I’d been wanting to try Mercado in Bridgehampton for quite a while. But no matter what time of day or what time of year I drove by, the place looked empty. For years it has remained as mysterious as that roadside business in Southampton that has the creepy statuary of Elvis, elephants, Marilyn Monroe, big dinosaurs, and bigger Buddhas.

There have been advertisements recently on the local radio station WEHM for Mercado. They feature a lady saying something along the lines of “I drive by here all the time and I’ve never been in.” The ads also proclaim that Mercado has the best margaritas. Oh, boy. 

So I put together my most reliable, intrepid, and game gang of tasters, and we went on a Sunday night. It was, indeed, empty. The entire time. As a matter of fact, after we had ordered our food, a gentleman who may have been the owner or manager (we never found out and he never acknowledged our presence) went out for a while and returned with some bags of groceries. Maybe they weren’t expecting us? Or anyone? Much to our amusement he spent most of the rest of the evening staring at a screen at the hostess station. Was he managing reservations? Trying to figure out where to put everybody? It shall remain a mystery. 

The interior of Mercado (formerly the Woodshed and for many years Almond) is colorful. The tin ceiling is painted yellow, the walls are brick red, there are a few movie posters en espanol (“Rebelde Sin Causa!”), some mounted boxes with skulls, and some strips of different colored wood (flooring samples?) glued to another wall. There are four flat screen TVs above the long bar, which boasts 75 different kinds of tequila.

On this quiet, quiet night of our visit, Simon was our waiter, bartender, perhaps even chef, cook, and bottle washer for all we could tell. He was delightful company and made some very good margaritas, in particular the caliente version.

We began our meal with guacamole, salsas, and stuffed jalapeños. The guacamole was good, if a wee bit too cold. The chips are fried and come with a tomatillo salsa and another roasted chile salsa. Both were very good, and just spicy enough. The chips were also good, until you came across one that had been fried in rancid oil and tasted ghastly. They should clean out the fryer and start fresh.

For entrees we tried the Yucatan chicken, carne asada, and shrimp tacos. All three were very good. The Yucatan chicken was a chicken breast on top of jalapeño mashed potatoes, covered in an almond cream sauce, and topped with lightly cooked zucchini ribbons. The carne asada was a tender, well-seasoned piece of skirt steak with house made corn tortillas, flour tortillas, and caramelized onions, and was served on more of the excellent mashed potatoes. Our buddy Simon gave us some sautéed mushrooms to go along with it. The shrimp tacos were good — slightly sweet from some grilled pineapple and zesty from pickled red onions. The Mexican rice served alongside was sad, but the refried black beans were good.

The prices at Mercado are moderate. Appetizers are $6 to $16, quesadillas and salads are $13 to $27, and tacos and burgers are $12 to $23. Main dishes are $22 to $35, sides are $4 to $7, and desserts are $7. As I mentioned before, our server, Simon, was charming, and we had his undivided attention.

We were in a bit of a hurry to get home to watch the Golden Globes, so we ordered two desserts (made in house) to go, the flan, and the tres leches cake. The flan was okay, but a bit overdone, ergo gritty, and the tres leches cake had seen better days. It was dry and bland.

Over all, our dinner at Mercado was a pleasant surprise and the food quite decent. I would definitely go back for some of the dishes we tried. Were Mercado’s margaritas the best, as touted on the radio? Not quite. In my opinion, that award goes to Townline BBQ, but they were good. 

It can be rather sad to be the only people in a restaurant on a Sunday night, and of course it doesn’t bode well for the business. But this place deserves a chance.

1770 House Specials

The 1770 House in East Hampton is offering several dining deals through April 19. From Sundays through Thursdays, except holidays, a $35 three-course prix fixe menu will be available, as will $9 wine and $5 beer selections. In addition, every Thursday the downstairs tavern will feature dishes priced at $17.70, among them turkey chili, chicken Parmigiana, and fish and chips, as well as its year-round standbys, meatloaf and a classic hamburger. 

Among the restaurant’s winter appetizers, some of which will be available on the prix fixe menu, are spicy Montauk fluke tartare, local cauliflower soup with house-cured bacon and Sigit cheese, and charred broccolini salad with Wagyu beef. Seasonal entrees include braised veal cheeks with hon-shimeji mushrooms and lamb loin with Taggiasca olives, saffron risotto, and spinach.

