Holiday Gift Cards

Indian Wells Tavern in Amagansett is offering a special on gift cards through Dec. 31. A purchase of a gift card of $100 or more includes a complimentary $20 card. 

Almond in Bridgehampton is offering two deals on gift certificates through Dec. 24. The purchase of a $200 certificate includes one for $50, and a $100 purchase includes one for $20.

At Smokin’ Wolf in East Hampton, those who purchase five $20 gift cards receive a free $20 card through Dec. 24. 

Catering Christmas

The Art of Eating in Bridgehampton has a special catering menu for Christmas events. The prepared dishes include dips and spreads, soups, salads, and entrees such as whole grilled salmon for $39 per pound and a baked Heritage ham for $16.50 per pound. Orders must be placed by Dec. 17 for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and 72 hours in advance for other days. 

Clubhouse Special

The Clubhouse in East Hampton is offering a children’s dinner special on Sundays. For every order of an adult entree, two kids meals are free.  

Wine Class

Park Place Wines and Liquors in East Hampton will hold a tasting of six holiday wines on Dec. 15 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Reservations are by calling the store. 

Champagne Dinner

Reservations are being taken for a Wolffer Estate Vineyard five-course champagne dinner on Dec. 16 at 5:30 p.m. at Wolffer Kitchen Sag Harbor. Roman Roth, the estate’s winemaker, and Michael Ronzino, the restaurant’s chef, will be in attendance, and the dinner will feature special vintages of Bollinger champagne. The cost is $125 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Reservations are via the Resy website. 

Half-Price Wine

At Indian Wells Tavern half-price bottles of wine, not including champagne, can be purchased with any dinner entree Sunday through Thursday.

Hanukkah Specials

Nick and Toni’s in East Hampton will offer à la carte dinner specials on Sunday and Monday to celebrate the beginning of Hanukkah. The dishes will include a chanterelle mushroom kugel appetizer for $19, an entree of pomegranate braised beef short rib with roasted root vegetable for $42, and, for dessert, cinnamon honey donuts with apple butter for $15.  

Rowdy Hall in East Hampton will offer Hanukkah specials Sunday through Tuesday. The dishes include matzoh ball soup for $12, a braised lamb shank entree for $28, and a piece of coconut macaroon cake with chocolate ganache and hazelnut crumble for $12. 

Holiday Bake Sale

The Greek Orthodox Church of the Hamptons is taking orders for pastries baked by members of the church’s Ladies Philoptochos Society and the P.T.O. Ladies. The options include desserts such as baklava, 12 pieces for $25, as well as frozen hors d’oeuvres such as spanakopita, 16 pieces for $25. A menu and order form are available on the church’s website. The pickup days for the pastries are Dec. 8 and 16 between noon and 12:30 p.m.

A civilized dose of bitterness is good for you. 

I am talking about bitter greens such as radicchio, endive, escarole, and chicories. Crunchy, aggressive, and somewhat bitter salads go remarkably well with rich and hearty winter dishes. Bitter greens also completely change their personalities when cooked, becoming slightly sweet and nutty. 

While researching these underappreciated and underutilized vegetables, I was rather flummoxed to see that they are often lumped together as a category with peppery greens such as arugula, watercress, and tatsoi. There is a big difference between bitter and peppery. A lot of people do have an innate aversion to bitter tastes, but these tastes can add depth and complexity to salads, pastas, and more.

Do you appreciate espresso, dark chocolate, citrus rind with a bit of pith, or Campari? These all have a whisper of bitterness. Try some of the aforementioned greens and you will discover that you can play nice with them, or play rough. For instance, you can balance and soften them by combining with starchy things such as polenta, rice, or potatoes. You can smooth them out with dairy products like butter, cheese, and yogurt. Try lightening their intensity with sweet flavors from honey, fruit, caramelized onions, or good aged Balsamic vinegar. Fats like avocados and eggs marry the flavors.

To play rough, go bold on bold with anchovies, garlic, chili flakes, bacon, capers, horseradish, and hard cheeses like Parmesan and pecorino. A good example is broccoli rabe with orecchiette, garlic, chili flakes, sausage, and Parmesan cheese. Lastly, for the truly bitter-averse, heat mellows the harsh edges of greens like collards.

