On Friday Gov. George E. Pataki vetoed a bill that would have allowed East Hampton Town to vote in November on a plan to build a dedicated fund for farmland, open space, and historic preservation through a 2-percent tax on higher-priced real estate sales.

Supporters of the transfer tax were stunned and openly critical of the Governor's decision, calling it "indefensible," "disturbing," and a "fraud." Their comments this week showed the anatomy of a hard-won victory and a crushing defeat.

The Governor for his part characterized the legislation in his veto message as "laudable in its purposes but significant in its flaws."

"A Sad Day"

The tax, supporters estimated, could have raised $20 million over a 10-year period. Now they worry the community preservation fund may never come to pass and that East Hampton may never get a chance to decide for itself if it should.

"That a local bill which means so much to the East End of Long Island should be controlled by people who don't live here . . . it's a sad day indeed," Town Supervisor Cathy Lester said after hearing the news at the Town Board meeting Friday morning.

"He sent the message that when the community works from the bottom up and tries to do something reasonable and intelligent, he knows best, he knows better," Kevin McDonald, the vice president of the Group for the South Fork, said this week of Mr. Pataki.

Farmers Objected

Among the bill's flaws, the Governor said, were that it failed to include other East End towns and to exempt farmer-to-farmer transfers and sales for the purpose of preservation.

When a planned exemption for such transfers didn't make it into the Assembly bill and was removed from the Senate bill in the final hour, the State Farm Bureau, which had been silent on the legislation before, sent the Governor a letter of opposition on behalf of its 27,000 farm family members.

That, combined with the "non-support of the real estate people," was the reason for the Governor's veto, said State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle.

"Obviously it gave the Governor something to hang his hat on. It provided him with a rationale for vetoing the bill, but he probably would have anyway," Mr. LaValle added. The State Senator introduced the legislation in the State Senate with the farmer exemption in it, and he filed a separate bill to include the exemption after it was taken out.

Mr. LaValle asked the Governor to sign this bill throughout the night before the session closed, "but lo and behold, the Governor wouldn't give us a message of necessity for this," the Senator said this week.

"The bill," the Governor's message says, ". . . inexplicably lacks provisions for the protection of farmers."

Twelve-Year Try

Advocates for the transfer tax, too, saw this omission as a flaw, but not a fatal one; they planned to correct it at the beginning of the next legislative session.

"My feeling is, it's more likely the bill was vetoed to benefit the real estate industry," State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. said.

The State Board of Realtors had lobbied particularly hard against this legislation and had managed to bring it to its knees time and again over the past 12 years. The bill this year, which included only East Hampton to be developed much more like a resort zone with a restaurant and shops," he said, referring to a pending application from Perry B. Duryea & Sons.

"The property on Fort Pond Bay should be zoned resort," Mr. Hammerle suggested, adding, "It sticks out like a sore thumb." Rezoning would eliminate the chance that a car ferry could ever dock there.

While the town cannot prohibit ferries from coming into town waters, as New York Fast Ferry did twice in the past month with brief cruises around Lake Montauk and Fort Pond Bay, it does prohibit them from docking.

Parking Restrictions?

The town, in fact, has limited ability to regulate offshore vessels even in town waters, and certainly cannot regulate a ferry's route. But where the town can exercise a level of control is on shore - an accompanying article touches on its possible jurisdiction over gambling vessels in harbors - through zoning rules, and through speed limitations for larger craft.

The town could put a cap on landings per day based on the passenger capacity of the boat, and have a hand in determining that capacity by creating special parking restrictions on ferry operations.

The code mandates one space per four passengers for charter and excursion boats; ferry parking might be more along the lines of one space per three, or two spaces for every five passengers, Ms. Liquori suggested.

Numeric Formula

Mr. Forsberg said he feared the town was trying to "wind me down to nothing."

"I've never had a better year and I've never parked a car on the street yet," he said. The Viking Fleet owns its own parking lots.

Mr. Whalen said the number of passengers using the service might be calculated by multiplying a boat's capacity by the number of trips it makes each day.

A ferry that could hold 100 passengers and lands six times each day would then require 120 parking spaces. Added to current waterfront zone restrictions and the ban on harbors, that would automatically restrict where a service could be set up.

This, Mr. Whalen believes, would make the regulations fairly easy to enforce.

At The Fish Factory

Councilman Thomas Knobel, however, pointed out that such a rule could spur Cross Sound Ferry, which has been looking for a terminal site on the South Fork for years, to revive a mid-1980s plan to bring a ferry to the old fish factory site at Promised Land for service to New London.

"We're setting it up for the Napeague fish factory to be a ferry site," Mr. Knobel cautioned. "Parking standards could be met at the Napeague site."

The fish factory, now the site of an aquaculture business, is in Napeague State Park. Should the state ever agree to lease land to a ferry company, the proposal would probably be exempt from town zoning regulations. "Conventional wisdom says the state is not subject to our zoning," Mr. Whalen said.

Speed Limit Suggested

"We could possibly catch them on the [Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan], which says no ferries at that site," Supervisor Lester suggested. The waterfront plan has not yet been heard and adopted, but is complete.

Russell Stein, a former town attorney who now represents Stop the Ferry, suggested a number of possible regulations to be included in ferry legislation.