For First Responders

It’s always happy hour at Townline BBQ in Sagaponack for police officers and first responders who present their current badges or other identification to the bartender on duty. Perks include $5 shots, $6.25 garbage fries, $5.50 nachos, $6 wings, and beer and wine specials.

New Director

The Amagansett Food Institute, whose mission is to support, promote, and advocate for the farmers, fishermen, winemakers, and other East End food producers, has announced the appointment of Kate Fullam as its new executive director. 

Ms. Fullam’s broad range of experience in the nonprofit sector includes stints at the Group for the East End, Southampton Hospital, where she served as communications coordinator, and, most recently, the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University. She is a founding member of the Good Ground Community Garden in Hampton Bays, where she lives.

Artist and Writer’s Night

On Tuesday at 7 p.m., Artist and Writer’s Night at Almond restaurant in Bridgehampton will be hosted by Marilee Foster, a fifth-generation Sagaponack farmer and writer, whose book “Dirt Under My Nails” chronicles the daily life of a contemporary farmer, the seasonal changes to plant and animal life, and the effects of residential development on the environment.

The evening will feature a family-style three-course menu, which includes a glass of local wine or craft beer. The $45 tariff covers everything except the gratuity, and reservations are required.

It’s now 2018 and chances are almost half of you made New Year’s resolutions on Sunday. Of that number, half of you resolved to lose weight this year. Losing weight is the top resolution of Americans every year, more than the vague promise of “self-improvement,” being more financially responsible, quitting smoking, doing more exciting things, spending more time with family and friends, and coming dead last at 6.5 percent, getting more exercise, which is too bad because if you were truly committed to more exercise, you’d be more successful at your number one resolution.

The statistics of success rates are dismal, so dismal the National Institute of Health has given this a name: “false hope syndrome.” The failure rate is 92 percent. If you are in your 20s or 30s, you will likely be 37.8 percent successful, according to the Statistic Brain Research Institute. If you are over 50, your success rate is 16.3 percent. Interestingly, the percentage of people who feel they were successful in meeting their goals is the same as the failure rate, exactly 92 percent. Delusional people!

Rather than focus on these disheartening numbers, why not learn from the 8 percent who succeed? Here’s how.

Be passionate about your commitment. Be specific, make a plan, budget for it, and have friends and family hold you accountable. Nothing like public humiliation to help melt those pounds away. Other helpful methods are kind of obvious: Don’t deprive yourself of your occasional splurge foods, eat more filling foods like eggs, soups, legumes, and other vegetables, cook for yourself, compromise, and don’t let slipups become a backslide. Things that won’t help you: chewing gum, diet sodas, and eating the same stuff all the time.

If you choose to diet, are you going to follow a plan? I have railed against high-protein diets for years and still feel strongly against them. Atkins, Dukan, and the Ketogenic diets do work for a short time, then the weight comes back. Men, in particular, love these diets because they are high in meat and low in many vegetables and most fruits. I have written in the past about the DASH diet (Dietary Approach to Stopping Hypertension), and this is the safest and sanest diet, according to the Mayo Clinic, National Institute of Health, U.S. News, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and more. I lost close to 20 pounds four years ago and have never gained it back. Should I lose more? Yup. Baby steps, people, baby steps.

Cooking for yourself is an enormously helpful step toward losing weight because you have complete control over your meal. One of the reasons restaurant food is so delicious is because it can be loaded with fat and salt.

I am not going to suggest steamed salmon with a wedge of lemon, that is just cruel deprivation. Personally, I eat a lot of brown rice, big salads with lots of stuff in them, lean proteins like fish and eggs, lentils and black beans, yogurt, and my favorite super food, Japanese sweet potatoes. These are so darned good, they’re like cake! You can find them at Provisions in Sag Harbor, and I have seen them occasionally at the I.G.A. in Amagansett.

When it comes to salads, I add little bits of semi-naughty things, homemade croutons, a bit of Parmesan cheese, some toasted pecans or pine nuts, crumbled bacon, and dried fruit. When I make a pasta dish, the sauce is all vegetables. If I’m making meatballs, I use “zoodles,” the spiraled zucchini pasta, all the rage of 2017. These are compromises without sacrifice.

