Lights! Carrots! Action! It was Colin’s Carrot-Palooza at Estia’s Little Kitchen last week, as splashy a media event as you can expect for a Wednesday . . . in November . . . for a vegetable. There were local rock star chefs and their Daucus carotas, served raw, steamed, and in various dishes. The carrots, that is.

Colin Ambrose conceived of the event, a yearly root tasting, last summer. He asked a number of chefs and their favorite farmers or gardeners to grow a control seed (Scarlet Nantes) and another of their choice. There were hybrids and open-pollinated types, many with names that sounded more like medical marijuana varieties: Purple Haze, Atomic Red, White Satin, and Bolero.

Colin modestly pointed out the difference between himself and the other growers. “I’m a gardener, these people are farmers. This is educational for me, how they do it, what I can learn from them. Farmers have to blow the socks off of people who go to the farmers markets and taste their carrots.”

As people nibbled the raw and steamed samples, each chef and farmer was asked about his or her 65-day growing odyssey. Marilee Foster of Foster Farm, who was paired with Jason Weiner of Almond, emphasized the importance of preparing the soil the year before growth, making sure it’s not too acidic. Scott Chaskey of Quail Hill Farm, partnered with Chris Polidoro, a private chef, pointed out that once seeds are set, germination takes a long time, and weeding, weeding, weeding is important. Giggles all around from those in the know, except the press people whose mouths were stuffed with free food and wine.

Jeff Negron, who helps with the garden at Nick and Toni’s and Topping Rose House and has a number of private clients, said the sandy soil is good but needs plenty of nutrients. He also lamented the fact that carrots are slow growers and that his private clients expected carrots to be ready on time for all appropriate holidays. More giggles.

Dennis MacNeil, the chef at Provisions in Sag Harbor, said he had tried purple carrots in a chicken soup and they turned the soup purple. Cassandra Shupp, the pastry chef from Topping Rose House, said she uses carrots in a lot of desserts.

In their raw and lightly steamed state, the Atomic Reds had a somewhat strong flavor, the Purple Haze had a green taste, the White Satins were a bit soft and mild, the Dale’s fresh mix very vegetal. Yeah, I know those are vague descriptions.

And then, out came the dishes. From Topping Rose House there were some dainty and delicious carrot cake squares. From Bay Burger was a carrot panna cotta, light and silky. Todd Jacobs of Fresh Hamptons brought carrot fritters for dipping in a marvelous zesty mayo, yuzu, and jalapeno sauce. Bryan Futerman and Joe Realmuto of Nick and Toni’s provided beautiful and tasty harissa carrots. For sure one of the best was Colin’s Mr. McGregor’s Shepherd’s Pie, made with a layer of carrots between the mashed potatoes and (sniff, sniff, snuffle) Peter Rabbit stew filling. If there had been a Mrs. Tiggy Winkle pie I would have just about fainted then and there. Mr. Polidoro’s perfectly balanced carrot gyoza with a garlicky soy dipping sauce was my favorite.

We ate, we learned, we laughed, we jockeyed for position to take pictures. Stay tuned for next year’s event, where we again follow the seed to the plate at . . . BEETle Mania!

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For those whose Thanksgiving plans don’t include trussing and roasting a turkey at home, there is the following list, by no means exhaustive, of places where one could eat or get takeout for the holiday next week.

Pierre’s restaurant in Bridgehampton will serve an a la carte Thanksgiving dinner all day next Thursday — turkey along with lobster, lamb, and burgers. Child-sized portions will be available.

The market at Pierre’s will have 8-to-15-pound turkeys available, along with all the trimmings, including organic chicken and pork stuffing with chestnuts and Alsatian spice bread, glazed sweet potatoes, braised Brussels sprouts, and cranberry dressing. There will also be desserts, such as chocolate cakes and pumpkin and pecan tarts. Orders should be placed as early as possible. The menus can be seen online at pierresbridgehampton.com.

At the 1770 House in East Hampton, Michael Rozzi, the chef, will prepare a three-course Thanksgiving meal, and Michael Cohen, the wine director, will select wines to be paired with it. The meal will cost $95 per person, plus tax and gratuity; two courses for kids 12 and under will be offered for $40. Along with turkey, the entree choices will include maple-soy cured pork chops, a vegetarian truffle risotto, seared sea scallops, and New York strip steak.

