Reopening Celebration

    A wine dinner tomorrow night will mark the reopening, after a month of renovations, of the Living Room, which is the restaurant at c/o the Maidstone inn in East Hampton. A wine-tasting in the cellar will be followed by a sit-down dinner, with seatings at 6:30 and 7:30. A maximum of 14 diners can be accommodated at each, so reservations have been recommended.

    The menu will include Peconic Pride oysters; Arctic char with fennel puree, anise cream, and pickled radishes; blackened halibut with vegetables, crispy pancetta, and a rosemary vinaigrette; crispy duck breast served with salt-baked shallots, carrots, garlic, and Jerusalem artichoke puree, and grilled pineapple with vanilla ice cream, ginger syrup, and cinnamon crumbs for dessert. The cost is $125 plus tax and gratuity.

    The restaurant is also now offering prix-fixe dinners on Saturdays and Sundays.

Oscars and Muggers

    It’s time again for the annual Rowdy and the Oscars contest at Rowdy Hall in East Hampton, when servers will deliver an Oscar ballot form along with diners’ checks. The ballots can be filled out and submitted, and the person who has made the most correct predictions about Oscar awards, to be presented on Sunday, will receive a $50 gift certificate and two movie vouchers. If there is a tie, a drawing will be held to determine the winner.

    A new club will be launched at Rowdy Hall on Saturday, with a limited number of memberships available at $150 each. The 55 founding members of the Rowdy Muggers Mug Club, which will run through June, will receive a free drink whenever they stop in to the restaurant, and a custom-made Rowdy Muggers German beer stein with a pewter lid, which will be kept with those of other members behind the bar. A system whereby notes will be placed in other members’ mugs will allow members to buy a drink for other members, even if they are not present.

    Club members will be able to order refills of regular tap beers, served in their mug, for $5.50, or refills from other taps for $6, and will be eligible for happy-hour prices on well cocktails, for themselves only, at any time. They will also receive a 20-percent discount on eat-in lunch orders for themselves and a friend. Acceptance to membership will be at the restaurant management’s discretion.

New Tasting Room

    Lieb Cellars, a North Fork winery, has opened a tasting room and retail shop in East Hampton Village, in a space close to the John Papas Café in the Reutershan parking lot. The site, where the winery’s vintages can be sampled as well as purchased, will be open daily from noon to 7 p.m.

Mary's Marvelous, a favorite Amagansett and East Hampton coffee, pastry, and lunch spot, received some love on Twitter this week from the actor Alec Baldwin, a regular customer when he is staying at his South Fork house.

On Tuesday, Mr. Baldwin — who tweets as @ABFalecbaldwin to some 1.07 million followers — shared a link to a story in The Guardian about the dwindling number of local pubs in the United Kingdom and wrote: "If Mary's in Amagansett closed, I'd be bummed. #savethepubs."

Though Mary's, which has a new location in East Hampton Village and the original on Amagansett Main Street, is not a bar, but a café to pick up breakfast or something to take to the beach, it's a local watering hole of sorts.

Mary's Marvelous doesn't have an active presence on Twitter, but Mary Schoenlein, its eponymous owner, said on Wednesday that it isn't the first time she's gotten a shout out in the Twittersphere. She said she does think it has a positive impact on her business. "I think it has a lot of clout when it's coming from a star like that," she said.

Mr. Baldwin's tweet had nine "retweets" by other users, and seven "favorited" it. One user, @glareone, responded by saying, "I hope they open one in Sag Harbor but they said they have no plans yet."

Ms. Schoenlein is considering starting a Twitter page as a way to reach the younger generation.

Folks may just see Mr. Baldwin in Mary's this weekend. He's due to host a screening of Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" at the John Drew Theater at Guild Hall on Saturday, along with David Nugent, the artistic director of the Hamptons International Film Festival. A discussion will follow the 7:30 p.m. movie.

A classic psychological thriller starring James Stewart and Kim Novak, "Vertigo" was named best film of the all time in the British Film Institute's Sight and Sound magazine critics' poll of 2012, replacing "Citizen Kane." Tickets are $22 or $20 for members.