Do you like cheese? Research the fat content and you may be pleasantly surprised. Feta and goat cheese are lower in fat than that triple cream blob of St. Andre. Camembert is somewhat virtuous and Parmesan has so much flavor, you never need a lot. Even some of the lower fat cheeses like skim mozzarella are not bad on a pizza, or lower fat Boursin on crackers or folded into an omelette. 

I am fond of all types of Asian food and have found that many Thai, Chinese, Korean, and Indian recipes are perfect for dieting because they are so varied, vegetable-centric, and flavorful. Chicken marinated in cumin-spiced yogurt then grilled, yogurt raita with cucumber and mint, mango chutney, yellow lentil dal — that doesn’t sound so boring, does it? Of course, to get started on this kind of cooking you have to have a good number of spices, pastes, etc. Once you do, you can make anything. 

When you have leftover brown rice, you can make a big bowl of fried rice for dinner. Make a slurry with sesame oil, chili paste, fresh ginger and garlic, hoisin, and soy sauce. Fry the rice (for about four cups of rice you only need about two tablespoons of oil) until it starts to shrink and lose moisture. Add some leftover or fresh vegetables (peas and arugula are my go-to), scramble an egg into it, add the slurry, and fry some more. For those who like pork fried rice, I have found that a dab of bacon fat adds that rich flavor. Again, compromise but no sacrifice.

Vegetable purees are a seemingly rich side dish but don’t have to be. Puree peas with watercress and add a tiny bit of butter. Cauliflower with onions and sautéed apples with a pinch of curry are perfect with duck or pork. I have even made mashed potatoes with caramelized onions and chicken stock and it was a hit.

I do not have the willpower or desire to eat food without flavor and excitement. I always have plenty of lemons, fresh garlic, chili flakes, ginger, and good Parmesan cheese to add to everything.

It’s not easy to lose weight, but it’s doable. You should set realistic goals. For instance, I only lost about one to two pounds per week on the DASH diet, but I was never bored, hungry, or felt deprived. And I have maintained the weight loss and stayed mindful of what’s good for me. I have even learned how to master kale salad (the other omnipresent menu item of 2017). Don’t use that curly stuff, it’s nasty. Use the lacinato kale (also known as dinosaur or black kale), shred it, massage it with lemon juice and olive oil, add garlic, chopped dried apricots, Marcona almonds, and some Parmesan cheese. Voila, flavor bomb. You’re welcome.

So remember to set small goals (like start by saying you’ll lose seven pounds), budget for your goals (join a gym or Gurney’s to swim), keep a journal, and make yourself accountable to your friends and family. Nothing like shame and guilt to keep you motivated. This way, you can be in that 8 percent of successful resolution makers.

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Dinner and an Artist

Nick and Toni’s restaurant in East Hampton has teamed up with the Golden Eagle Studio, a nearby neighbor on North Main Street, to initiate a series of dinners with featured artists who will discuss an art-related topic, give a demonstration, or teach an art class at the studio before joining the group for dinner at the restaurant. 

Called A Night Out With, the series will start on Wednesday with Paton Miller, a painter whose works have been exhibited worldwide. The art session begins at 5:30 p.m. and will be followed by a two-course dinner. Reservations are a must and can be made online at goldeneagleart.com. The cost is $75 per person, which includes tax and tip. 

Mr. Miller will be followed by a session with Dennis Leri, a sculptor, on Jan. 18, and with Dan Rizzie and Susan Lazarus-Reiman on Jan. 24. Sessions with other artists are scheduled through mid-March. 

January Specials

The January lineup of prix fixe specials designed to entice diners in out of the cold includes a choice of appetizer and entree for $30 — or appetizer, entree, and dessert for $35 — at Fresno in East Hampton. Different nights of the week bring different specials at both Indian Wells Tavern in Amagansett and Cittanuova in East Hampton. 

At the tavern, it’s a $20 burger, brew, and wings special on Monday, followed by three tacos for $20 on Tuesday, fajitas and margaritas for $21 on Wednesday, and $29 prime rib on Thursday. On Sunday and Monday half-price bottles of wine are available to order with any entree. 

At Cittanuova, Monday is burger night, served with salad or soup and a draft beer for $20.17. Tuesday is pizza night, with any pizza served with a beer or with gelato for $15, and Wednesday is steak night for $19. On Thursday, pasta night, any pasta entree can be ordered for the appetizer price. 