South Fork and Spoon catering will not only prepare the food for a fuss-free Thanksgiving dinner at home, but will set the table, select wine and alcohol, and decorate with flower arrangements. The menu features dishes made with local and organic ingredients, and includes not only entrees and side dishes but also breakfast and hors d’oeuvres, including a Feast and Football platter with things to nosh on while watching the game. Deliveries will be made without additional charge from Southampton to East Hampton, and to Montauk for a fee. Additional information is available at southforkandspoon.com.

Also taking orders for Thanksgiving is Smokin’ Wolf BBQ in East Hampton. Smokin’ Wolf also has Sunday football specials on orders of wings, sliders, nachos, and grilled buffalo chicken salad to feed a crowd, and offers a free quesadilla with every three purchased. 

Art of Eating in Amagansett (Hamptonsartofeating.com) will accept holiday takeout orders through tomorrow for pickup by 10:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day; a minimum purchase of $600 is required. Cheryl Stair, the executive chef, has designed a menu of more than 40 items, based on organic and local ingredients, to create a five-course meal, or portions thereof. The fresh, free-range turkeys she serves are raised in Bridgehampton at Ludlow Farms. Orders may be placed by phone or emailed to [email protected].

At the Montauk Yacht Club, there will be a Thanksgiving Day buffet from noon to 6 p.m. for $32.95.

Bridgehampton’s Topping Rose House restaurant will center its Thanksgiving menu on organic turkey with traditional holiday side dishes. Reservations are being taken for holiday meals from 1 to 6 p.m. next Thursday, at $125 per person, plus tax and gratuity, or $55 for children 10 and under.

Also in Bridgehampton, Fresh Hamptons restaurant will serve Thanksgiving dinner from noon to 6 p.m., with holiday specials offered in addition to the regular dinner menu.

At the Living Room in East Hampton, a four-course feast will be served from 1 to 8 p.m. for $89 per person, excluding tax and tip, or half that for kids 12 and under.

New at E.N.E.

East by Northeast in Montauk has a new executive chef. Jeremy Blutstein, who was nominated for a James Beard award and has a decade of experience, was previously chef at the Crow’s Nest, also in Montauk. He is revamping the restaurant’s menu, and the new culinary lineup, described as “Asian flair meets farm-to-table,” will be unveiled tomorrow.

E.N.E. has a $24 prix fixe offered Sunday through Tuesday nights and until 6:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and serves half-price sushi and bar appetizers during happy hour from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday through Monday, and all night on Tuesdays.

South Fork

Kitchens Cafe

Student Center

Stony Brook University

239 Montauk Highway

Southampton

Open from 11-2 Weekdays

A few weeks ago a friend asked if I would like to sample some of the best, freshest, cheapest food available, in other words, one of the best-kept secrets on the East End. How is it I didn’t know of this special place, this little jewel of a cafe, open five days a week for lunch? One reason could be that it is essentially a Russian nesting doll.

Within the big college of Stony Brook University is the Southampton campus. Inside the campus grounds is the Student Center. Within the Student Center is the Amagansett Food Institute, the nonprofit membership organization made up of farmers and food producers. And the baby nesting doll within is South Fork Kitchens, with a cafe open to faculty, students — a-a-a-a-a-and the public! (This is not to be confused with the short-lived Southfork Kitchen that operated briefly where Fresh is now on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike. If you Google it, you will go nowhere.)

The Amagansett Food Institute was founded in 2009. The South Fork Kitchens Cafe opened in June to faculty, and in the fall to students and visitors. The kitchen itself is a 3,000-square-foot operation, big enough for four businesses at a time to produce their wares. It is available in shifts, 24/7.

A commercial kitchen for local chefs and entrepreneurs has been sorely lacking out here for decades. If you wanted to start a little spiced-nut or granola or soda pop company, you would have to borrow a restaurant or church’s Suffolk County Health Department-approved kitchen for your production.

If you’ve ever had a delicious Gula Gula empanada, or a picnic of tartines and salads from Madeline Picnic Co., or a dreamy loaf of sourdough bread from Carissa’s Breads, this is where it was born. Your fish from Dock to Dish is filleted here and Miss Lady root beer and cream soda are created here. 