Among them: placing a 15-mile-per-hour speed limit on vessels over 100 gross tons in town waters. That suggestion might stem plans for a fast ferry or hydrofoil.

Ms. Liquori suggested also that the town define "ferry terminal" and include limitations on them in the Town Code. Ferry terminals now fall under the general category of "transportation terminal."

Impact On Traffic

"We could conceivably live with a limited passenger service," Ms. Liquori said, but she asked the Town Board to consider whether it wants to create a number of special-permit standards for such ferries, which would be subject to Planning Board approval.

Another concern the town will take into account in drafting a local law is the impact on roads from ferry-generated traffic. The board will continue discussions on ferry legislation at its 10 a.m. work session in Town Hall Tuesday.

AMAGANSETT

Morey to John Richards, Meeting House Lane, $745,000.

BRIDGEHAMPTON

Smith to Michael Soleimani, Hayground Road, $388,000.

Doran to David Grant, Edgewood Road, $300,000.

Butter Lane of Bridgehampton Assoc. to Richard Brennan, Mitchell Lane (four vacant lots), $1,000,000.

Bridge Bldg. Co. to Orlando Lopez, Tansey Lane, $316,500.

Finney to Philippe Bigar, Tiffany Way, $350,000.

Wiskey Hill Inc. to Jonquil Enterprises, Mill Path, $225,000.

Mecagni to Madeline Doran, Sagg Road, $183,000.

Susan Gottlieb Inc. to Orrin and Deborah Devinsky, Rose Way, $775,000.

Woodridge Homes Bldrs. to Jack and Pati Haber, Sea Farm Lane, $310,000.

EAST HAMPTON

Siegel to Steve Madden, Old Orchard Lane, $850,000.

Chester to Jon and Tracie Grossman, Cove Hollow Road, $226,500.

Stewart to Stellan Holm, Georgica Road, $850,000.

Abacus Homes to Alberto and Ana Gomez, Jefferson Avenue, $150,000.

Conner to Thomas and Beryl Birch, Stokes Court, $200,000.

East Hampton Realty Assoc. to 66 Newtown Corp., Newtown Lane, $2,018,000.

Goldberg estate to Benjamin and Claire Dorogusker, Treescape Drive, $178,000.

Welby (trustee) to Thomas Lasersohn, Amy's Lane, $512,000.

Salomon (trustee) to Nicholas and Yukine Callaway, Georgica Road, $850,000.

Woods Prop. Inc. to Montauk Group Productions Inc., Goodfriend Drive, $300,000.

Chester to John Shanholt, Cove Hollow Road, $226,500.

Cohen to S&W Dev. L.L.C., Hither Lane, $850,000.

MONTAUK

O'Neill to James Cash, South Lake Drive, $310,000.

Varde Virginia L.P. to Joseph and Lorraine Dryer, Kettlehole Road, $170,000.

Perna to Robert and Kathryn Willets, Fairway Place, $155,000.

The Waterfront Inn Inc. to Ramon Becce and Andrew Presti, West Lake Drive, $750,000.

Eurell to Gerald and Gianna Flannery and Elisa Corridore, Gainsboro Court, $250,000.

NORTHWEST

Forst and Silverblank Inc. to Kathy Frazier, Long Hill Road, $570,000.

Cedar Woods Ltd. to Gary and Patricia Stanis, Owls Nest Lane, $175,000.

Goldstein to Brad Resnikoff, Spread Oak Lane, $405,000.

SAG HARBOR

Weseman to Jeffrey Koller, Redwood Road, $267,500.

Mahoney to John Vigna, Round Pond Lane, $420,000.

Konopka to Scott Fordham and Jenette Martaron, Merchants Path, $162,000.

Maeder to Donald Lipski and Teresa Hyland, Hampton Street, $250,000.

LeGrand to John MacArthur, Sagg Road, $158,000.

Zorzy to Dragon Seed Realty #1 L.L.C., Main Street, $426,000.

SAGAPONACK

Solomon (trustee) to Alfred and Janice Kelman, Sagg Main Street, $1,070,000.

Charles Rich Design/Build Inc. to John and Tammy MacWilliams, Hedges Lane, $500,000.

SPRINGS

Crane to Sean Murphy, Copeces Lane, $224,000.

Kurz to Roslen Tavera and Jose Gil, Broadway, $161,000.

Barlow to Maria Masliah and How ard Robinson, Sandra Road, $155,000.

Olsen Jr. to Neil Cohen and Sarah Person, Camberly Road, $234,000.

Miller to Joseph and Wendy Capri, Sandra Road, $200,000.

Ianell to Blake and Lisle Davies, Gerard Drive, $250,000.

Bliss to Joe Chaves, Guernsey Lane, $160,000.

McGilloway to Maria Novielli, Runnymeade Drive, $320,000.

WAINSCOTT

Petschek to Merle Levin, Sayre's Path, $540,000.

One week ago, fishing way offshore, the Viking Starship with 23 people aboard landed over 60 yellowfin tuna. The largest of the yellowfins weighed 120 pounds. The tuna are out there for those who have the fuel to access the offshore canyons, although they might be rethinking those trips in light of the large swells being generated by Hurricane Erika.