Over near Three Mile Harbor, the Blend, the new restaurant opened by the chef and owner of Michael’s, is serving dinner from 5 to 9 nightly, with a two-course prix fixe for $29, or three courses for $35, offered Sundays through Thursdays, and on Fridays and Saturdays (excluding holiday weekends) from 5 to 6:30.

“Forced merriment” is what my brother Sherman calls it. We’re talking about New Year’s Eve, a.k.a. Hogmanay, Calennig, Kanun Novogo Goda, Reveillon, Silvester, Ambang, and/or Malam Tahun Baharu.

New Year’s Eve has been celebrated around the world for more than four millenniums, and most countries celebrate it on Dec. 31, the last day of the Gregorian calendar. Festivities can include fireworks, long festive parties, eating special foods, drinking champagne, and making resolutions. 

I like to celebrate and plan to have a grand meal . . . at home, with friends who can walk home afterward. Driving around East Hampton drunk in the wee hours of Jan. 1, 2018, is just another way of saying, “I can’t wait to see my name in the police blotter of The East Hampton Star next Thursday!”

For a small party, or dinner “a deux,” it is fun to splurge. Have a beef tenderloin with whipped cream horseradish sauce, creamed spinach, and potatoes au gratin, followed by a rich chocolate mousse. Start with caviar and/or oysters with champagne and have a really good bottle of red wine with your beef. For a bigger party, you can make layered caviar dip (stretch those eggs!) and a warming casserole with a big salad. Serve prosecco or cava instead of champagne; they’re really all the same, except for the price. Even the caviar doesn’t have to be frightfully expensive: American hackleback is damned adequate.

If you want to acknowledge and celebrate the new year the way other countries do, here are some ideas.

In Spain, just before midnight, revelers gobble down 12 grapes while making wishes. In Scandinavian countries they serve rice pudding with one almond hidden in it. Whoever gets the almond has good luck the following year. In Italy they serve lentils, symbolizing coins, for prosperity in the coming year. A similar dish, hoppin’ john, made with black-eyed peas, is served in the South. Circular pastries are prepared in the Netherlands, Greece, and Mexico to represent the year coming full circle. Pigs represent progress and wealth in some countries, including Cuba, Austria, and Hungary, so that is served. 

The practice of making New Year’s resolutions began in Babylonian times and usually involved returning farm equipment, to appease the gods and start the year off on the right foot.

If you’re having a party with a good-size gang, have a game night with MadLibs, Smart Mouth, and other fast, funny games. I’m having a Saran Wrap ball. You wrap the really good prize in the middle, then keep wrapping joke gifts, practical items, candy, etc., until the ball gets bigger and bigger. (Cut the plastic wrap at various intervals to make it easier, otherwise the whole table will be a tangled mess.) Everyone rolls a pair of dice until someone gets an even number. This person gets to unroll the ball and collect the goodies falling out, until the next person rolling the dice gets an even number, then they grab the ball and unravel it and so on. I found this idea on the internet, which makes the internet good for at least one thing.

Another good game that I learned from my friends Cindy and Jimmy requires no more than a small pad of paper and a pen for each guest. On the first page you write a descriptive sentence, then pass to the next person. They try to illustrate the sentence on the next page. The next person writes a sentence about that illustration, and the pages get folded over each time so all you have to go on is the previous picture or sentence. If I remember correctly, the last time we played, Ernest Hemingway sipping a daiquiri at Harry’s Bar in Paris turned into Hitler eating cake in a canoe. Yes, we are a funny and witty gang!

I’m going to make hoppin’ john this New Year’s Eve. It’s hard to find black-eyed peas out here, but you can find them frozen at King Kullen in Bridgehampton. Cornbread is traditionally served alongside to represent gold, and collard greens cooked with a ham hock are symbolic of “green” money. If I’m lazy I’ll get the cornbread from Smokin’ Wolf or Townline BBQ; they both make excellent versions.

If you’d rather go out, plenty of restaurants are offering New Year’s Eve festivities. How does cauliflower soup with winter truffles and butter-poached lobster at Nick and Toni’s sound? Divine! Almond is offering crispy sunchokes, foie gras, scallops, ribeye steaks, and more. Hubba hubba!

Remember to serve plenty of nonalcoholic beverages for your friends who don’t drink or their designated drivers. However you choose to do it, have fun saying goodbye to 2017 and welcoming in 2018. Celebrate responsibly, give thanks for family and friends, and only make resolutions you can keep. Happy New Year!