    When you go through the grocery store this time of year, do you just walk by the odder, wintry vegetables and head for the simpler, “safer,” more familiar ones like zucchini, lettuce, string beans, and so on? I am guilty of this, too. It is so easy to just grab those people-pleasers. You can do anything with zucchini year round, and who doesn’t like green beans with shallots or toasted almonds?

    I implore you to try some of these bulbous creatures like kohrabi and rutabagas. Give cabbage a chance; it’s not just Granny’s malodorous boiled glop anymore. Turnips and parsnips are excellent in a roasted vegetable dish. Leeks, while somewhat expensive (considering how much of the stalk you can use), are one of the finest and sweetest alliums, once braised or baked or added to soup. Sweet potatoes and butternut squash are so delicious and good for you, and, contrary to popular belief, don’t need to be peeled for many dishes. Broccoli and cauliflower are in season right now, therefore quite reasonable. Don’t think you like broccoli? Try it raw in a salad with golden raisins, toasted sunflower seeds, and red onion, as Produce Pete suggested recently on the “Today” show. Granted, his were bound with mayo and topped with crisp bacon, but . . . it’s a start.

    To find the most modern and creative ways to prepare these vegetables, you may need to update your cookbook collection. Books such as Deborah Madison’s “Vegetable Literacy,” Jeanne Kelley’s “Salad for Supper,” or any of my idol, Yotam Ottolenghi’s, books will inspire you. How does Indonesian slaw with cabbage, scallions, pineapple, and carrots in a peanut dressing sound? Cabbage and kohlrabi in a lemony garlic dressing studded with dried cherries? Baked slices of sweet potatoes in chipotle cream? Of course, some of the old-fashioned recipes are delicious too, such as sweet and sour cabbage, cauliflower gratin, and vichyssoise.

    The cabbage family isn’t just broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. It also includes mustards and kale, radishes and cress, Asian greens and turnips. Cabbage, which is low in calories and can be eaten cooked or raw, is a good source of vitamins K and C and glutamine. Mustard greens are endowed with vitamins A, C, K, and E. They also have calcium, fiber, manganese, anti-oxidants, and phytonutrients that are said to help prevent cancer and help detoxify the body. Most of us have already jumped on the kale bandwagon, but I must admit I have tried some salads that made me feel like Elsie the Cow chewing my cud forever and ever. Here’s the trick: Shred it finely, then macerate with lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and salt. Give it a good massage, it will tenderize. Not to mention keep for several days, unlike other dressed salads. If you like it cooked with bacon but that’s too fatty, try it with sautéed onions and smoked paprika. All the flavor without the porcine naughtiness!

    The smaller turnips you find in summer are better and sweeter than those you find this time of year, but winter’s offerings are still deliciously sweet and nutty-flavored. You can also use the leaves, whose spicy hot flavor contrasts nicely with the milder root. I like to peel them, slice thinly, and sauté in good butter with a finish of sea salt and chopped chives.

    I am skipping rutabagas and parsnips because I don’t care for them and it’s my column. On to the morning glory family, sweet potatoes! This tuber is full of beta-carotene, vitamins A, C, and B6, manganese, calcium, potassium, iron, and fiber. Don’t confuse sweet potatoes with yams, which are bigger, pale, and starchy, tasting more like chestnuts. Sweet potatoes have pointy ends with reddish brown and reddish orange to purply or copper-colored skins. Candied yams are not yams, nor are Garnet or Jewel sweet potatoes, although they are labeled as yams at the market. I like to bake them (cut one of the pointy ends off first and lay on foil) and serve with Greek yogurt and scallions. My vivid imagination tells me this is better than sour cream and butter. They are also delicious sliced and baked with garlic and sage leaves, then topped with a bit of heavy cream for the last half-hour of baking.

    As we eagerly await the delicate and wonderful vegetables of spring and summer, I hope these ideas have inspired you to give these wintry wonders a chance. They are healthy, abundant, reasonable, and delicious.

Click for recipes

Coffee Farmer Visits

    The Hampton Coffee Company in Southampton will have a visit tomorrow from Ric Hariyanto of Sriwijaya Coffee, who grows coffee beans in northern Sumatra that are imported for Hampton Coffee brews.

    From 3 to 5 p.m., Mr. Hariyanto will be at Hampton Coffee’s Coffee Experience store to discuss his life, his coffee farm, and the beans during a slideshow and talk. He will answer questions and provide tastes of his Dolok Sanggul coffee.