Europeans — the French and Italians in particular — adore bitter greens. According to Deborah Madison in her book “Vegetable Literacy,” as of 2013, 70,000 acres were devoted to the growing of Belgian endive, a.k.a. witloof, in Europe. Fewer than 4,000 acres were grown in America. Belgians consume about 18 pounds per person per year, the French eight pounds per person per year, and Dutch seven pounds. Americans consumed four leaves per person per year, which comes out to less than one ounce. Sad.

Endive is a wee bit pricy but there’s good reason for that. Please also keep in mind that there is no waste and you don’t even have to wash every leaf. Belgian endive is double grown, first from seed in the spring, defoliated and dug up in the fall, and then the taproot, with its nutrients, is kept in cold storage. Then the root is replanted indoors and kept covered with soil or sand or grown hydroponically in the dark. This can take almost a year, resulting in a delicate, crunchy, and tender texture. Once exposed to light in the market, however, endive begins to turn bitter and lightly green. It is all counter-intuitive to what we think of as farming and gardening, which require light and warmth. These thrive in cool darkness.

How the heck did someone figure this out? According to Edible Sacramento, this process was accidentally discovered in 1831 by Jan Lemmers. He left chicory roots in his cellar, planning to roast and drink them as a coffee substitute, a common practice at the time. He forgot a few of the roots, they sprouted leaves, and hey, who doesn’t want to taste something mysterious that grew in their dark, damp basement?

The red-leafed radicchio is so ancient that Pliny the Elder wrote about it. Each type is named after where it is grown in the Veneto region: Treviso, Chioggia, Tardivo, and Castelfranco. This bitter vegetable is best in smaller doses, shredded finely in salads, mixed with other greens and dressed in an assertive vinaigrette. When cooked, it turns brown but is mellowed and delicious. Try grilling radicchio, then topping it with Gorgonzola cheese or mozzarella, combine it with creamy white beans, or fold it into a risotto.

Frisée is a popular green in French salads, usually served with a garlic-Dijon mustard dressing, croutons, and a fried egg on top. Another oft-seen version is with Roquefort cheese and toasted walnuts. Again, playing nice and rough, with both fatty taming ingredients and those that stand up to the bitterness.

Escarole is one of my favorites. I learned what to do with it from my mother’s best friend, Fanny Brennan. Peel off all the greener outer leaves (about two thirds of the head) and set them aside to saute in olive oil with garlic or cook in a soup with beans. The pale, inner leaves are more tender and barely bitter. These get a shallot dressing. On top of this, place some roasted (never boiled!), peeled, and sliced beets in a mustard vinaigrette. This salad is so pretty and healthy.

Another one of my favorite recipes is from Florence Fabricant’s “Pairings” column in The New York Times, which she adapted from Mix restaurant in New York City. This recipe is meant to be paired with a Cuvée de Prestige Champagne. The translation of “Cuvée de Prestige” is “super duper expensive,” ha ha ha. Wouldn’t it be interesting to splurge on such a champagne and skip the caviar on a special occasion, replacing it with this rather humble yet intriguing dish? She suggests beginning with oysters, then a mild green salad, and something citrusy for dessert, all pairing nicely with the fancy Champers.

Don’t be afraid of bitter greens, they are remarkably good for you, and are so well suited to this time of year.

Click for recipes

Plaza Café

61 Hill Street

Southampton

631-283-9323

Dinner Tuesday through Sunday,

5:30-10, Saturday until 11

Plaza Cafe in Southampton was my very first restaurant review. I don’t recall how long ago, but it was a long time ago. I was thrilled and honored to be taking this important task on when our beloved and talented Sheridan Sansegundo moved to San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.

I brought a gaggle of friends and was super bossy. “Let me taste that dish. Don’t put it on my plate, your sauces will get mixed up in my sauces. Don’t say my real name. Everybody has to get dessert, blah, blah, blah. . . .” I’m sure I was a real nuisance. 

The meal was divine, the service excellent, and the following morning I sat down with my notes to write. And then I noticed a glaring error. I had been so focused on the food that I neglected to notice anything about the decor and atmosphere. What color were the walls? Where was the bar? Were the floors wood? Was there a fireplace? Were there tablecloths, artwork, candles? I had to go back that night on my own dime to do a proper, comprehensive review. Lesson learned.