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The Mercado Mexican restaurant in Bridgehampton is offering a bonus gift card, in $10 or $20 denominations, to those who purchase a gift card for the restaurant for others. The offer is good through Tuesday. Beginning in January, Mercado will offer a free birthday entree to those who become its Facebook friends, as well as a three-course taco meal on Sunday nights, served family style after 5 p.m. 

New Year’s Eve Options

O’Murphy’s in Montauk is taking reservations for its New Year’s Eve dinner to be served from 5 to 11 p.m. The a la carte menu includes a choice of grilled filet mignon, rack of lamb, pot roast, roast duck, spicy tuna, shrimp scampi, and more. O’Murphy’s remains open through the winter.

Another New Year’s option is the Service Station restaurant in East Hampton, which will be serving on both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

At the Highway Restaurant and Bar in Wainscott, an a la carte New Year’s Eve menu will include seasonal dishes such as grilled lobster, short rib, and pear tarte Tatin for dessert. Meals will come with a complimentary glass of champagne paired with local oysters and mignonette sauce for the table. The complete menu can be found on the restaurant’s website.

Baron’s Cove in Sag Harbor will ring in the new year with an early dinner seating at 5 p.m. for $120 per person, and a late seating starting at 9:30 p.m. for $135 per person, which includes party favors and a champagne toast at midnight. Both prices exclude tax, gratuity, and drinks. Reservations are required; the menu is posted on the Baron’s Cove website. On New Year’s Day, Baron’s Cove will serve brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

  The folks at Nick and Toni’s in East Hampton will offer a la carte specials for New Year’s Eve, and serve brunch starting at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, and dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. A brunch special will be lobster benedict with crispy prosciutto, tarragon hollandaise, and mixed greens. At dinner the specials will include butter-poached lobster as an appetizer and a wood-grilled milk-fed veal chop as an entree.  

New Year’s Eve dishes at Almond in Bridgehampton will be made with local ingredients. A five-course prix fixe will be served that night starting at 9. For $115 per person, guests will receive party favors and a champagne toast alongside a meal that includes choices of crispy sunchokes with burrata, Hudson Valley foie gras, and Peconic Bay scallops, followed by entrees such as Maine halibut, smoked duck, and ribeye steak. Earlier in the evening, diners can order from an a la carte menu that will include holiday specials.

In Sag Harbor, Lulu Kitchen and Bar will host a New Year’s Eve celebration that includes an early, 5:30 p.m., seating and a later second seating at 8 that comes with a glass of champagne, party favors, and a four-course prix fixe. Alfredo Merat will play live music. The cost is $125 per person plus tax and gratuity. On the menu will be an oyster amuse-bouche, followed by starter choices such as a potato crepe with trout, venison and foie gras en croute, and truffle goat cheese ravioli. Entree choices will include wood-fired grilled halibut and octopus, poached lobster, and beef Wellington. A sampler of desserts will be served to conclude the meal.

At Rowdy Hall in East Hampton, the holiday will bring a la carte specials on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, offered for lunch and dinner on the last day of 2017, and at lunchtime only on the first day of 2018. The specials menu on Sunday will include short rib grilled cheese, potato leek soup, grilled calamari salad, rack of lamb, and profiteroles. The next day Rowdy Hall will serve “hair of the dog soup” as well as sweet potato and brisket hash with poached eggs and hollandaise, and a smoked salmon omelette. 

Over in Amagansett, a la carte specials on New Year’s Eve at Indian Wells Tavern will include oysters Rockefeller, warm spinach salad, lobster and shrimp bisque, prime rib, braised short rib, halibut, and ravioli. 

Holiday dining at the 1770 House in East Hampton this weekend will include a four-course prix fixe tasting menu at $110 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Diners may opt for an extra cheese course and wine pairings selected by the restaurant’s wine director. Champagne lovers will find 19 champagne and sparkling wine selections, including three by the glass, such as NV Billecart-Salmon Brut Reserve. 

On New Year’s Day, the 1770 House will serve dinner from 5:30 on in the dining room and in the downstairs tavern. 

Pierre’s in Bridgehampton is also a New Year’s option, with a holiday dinner to be served. The menu is to be posted on their website.

Homemade holiday gifts are often the best and most economical. They show that you made some effort, and it’s something your children can join in on. I mean, who doesn’t have fun melting chocolate, crushing candy canes, and licking the spatula and bowl?