Culinary Artisans Speak

    The Peconic Land Trust’s fifth annual “Conversations With . . .” panel discussion series will focus this time around on Long Islanders who are producing foods and drink. The series, “Long Island Grown: Food and Beverage Artisans at Work,” will take place at Bridge Gardens in Bridgehampton and begin on March 2 with “Small Bites,” featuring cultivators of unique crops. They will include David Falkowski of Open Minded Organics, a mushroom grower, Fred Lee of Sang Lee Farms, who specializes in Asian greens, and Pete Ludlow, a cheesemaker at the Mecox Bay Dairy. The discussions will be moderated by Laura Donnelly, a pastry chef and food columnist for The Star.

    Additional events will focus on wine on March 23, beer on April 6, and “fruits of the sea” on April 27. Admission is $25, or $20 for Bridge Gardens members, and includes refreshments following the discussion. Tickets for the full series of four are available for $90 or $70 for members, and will include a one-year subscription to one of the Edible magazines, such as Edible East End. Seating is limited. Prepaid reservations are required, and can be made by contacting the land trust.

Amp Up Wine Knowledge

    Chimene Macnaughton, a sommelier and the manager of Wainscott Main, a new wine and spirits shop in Wainscott, has lined up a number of speakers for a series of tasting workshops to be held on Wednesdays in March and April. Topics will include North Fork wines, West Coast terroirs, decoding wine labels, and shopping like a sommelier. One session, “Mixology 101,” will branch out into specialty cocktails. A $10 donation will be requested. Details for the series, called “The Industry Sessions,” are still being finalized, and will be posted on a Facebook page for the event, called The Industry Sessions at WMW&S.

Benefit for Chef

    A benefit at the Kontokosta Winery in Greenport on Sunday will not only raise money to help Gerry Hayden, a chef and owner of the North Fork Table and Inn, who has Lou Gehrig’s disease, but will celebrate his accomplishments and dedication to the Slow Food movement and local cuisine. Mr. Hayden will be presented with the first Slow Food East End Carlo Petrini Award in recognition of his work. Numerous East End chefs will pitch in to prepare hors d’oeuvres for a tasting at the 4:30 to 7 p.m. event. Among them will be Colin Ambrose of Estia’s Little Kitchen in Sag Harbor, James Carpenter of Cittanuova and Gretchen Menser of Fresno, both in East Hampton, and from Bridgehampton, Todd Jacobs of Fresh Hamptons and Jason Weiner of Almond.

    Tickets, which are $100, or $75 for Slow Food members, will include selections of Kontokosta wines and Greenport Brewery beer.

    What kinds of foods are our athletes, their families, and fans eating in Sochi at the 2014 Winter Olympics? Well, you needn’t fret over the nutritional needs of the United States ski team. They are not residing in the athlete’s village, but are in the mountains above Sochi cocooned in comfort with private chefs attending to their every culinary need. Almost. It actually appears that they are eating a lot of Asian-inspired meals full of rice noodles and fish sauce.

    Let’s face it, while some Russian food can be delicious, it is generally very heavy due to long winters and a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables. The “Today” show recently offered a demonstration of some traditional Russian dishes — borscht, beef stroganoff served with either egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or white rice, and tartlets filled with jelly or lemon curd. This on the day that the show was promoting awareness of heart disease in women! But that wasn’t the worst of it. This belly bomb of a Russian meal was followed by a segment with Giada de Laurentis smilingly demonstrating crisped slices of salami to dip into sour cream as a fun and easy snack.

    Maria Losyukova, a Sochi spokeswoman, told one newspaper that “borscht is just one example of Russian dishes that will be served in the Olympic park. Other classic dishes are pelmeni and shashlyk. Also traditional hot pastries, cakes, and blinis.” F.Y.I., pelmeni are dumplings filled with meat or fish, and shashlyk are like shish kebabs, i.e., more meat. They estimate that approximately 2.1 million meals will be served to volunteers and 70,000 gallons of borscht will be a part of those meals. And yes, there is a McDonald’s on site for those looking for the ghastly comfort of fast food from home.