Carissa Waechter of Carissa’s Breads is the coordinator and head chef of South Fork Kitchens. A classically trained pastry chef who has worked with David Burke and Daniel Boulud, she runs a clean and happy operation. On one visit, her brother and sister-in-law were helping out — on their vacation. On another visit, Nick from Quail Hill was stirring sourdough starter and formed loaves in wicker baskets. Cooking for the cafe is Jack Formica, who came to the Institute on a marketing internship — until they discovered he can cook.

The food served at the cafe is sourced from many local farms: Quail Hill, Amber Waves, Open Minded Organics, Mecox Bay Dairy, Green Thumb, Balsam, Sang Lee, and more. The farmers and producers coming in and out of the kitchen end up buying from one another. One farmer will come in to process peppers, another will take the leftovers. When Sean Barrett comes in to fillet fish for Dock to Dish, some of that fish will appear on the cafe’s menu. Maddy Storch and her sister Heather Doherty stop by to bake zucchini bread for their family’s Green Thumb farm. Carissa gets suet and lard from Mecox Bay Dairy and renders it for pie dough.

The menu changes daily, depending on what Jack finds available. The prices are staggeringly low. Salads and sandwiches average $6 or $7, soups are $5, side dishes $3. How does a grilled Gruyere cheese with butternut squash puree and shredded Brussels sprouts sound? Nordic salad with black kale, barley, dill, shaved fennel, and carrots in a citrus dressing? How about a slice of sweet potato pie to top it all off — for $2.50 per slice!

It is not quite a restaurant, but it is so much more than a college cafeteria. They serve the kind of food you’d get at a friend’s house, a friend who is a great cook and has access to all the best organic produce, meats, cheeses, and eggs out here. They average about 40 to 50 students and faculty daily, and while there are not a lot of tables and chairs yet, business is starting to pick up. Those in the know show up regularly; a group of women from a local nail salon, for instance. And yours truly from now on.

Along with your meal, you can pick up North Fork potato chips, Miss Lady sodas, and items produced in their kitchen such as Tembatoo granola (delicious) and candied walnuts from Nutsz (addictive). Some of the extra produce and eggs not used by the kitchen is available for purchase from a little refrigerator in the cafe. Carissa’s breads play a starring role on the menu and in the kitchen, and I never leave without a few loaves, freshly branded by a hot poker in the shape of a C.

So the cat’s out of the bag. If you want to try one of the best, freshest, and most affordable lunches around, try the South Fork Kitchens Cafe, open from 11 to 2, five days a week. See you there!

Heading out to Montauk for a weekend drive? Inlet Seafood restaurant, which has a harbor and Block Island Sound view from its high spot on East Lake Drive, is serving lunch and dinner Fridays through Sundays, and a Sunday brunch.

Zagat Comments

The 1770 House restaurant in East Hampton has asked its fans to sign in to the Zagat dining guide website and weigh in on the eatery. Zagat is doing its first survey of Long Island restaurants in several years. Comments can be made at zagat.com/vote through Jan. 6.

Slow Food Reps

The chairwoman and vice chairman of Slow Food East End were selected to attend Terra Madre, a worldwide Slow Food event that took place recently in Italy. Judiann Carmack-Fayyaz and Bryan Futerman served as delegates representing Slow Food U.S.A.’s new national school garden program. The five-day biennial event included food and wine tastings, workshops, and presentations by speakers including the chef Jamie Oliver, Alice Waters, a California chef responsible for initiating the school gardens movement, and Mi­chelle Obama, by video. Ms. Carmack-Fayyaz participated in a panel discussion on “Sustainability of School Gardens” and highlighted the efforts of the East End chapter.

Fermentation Workshop

Nadia Ernestus, who calls herself the “Hamptons health coach,” will give a workshop on fermenting honey and raw milk on Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Hayground School in Bridgehampton. The cost is $25.

Wine and Chocolate

Tastings of wine and chocolate, at which newly released 2013 red wines will be paired with gourmet, imported Vosges chocolate, will take place on Saturday and Sunday at the Diliberto Winery in Jamesport. Salvatore Diliberto, the winery’s owner and vintner, will present three wines paired with different chocolates. The cost is $25; reservations can be made with the winery.

Events at Topping Rose

Cooking classes will take place on the third Wednesday of the month through March at the Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton, featuring seasonal cooking techniques. After learning how to make the dishes for a three-course meal, along with a signature Topping Rose House cocktail, participants will partake of the meal with wine pairings from a local vineyard. The cost is $175 plus tax and gratuity. Wednesday’s session will focus on roasting, with wines by the Wolffer Estate Vineyard. Those interested have been asked to email the restaurant for reservations. A special on room rates at the inn is available for student cooks.