In the years I was working as a pastry chef, I would buy a few pounds of good, dark bittersweet Valhrona chocolate from the head chef and make peppermint bark for Christmas presents. It takes five minutes and is a lot cheaper than what you’ll find at such gourmet stores as Williams Sonoma. Melt dark chocolate and spread it on a sheet pan. Melt a smaller amount of white chocolate and spread this on the cooled dark chocolate. Smash up some candy canes and sprinkle them on the white chocolate. Let cool, break into pieces and pack into tins or boxes for your lucky friends.

One year I was extremely ambitious (and broke). The restaurant I was working in was serving Parker House rolls brushed with Old Bay seasoning butter. I made an extra batch of the yeast dough and turned it into cinnamon buns. I delivered each batch of unbaked buns on Christmas Eve to friends around East Hampton. All they had to do was pop them in the oven on Christmas morning. I loved imagining everyone enjoying the aroma of cinnamon wafting throughout their houses as they opened presents.

Some years I make a French orange-flavored brandy called bischof. It is meant to be added in small amounts, about a teaspoon, to glasses of champagne or white wine, but is delicious on its own, chilled. It’s fun to collect small decorative bottles throughout the year for this purpose. Places like HomeGoods are good for this.

HomeGoods can be hit or miss, but I have often found great deals on olive oils, maple syrup, pretty paper baking cups, Le Creuset baking dishes, Emile Henry crockery, and more.

Some foods and cooking equipment can be bundled together with other items to make a themed gift. For instance, homemade Creole seasoning could join a bottle of hot sauce and a Lodge cast iron frying pan for a Louisiana-inspired gift. Include some recipes for gumbo or étouffée and your friends will be mighty impressed with your creativity and thoughtfulness. Another themed gift could be a beautiful Moroccan tagine from Loaves and Fishes Cookshop with some tins of Global Palate spices like ras al hanout or baharat and a jar of Charissa’s Harissa. Global Palate spices can be bought online and were created by the talented local chef Mark Sanne. Charissa’s Harissa, sold at many markets in our area, was created by the North Forkers Earl Felt and his late wife, Gloria.

Use your imagination for other economical themed food gifts. Cavaniola’s in Sag Harbor has mini raclette cheese melters. Give one of these with a hunk of raclette cheese and a jar of cornichons for an apnes-ski fondue party. 

Have a friend who loves tamales? Give him or her some dried corn husks, a bag of masa flour, dried chilies, and a Mexican cookbook for their D.I.Y. project.

Think outside the box: Quail Hill Farm winter shares are still available, who wouldn’t love the gift of going to one of our best organic farms to snip greens, gather alliums, potatoes, carrots, and winter squash from the barn, and grind wheat berries for bread? Shares are available through the Peconic Land Trust.

Everyone loves cookies and everyone knows Tate’s Bakeshop. You can find the Tate’s chocolate chip cookies everywhere. Pay a visit to the charming shop in Southampton, however, and you will find items you won’t see anywhere else, like Tate’s addictive cayenne chocolate cookies that Kathleen King invented two years ago.

For a grander gift (without spending too much), go hunting around antique and thrift stores. Sage Street Antiques in Sag Harbor is a reliable source for such fine items as Simon Pearce glassware, Apilco porcelain gratin dishes, copper pots in perfect condition, and all manner of beautiful plates and glasses.

Tiina the Store in Amagansett is best known for its beautifully unique, curated clothing. Look closer and you’ll find Italla glasses, bowls, and dishes, Marimekko napkins and potholders, Black Creek Mercantile cutting boards and spoons, Dosa dish towels, and crinkly white ceramic vases and pitchers designed by Max Lamb for 1882 Ltd.

Dedicated foodies always love receiving cookbooks, and BookHampton in East Hampton has the best selection around. Yeah, you can buy books on Amazon, but isn’t browsing in person a lot more fun?

Use your imagination, take a little time, and make some effort for your friends and family, for ‘tis the season!

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Other Christmas Options

Although many prefer dining in on Christmas Day, who wants the hassle and cleanup the night before? Christmas Eve has become a popular night for restaurants, and in addition to some of the special menus previously announced, comes Highway Restaurant and Bar in East Hampton. The cozy boite will serve an a la carte menu with holiday specials. These include balontine of foie gras with sauterne jelly and brioche; seafood eschabeche with local calamari, lobster, scallop, and shrimp, and braised lamb shank with pomme puree, grilled broccolini, and chippolini onion.