    On a website called “Way to Russia,” the need and necessity for highly caloric foods is explained. “The food should give us much energy and warmth to survive during the winter time. So essential components are the ones which provide more carbohydrates and fat rather than proteins. Fresh fruits and vegetables are rarely used in food. The top five components of a Russian meal are potatoes, eggs, bread, meat, and butter. Other popular foods are cabbage, milk, sour cream, curds, mushrooms, lard, cucumbers, honey, sugar, salt, garlic, and onions.” I didn’t know lard and salt and sugar are “foods.”

    One popular dish found in many Russian restaurants and homes is a potato salad called Olivier, named after the Belgian chef who invented it. Tiny diced potatoes are combined with carrots, peas, and onions and bound with mayonnaise. Another dish, most common in Moscow restaurants, is zhulien, a casserole of mushrooms combined with sour cream and Emmentaler cheese. Blinis are divine, served as either a sweet dessert with cooked berries or as a savory topped with smoked salmon or caviar.

    The vast differences between the food of the wealthy and of the poor are apparent in every country but are especially noticeable in Russia. For the less well off, the standard diet includes many sour and pickled items from cucumbers to beets to rye and dark wheat breads to kvass, the fermented beer-like drink made from black rye bread. Vegetable varieties are fundamental: cabbage, beets, and turnips. Onions, garlic, dill, and horseradish provide seasoning and curd cheese and sour cream the fat. Mongol conquerors get credit for introducing spices from Asia, and tea arrived in the late-17th century. Tsar Peter the Great gets credit for bringing a more European (mostly Scandinavian) flavor to the food of the wealthy. In the 19th century, French chefs flocked to St. Petersburg and Moscow.

    The mushrooms of Russia deserve special attention, as it is a favorite pastime to forage for the many varieties. There is even a children’s marching song called “Panic Among the Mushrooms,” in which a general commands the mushrooms to go to war. The mushroom types are identified by their willingness to march to their deaths. The morels claim they are too elderly, but the gruzdi (probably milk caps) are brave and do battle. There are field mushrooms, morels, ink caps, chanterelles, boletus, and white boletus, which are similar to the cepes of Bordeaux.

    Some members of the media at the Olympics have sent out some snarky tweets and pictures of the living conditions in Sochi; you have probably seen, heard, and read some of these. Shame on you, you little mushrooms, you are guests in this country! It won’t be long before you come home to grocery stores that offer anything you could possibly want to eat, fluffy down pillows, and clean water. In the meantime, I hope that the athletes from around the world and their families and guests will sample some of what Russia has to offer. It is a cuisine born of necessity, but served with pride.

Click for recipes

    The indoor farmers market held at the Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton on the third Saturday of each month will take place this weekend beginning at 11 a.m., with the closing hour now extended to 3 p.m.

    Among the vendors that have participated are Lorna’s Nuts and Goodies, Amagansett Sea Salt, East Hampton Gourmet, Plain-T Ice Tea, Cavaniola’s Cheese Shop, and Gula Gula Empanadas.

    Representatives of several local vineyards have also been at the market, along with vendors selling chocolates, energy bars, seasonings, yogurt, granola, mushrooms, lotions, soap, pottery, jewelry, and more.

For Valentine’s Day

    The Harbor Grill in East Hampton will extend the Valentine’s Day love with the onset tonight of a special three-course prix fixe, which will be offered through Sunday.

    The menu, for $38 a person, will include a glass of champagne or house wine. Diners may choose from appetizers such as lobster bisque, pistachio oysters, avocado and shrimp, calamari, and warm burrata cheese with prosciutto, followed by entrees such as seared sea scallops, pork saltimbocca, surf and turf, shrimp scampi, New York steak au poivre, and chicken breast with spinach-mushroom veloute sauce. Dessert is included as well. The Harbor Grill has live music every Saturday night at 6. Reservations have been recommended.

    Cafe Max in East Hampton, which reopened yesterday for its 23rd season and will be serving dinner nightly, except Tuesdays, starting at 5:30, will offer a two-course prix fixe for $40 for Valentine’s Day.

    At the American Hotel in Sag Harbor, the a la carte menu tomorrow will include Valentine’s specials such as crab bisque, foie gras saute, and Petrossian caviar, to start, and entrees such as steamed lobster, brace of quail, rack of lamb, and steaks. A holiday prix fixe will be offered for $95 per person, with lobster thermidor, Long Island duck, pheasant, and filet mignon as the entrée choices.