Plaza Cafe has been a very well regarded restaurant specializing in seafood for almost 22 years. The meal we had the other night was as good, if not even better, than the two I had blankety-blank years ago. And now I know to observe atmosphere and decor.

The space is large with a soaring ceiling, and the tables are nicely spaced. The floor is wood, the walls a sea green, and the fireplace has beautiful, intricate tile work around the mantle. There are paintings by Lynn Mara, a local artist, around the room depicting various familiar sights — beach plum picking, fluke, grape harvesting, and more.

Upon being seated we were served nice warm whole grain rolls with olive oil. For appetizers we tried the tuna crab tian, prosciutto-wrapped wild Pacific shrimp, and baby arugula salad. All three were superb. 

The tuna and crab tian had a layer of avocado, slightly spiced with wasabi, and then a layer of tuna tartare, and a top layer of citrusy crab. There were droplets of pale yuzu vinaigrette all around the plate. Yuzu is an absolutely delicious citrus. Common in Japan and Korea, it is very perfumy, like Meyer lemons. 

The prosciutto-wrapped shrimp (three big ones) were served on a rich porcini risotto. It was a bit spicy, had a hint of saffron, and was smoky, perhaps from paprika. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and juicy. 

My favorite appetizer was the salad. It was the kind of dish that I immediately wanted to try to duplicate at home. The arugula was in a somewhat warm sweet dressing with bits of end-of-season roasted corn kernels, chanterelle mushrooms, pancetta bacon, and heirloom cherry tomato halves that had been seeded. A generous amount of grated ricotta salata on top added a bit of richness and salt. Somehow the salad managed to be delicate and hearty at the same time.

When it was time to order our entrees, our waitress, Kiki, told us that half portions were available for almost all of the items on the menu, the logical exclusions being chicken and steak. We all opted for half portions and got the Faroe Island salmon special, the bay scallop special, and lobster-shrimp shepherd’s pie. Again, all three were outstanding, and other than the dainty bay scallop dish they didn’t seem like half orders at all. 

The salmon looked like a six-ounce portion and was cooked medium rare. It was served on top of a wild rice pilaf with cubes of acorn squash and had a hint of curry. The bay scallop dish had about 10 scallops, seared to caramelization yet still tender-raw on the inside. This is no small feat; it probably takes 30 seconds in a scorchingly hot pan. The scallops were nestled in a velvety cauliflower puree with frizzled leeks on top. The only garnish they didn’t need were the mandarin orange segments beneath the leeks. 

The lobster-shrimp shepherd’s pie, I’ve been told, is a signature dish at Plaza Cafe, and even the half order was generous. It had plenty of lobster meat and red shrimp mixed with lobster mushrooms and vegetables in a creamy sauce. The mashed potato topping was perfectly seasoned, flecked with chives piped onto the filling and browned to a crisp on top. A potato gaufrette and one shrimp made the whole presentation quite lovely. The effort it takes to make potato gaufrettes alone is very impressive. The potato is cut into a paper thin lattice-patterned wafer and fried, kind of like a waffle fry but classier, because it’s French!

The service on the night of our visit was professional, and our waitress Kiki was a delight. The prices are somewhat high but when you consider the option of “half” portions ($20 each for the scallops and salmon, $25 for the lobster-shrimp shepherd’s pie!) it can be quite reasonable. The quality and sophistication of the dishes and delicacy with which they are prepared is exceptional. The chef-owner Doug Gulija is most definitely masterful in handling fish, both local and from afar.

Appetizers are $17 to $32; entrees are $34 to $52. There are no sides offered but every dish is satisfyingly complete. Desserts, all made in house, including ice creams and sorbets, are $13 to $15.

For our final course we ordered Grandma’s chocolate mousse cake, crème brûlée, and apple pecan cake. All were excellent. The chocolate mousse cake was served in a wedge on top of artfully drizzled chocolate and white chocolate sauces. Confectioner’s sugar and dark cocoa powder dusted the rim of the plate, and the cake was served with creamy cappuccino ice cream and a crunchy rolled tuile cookie. The cake was moist and the mousse airy. The crème brûlée was lightly maple flavored, served in a fat little Ball jar with a spoonful of fig compote/jam on the side, and two crisped madeleine cookies. The crème brûlée was smooth and creamy and the brûléed sugar on top had that satisfying crack when broken into. The apple pecan dessert was a little round cake, absolutely delicious, topped with vanilla ice cream just starting to melt, and a dried crunchy apple slice on top. The plate had a pool of vanilla crème anglaise, sprinkled with bits of candied pecan pieces. Are you hungry yet?