The restaurant will also serve a New Year’s Eve menu featuring grilled half lobster with anticucho mayo and frisee and herb salad; agnolotti with short rib and shaved Perigord truffles, and pear tarte tatin with brown butter ice cream. The evening begins with a glass of champagne and oysters to share for the table.

For those who would rather dine out on Christmas Day, Baron’s Cove in Sag Harbor will offer a traditional three-course dinner. Menu items include crispy lobster fritto misto, grilled prime filet, and spiced East Coast halibut. Dinner will be served from 2 to 9 p.m.

The restaurant’s New Year’s Eve plans include two seatings and music by the Dave Kellan Band. The bar is serving holiday-themed drinks this month including Pine and Gin, with gin, pomegranate, St. Germain, and thyme bitters

Full menus and pricing details for both holidays are available on the restaurants’ websites.

N.Y.E. at Nick and Toni’s

Nick and Toni’s restaurant in East Hampton has announced its a la carte specials for New Year’s Eve. Brunch, which will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., will feature a lobster benedict entree. Dinner, served from 5 to 10 p.m., will have a cauliflower soup with winter truffles as the amuse bouche, a butter-poached lobster appetizer, and a milk-fed veal chop entree with sweet potato leek gratin and Tuscan kale.

When I found out that my friend Justin Spring, author of “The Gourmands’ Way,” was going on a book-signing tour through San Francisco, then to Carmel to his sister and brother-in-law’s winery and tasting room in Carmel Valley, I asked if I could tag along. 

Reason number one: I was born in Carmel and was long overdue for a visit to my hometown. Reason number two: There was to be a dinner in his honor at Chez Panisse in Berkeley on Dec. 4, with a Richard Olney-inspired menu. Scratch that, traveling with Justin was reason number one.

I arrived on Dec. 3, and my son, Billy, had been in San Francisco for a few days already. We made a beeline for the Slanted Door, an excellent Vietnamese restaurant in the Ferry Building. We sat at the bar and enjoyed green papaya salad, the lightest spring rolls served with lettuce leaves, sprigs of mint, and vermicelli noodles, shaking beef, scallops in coconut broth, and roasted cauliflower. 

The next day we made a pilgrimage to Amoeba Records in Haight-Ashbury. The scent of fine weed was everywhere and it smelled . . . delicious. After a light lunch at a Thai restaurant (more green papaya salad and chicken larb) we were ready for Chez Panisse. 

I had just finished reading Alice Waters’s autobiography, “Coming to My Senses,” so this was an especially meaningful treat. Ms. Waters talks at length about her obsession with perfect lighting in her iconic restaurant, and also the flower arrangements. Both were a wonder to behold. The interior is Arts and Crafts style — warm woods, lots of copper, amber sconces, and an open kitchen that looks like a movie set. I snuck a peek inside, by a wood burning oven, and saw full sheet trays layered with big, fresh, chanterelle mushrooms.

The meal began with a salad of artichokes, beets, and chicories with a pale green garlic aioli. The vegetables were perfectly cooked and lightly salted. They tasted like they’d been poached in olive oil, almost a confit. The aioli was most likely made entirely with a young fruity olive oil, and the garlic was mild. The beef Bourguignon was rich and tender, with fingerling potatoes, Nantes carrots, and lots and lots of those beautiful chanterelle mushrooms. 

Before dessert was served, we were given plates of sliced, perfectly ripe Fuyu persimmons and chunks of pomegranate, a nice palate cleanser. The dessert was a wonder: buckwheat crepes with Chartreuse ice cream, candied almonds, and swirls of honey.

An amazing coincidence had occurred on the plane coming to San Francisco from New York. I sat next to a nice couple and chatted with them about my trip and the highlights to come, Chez Panisse being one of them. It turned out that my seatmate was Patricia Curtan, the illustrator of all of Alice Waters’s cookbooks, the creator of the colorful linoleum block prints of fruits and vegetables. My flabber has never been so gasted, and I forgot to get her autograph.

Most of our six days in San Francisco were filled with visits to bookstores for signings and readings, Omnivore Books being one of the best. We took a drive around Tomales Bay with Justin’s friend Rudi, and had an oyster feast at Nick’s Cove, where we met a handsome young coast guardsman who joined us for lunch. That’s how we roll in Northern Cali.