Shark fishing remains good. Anglers aboard Capt. Mike Albronda's Montauk landed a 197-pound thresher on Sunday; also, three blue sharks and a small mako.

Inshore, the fly fishing shows signs of excellence, but it ain't quite there. Paul Dixon of Dixon's Sporting Life shop in Wainscott said he had not moved his flats-style charter boats to Montauk as he usually does this time of year because the false albacore (bonito) "have not set up" in the rips there.

Rain Bait

The reason, he said, was that the rain bait - the inch-long anchovies that the small tunas love to feed on - have not shown up.

"They're here, but they haven't set up, they're eating snappers and junk and they're up and down. It's a race and chase." Mr. Dixon said he hoped the hurricane swells would "push everything in."

In the meantime, his charters out of Three Mile Harbor have been taking anglers within range of gorilla bluefish in the 15-pound class, as well as one 39-inch striped bass with smaller ones mixed in.

Porgie Blitz

Harvey Bennett of the Tackle Shop in Springs reported "a ton of weakfish on the ocean beaches in Amagansett." The weaks were being lured by tins: Hopkins and Kastmasters. Mr. Bennett reported Charlie Price taking a 14-pound bluefish on light tackle on Napeague. That was Sunday. He said Napeague beaches had been "full of striped bass."

In the bay, porgies were biting in the rips near Gardiner's Island. Mr. Bennett described Richard Stone and his 8-year-old son, Mike, in the middle of a porgie blitz in Cherry Harbor (Gardiner's Island) suddenly being hammered by big mackerel.

"The kid had a blast. I like to marinate them and throw them on the grill," Mr. Bennett said.

Man's best friend may be kept off East Hampton Village beaches at all hours next summer, if the Village Board has its way.

The Village Code bars Fido, as well as cats and other animals, from beaches from the second Sunday in May to Sept. 30 - but only from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. What the Village Board wants to do now is keep them off the beach 24 hours a day during that period.

The season's crowds had barely disappeared when board members, at a work session last Thursday morning, reviewed the law that deals with such matters with the intention of revising it. Before any change is made, the board would be required to hold a public hearing, although that probably won't occur before Oct. 17.

Majority Rule

Only three board members, Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., Elbert T. Edwards, and Edwin L. Sherrill, were on hand for last Thursday's meeting, but they would constitute a majority even if the other members, William C. Heppenheimer 3d and David H. Brown, disagree.

"There has been a proliferation of dogs on the beach this summer," the Mayor said, and "many calls with complaints about them."

Larry Cantwell, the Village Administrator, confirmed increasing complaints to his office about dogs over the past five years - mostly at Wiborg's and Main Beach - but he said the number of calls this summer had not reached a dozen.

"You do see a lot of dogs on the beach before 9," Mr. Cantwell said. He added that the complaints were not so much about the dogs per se, but about "what they have left" behind.

Pooper-Scooper Law?

Mr. Cantwell said some beachgoers inquired about the possibilty of a "pooper-scooper" law such as New York City's, requiring owners to clean up after their pets, but he said that would not be "practical, or enforceable" here.

In addition to the proposed ban on dogs on beaches all summer long, board members asked Linda Riley, the village attorney, to draft other changes to the Village Code governing dogs. The additions would, if an agreement can be reached, allow the town dog warden to impound dogs causing problems in the village.

Without such a law, and lacking an agreement between the two municipalities, the only violation for which the town dog warden can pick up a dog in the village is an infraction of the State Agriculture and Markets law requiring that dogs wear licenses.

Authority Lacking

In one instance this summer, for example, Betsy Bambrick, the dog warden, said, residents on Meadow Way repeatedly reported menacing behavior by a "pitbull mix," but she had no authority to act.

The town adopted its dog control law in June 1993. The village law, as does the town's, would stop short of a requirement that owners keep pets on leashes off their property.

Some of the provisions in the town law which the village may include are prohibiting dogs from being "at large" and "disturbing the comfort, peace, or repose" of a vicinity. The law also would hold owners accountable for failing to provide proper shelter for their animals and would bar anyone from beating or ill-treating an animal.

Metered Parking

In other village news, Mr. Cantwell reported last week that, to his chagrin, the computerized parking meter installed several weeks ago in the long-term Lumber Lane parking lot still was not up to snuff. The device, which was to have issued receipts to nonvillage residents, who must pay $5 a day to park their cars for more than 23 hours, was collecting water inside its mechanism instead of data, he said.

The makers of the device, Amtar of White Plains, had dispatched repair workers five or six times in the last month, and, as of last week, "it was operating," Mr. Cantwell said, but "still not right." Mr. Cantwell said the village had not yet paid for the $15,386 device.

Village police, instead of ticketing offenders, have been leaving warnings on windshields. Nonetheless, Village Police Chief Glen Stonemetz estimated that the number of cars was "down by a third" from previous use.

To date, the village has issued 47 permits for long-term parking to nonresidents, which cost $165 each and are good through Dec. 31.

In other action, the board appointed C. Howell Scott of Windmill Lane, a retired banker, to replace Ted Borsack on the Village Design Review Board. Mr. Borsack resigned recently. Mr. Scott has lived in East Hampton for about four years.

The board also:

-Authorized payment of $16,975, half the cost of resurfacing the Herrick Park tennis courts. The East Hampton School District will pick up the other half.