Reflecting on our meal, I started to wonder why I haven’t been back to Plaza Cafe in a few years. Frankly, I’m just lazy, Southampton seems soooo far away from where I live. (It’s actually 23 minutes, 11.2 miles, I just checked.) 

So if you want to treat yourself to an expertly crafted seafood-centric meal, try Plaza Cafe. It is a treasure.

Last Chance for Clam Bar 

The Clam Bar at Napeague will close for the winter on Sunday. Because the restaurant is open on a weather-dependent basis, customers have been encouraged to call the restaurant before heading out.

Wine Class

Michael Cohen, the wine director at the 1770 House, will talk about the best wines he discovered this year on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits. Advance registration for the $10 class can be made by calling the store.

Maidstone Wine Dinner

The Maidstone Hotel in East Hampton will hold a five-course wine dinner on Friday, Nov. 30, starting with a cocktail hour at 7 p.m. The meal prepared by Ian Lowell, the executive chef, will include Long Island duck breast, Wagyu New York strip steak, and sea bass. The dishes will be paired with wines from Macari Vineyards on the North Fork. The cost is $85 per person, not including tax and gratuity. Reservations can be made online at eventbrite.com. 

Upcoming Events

The Baker House 1650 in East Hampton will hold a mixology class focusing on holiday cocktails on Dec. 1 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. The cost is $50 per person. Reservations can be made online at eventbrite.com. 

Almond in Bridgehampton will hold an Artists and Writers night with the Star’s East magazine on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. The family-style, three-course meal will feature early-American foods such as wild game. The cost is $45 and includes a glass of wine or beer, but not tax or gratuity. Reservations are by calling the restaurant.

Thanksgiving Takeout

The Highway Restaurant and Bar in East Hampton is offering a Thanksgiving takeout menu featuring a selection of salads and side dishes that will serve four people, and desserts that will serve six to eight. The salads include shaved Brussels sprouts with pomegranate, pistachios, and a cider vinaigrette for $16. The side dishes, priced at $14 each, include sweet potato puree, sausage stuffing, potatoes au gratin, and roasted root vegetables with herbs and almonds. For dessert, an apple crisp is $12, and a lemon poppy seed cake is $14. The restaurant will also provide such extras as pints of gravy and cranberry sauce for $8 each. Orders are being taken by phone and should be placed by Sunday for pickup by Wednesday. 

For those looking to outsource the turkey roasting, Almond restaurant’s L&W Market in Bridgehampton will prepare either a 12-to-14-pound turkey, which will serve six to eight people, or an 18-to-20-pound turkey, which will serve 10 to 12. The former costs $97.50 and the latter is $142.50. A pint of gravy is $10.99. The market is also offering a selection of hors d’oeuvres, appetizers, side dishes, and desserts. The side dishes include a croissant, sausage, celery, and sage stuffing for $12.99 a quart, and a sausage-free version for $10.99 a quart. Phone orders should be placed by 6 p.m. on Sunday and picked up either on Wednesday between 3 and 7 p.m. or next Thursday between 9 and 11 a.m.

The Thanksgiving catering menu at Organic Krush in Amagansett includes a slow-cooked turkey brined in vegetable stock, brown sugar, salt, peppercorns, allspice, and ginger. The turkey will serve 14 to 16 people and costs $150. The restaurant also offers side dishes such as cornbread stuffing for $45, which will serve 14 to 16 people, and seasonal roasted vegetables in either a small size (serving 8 to 10) for $45, or large (serving 16 to 20) for $90. Phone orders should be placed by Sunday at 4 p.m. and picked up on Wednesday. 