On the third Friday of each month through March, Topping Rose will serve a whole lamb or pig spit-roasted in the barn, along with local wines. On Friday, Nov. 21, the menu will include lamb and Wolffer Estate wines.

Farmers Market

A winter farmers market takes place every third Saturday of the month at the Topping Rose barn and studio from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Bridgehampton Inn

The restaurant at the Bridgehampton Inn, on Montauk Highway in that hamlet, is serving dinner Wednesdays through Sundays and has a prix fixe those nights from 5:30 till 7. Two courses are $35 and three courses are $40. The menu changes weekly, including the cocktails.

The Jamaica Specialties shop in East Hampton has weekly lunch specials for $8.95 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays. Every Friday there is a fish special, with different fish — kingfish, porgy, red snapper, and more — served Jamaican style. A fried fish special is $12, while steamed fish is $15; the specials are served with a choice of rice, yellow yam, boiled dumplings, or boiled banana.

In Montauk

East by Northeast restaurant in Montauk, which is open Fridays through Tuesdays beginning at 5 p.m., offers a happy hour in the bar and lounge area with specials on drinks and appetizers all night on Tuesdays, and from 5 to 7 the other nights. A three-course prix fixe is available for $24 from Sunday through Tuesday, and on Fridays and Saturdays until 6:30 p.m. The restaurant’s sushi bar remains open, and there is live music every Saturday night starting at 8.

The Montauk Yacht Club offers a 4 to 7 p.m. happy hour Sundays through Thursdays and a three-course prix fixe menu for $29.95 on those nights. Prime rib is the special on Thursdays; Fridays are clambake nights. The restaurant offers 25 percent off all bottles of wine, and a 10 percent discount to locals who have obtained a yacht club keychain after proving their residency.

Autumn Dishes

Art of Eating Catering in Amagansett has a new lineup of autumnal dishes on its take-out menu. Orders must be placed 48 hours in advance and can be picked up at the shop Tuesdays through Sundays. Among the new appetizers are several varieties of deviled eggs, potato, leek, and celery-root latkes, salmon terrine, rosemary-gruyere cheese puffs, and grilled goat cheese jalapeno poppers. Other items include lentil hummus with tomato and thyme, organic kale popcorn, red curry coconut rice noodles and vegetables with tofu, steakhouse salad, cauliflower and cheese gratin, and organic kale salad, along with grilled pork ribs, whole grilled salmon, woodland mushroom lasagna, and smoked barbecue pulled pork.

Fall menu items have also been added at little/red in Southampton, which serves dinner nightly and lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., along with an “in-between menu” from 3 to 5 p.m., Fridays through Sundays. The new dishes include roasted cauliflower and radicchio salad, chilled poached shrimp and smoked salmon, and seared sea scallops with mashed cauliflower, sautéed shaved Brussels sprouts, and bacon beurre blanc.

Artists and Writers Night

Jessica Soffer will read from her novel, “Tomorrow There Will be Apricots,” which has been excerpted in The Star, at an artists and writers dinner on Tuesday at Almond in Bridgehampton. The evening will feature a three-course prix fixe served family style, with a glass of local wine or craft beer, and a discussion by Ms. Soffer about the meaning of food references in her book. She is a New York City-based writer whose work has also appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, and The Wall Street Journal.

Advance registration is required. The cost is $45 per person, which includes tax and gratuity.

Dinner and Movie

At Rowdy Hall in East Hampton, diners who order the “Rowdy Classic” special of the night Sundays through Thursdays, which costs $20 plus tax and gratuity, will receive a free voucher for the movies. The special on Sunday will be meatloaf, burgers on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and on Thursday, moules frites, steamed wild Cape Cod mussels served with fries.

Cooking Class

James Carpenter, the chef at Page 63 in Sag Harbor, will give a cooking class, along with the restaurant’s manager, Jamie D’Oliveira, at Old Whalers Church in Sag Harbor next Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The meal will include kale and roasted squash salad, roasted chicken with autumn vegetables, and pumpkin mascarpone ravioli. There will be chocolate banana bread pudding for dessert. The cost is $20. Wine and water will be available for purchase. Reservations may be made by calling the church.