    In Montauk, Manucci’s, which is open nightly for dinner at 5, will also have a special menu for Valentine’s Day. Reservations have been suggested.

    At Fresh Hamptons in Bridgehampton, a five-course Valentine’s prix fixe to be offered tonight through Saturday is being billed as an “aphrodisiac’s delight.” The menu, which is subject to change, may include several choices of oyster dishes, beef short ribs braised in merlot with oyster sauce as an entree, and chocolate desserts. The cost is $95 per person, plus tax and gratuity.

    Those planning to make a special meal at home might want to note that jumbo lobsters — those three pounds and up — are on sale at Stuart’s Seafood in Amagansett for $9.99 a pound.

    Specials continuing all month at the Hampton Coffee Company in Water Mill include the Valentine’s coffee flavor, chocolate cherry kiss, as well as crème brulee lattes. Last-minute holiday treats are also available, including chocolate-dipped biscotti and canisters of teas in flavors such as chocolate-strawberry, raspberry-rose hibiscus, and red velvet.

Shagwong Specials

    The Shagwong on Montauk’s Main Street has daily lunch specials for $7.95, and a $15 prix fixe menu all day, every day.

Looking Ahead

    Balsam Farms in Amagansett is signing up members for its community-supported agriculture program. Four different levels of memberships are available, entitling purchasers to a weekly share of vegetables, herbs, and fruit for various periods between May 30 through Nov. 22. The costs range from $420 to $765. A weekly delivery of an additional item, with flowers, fruit, mozzarella, local cheese, and prepared foods to choose from, may also be purchased for prices between $100 and $280. Information is available at balsamfarms.com.

Open Again

     Inlet Seafood in Montauk will reopen tomorrow for lunch and dinner. Both meals will be served on Saturday, with brunch added on Sunday, and lunch service will be offered on Monday for the Presidents Day holiday. Thereafter, Inlet will be open for lunch and dinner on Fridays and Saturdays, and for brunch, lunch, and dinner on Sundays.

For the Thirsty

    At Villa Italian Specialties in East Hampton, fountain drinks and coffees of all sizes are $1. Villa, some might not yet know, serves breakfast daily beginning at 8 a.m., in addition to its offerings of meats, groceries, and prepared Italian foods.

O’Murphy’s

Restaurant and Pub

99 Edgemere Street

Montauk, NY

668-5005

Lunch and dinner, seven days

    Reviewing restaurants isn’t always unicorns and rainbows and Topping Rose and Nick &s Toni’s and slow-food movement and “this asparagus was plucked at the peak of its virility five minutes ago from Mr. Jones’s farm.” Sometimes reviewing a restaurant, especially at this time of year, is simply finding a place that is 1) open in winter, and 2) serving some decent and reasonable fare.

    O’Murphy’s Restaurant and Pub in Montauk is just such a place. Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, O’Murphy’s serves simple and hearty pub grub, some of it damn good.

    Located in the heart of downtown across from the circle, O’Murphy’s is small and cozy, with a bar to the left of the entrance and tables with green-and-white-checked oilcloth table­cloths all around. There are two flat screen TVs in the bar area and enough decorative flotsam and jetsam to cover most other surfaces. One such piece of decor is a portrait of an austere and proper looking lass, perhaps the original Mrs. O’Murphy? Maybe one of Carl Fisher’s mistresses? No one seemed to know.

    As O’Murphy’s has an entire page devoted to a martini menu, we began our meal with those. When in Rome, y’all. One of them was pretty good, the other tasted like what I imagine “purple drank” or “sizzurp” tastes like. If you know what I’m talking about, shame on you. I have only myself to blame for ordering a drink with Chambord and pineapple juice.

    We then ordered chicken wings, mussels, and baked clams. The chicken wings were ordered medium heat and were fairly mild but very tasty. They were served with the traditional accoutrements of celery sticks and blue cheese dressing, all fresh and good. The mussels were excellent, a huge portion served with slices of grilled garlic toast. The sauce was as good as you could hope for, full of freshly minced garlic in a savory, creamy broth. The baked clams were also very good, four per serving. They were well chopped and fairly bread but delicious.