Sammy’s Restaurant and Bar in Montauk is offering a complete Thanksgiving takeout dinner that will serve up to eight people for $295. The meal includes an 18-pound turkey, mashed potatoes, traditional stuffing, giblet gravy, cranberry sauce, a dozen Portuguese rolls, green bean casserole, candied yams, and pumpkin pie. An individual turkey dinner is $36.95. The restaurant also offers an à la carte menu, with the turkey priced at $7.95 per pound, and side dishes such as roasted cauliflower for $27, and cornbread sausage stuffing for $28, both of which will serve 6 to 10 people. Phone orders must be placed by today.

Dining Out on Thanksgiving

The Harvest on Fort Pond in Montauk will serve Thanksgiving dinner starting at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

Thanksgiving Eve Special

The Springs Tavern will offer its happy hour menu at the bar from 3 to 11 p.m. on Wednesday. Bar bites such as jalapeno poppers, mozzarella sticks, chicken wings, and egg rolls will be $5 each. 

Highway’s Theme Nights

The Asian specialty menu returns to the Highway Restaurant and Bar tonight. The menu, which will be available on the second Thursday of the month, includes items such as a green mango and papaya salad for $16, a Thai ribs entree for $30, and a shareable dish of duck with hoisin sauce and moo shu pancakes for $55. On Monday nights, the featured entree is chicken potpie for $26.

Cranberries are one of my favorite fruits. So much so that I wish they were available year round. Yes, you can freeze your own or find them frozen or dried at the grocery store, but fresh cranberries are only available from October to December. 

They are tiny and tart, full of vitamin C, pectin, and antioxidants. They also have a lot of benzoic acid, now a common preservative in prepared foods.

Cranberries are one of only three fruits native to North America, and have been known as sassamanesh, ibimi, and atoqua by the various tribes that first discovered them. Native Americans mashed cranberries with deer meat and fat to make “pemmican,” kind of the first energy bar-jerky food. They also used the juice in poultices to draw poison out of arrow wounds and to dye rugs and blankets. 

Cranberries grow on long, low vines or evergreen shrubs in sandy bogs and marshes in the Northeast, Wisconsin, Pacific Northwest, Scandinavia, Canada, and Eastern Europe — 98 percent of cranberries are grown in the United States and Canada.

This fruit can be used in both sweet and savory recipes and is best known as a condiment in the form of jelly with or without whole berries to go with Thanksgiving feasts. You can grind cranberries up raw or cook them with oranges, spices, ginger, onions, and garlic. I like to make chutneys and apple cranberry pan dowdy. Pandowdy or pan dowdy is one of America’s oldest desserts and was a favorite of Abigail Adams, wife of second president John Adams and the first First Lady to reside in and entertain in the new White House. It is called “dowdy” because it is not a particularly elegant dessert. It is rustic, like other similarly named old-fashioned desserts — grunts, buckles, and slumps.

It just so happens that cranberries grow here on the East End, but I was informed by my editor that divulging the location would amount to what is known in the fishing community as “spot burning.” 

I’m going to tell you anyway. If you live in Montauk, you drive west, if you live in East Hampton, you go east. Go down that road (left turn or right, depending on which direction you came from), park your car at the end and then walk a ways until you see the bogs. Helpful? You’re welcome.

I have been cranberry picking twice. It’s not really “picking,” it’s more like wading and swishing and scooping. The plants are beautiful with tiny bright green fern-like leaves. It’s not likely you would confuse this berry with other red, possibly inedible, berries, but if you get confused, slice some berries open. They are white inside with a few little seeds, and they bounce. I have to admit that my scavenging yielded a paltry amount, but it was easy to supplement courtesy of Ocean Spray.

Cranberries were first commercially cultivated around 1816 by a Revolutionary War veteran, Captain Henry Hall of Cape Cod. In 1912, a lawyer named Marcus Urann started buying cranberry bogs, formed a cooperative, and started canning them. This became the Ocean Spray company. The jiggly canned jelly we see at many Thanksgiving tables first appeared in 1940.

The harvesting of cranberries can be done dry, with a comb-like machine, or wet, by flooding the bogs. The berries float to the top of the water and can then be scooped up and processed. They store very well because of their high acidity and phenolic compounds. According to Harold McGee, in his book “On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen,” “the spicy aroma of cranberries is created by a combination of terpenes and spicy phenolic derivatives: cinnamates, benzoates, vanillin, and almonds benzaldehyde.” They are so full of pectin that if you macerate them in alcohol the mixture will gel!