-Accepted the low bid from Versandi Construction Corporation of $197,512 to renovate the bathrooms at the Main Beach pavilion.

-Decided to pay Orient Express Motorsports of Southampton its low bid of $13,073 for a new utility vehicle for the Police Department.

The Viking Starliner, newly renovated to meet Government standards for carrying gambling equipment, will leave her berth in Montauk Harbor next week and head for Federal waters with a cargo of 25 slot machines, 5 gaming tables, and up to 85 patrons who hope Lady Luck comes along for the ride.

The Viking Fleet's maiden "casino cruise," featuring cash bars, food, security, and a professional gaming crew, has been a long time in the making, according to Capt. Paul G. Forsberg, owner of the Starliner.

A change in Federal law late last year, Captain Forsberg explained, has sparked a nationwide explosion of interest in offshore gambling. He predicted a number of boats would soon be in the around-Long Island casino cruise business following the lead, last winter, of the Liberty I, which sails out of Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn.

Prior to the change in the law, only foreign boats or vessels owned by Native Americans could carry gambling equipment onboard.

Opponents Cite Code

Even as the Starliner prepares to sail, however, the forces of opposition are mobilizing. Opponents of gambling this week cited chapter 60 of the East Hampton Town Code, which prohibits the possession of "any gambling device with the intent to use it in the conduct of a gambling house," defined as "any premises or establishment at which gambling is conducted . . . for profit."

A deputy town attorney, Richard Whalen, said he thought town police would have to act when the Starliner ties up in Montauk, even though the actual gambling will take place beyond town and state boundaries.

Throughout the fall, the 110-foot vessel is scheduled to leave Montauk Harbor at 7:30 p.m. daily except Mondays and travel four miles due east to the coordinates that mark the New York State/Federal border, returning at about 12:30 in the morning. The $20-per-person charge includes a $3 Federal gaming tax.

Foxwoods Alternative?

When cold weather sets in, the Starliner is scheduled to head to Florida to ferry gamblers offshore there.

"The change in the law is what opened Florida up," Captain Forsberg said. Just about every port in that state has at least one casino cruiser, he said, and larger ports like Tampa have two or three. The Starliner is being leased for gambling to C.G.S. Creative Gaming Systems, a Florida corporation.

Captain Forsberg called the cruises scheduled in local waters "just a trial." He said he saw the Starliner as an alternative to the enormously popular Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Conn.

"Why would you drive across Shelter Island to Orient Point to take a ferry and get on a bus when you can [gamble] right here? It's an hour away from Montauk and East Hampton," Captain Forsberg reasoned.

A Lee Harbor

He said he did not want to depend on summer crowds to make the Starliner a success. "That's why I waited until after Labor Day, to see the local demand."

Even though the Starliner was refitted to meet the Coast Guard's stability requirements, large ocean swells could add more roll to the dice in the waters off Montauk than most gamblers like. And, there is no shelter from the storm: Inside the more protected state waters, the one-armed bandits will have to keep their hand up.

As a harbor, Captain Forsberg said, Montauk has an advantage for casino cruises in this regard.

Not only is the state/Federal boundary close - just four miles from Montauk Point, running due north to a point four miles off Fishers Island - but the South Fork will provide "a bit of a lee" for the Starliner when the wind comes from the southwest, a prevailing direction during the summer, late summer and, sometimes, the early fall.

Ferries' Fate

The admiral of the fleet of party boats and passenger ferries made his announcement in the same week that the Town Board was discussing the future of ferries in East Hampton, and Mr. Forsberg's ferries to Block Island and New London, Conn., in particular. Under town law, the casino cruise is not considered a ferry.

There has been concern that a local ferry service taking gamblers to and from Connecticut gaming tables, would create the same kind of traffic problems experienced in Southold Town. The Orient terminal of the Cross Sound Ferry accommodates New York gamblers heading for Foxwoods.

Only last week the Town Planning Board asked the building inspector to determine if Mr. Forsberg's two ferries could be considered as pre-existing zoning. That story is covered in an accompanying article.

Montauk Memories

Mr. Whalen said Tuesday that Captain Forsberg's ferry service and his new casino cruises were separate issues, and that the zoning code viewed a gambling excursion in the same light as it did a fishing trip.

However, he reiterated, the language of the Town Code, which is separate, appears to prohibit the possession of gambling devices.

The coming of a casino boat has jogged the memories of some older Montaukers who recall when illegal gambling, like rumrunning before, was an open secret. Montauk gambling got its start during the Prohibition era and continued, at various times, into the 1950s.

On The Seaplane

One restaurant owner recalled that he and his father worked at the Island Club (later the Deep Sea Club) on Star Island in the early 1950s.

"The only thing they ever got them for was wire-tapping, because it used to be that when the troopers came and called in that there was gaming going on, they'd hear it upstairs. They'd roll up the stuff, the band would start playing, they'd put it on a seaplane, and the plane would take off."

"Later, they used a moving van."

Reservations for the gambling cruises are required, said Captain Forsberg, and may be made by calling the Viking Fleet.

Exterior painting and repairs got under way this week at Sag Harbor's historic Old Whalers Church - part of a $3 million plan of renovation, which is to include rebuilding the 187-foot steeple that went down in the 1938 Hurricane.