    For entrees we ordered the steak sandwich, Irish lamb stew, and fish and chips. My friend ordered the steak rare, and it was. It was served on a hoagie roll with melted mozzarella cheese and a side of fries. The steak itself was tender and well seasoned. The Irish stew, again a huge portion, was very good and enough for two people. It was full of tender chunks of lamb, carrots, and potatoes. The Irish brown bread served alongside was so good we wished we had some proper Kerrygold butter to slather all over it. The fish and chips weren’t quite as successful. The fish (fluke, yay!) was just a whisper away from being truly fresh. (Boo-hoo.) The fries served with it, however, were excellent, skin-on fries.

    The service on the day of our visit was as nice as could be. Our waiter (son of the owner, it turned out) was fun and funny, friendly and knowledgeable. He was full of recommendations and even snuck us an extra loaf of the good brown bread. The overall atmosphere at O’Murphy’s was similar, warm and welcoming.

    The prices at O’Murphy’s are inexpensive to moderate. Appetizers are $10.95 to $15.95, soups are $4.25 to $9.50, salads are $5.50 to $14.95, entrees are $10.95 to $17, and desserts are $8 and $9.

    We were truly way too stuffed for dessert but managed to try two anyway. Most are made in-house. We tried the Bailey’s Heath Bar ice cream cake and blueberry pie. The Bailey’s Heath Bar ice cream cake was very good, rich, sweet, and creamy as you can imagine, with a very good, thick, crunchy crust. The blueberry pie should not have been served — at least until it was thoroughly baked. When doing a review I never, ever complain or send things back. I just take one for the team. My guests are perfectly welcome to say what they please, but I try to blend in with the curtains (plaid in this case, very difficult) when on the job. But this time I just had to point it out to our waiter. The dough on the top and bottom was completely raw, pale as veal. I should have kept my mouth shut, as this made our waiter very sad, but I thought they should know. The filling was good, though!

    If you live in East Hampton or Sag Harbor you have plenty of high- and low-end dining options year round. However, in the currently hipster hamlet of Montauk, not so much this time of year. Four out of four pizzerias are closed, for Pete’s sake. O’Murphy’s Restaurant and Pub, which has been open for 25 years, fills the needed niche of affordable comfort food in a welcoming environment.

    Go raibh math agat, O’Murphy’s! That means thank you.

    Valentine’s Day is approaching, and our minds turn, if not to love, then chocolate. Registration is under way for a chocolate truffle-making workshop to be offered by the Peconic Land Trust at Bridge Gardens on Mitchell Lane in Bridgehampton on Feb. 15.

    From 2 to 4 p.m., Rick Bogusch will demonstrate the easy steps to make a basic truffle as well as truffles flavored with spices and liqueurs, rolled in cocoa powder and nuts, and dipped in melted chocolate. Samples and recipes will be provided. The cost is $10 a person, or $5 for Bridge Gardens members.

    Space is limited, so reservations are required and can be made by calling the land trust offices in Southampton, or through events@PeconicLandTrust. org.

Dinners for Two

    Those thinking about a Valentine’s Day dinner out may wish to know about Almond’s special offering on Friday, Feb. 14: a four-course menu of seasonal dishes with a blood-orange theme. It will include a choice of appetizers, such as Montauk Pearl oysters with blood orange granita or quinoa salad, followed by duck and foie gras ravioli a l’orange or sea scallops, and, for entrees, roasted rack of pork or smoked and grilled salmon. Dessert will be a hazelnut and blood orange torte for two, served with crème fraiche sherbet.  The cost is $65 per person. For an additional cost, complementary wines can be added.

    The Valentine’s Day theme at the Bell & Anchor in Sag Harbor will be oysters and champagne. An $85 special will include a dozen Montauk Pearl oysters with a bottle of Paul Laurent Brut champagne or a half-bottle of Billecarte-Salmon Brut Rose. Dinner specials and a la carte items will be available.

    At Nick & Toni’s in East Hampton, reservations have been suggested for Valentine’s Day, when dinner service will begin at 6 p.m. In addition to the regular menu there will be some specials, including foie gras torchon with toasted brioche, baby arugula, and pomegranate syrup as an appetizer. Entrees include pan-roasted red snapper with a saffron-cockle broth and grilled ribeye steak for two with truffle butter. Among the holiday desserts is champagne sorbet, and the cocktail of the evening will be the box of chocolates, a drink with prosecco and house-made sour cherry liqueur served with an orange twist in a glass with a rim dipped in dark chocolate.