Restaurant Week

Long Island Restaurant Week has a few more days to go. Participating restaurants, a list of which can be found at longislandrestaurantweek.com, are offering a three-course prix fixe for $27.95, through Sunday.

I am a huge fan of fall vegetables, almost all of them. They are durable, adaptable, and malleable. Many can be eaten raw, or cooked a number of ways — roasted, steamed, fried, pureed, stir-fried. And they play nicely together, such as celery root cooked with potatoes for a mash, or butternut squash cubes roasted with carrots, sweet potatoes, and shallots.

One of the beauties of fall vegetables is how long they can last with the proper storage. You can’t let a dozen ears of corn fester in the refrigerator until you decide what to do with them. Same goes for delicate butter lettuce or spinach. But vegetables like cabbage and kale, cauliflower and broccoli, they’re perfectly content sitting in your produce bin until you’re inspired.

Some of the vegetables that are plentiful now and grown locally are pumpkins (okay, that’s technically a berry), all manner of squash, cabbage, carrots, Brussels sprouts, turnips, potatoes, kohlrabi, parsnips, kale, chard, beets, celery root, broccoli, and cauliflower.

When it comes to pumpkins and winter squash, there are so many varieties that I get overwhelmed and confused and tend to stick with what I know. Cheese pumpkins are for pie, but I swear, once you go through all the work of cooking and pureeing and seasoning, you might as well used canned for a pie.

Regarding squash, my personal favorite is butternut. It is sturdier, sweeter, and less watery than acorn or delicata. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to peel, so make sure you have good knives and mad skills. I’ve shared it before, but my favorite go-to recipe for butternut squash is cubes drizzled with olive oil, a bit of maple syrup, grated ginger, and rosemary, roasted for about 45 minutes at 375 degrees. You’re welcome.

The beauty of cabbage is it is delicious raw in slaw, (which also keeps well so you can have it for several meals in a week), or used in stir-fries, stuffed, added to soups, and so on. Napa, the ruffled leaf with white ribs variety is good for stirfries. Savoy, the loosely packed, wrinkly kind is good for cabbage rolls.

Carrots, available year round, are especially good in early summer and late fall. Like many of the other vegetables, they benefit from a few cold snaps. I don’t peel them, just give them a good scrubby-dub with a vegetable brush or coarse side of a sponge. My current favorite recipe is roasting large slivers with a bit of olive oil, a few tablespoons of water, and salt and pepper until they are fully cooked and starting to caramelize. Finish with a few drizzles of very good balsamic vinegar. One thing to beware of, they do shrink considerably, so you will definitely need one whole bunch for two people.

Brussels sprouts have experienced such a resurgence in popularity that they can often be found on restaurant menus as a side dish year round, usually offered crispy with bacon. If you want to leave out the bacon, smoked salt or smoked paprika can give the sprouts some added depth of flavor without the porcine fat.

Turnips are one of my favorites, but only when they are small. Try slicing them and sautéing in butter with plenty of salt and pepper. Finish with snipped chives, very French!

Potatoes deserve, and have received, their own column before, so I’ll just say that you want to use waxy potatoes for salads, soups, and roasting; floury ones for baking and/or mashing. You can use the all purpose potatoes interchangeably. Use waxy potatoes within a week of purchase; floury ones such as russet will last in a cool pantry environment (away from light and with good air circulation) for a month or so.

I am skipping kohlrabi and parsnips because I don’t like them. Sorry.

Kale and chard are divine. Maybe you’re sick of seeing kale Caesar salad on every menu, but when properly prepared, it is delicious. The key is to shred or break up the leaves into manageable bites, then massage them. I do this with olive oil and lemon juice. From there you can add toasted pine nuts, garlic, a bit of Parmesan cheese, dried cranberries or currants, toasted breadcrumbs, and so on. I am not a fan of the baby kale leaves sold bagged at the supermarket. While easier to prepare (you don’t have to stem the leaves), they have less flavor and wilt too quickly once dressed. Chard is delicious in gratins and soups. It is mild like spinach. The French, who are not wont to waste, cook the stems separately, then combine with the leaves, which require less cooking.