A fund-raising campaign kicked off in June so far has yielded roughly $35,000 from many individual donations, Leonard Mayhew, its spokesman, said this week, while about $350,000 raised previously already has paid for asbestos removal, roof repairs, a heating system, and restoration of the church's fence and coffered ceiling.

Among recent gifts was $12,500 in state funds, which Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. obtained as a "member's item." Last year, Mr. Mayhew said, Senator Kenneth LaValle obtained $10,000 the same way for the 153-year-old church. A 13-member restoration committee has begun sending personal letters of appeal to members of the community and other supporters.

High Gear

The campaign, which the letter says, "is moving into high gear," has among its quests securing a tenant for the steeple once it is rebuilt. In June, Larry Carlson of Bridgehampton, the campaign president who is an executive vice president at Time Warner for Home Box Office, said he was talking with AT&T and other telecommunications companies about putting a cellular phone antenna inside the steeple.

As of this week, those talks were continuing. Also considering the possibility, it was reported, are several Long Island communications companies, such as Long Island Waves of West Babylon and Goggin Research of Calverton.

"We're not close to closure yet," Mr. Mayhew reported, "but I think we will be."

The church is one of only 200 structures in the state with national historic landmark status.

Don't Recall

Hackensack, N.J.

September 4, 1997

Dear Mrs. Rattray,

I just finished reading "Playing Favorites" by Phyllis Raphael. I don't recall Betty Grable, John Wayne, and Carmen Miranda ever being in a movie together. But I do recall John Payne starring with the two actresses. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Best wishes,

AUDREY McGUIRE

Ms. McGuire is right. See the next letter. Ed.

Changed The Name

New York City

September 8, 1997

To The Editor:

In my story, "Playing Favorites," published last week in The Star I think a well-meaning copy editor changed the name of the '40s movie star John Payne to John Wayne. The change gives an entirely incorrect context to the story which is about a child's mimicry of the 20th Century Fox movie musicals of the '40s which starred such luminaries as Betty Grable, John Payne, Don Ameche, Carmen Miranda, and Xavier Cugat. John Payne was a romantic movie "pretty boy," perfectly suited for playing musical comedy heroes. And John Wayne was . . . well, John Wayne. The opening lines of the story should read, "When my sister Bonnie was 5 years old my mother took her to a Betty Grable-John Payne movie, and when they came home Bonnie began to sing."

Sincerely,

PHYLLIS RAPHAEL

Airport's Runways

East Hampton

September 5, 1997

Dear Helen:

I was pleased to see the East Hampton Democratic platform state unequivocally that the party does not support expansion of the airport's runways.

Republican Tom Knobel is headed for a nose dive if he thinks the majority of East Hampton's residents want more and larger jets making more and larger noises above our backyards.

An updated terminal building is okay. A longer and wider and thicker runway - no way.

I'm voting Democratic this November so I can try to hang onto what's left of my peace and quiet.

Sincerely,

VALERIE POLICASTRO

Please address correspondence to [email protected]

Please include your full name, address and daytime telephone number for purposes of verification.

The pleasure of dining outside is twice as great in September, when the specter of fall is fretting on the sidewalk looking at his watch and waiting to take your table as soon as you've finished your coffee.

And then there's the thrill of not making a reservation, but just dropping in at 7:30 in the evening and finding a table for five in the best spot of the patio, as we did this weekend at the All Seasons Cafe in Sag Harbor.

There's no doubt that it adds to the zest of a meal to sit there and watch the purposeful dogs out for their evening paseos, the no-hurry strollers, and the masts and slapping stays of the boats in the harbor.

A Higher Level

The restaurant, which has been open since July, is owned and run by Pete and Pam Miller. Though Mr. Miller has recently been a chef at Nick and Toni's and Rowdy Hall in East Hampton, the couple first met when they worked here, in an earlier incarnation called the Bay Street Cafe.

The interior of the restaurant still has the same pleasant, casual atmosphere as in the past, and some old favorites like clam fritters and fried brie, but the food, which was very good before, appears to have risen to a higher level.

(A friend who was eating there on Saturday evening reported that as she was leaving a woman at an adjoining table grabbed her arm and asked, "Was your food as good as ours?")

Soups Of The Day

The menu is a down-to-earth selection of soups, salads, pastas, and entrees with an emphasis on imaginative and original accompaniments.

Prices for appetizers range from $6 for soups to $10 for spicy kebabs. Entrees are from $18 plus for pastas to $26 for roast lobster with tarragon vinegar and asparagus.

We tried both soups of the day on Sunday, including a shrimp bisque that was a lovely, old-fashioned, to-hell-with-the-cholesterol cream soup. The gazpacho was icy and sparkling fresh and a wonderfully successful summer soup.

I just wish it had been called something else, because to me gazpacho should have neither cilantro nor chili - as they say in Spain, A mi me gusta el pan pan, y el vino vino. I like my bread to be bread, and my wine, wine.

Good And Simple

Salads seemed a good choice for a warm late-summer evening, so we tried a simple red and green leaf salad with red onion and cherry tomatoes - fine; a Caesar salad - fine, and a special salad with smoked salmon - outstanding.