Winter Farmers Markets

    A new indoor farmers market is taking place on Saturdays in Riverhead, in the space once occupied by Swezey’s Department Store, at 117 East Main Street.  The hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. through May 17. Participating vendors are selling cheese, eggs, pork, honey, homemade baked goods, granola, yogurt, coffee, wine, pickled veggies, canned tomatoes, empanadas, seafood, spices, yarn, soap, pasta, mushrooms, and more.

    In Bridgehampton, an indoor farmers market at the Topping Rose House restaurant will continue on the third Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the next to be held on Feb. 15.

    Chicken is a delicious, economical meat accessible to all. Chickens are filthy, germ-ridden animals we shouldn’t touch. Which do you believe? Both are true. Sadly, chicken “production” in this country has been steered in the same direction as hothouse tomatoes; the desire for more profit and efficiency has produced utterly tasteless, Vegas showgirl-breasted foulish fowl. However, we are very lucky out here having such fine establishments as Iacono Farm in East Hampton and Browder’s Birds in Mattituck, to name just two poultry farms. You may pay a little bit more for these birds but you can be sure they were “raised up right” as we Southerners say, and they taste “chickeny” as Julia Child once said.

    Although I don’t eat a lot of meat, I love chicken. Roasting a whole one and making gravy and mashed potatoes to go with it always makes friends and family feel special even though it’s such an easy thing to do. Well made fried chicken is a treat and dishes such as Thai drunken noodles, Chinese kung pao chicken, and Indian curries are perfect ways to enhance this rather bland meat.

    I gave up on cheap chicken years ago, brands like Perdue and Tyson and whatever the one is that has Paula Deen’s face on it are just god-awful. For a while I liked Empire Kosher because they have been brined and are tasty. But they’re always covered with a few residual feathers and most often expire before the sale date says they will. Bell and Evans used to be pretty good but even those have tasted dull lately. I strongly suggest you only buy birds from local farms.

    Chickens are descended from an aggressive red jungle fowl of northern India and southern China, the Gallus gallus, a member of the pheasant family. They were probably domesticated in the vicinity of Thailand before 750 B.C., and arrived in the Mediterranean around 500 B.C., according to Harold McGee in his book “On Food and Cooking.” They were merely farmyard scavengers until the 19th century when Chinese birds were imported and started a craze of chicken breeding in Europe and North America. Mr. McGee points out that the modern bird is “an impressive feat of agricultural engineering to produce a four-pound bird on eight pounds of feed in six weeks!” The faster they grow, the blander they are.

    If you follow some very important rules and suggestions you have no need to ear this dirty bird. If you’re going to buy your bird from the grocery store, put it in an extra plastic bag, don’t want those juices leaking out. Make it the last item in your cart so it remains as cold as possible. At home, store it (and all meats and fish) in the bottom of your refrigerator. Wash your hands after handling raw chicken! Wash the chicken before preparing to cook. Keep all cutting boards and knives scrupulously clean, these can retain bacteria not just for hours but for days. Cook to an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees and use a good meat thermometer.

    As for some currently popular language used to describe the chicken you buy, a big percentage of it is total B.S., excuse my almost bad language. “Natural” is a meaningless term; there are no inspections required to verify this. Same goes for “cage-free.” No chickens raised in this country are kept in cages, but there is no assurance they have access to the great outdoors, either. “Free-range” may simply mean that they can go frolic outside on a cement slab for five minutes. They’re still crammed together. The descriptives you do want to see are “no antibiotics,” “no hormones,” “no G.M.O.s,” and “certified humane.” “Pasture-raised” is not a legal definition so it is meaningless unless the label indicates “animal welfare approved.”