Beets are one of my favorite vegetables. I cannot emphasize enough the benefits of roasting them whole over boiling them. The sugars and some of the color are lost in boiling but are concentrated when roasted. Give them a good scrub, leave an inch of the stem on, wrap in foil and bake for approximately an hour at 400 degrees. The sizes in one bunch vary wildly, so test with a sharp knife. When cooled they are easy to peel. From there, try tossing them in a mustardy vinaigrette with shallots and put on top of hearts of escarole salad. Toasted walnuts, walnut oil, and blue cheese are also classic additions to this salad. And don’t forget borscht, hot or cold, one of the greatest soups, but seldom seen anymore!

Celery root is wonderful raw, julienned, and made into celery remoulade. Toss with mustardy creme fraiche and lots of black pepper. It is also great in gratins, mashed with potatoes, or in soups.

Broccoli and cauliflower are year-round staples, but you haven’t lived until you’ve had a fresh Long Island cauliflower, sweetened by a bit of frost. Besides the usual methods of cooking, lately I have seen recipes for whole roasted cauliflower coated with herb butter, whole deep-fried cauliflower cut into steaks, and even a mock risotto made with shaved cauliflower.

All you have to do is look at fall vegetables and realize they are full of vitamins, the vibrant oranges and yellows and deep greens just scream vitamin C. Broccoli has lots of vitamins, C, K, and A, plus folate and fiber. Cabbage has vitamin C, fiber, and isothiocyanates, chemicals that help our body’s natural detoxification systems. Chard and kale have phytochemicals, vitamins K, D, A, and C, magnesium, and potassium. Potatoes have complex carbohydrates and a bit of vitamin C. Winter squashes have vitamins A, C, B6, and K, potassium, and folate.

In experimenting with many of these vegetables I did notice that most have a mild, earthy flavor and a degree of sweetness. These characteristics can be played up by adding cream and cheese, but I found that a sharp acidic note really brought out their flavors. So you can go in any direction with them, rich and comforting or light and sprightly. Summer may be over, but the wonderful array of vegetables available and their preparation possibilities has just begun.

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Long Island Restaurant Week

As the weather cools, restaurants offer bargains to lure diners from the warmth of hearth and home. Long Island Restaurant Week will begin Sunday and continue through Nov. 9, with more than 165 restaurants offering prix fixe, three-course menus for $27.95.

Participating South Fork eateries are 1770 House and the Living Room at c/o the Maidstone in East Hampton, Almond and Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton, and the Cuddy and Page at 63 Main in Sag Harbor.

A bit farther afield, special menus will be offered at Cowfish and Rumba in Hampton Bays, the Patio in Westhampton Beach, Tweeds and Joe’s Garage and Grill in Riverhead, Petulant Wino in Aquebogue, the Jamesport Manor Inn and Jedediah Hawkins in Jamesport, Cooperage Inn in Baiting Hollow, a Mano in Mattituck, A Lure and Caci North Fork Restaurant in Southold, Legends in New Suffolk, Touch of Venice in Cutchogue, and Blue Canoe Oyster Bar and Grill and Noah’s in Greenport.

Every restaurant will offer at least three choices for each course at the set price, which does not include gratuities or beverages.

Local Breads and Brews

This evening at 6:30, the Amagansett Free Library will present the second program of “A Place on Your Table,” its new culinary series, with a discussion about and tasting of offerings from Carissa’s Breads of Amagansett and the Montauk Brewing Company. Reservations, which have been strongly recommended, can be made by calling 267-3810.

Wines at Wainscott Main

The weekly series of informative wine tastings at Wainscott Main Wines and Spirits will continue Wednesday with “What’s in the Bottle? Decoding Austria and Germany,” a talk by Christian Troy, a partner in Indie Wineries, a distributor of artisanal wines from around the world.

The session begins at 5:30 p.m. and costs $10. Those wishing to attend can register by emailing wainscottmain@ gmail.com or by calling the store.

Blue Canoe

104 Third Street

Greenport

477-6888

Daily, noon-9 p.m.,

Friday and Saturday, noon-10 p.m.

Blue Canoe in Greenport is just plain fun. It’s on the water, has an expansive outdoor dining area, an eclectic menu with an Asian slant, great oysters in several guises, and a friendly staff. It is casual, but the food is pretty spiffy.

On a recent visit, we had to opt for indoor dining as the wind was just too blustery outside, even with the heaters. The interior is just as cozy as the outside is pretty. It is small with plain, white walls, a canoe hanging upside down from the ceiling, basil plants on the windowsills, a diminutive bar area, and minimal decor.