Dried cranberries are excellent in baked goods like cookies, cakes, muffins, scones, and bars. Cranberry juice, both red and white, is tasty and healthy and reputed to help with urinary tract infections. However, if you are prone to getting kidney stones, stay away, the berries are full of oxalate which some doctors believe causes kidney stones.

Enjoy this native berry fresh through the holiday season and freeze some for later use. (This is best done by placing them in a single layer on a cookie sheet in the freezer, then transferring to Ziploc baggies.) Fresh cranberries will keep for a month, possibly longer, and dried berries (Craisins), available year round, can be rehydrated if you desire, or simply tossed in salads, on roasted Brussels sprouts, in a wild rice pilaf, and many more recipes where a sprightly and tart flavor will enhance the dish.

Here are some recipes to inspire you.

Click for recipes

Ayurvedic Cuisine

Corey DeRosa, the director of the Tapovana Ashtanga Healing Center, will teach a cooking class and give a talk on the benefits of ayurvedic cuisine on Saturday from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. at Sen in Sag Harbor. Mr. DeRosa will discuss the importance of good digestion, proper food combinations, and choosing foods that are aligned with individual emotional patterns, constitutions, and environmental fluctuations. The cost is $80. Reservations are via Tapovana’s website. 

The center also runs a pop-up restaurant at Sen on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The menu features South Indian vegetarian lunches for a suggested $15 donation. 

“The Three Sisters”

The Amagansett Food Institute and Slow Food East End will hold a workshop and dinner focused on corn, beans, and squash, known in indigenous traditions as the “three sisters,” at South Fork Kitchens in Southampton on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Shane Weeks, an artist, educator, and member of the Shinnecock Nation, will discuss agricultural and seed-saving practices; Mimi Edelman, an Orient Point farmer, will demonstrate how to harvest, process and store seeds, and Jay Lippin, the chef at Baron’s Cove in Sag Harbor, will demonstrate a technique for preserving produce. The cost is $75. Tickets are available on eventbrite.com

Wolffer Event

Wolffer Estate Vineyard will hold a three-course lunch and wine-tasting of this year’s vintage in its wine cellar on Nov. 17 from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Roman Roth, the estate’s winemaker, will be in attendance. Michael Ronzino, the Wolffer Kitchen chef, has designed a menu that features a spaghetti with crab appetizer, and a braised lamb shank entree. The cost is $85 per person, not including tax and processing fees. Tickets can be reserved on eventbrite.com.

Quiet Clam Lunch Specials

The Quiet Clam 2.0 in East Hampton is offering lunch specials on weekdays from noon to 4 p.m. Soup and salad is $15, soup or salad and a half sandwich is $17.

Quail Hill Winter Share

The Peconic Land Trust’s Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett is offering winter shares in its community-supported agriculture program. Those who join for the winter will receive root vegetables, alliums, eggs, greenhouse greens, beans, and other surprises starting on the Friday before Thanksgiving and into March. Pickup days will be on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every other week. The cost for an individual share is $285, and a share for families of two or more costs $460. There is also a $50 first-time member fee. Shares can be purchased via the land trust’s website.

Steak at Springs Tavern 

The Springs Tavern in East Hampton is offering a steak dinner special for $25 on Mondays starting at 5 p.m. The dinner includes a starter salad, a New York strip steak entree, a vegetable side dish, and either mashed potatoes or a baked potato. 

Restaurant Week

Long Island Restaurant Week, a $29.95 prix-fixe promotion, will continue through Sunday at participating restaurants, including a dozen on the South Fork. The special is offered all night tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday and until 7 on Saturday. A list of restaurants, and links for reservations, can be found at longislandrestaurantweek.com.

Ramen Fest

Looking ahead, Sen in Sag Harbor will offer a four-course prix-fixe ramen noodle dinner on Nov. 29, with seatings from 5 to 7 p.m. and from 7:30 to 9:30. Diners will learn how make various broths and will choose the ingredients for their ramen entrees. The menu will also include a beet and squash noodle salad, edamame, sake pairings, and dessert. The cost is $50 per person not including gratuity. Reservations are by calling the restaurant. 