One morning in San Francisco, I awoke with a mission: I had read about the coffee crunch cake from Yasukochi’s Sweet Stop, tucked into the Super Mira Mart in Japantown. The cake originated at Blum’s, a little restaurant tucked inside the I. Magnin department store. Tom Yasukochi remembers being taken there by his mother. After being sent to various internment camps during World War II, he returned to San Francisco and began making the cakes himself.

Yasukochi’s Sweet Stop opens at 10 a.m., and the cakes are often sold out by 11. I bought three slices to share with Justin and Patty (his Amherst classmate, another fine traveling companion on this trip), and trudged back to our hotel.

For lunch that day we tried a place recommended by Justin’s friend David Lebowitz, a fine cookbook author and pastry chef. R and G Lounge in Chinatown is renowned for its salt and pepper Dungeness crab and it has been featured on Anthony Bourdain’s show “Parts Unknown.” The huge crabs are hacked up, then battered and fried with lots of garlic. We gorged ourselves on them, along with Peking duck and some green beans, and I kept repeating “save room for coffee crunch cake!” We didn’t have room for the cake until late that night, but I must say, it is one of the best cakes I’ve ever tasted. Super light, moist sponge cake is layered with whipped cream and a crunchy coating of coffee-infused honeycomb candy and almond bits. I am hoping I can duplicate this when I get home.

The last vital pilgrimage we made before leaving San Francisco for Carmel was to Zuni Cafe, renowned for its roast chicken with chunky croutons mixed with currants and pine nuts and served with a mound of frilly mizuna salad. I had never seen this kind of mizuna before (there are sixteen varieties), but after some research, I found out it was probably rock samphire. It wasn’t very peppery or mustardy and it was lightly dressed, perfect with the croutons that had absorbed the delicious chicken juices. 

As we ate, I wondered to myself, “Can I make this at home?” Yes, I can! With an Iacono or Browder’s bird and some Carissa’s bread, I can do this. I have always believed that a properly roasted chicken and a good salad are all you need for the perfect meal, and Zuni Cafe has built its reputation on this obvious and simple theorem since 1979.

Besides all the meals described, we enjoyed Cowgirl Creamery cheeses and Acme Bakery breads and artichokes and oysters and local wines and Frog Hollow jams and on and on.

I am now in Carmel and have two more days with my oldest childhood friends, the Osbornes, feasting and hiking and cooking and book signings with Justin.

Thank you, my dear friend, for letting me tag along, and bringing me home.

‘Tis a good season for those looking for daily restaurant specials or a fresh prix fixe menu.

At Tutto Il Giorno on Nugent Street in Southampton, Monday night is deemed “date night,” with any appetizer paired with any pasta dish offered at $29. A $36 prix fixe on Thursday and Sunday nights includes an appetizer, pasta or other entree, and a choice of dessert. 

A three-course menu at Almond on Main Street in Bridgehampton, which specializes in locally sourced ingredients, is $32.50 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays until 7 p.m., and all night on Wednesdays. Vegetarian options abound at Almond on “Meatless Monday” nights. 

Wolffer Kitchen in Amagansett has happy hour and prix fixe specials as well as occasional live music. The restaurant is open Thursdays through Sundays. 

Holiday Catering

Art of Eating Catering and Event Planning has a wide-ranging menu of foods that can be ordered for the coming holidays. Orders for Hanukkah, Christmas Eve, or Christmas meals must be placed by Sunday, and those for New Year’s Eve must be placed by Dec. 23. (Orders for other dates within the holiday season must be placed 72 hours in advance.) Meals for Dec. 24 and Dec. 31 must be picked up by 11:30 a.m.

The menu selections, which can be viewed at hamptonsartofeating.com, include “nibbles, dips, and spreads,” soups and salads, entrees, vegetables, sauces, and desserts. 

Local Love at Babette’s

Babette’s restaurant on Newtown Lane in East Hampton is issuing “Local Love” cards to the stalwart customers who remain in the off-season. They entitle the holder to a discount of 15 percent on breakfast, lunch, or dinner. 

Diners Have Spoken

The restaurant at the 1770 House in East Hampton has been included on a list of “100 Best Restaurants in America” by the reservation website Open Table. Of 19 New York eateries included, it is the only one outside Manhattan. The list stems from reviews by diners that were collected between November 2016 and the end of October.