    And now for a bit more scary news before I share some delicious recipes. Consumer Reports recently conducted tests on more than 300 raw chicken breasts from around the country and regardless of quality, price, or origin, 97 percent harbored bacteria. Every one of the major brands contained “worrisome” amounts of bacteria, these being Tyson, Pilgrim’s, Sanderson Farms, and Perdue. Even those labeled “antibiotic free” contained some inevitable bacteria due to processing. The United States Department of Agriculture is useless in helping with this problem, and is in fact considering new rules that will allow the slaughter of 175 birds per minute (up from 140 per minute), and transferring the duties of its inspectors to the plant’s own employees.

    In 2000 Denmark’s pork industry stopped using antibiotics to promote growth of their piggies. Rather than hampering the industry, this contributed to a 50 percent growth in pork production. The success of this action is attributed to the laws banning use of antibiotics, vigilant enforcement, and rules to prevent veterinarians from profiting by selling antibiotics to farmers. Why can’t we do that with our poultry industry? Okay, stepping off of my soapbox now. . . .

    The average cost of plain old supermarket chicken breasts is $3.68 per pound, for antibiotic-free it’s about $5.49 per pound, and organic chicken runs about $6.99 per pound. I think you and your family are worth it, don’t you?

Click for recipes

    Coming right up is the January weekend devoted  not only to a contest between football teams but to a fair bit of noshing — indeed, of pigging out.

    Those who would rather not slave in the kitchen to prepare their own snacks can order Super Bowl Sunday takeout from a number of places. From La Fondita in Amagansett, Mexican fiesta fare is available, including a new layered fiesta dip, with refried beans, seasoned cream cheese, shredded jack and cheddar cheese, and diced chiles, for $7.50. Fondita also has “make your own taco” packages for $35, which include a choice of taco meat, homemade tortillas, and chopped cilantro and onions — enough to make 14 to 16 tacos.

    Seafood lovers will find Super Bowl Madness at the Hampton Seafood Company. Among the catering packages for the big game day are a chips and dip platter, a taco bar, full or half pans of mac and cheese, including goat cheese and smoked barbecue chicken or shrimp versions, along with more traditional varieties, Creole-spiced peel-and-eat shrimp, honey hot wings, and quarts of beef, beer, and black bean chili. Also on the menu are seafood, chicken, and sausage jambalaya, racks of barbecued baby back ribs, and an herb-crusted seared tuna platter. Orders for Sunday must be picked up on Saturday or, if prepaid, can be picked up between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sunday.

    Super Bowl Sunday at Townline BBQ in Sagaponack will bring house specials, takeout specials, and raffles at the end of each quarter for those watching the game at the bar. New bar menu items being unveiled during the game are steamed pork belly buns with Asian barbecue sauce and pickles, pig poppers, which are jalapenos stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon, then smoked, buttermilk fried chicken sliders, and spicy chicken rolls. The barbecue joint’s traditional snacks — hush puppies, nachos, wings, and more — and barbecue and takeout specials will also be offered.

    Rudy DeSanti and Debbie Geppert at Dreesen’s Catering have some aptly named party packages, each for 15 guests and for varying prices. The Kickoff features shrimp cocktail, a Tuscan board, salsa, guacamole, chips, and crudités with spinach dip. The Touchdown includes buffalo chicken wings, stuffed potato skins, chicken quesadillas, and pigs in blankets, along with chips and dips and crudités. Orders may be placed at [email protected], or with [email protected].

Comfort Food Snail Supper

    An alternative on Sunday will be Slow Food East End’s Snail Supper, taking place at a residence in Orient, with a  midwinter comfort food theme. Those who attend the 4 to 7 p.m. event are asked to take along a dish to share that will serve six to eight people. The cost is $15 per person for Slow Food members, and $20 for nonmembers. Space is limited — enough for 35 guests — so reservations must be made by emailing Rona Smith at ronacom13@optonline. net.

N.Y.C. Wine and Cheese

    Roman Roth, the winemaker at Wolffer Estate in Sagaponack, will lead a wine class and tasting from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7 at the Murray’s Cheese shop at 254 Bleecker Street in New York City. Jordan Zimmerman, an educator from the cheese shop, will pair each wine with a complementary cheese, using selections from across the globe. The cost is $75 per person. More information is available by e-mailing [email protected].

Kitchen Renovations

    The Living Room restaurant at c/o the Maidstone inn in East Hampton is closed until Feb. 28, while the kitchen is being renovated. The inn remains open, as does the bar, where cold cuts, olives, and other snacks will be served, gratis.