Paint and Sip

The Springs Tavern is the winter home of Paint & Sip, on alternate Mondays every month, beginning this week. The paint party sessions run from 6 to 8 p.m. and include instruction, materials, a drink, and an appetizer for $45 per person. Nicky Payne of the Salty Canvas will serve as host and instructor. Sign-ups can be made in advance at the Salty Canvas Hamptons website. The next session will be held Nov. 26.

L.I. Restaurant Week

A dozen South Fork eateries are taking part in Long Island Restaurant Week, which runs from Sunday through Nov. 11. The promotion features three-course prix fixes for $29.95, with upcharges for certain menu items. It is offered all night most nights, but only before 7 p.m. on Nov. 10, a Saturday. Nearby restaurants that have signed on this year include the 1770 House and the Clubhouse in East Hampton, Wolffer Kitchen locations in Amagansett and Sag Harbor; Baron’s Cove, Lulu Kitchen and Bar, and Page at 63 Main in Sag Harbor; Jean George at Topping Rose House and Elaia Estatorio in Bridgehampton, and Le Charlot, Claude’s, Shippy’s Pumpernickels, and Union Cantina in Southampton.

Among the notable restaurants taking part farther afield are American Beech and Noah’s in Greenport and the North Fork Table and Inn in Southold.

Artists and Wriers

Almond in Bridgehampton will hold an Artists and Writers night on Tuesday at 7. The three-course dinner will be hosted by Darius Yektai, a Southampton painter and sculptor. The cost is $45 and includes a glass of local wine or craft beer and tax. Gratuity is not included. Reservations can be made by calling the restaurant.

Dinner and a Movie 

Rowdy Hall in East Hampton has re-introduced its dinner-and-a-movie specials. Sunday through Wednesday, a beef or turkey burger can be ordered along with a voucher for the East Hampton Cinema, for $26. On Thursdays, the menu choices include fish and chips, meatloaf, or mussels as well as the burgers. Vegetarian items are also available for substitution. A glass of wine or a dessert can be added for $7 more, or a beer for another $6.

Day of the Dead

La Fondita in Amagansett will offer specials in celebration of the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead through tomorrow. The menu items include pork tamales in red sauce, chicken tamales in green sauce, or chile and cheese tamales, all served with rice and beans, for $12.50. Turkey in mole sauce with beans and tortillas is $16. A churro, and a champurrado, which is a warm chocolate beverage, each cost $3. 

Fresno Specials

Fresno in East Hampton is offering two-course prix-fixe specials Thursday through Monday until 6:30 p.m. for $30, plus tax and gratuity. Dessert can be added for an additional $5. The menu includes appetizers such as an artisanal greens salad with Bartlett pears, Manchego cheese, pumpkin seeds, and sherry vinaigrette, or green garbanzo and jalapeno-lime hummus with grilled flatbread and olives. Main dishes include chicken Milanese, and pan-seared organic salmon. 

Italian Comfort Food

A free cooking class on preparing Italian comfort foods such as chicken cacciatore, creamy polenta, and apple crostata will be held next Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor. Attendees will be offered tastings of the dishes. Registration is via the library’s website. 

A 1770 Thanksgiving

The 1770 House in East Hampton will serve a three-course prix fixe dinner on Thanksgiving Day from 2 to 8 p.m. The menu will include starters such as spicy Montauk fluke tartare, beet salad, and lobster bisque. For the turkey entree, Michael Rozzi, the executive chef, will prepare an organic Amish turkey with sage gravy, as well as side dishes of sausage stuffing, cranberry relish, butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, and mashed potatoes. His other entrees will include Scottish salmon, and an apple cider-cured pork chop. The cost is $95 per person, with a $40 two-course option for children 12 and under. Beverages, tax, and gratuity are additional.

It is true that certain foods can feed mind, body, and soul. Think about how you feel after a healthy, flavorful, balanced, and colorful meal. Then recall how you’ve felt after a Big Mac, basket of French fries, and a milkshake. Big difference, right?

Ayurveda, which has been in existence for over 3,000 years, is one of the world’s most sophisticated and powerful mind-body healthy systems. Some of it simply sounds logical: Eat that balanced diet, get adequate restful sleep, exercise, breath correctly, live in tune with nature, and be motivated by love. But this is easier said than done.