One of the more appealing aspects of the menu is the number of small offerings. Even what it calls “smaller plates” can be halved, so you can sample a good variety.

We began our meal with a cucumber avocado roll, shishito peppers, firecracker shrimp, and the onion ring boat. The cucumber avocado roll was fine, not much can go wrong there. We did note that there was a generous helping of pickled ginger, which we liked.

The shishitos were great. These are long, little, green peppers that are the Russian roulette of the capsicum annuum world. You can blithely gobble 8 or 9 or 10 but then you’ll get a super hot one. These shishitos were grilled on wooden skewers, then sprinkled with shichimi togarashi, a Japanese spice mixture, and served with a yuzu ranch dip that was absolutely delicious — citrusy and slightly salty. The firecracker shrimp are excellent, one of my favorite dishes here.

The shrimp are halved, fried, then sauced in a chili lime glaze and topped with sesame seeds and slivered scallions. They are crunchy, a bit chewy, the sauce spicy and sweet. The onion ring boat is presented in a humorous way. The rings are stacked on the mast of a metal boat basket and served with canoe sauce, another somewhat Asian-style tangy sauce. The onion rings may be a frozen brand, but they are tasty with a supercrunchy cornmeal coating.

For entrees we tried the Thai steak and noodle salad (sans beef for my vegetarian guest), barbecue ribs, vegan pasta Bolognese, and . . . french fries.

Sadly, the noodle salad was a dud, the rice noodles perhaps having spent too much time under refrigeration and tasting like it. The barbecue ribs were good, very tender with a good sauce and served with great pickles and a light coleslaw. I just prefer more smoky flavor permeating the meat, and this the ribs lacked.

The vegan Bolognese was excellent, a mixture of ground crimini mushrooms and other vegetables. You have the option to “make it creamy” with the addition of cream and Parmesan cheese, which we did and it was delicious. I was unaware until this visit that the folks who own Vine Street Cafe on Shelter Island also own Blue Canoe. Vine Street Cafe is renowned for its Bolognese sauce, so it’s no surprise this vegan version was so good. The french fries were also very good, thin and crisp, served in a paper cone.

The service was very good. Our waitress was friendly and knowledgeable. The staff did notice that the Thai rice noodle salad had been set aside barely touched and they took it off our bill, which was the right thing to do and much appreciated. Prices at Blue Canoe are moderate. Oyster prices vary; the oyster preparations are $12 to $18. Sushi is $9 to $16, smaller dishes (single to double orders) are $5 to $29, entrees are $14 to $44, sides are $3 to $9, desserts $7 to $9. The wine and beer list is short and reasonable.

There are no desserts made in-house but there are three quirky sweets offered at the end of the meal — grown-up chocolate bars, Bubbie’s mochi balls, and Kickshaw’s caramel corn in several flavors, pumpkin or gingerbread spice. We tried the mochi balls, three to an order. They were mango, blueberry, and lychee. Mochi is a chewy, glutinous rice cake molded around ice cream or red bean paste, a popular Japanese dessert or snack. The mango and lychee were delicious, but it was hard to detect blueberry flavor in the third mochi ball. The Kickshaw’s caramel corn (we tried the gingerbread spice) was insanely good, big fluffy kernels with a well-balanced spicy caramel coating and a teeny bit of white chocolate.

There are plenty of other dishes we wish we could have tried at Blue Canoe. I’ve had the oyster po’ boy before and it was equal to a New Orleans version. It also has nightly specials that sound fun, from a Japanese noodle night to chicken and waffles to sushi night and more. Blue Canoe is fun and young, original and casual, an alluring combination that makes for a wonderful experience, whether you dine inside or out.

East End Food Hub Grant

The Amagansett Food Institute has received a $25,000 grant through the United States Department of Agriculture’s Local Food Promotion Program. The grant will be used to study the feasibility of a food hub on the East End, where locally produced food could be collected, marketed, and distributed to institutional and wholesale buyers.

A consultant will be engaged to determine whether a food hub could help members of the food institute expand their businesses.

Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits

The weekly Wednesday series of tastings and discussions at Wainscott Main, the carefully curated wine and liquor store, continues on Wednesday with “Making the Dessert Course Count: Dessert Wines and Fortified,” with Michael Cohen, wine director at the 1770 House restaurant and inn in East Hampton.