A pasta of orecchietti, the little snaily ones, with fresh tomato and spinach, stuck with the tried and true rule of keeping pasta simple and was very good indeed.

In keeping with the pretty presentation of all the dishes, the salmon came with a heaped pyre of shoestring potatoes, shaved red onions, and a small arugula salad. The fish had been fiercely seared, so that all the juices were sealed inside a crunchy coating.

While that was good, it was outshone by the blackened tuna, which was about as good as tuna can get (not to mention that the tuna had just swum in from Montauk whereas the salmon had probably had a tiring ride on the Jitney).

Cooked to the point of rare perfection, it came in a horseradish sauce and was served with a simple cherry tomato salad and mashed potatoes laced with chopped scallions.

For those who spent the years of nouvelle cuisine weeping into their chrysanthemum-carved carrots, the huge marinated pork chop is a delight. But it was the accompanying concoction of tomato, eggplant, chickpeas, and toasted cumin that really impressed us.

The special entree of the day, monkfish with a sweet-potato puree, was rather a disappointment. It's a tricky fish and its treatment on this occasion just didn't quite nail it to the ground.

A Discovery

It's worth noting that among the entrees we didn't try - including risotto and ribeye steak - is a spaghettini with clams in a white wine sauce, a dish that many people go out of their way to find.

We tried three desserts: a light, lukewarm, and delicious bread pudding, an outstanding creation called a chocolate pate that was everything its name suggests, and a rather heavy key lime pie.

At the risk of being repetitious, it still surprises how the quality of East End food has improved in the last five years or so. And it's still a surprise when you can turn to each other at the end of the meal and say, "Hey, looks like we've found another good restaurant!"

Alexandra Branyon believes she has "a very dramatic life." Not the sort that involves assassination attempts or high-speed chases but rather a continuing series of little mysteries, everyday struggles, front-porch adventures, and fleeting moments of laughter and absurdity. It is fruitful territory for a playwright, playwriting coach, drama critic, and performer.

Her Beach Hampton house, near the ocean in Amagansett, was quiet Friday morning except for the finches twittering between the birdbath and the feeder, but more often is "like Grand Central Station, all these people come and going, asking me questions, phones ringing. Sometimes I don't even know who these people are or what they're doing here."

She works incessantly, on two or three or four projects at a time. Her words, delivered in a fluid Alabama accent, are irretrievably swift. She pauses only to laugh, less frequently to breathe.

Little Mysteries

She seeks peace of mind but is not successful as often as she'd like. Long walks on the beach, these days with a new golden retriever puppy, Bo, instead present some of those infuriating little mysteries to twist and unravel.

One day Ms. Branyon found a parachute. "Who finds a parachute on the beach? How did it get there?" she demanded to know.

The next walk, she came upon a dead deer, with no sign of a bullet hole. "I had to call my cousins in Alabama - they know about deer - and they said maybe it was hit by a car and wandered down there."

Mystery solved, maybe. But the next time she went to the ocean, there was a bowling ball.

"I just want to walk on the beach and find a seashell. What's going on? I just want a calm day," something she said she hasn't seen in years.

Drama Everywhere

Her high energy level and ability to find drama everywhere has fueled a prolific and successful career. Her play "Passed Over," about two widows who together face old age and death in a nursing home, won the 1989 Golden Gate Actors National Playwrights Competition, saw an extended run in the 1995-96 season by the Detroit Repertory Theater, and has had staged readings across the country.

Since receiving an M.A. from the University of Hawaii in 1967, Ms. Branyon has completed nine other works for the stage - musicals and black comedies, a nightclub act, and a drama - has taught playwriting in private workshops and at Manhattan's New School, and has published three cookbooks with her friend Karen Lee (not the Bridgehampton restaurateur), a noted chef and caterer.

With some trepidation that the collaboration might damage their friendship, Ms. Branyon agreed to help with Ms. Lee's three cookbooks. She quickly learned she should have been more concerned about the work itself.

Three Cookbooks

Ms. Lee cooked while Ms. Branyon wrote down the recipes, starting with "Chinese Cooking Secrets," published in 1984.

"She would have five dishes going all at once during a class and there I was with a stopwatch, trying to keep all the cooking times straight. It was very hard. You have to be able to fold wontons because I saw her fold wontons. You have to be able to bone a duck because I saw her bone a duck. But, it made me visually specific as a writer."

Then began "the Great Post-It War," Ms. Branyon becoming increasingly "amazed" and finally "infuriated" at the mistakes introduced in the text by copy editors. (Szechuan Province, in one case, became an island.) She marked each mistake with a Post-It and demanded a meeting that lasted until all the Post-Its were crumpled on the floor.

Overwhelming

Ms. Branyon also plays piano and clarinet, writes musical comedy lyrics, is a theater correspondent for Parco Playbill magazine in Tokyo, and pursues a career as a freelance journalist for The New York Times, Working Woman, and Food and Wine, among others.

She writes in English for the Japanese publication and said she has to consult only occasionally with her "excellent" translator, who works in Japan. Once, a reference to a "bar" of music raised questions. Did she mean a tavern, perhaps one offering entertainment? The puzzle was cleared up when Ms. Branyon sang, long distance, the first bar of "Happy Birthday."