Which brings me to the little miracle occurring right now in Sag Harbor. For a mere $15 donation, four days a week at lunchtime at Sen, you can dine on a balanced and utterly delicious Southern Indian meal prepared by Corey DeRosa, who has been running the Tapovana Ashtanga Healing Center of the Hamptons for 13 years. For $5 you can get the “two hour” chai, a seasonal mixture of spices simmered with black tea and milk. On the day I went, the usual combination of ginger, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon also had fennel, giving it a more mysterious and deep flavor.

The meal was served in the traditional small metal bowls used in India. There was butternut squash palya with coconut and red peppers, lime rice with green peppers, coconut, and toasted cashews, pigeon pea soup with green chili and cumin, and tomato gojju with red peppers and lentils. The butternut squash dish was mild and a bit crunchy from the mustard seeds. The lime rice was complex; the long-grained brown and white basmati rice was slightly tart and sweet, with toasted lentils, rich grated coconut, and roasted cashews. The tomato gojju was spicy, a perfect accompaniment to all the other dishes. For a few dollars more you could order the potato vada, crispy potato cakes with curry leaves, ginger, and black mustard seeds topped with a sweet-tart date and tamarind chutney.

Corey was raised Catholic in an Italian family. From his religious upbringing he always felt that the “seeds of spirituality” were in him. From his family, he learned the importance of food as part of bringing people together, whether to celebrate occasions or mourn losses. Cooking for people you love.

He was always athletic and recognized the importance of a healthy diet. In his 20s he was on his way from semipro to becoming a professional soccer player. And then he broke his back. He realized right away that muscle relaxers were not the best road to recovery. He spent many years as a waiter at Sen, Phao, and Jeff and Eddie’s, and then opened Tapovana Ashtanga Healing Center of the Hamptons.

“I’ve been a vegetarian, a vegan, tried the raw food diet, then discovered ayurveda. Ayurveda made the most sense to me, with the mind-body health connections.”

He learned Southern Indian cooking in Gokulum, Mysore, and began cooking at home and bringing the food for students at the yoga studio one day a week. This became so popular that soon he found himself cooking four days a week for 20 to 40 people. When the Suffolk County Health Department got wind of this generous (yet illegal) activity, he was shut down. Eventually he called his friends Jesse and Tora Matsuoka and Jeff Resnick at Sen and asked if he could use their kitchen to continue serving the community healthy, extremely reasonably priced meals. “We have the best local ingredients out here. We’re not looking at the bottom line, we’re not cooking to make money. The donations are to pay the people serving and helping to make the food [such as Bala Dev, a yoga student] and to pay for the food. Thanks to Jeff and friends at Sen, this is now possible.”

Expounding on the beliefs of ayurvedic cooking and the importance of good digestion, he explained that not only should every meal have the six tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent) to be balanced, but every bite should. He says he is like a kid in a candy shop this time of year. “It’s harvest time and I love making dosas. The other day I made them with parsnips and Brussels sprouts.” He also makes paneer from scratch. This is the silky, slightly firm Indian cheese made from fresh milk that is the perfect foil to spicy curries. It is obvious from his cooking that he understands the balance of flavors and proportion. “I started practicing cooking this way 12 years ago, and if a recipe was good I kept at it. It’s really a science.”

Corey lives in Sag Harbor with his wife, Erika Halweil, and daughters Milla and Neelu. On the day of my visit, Erika was at Sen enjoying her husband’s food with some mutual friends. She is lovely and funny as heck and also teaches yoga. In our interview, Corey frequently mentioned her and said how he couldn’t have done any of this without her.

The restaurant filled up gradually on this off-season Tuesday afternoon. If environment is indeed conducive to good digestion, then Corey couldn’t have chosen a more serene atmosphere than Sen.

He also teaches cooking classes; the next one will be on Nov. 10. It will 

be a demonstration, an introduction to ayur­veda, recipes, and then the meal. “You can’t learn this kind of cooking from a book, you really need to learn the techniques,” he said.

People (including yours truly) have told him that he could/should charge more for these delicious and perfectly balanced meals but that is not the goal. He is supporting the community that supports him. Maybe someday he will have an opportunity to open his own place. In the meantime, let us give thanks for this little miracle on Main Street in Sag Harbor.

The Tapovana South Indian Cafe at Sen is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m

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