From June 23 to 30, restaurants across the East End will feature special seasonal prix-fixe menus as part of Eat Drink Local, Edible magazine’s annual celebration of the food chain. The week also includes kickoff events at local farmers markets, special deals at Whole Foods Market, samplings of Long Island wine, and a food and film night at Marder’s Gallery complete with tacos, Mecox Bay Dairy cheese, and oysters.
Because the week is designed to build the markets for local farmers, fishers, brewers and winemakers, restaurants craft their menus around eight ingredients—one for each day—suggested and voted on by readers.
In the vegetable category, spinach, radishes and fava beans were chosen because they are nutritious, delicious and sometimes neglected; particularly abundant in early summer, the triumvirate would make a wonderful salad on their own. Porgy, a delicate New York fish whose small size makes it perfect for communal eating, cooked whole (we also like it as sushi); porgy stocks have rebounded in recent years, prompting the state to raise the catch limits for both commercial and recreational anglers. Like porgy, goat populations are surging across the region, as more farmers in the region (who don’t have room or the rich feed required for cows) raise these small, hardy animals. (Ditto for the chicken, duck and other poultry flocks on farms and in backyard coops that give us incredibly fresh eggs.) Goat meat is most popular among ethnic New Yorkers, but local goat cheese, yogurt and milk is also making more frequent cameos on cheesemonger lists and in dairy cases.
To wash it all down, partner restaurants will be pushing local wine, beer and spirits, with particular focus on rosé (a style of wine growing in importance on Long Island as more winemakers and wine drinkers appreciate the character of our rosé) and beer made with local hops, whose plantings have grown on the East End.
Among the supporters of this year’s Eat Drink Local are Whole Foods Markets, the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, Brooklyn Brewery, Williams-Sonoma and Meatless Mondays, the international grassroots campaign, based in New York, to reduce meat consumption by encouraging vegetarian meals just one day a week. As Meatless Monday’s founder, Sid Lerner, a Bridgehampton resident, notes: “Going meatless one day a week can cut your risk of chronic preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. It can also help reduce your carbon footprint and save precious resources like fresh water and fossil fuel.” Some East End restaurants, like Almond, already offer a popular, meatless option on Monday evenings, and other partner restaurants will be trying the campaign on Monday, June 25.
Edible magazines throughout the tristate area have each designated a local charitable partner that will benefit from the week. On the East End, the week will benefit Edible Schoolyards of the East End, the network that helps inspire and build school gardens, greenhouses and healthy food programs at our local schools.
Eat Drink Local Events on the East End
- Kickoff at the Sag Harbor Farmers Market, Saturday, June 23, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Food and Film night at Marder’s Gallery, curated by the Parrish Art Museum, featuring Cornell oysters, tacos from Estia’s Little Kitchen, Mecox Bay Dairy cheese, and beer from Greenport Harbor Beer Company, June 30.
For a complete listing of Eat Drink Local activities on the East End and throughout the New York region, visit ediblemanhattan.com.
The 2012 ingredients of the week:
Spinach, Eggs, Goat (milk, cheese, yogurt, meat, etc.), Radishes, Rosé Wines, Porgy, Fava Beans and Hops.
Dine at these Partner restaurants on the East End
1770 House, East Hampton
Almond, Bridgehampton
Babette’s, East Hampton
Bay Burger, Sag Harbor
Beacon Restaurant, Sag Harbor
Foody’s, Water Mill
Fresno Restaurant, East Hampton
Jamesport Manor Inn, Jamesport
Jedediah Hawkins Inn, Jamesport
Luce & Hawkins, Jamesport
Nick & Toni’s, East Hampton
noah’s, Greenport
Pita House, Patchogue
Race Lane, East Hampton
Red Bar Brasserie, Southampton
Soundview Restaurant, Greenport
Southfork Kitchen, Bridgehampton
The North Fork Table & Inn, Southold
The Old Mill Inn, Mattituck
The Sea Grille at Gurney’s Inn, Montauk