Overwhelmed with work in recent months, she has suspended her playwriting workshops for a year to have time to revise two plays in progress and review four Broadway productions a month for the Japanese Playbill.

"I do like a balance. I think that is what I'm missing in my life," she chuckled.

On Friday afternoon alone, she was under deadline for two reviews, of "Mere Mortals" and "Bees in Honey Drown," and was wondering whether to change the Hamptons setting of one play to somewhere less trendy. "What do you think of Malibu?" she joked.

Her workload has also forced her to decline a "huge" grant from the Japan Foundation, which would have bankrolled a documentary on a Japanese student at Juilliard, where Ms. Branyon herself went to learn to write music.

"How many hats can I wear? I was walking on the beach, where I am clearest, despite the bowling balls, and asked myself, do I really want to be a documentary filmmaker? Yes - but someday."

She misses her playwriting workshops, saying her students have done her proud. One, David Temple, spent a year and a half with her developing "Purple House on Page Street," named runner-up in the most recent Eugene O'Neill Theater Conference.

Spraying The Market

Mr. Temple now has an agent, a possible production deal, and a pleased coach who said he and others have successfully borrowed her "shotgun technique" for marketing one's work. Spraying the market in a wide pattern is better than sending one copy at a time to select agents or producers, she asserted.

To help with the spraying, she had built in her home office a grid of cubbyholes. In each one, she puts copies of an article with her own byline, a review of one of her plays, or some other career-enhancing literature. A request for background information prompts a rapid whisking of one sheet of paper from each cubbyhole. Voila, an instant press kit.

"I designed this. It makes it so easy," she said cheerfully.

Shotgun Technique

The shotgun technique is hitting its target for "Passed Over." After "Detroit's toughest critic," Lawrence DeVine, said the play sounded like Tennessee Williams (and Harold Pinter and D.L. Colburn), the author included Shirley Knight, for whom Williams wrote "A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur," on her mailing list. Ms. Knight wrote back, saying she was interested in playing one of the leading roles.

For all her cheery efficiency, Ms. Branyon has solemn moments of self-doubt. She told the esteemed board of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, which had honored her musical comedy "Lousy Lucy" in 1980, that "there has been a terrible mistake." The two-act work, she insisted, was lousy.

She said she felt at that moment like George Bernard Shaw, who once faced an applauding audience and a single heckler. "You and me against the world," Shaw told the heckler.

Meditation

Walks on the beach being what they are for Ms. Branyon, she also seeks peace through daily meditation, not always finding it. On a recent visit to the Maharishi Ayur-veda's meditation center and spa in Lancaster, Mass., instead of enjoying the tranquillity she queried the employees about the working conditions and nearly incited a strike.

"I think they should have a lunch hour. Don't you?" she laughed. And she sometimes thinks, she said, about how the Maharishi charges $700 or $800 for a one-word mantra while most writers make 10 cents a word.

Raised in Fayette, a one-cinema town with a few farmers and a cotton mill, Ms. Branyon grew up unburdened by any awareness of the South's weighty contribution to the theater but gained an appreciation from her mother, a former drama coach.

"Southerners really do sit on the porch and tell stories," she said.

Alabama Mame

Ms. Branyon described her mother as a colorful, headstrong, adventurous, and mischievous woman - "the country version of Auntie Mame" - who instilled in her daughter a sense of dramatic timing, a dry wit, and the feeling that she is "not at all usual."

Leaving their father, a great reader and wordsmith, at home, Mrs. Branyon took her children on trips all over the world and taught them to live as the Romans do, so to speak, in Europe, the Mideast, and in Japan.

"I could never keep up with her. She was the eternal teenager. Someone once asked did I ever have a child. I said yes, my mother."

She recalled the red convertible Austin-Healy that had been shipped from England, as a graduation present for her brother, to New Orleans. Her mother determined to drive it to Alabama herself. A man on the dock instructed her in the operation of a five-on-the-floor gear shift and concluded by showing her where to find reverse.

"I don't need the reverse," she snapped.

And that, says her daughter now, "is how I feel about my own life. No reverse."

Tian, tian de blettes, tian de courgettes - tian of chard, zucchini, spinach, artichokes, or, usually, just about any green vegetable, is one of the national dishes of Provence. Yet it is rarely seen in restaurants.

It is a family dish, one that used to be made at home, then taken to the village baker to be cooked when the bread-baking was over.

The flat, oval, baking dish of earthenware, especially the vast, heavy ones of Vallauris which are glazed inside but left their natural soft, dull, clay texture on the outside, bequeathed the dish its name, just as cassoulet (which derived its name from the clay baking dish called a casole d'Isel) has come to mean all manner of baked concoctions containing dried white beans.

Before the lovely, evocative word tian (which reminds one of French farmhouse kitchens with all sorts of delicious smells emanating from them) gets all bent out of shape like the puree of tomatoes that coulis originally was, let us get firmly in mind what it actually is: a gratin of vegetables baked in a flat, heavy, oval terrine.

In Provence, a tian is a homey dish eaten hot, tepid, or cold, and often taken on picnics. Late summer and early autumn are ideal seasons for making this wonderful gratin, which can stand alone as a main dish, be eaten as a first course, or fit into a standard American menu.

