokingly called “oven stuffer roasters” or “simply monsters,” according to the gentleman working the counter), crunchy scallop rolls with bay scallops, as well as an impressive selection of Mali B’s array of town-specific chocolate bars, including sea salt and caramel popcorn in the Sag Harbor bar and potato chips in the Sagaponack bar. They are available here and make perfect gifts.

Channing Daughters Winemaker Chris Tracy on NPR Talking About Tongue Twister Wine

Eileen M. Duffy — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:07:26 +0000

I’m drinking my coffee and eating my yogurt, and I hear a familiar voice on the radio spelling out the word blaufränkisch.

Why, it’s James Christopher Tracy, our own columnist, as a voice of authority for a story the Connecticut public radio station about wine. (For those of us on the East End, sometimes the only way to get Morning Edition or All Things Considered is to reach across the Sound.)

The story centered on a recent Canadian study reported in Decanter magazine that says English speakers are more likely to buy wines with “tongue twisting” names.

In the story Tracy says he likes these wines for their connection to a culture.

So now go look up blaufränkisch.

187-Acre Farm for Sale in Baiting Hollow; 130 Acres Must Be Preserved for Agricultural Use

Eileen M. Duffy — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:00:52 +0000

In 1951, four potato farmers from Syosset, all brothers, purchased a giant piece of land in Baiting Hollow. Harold, Cyril, Ambrose and George Wulforst grew cabbage, cauliflower, sweet corn and potatoes — especially potatoes — there for the next 50 years. As the brothers grew older, they handed the reins to their children and stopped farming. George, 97, is the only brother still living. The Wulforst family has been renting much of the land for the last seven years to Jeff Rottkamp of Rottkamp’s Fox Hollow Farm. Now, 12 Wulforst children have decided to sell the 187-acre farm, which many believe is the largest property for sale in Suffolk County, for $32 million.

The property, south of Sound Avenue, runs west from Baiting Hollow Lane west to Twomey Avenue and lies in an Agricultural Protection Zone, according to Riverhead Town planning director Richard Hanley. This means that 70 percent of the land — or about 130 acres — must be preserved for agricultural use. The remaining 30 percent can be subdivided for residential use.