The session begins at 5:30 p.m. and costs $10. Those interested can register by emailing [email protected] or calling the store to sign up.

Dinner With Winemakers

At Noah’s restaurant in Greenport, a series of dinners with local winemakers will continue on Sunday at 6 p.m. with a visit from Michael Kontokosta of Kontokosta Winery. A five-course tasting menu will be paired with his wines, and he will discuss the various pairings.

The cost is $95 per person plus tax and gratuity. The meal will include roasted Peconic Gold oysters, endive radicchio salad, pan-roasted local sea bass, slow-roasted Crescent Farm duck, and a dessert featuring Catapano Farms goat cheese, local apples, honey, and homemade raisin-walnut bread.

I do not like (insert little organ that controls our emotions here) New York. As a matter of fact, I very much dislike New York. Not the state, the city. It is dirty, noisy, nearly impossible to negotiate, expensive, nerve-wracking, just all around dreadful. I’ve never lived there and I never will.

I have tried to appreciate New York from a food perspective: You can get any ingredient, sample cuisines from every culture, and get food delivered to the doorstep of your $6,000-per-month lightless little hovel. The variety and moderate cost of food delivery options are enticing. But I must remind you, all restaurant food is loaded with salt, fat, and frequently MSG. Remember MSG? It is a flavor enhancer and was the gluten of the 1970s, as in everyone thought they were allergic to it, but science proved that only 1 percent of the population in fact was.

Suppose you want to cook at home? Most of my city friends, including those who are rather well-to-do, have miniscule kitchenettes. Nothing wrong with that. I cooked many meals for many years in a kitchen the size of a ship’s galley with a lame electric stove and no dishwasher. Difference is, my kitchen had ventilation and windows. If you want to fry up some fish in most New York City kitchens, your co-op board members will be snubbing you in the elevator for weeks. These friends who cook in the city tend to disable their smoke alarms, or just give up and go out, or get that delicious, salty, fatty takeout from Grand Szechuan.

What I do envy about my city mice pals is the availability of almost any ingredient. You can’t find galangal or kaffir lime leaves or extra-long basmati rice or green papayas out here on the East End.

So I do find my monthly visits to N.Y.C. an exercise in “how many cool foodstuffs can I find and carry back on the Jitney without breaking my back? Will this French feta cheese from Kalustyan’s survive without refrigeration for a few hours? Will this shrimp in chili oil stink up the bus and alienate my fellow passengers on the rolling box of hate? Heaven forbid!

I have amassed a pretty good stockpile of ethnic ingredients, and I am grateful that I have enough pantry space to store all of it, unlike my dear city slicker friends who stash their shoes in the unused oven a la “Sex and the City.” I am also grateful to the many restaurants from which I can get inspiration for dishes, then skedaddle home to Sag Harbor to attempt to duplicate them. One of my favorites is Hangawi, a sweet, tiny Korean restaurant that I didn’t even notice was vegetarian until I’d visited a few times. It’s that good. It has a house salad I like to replicate when I can find Asian pears. Hangawi’s salad has a garnish of fried, julienned strips of beet, taro, and yucca root. I discovered that some crumbled Terra Chips work just fine.

Up until a few years ago, you had to venture to Little Italy for decent fresh mozzarella. Now I don’t even have to leave Suffolk County because Pasquale at Red Horse Market in East Hampton is making the best mozzarella around. Hint: Do not refrigerate it. It will keep fresh for two days out on your kitchen counter. If it lasts past two days (doubtful, you’ll eat it first), then it’s time to refrigerate it.

If you are fond of Asian and Middle Eastern foods you probably already know about Kalustyan’s, probably one of the coolest markets in New York and just a brisk walk from the last Jitney stop at 40th and Lex. Here you can find preserved lemons for Moroccan tagines, pistachios in bulk, honeys from around the world, flat breads slathered with sumac, every kind of rice and lentil imaginable, tamarind pastes, cilantro chutneys, and Indian hot mix, a fun snack food.

I will never attempt Peking duck or steamed pork buns or monkfish liver sushi at home. These will forever be the treats made by the pros at the restaurants of New York. But for everyday or slightly exotic dishes, I prefer to stay home and make them myself . . . after I begrudgingly foray into that Big, wormy Apple to get the ingredients.

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