Like most home cooking, tians are ad hoc and can be thickened with rice, breadcrumbs, or chickpeas. But don't let the original dish stray too far from its origins.

Best of all are the slender little zucchini, either gold or green, no longer than six inches and a little more than an inch in diameter. However, if they've ballooned out of control in your garden, you can use fairly large ones, cut into one-inch dice after cutting away any excess seeds. Scrub them well with a sponge under cold running water and zucchini rarely need peeling.

Serves six heartily.

3 lbs. young, slender zucchini, both green and gold if possible

3 or 4 large cloves garlic, minced

1 large onion, chopped

2 Tbsp. olive oil

3 large eggs, beaten

Salt and pepper

1 1/2 cups soft, fresh breadcrumbs

3/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese

1/2 cup parsley, minced

1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

If you have a food processor, now's the time to make it earn its keep. Wash and dry the zucchini and cut off a bit from each end. Cut each zucchini in half, across the middle, not lengthwise. These two pieces fit side by side into most processor chutes. Use the medium slicing blade, not the fine. If you prefer, you can chop the vegetables into medium dice with a knife or slice them with a mandolin or a regular chef's knife, whatever.

Mince the garlic and chop the onion before sauteeing them gently in a heavy non-stick sauteuse or skillet. Turn them often; after five minutes add the zucchini (in two batches, if necessary, to avoid crowding the pan). Turn up the heat and saute it quickly, stirring all the time until almost done and still bright green and yellow. Turn out onto a wide dish and cool.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Beat the eggs lightly and mix with Gruyere cheese, herbs, and most of the bread crumbs - save about a quarter-cup for topping. Mix in the vegetables and turn them into a shallow, buttered oven dish, oval or square, just large enough to hold them. Mix the remaining crumbs with the Parmesan and scatter this on top. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the top. Bake in the center of the oven for about 30 minutes, turning the dish around once, midway, so that it browns evenly.

Let your tian settle on top of the stove for about 10 minutes before serving it. Or, if your guests or family are laggards, give it to them just warm - or even cold. Some good, thickly sliced ripe tomatoes with a bit of fruity olive oil, good bread, and a fairly good red wine (we enjoyed a fine Shiraz from Australia with ours recently) comprise a meal fit for just about anybody.

No Better Dish

A story about tians that comes via Elizabeth David from "La Cuisine a Nice" by H. Heyraud:

". . . . Six gourmets from Carpentras, having decided to treat each other, each provided at the time fixed for the picnic a surprise dish of a monumental tian; all six were devoured with patriotic enthusiasm. Not one of the guests had been able to imagine that there was a better dish in the world."

The story reminds me, albeit wanly, of a covered-dish supper I once attended where about eight of the participants brought mixed-bean salads! Four more brought pasta salads! Oh, how we could have used a couple of tians.

Although spinach also makes a scrumptious tian, it's more work because of its sandiness and the washing it needs. I think it's worth the trouble, but chard and kale serve just as well, are sturdier, and are easily washed clean. You must remove the heavy, tough stems however, or the dish will be inedible. Discard any tough or yellowed outer leaves (which fresh, locally grown greens shouldn't have anyway). This is for a smaller dish, but easily multiplied for more people. It's good left over, too.

Serves four.

1 large bunch of chard or kale

A large pot of boiling, salted water (as for pasta)

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 medium-large red onion, chopped

2 or 3 fat cloves garlic, minced or sliced

3/4 cup cooked rice

1/2 cup shredded Gruyere or Swiss or Fontina cheese

2 extra-large eggs, beaten

Salt and red pepper flakes

1/2 cup chopped parsley leaves

1 Tbsp. minced fresh rosemary leaves

1 Tbsp. pine nuts, toasted

2 Tbsp. fresh bread crumbs

2 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan

Rouille (optional)

Fill the kitchen sink with cold water and swish the greens around in it. Lift them out and into a colander. Remove the stems; fold the leaf in half and pull the stem down from the underside. Toss the leaves into rapidly boiling water for about three minutes, pushing them under with a wide spatula. Drain, cool slightly, and chop coarsely.

Heat the olive oil in a big non-stick sauteuse or skillet and saute the onion and garlic over low heat, stirring often. Scrape the contents of the skillet into a large bowl containing the rice, cheese, beaten eggs, salt, pepper, parsley, and rosemary.

Mix with the greens. Turn this into an appropriately sized heavy gratin dish and top with the pine nuts mixed with the remaining crumbs and Parmesan (don't use that cheap, pre-grated Kraft stuff, which would only spoil the dish - it would be better to omit it entirely or use a less expensive, but freshly grated cheese, such as Romano or even a good, hard piece of Vermont white cheddar).

Rouille

Rouille, a richly colored thick, spicy sauce made of red sweet peppers, hot peppers, garlic, olive oil, and crumbs to bind it, is non-traditional, though it is Provencal, with tians.

However, I happened to have some on hand, tried it, and found it pleasing. Rouille, discussed in this space recently, is another Provencal sauce that has, like aioli, been bastardized out of all recognition -- why, I don't know, since the genuine article is so simple to make.

It's pronounced "ROO-ee," should you want to correct the next waiter who garbles it with supreme confidence, as they often do when changing "aye-o-LEE" into "a-ohlee," which sounds positively Hawaiian.