Don’t bother asking the chef Tom Colicchio to name a dish that’s a standard crowd pleaser at home. As he has often said, his last meal would be his mother’s gravy — which, for an Italian from New Jersey, is tomatoes, meatballs, and braciole over macaroni, otherwise known as pasta. But when it comes to dinner with his wife and kids, Mr. Colicchio rarely makes the same thing twice. “There’s nothing favorite. It changes from time to time. I don’t like to repeat myself.”

    This creative ethos explains why Mr. Colicchio turned down Bill Campbell and Simon Critchell two years ago when they asked him to manage the restaurant slated for Topping Rose House, the Bridgehampton property they were developing at the corner of Montauk Highway and the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike. Been there, done that, he thought, and on a larger scale. Not to mention that Mr. Colicchio’s North Fork house was a hallowed retreat from the demands of work: that is, heading what has grown into a mini-empire of Craft and Colicchio & Sons restaurants and his role as the defining judge on Bravo’s “Top Chef.” But when they agreed to enlarge that offer to include the management of Topping Rose’s new 22-room inn, Mr. Colicchio didn’t hesitate. “It was definitely a way to think about expanding the business into new territory,” he said.

    On a steamy day in the middle of the July heat wave, Mr. Colicchio greeted guests at an event held at Topping Rose House, looking crisp and collected in a checked shirt. His oft-noted screen charisma was toned down, evident chiefly in his ice-blue eyes. “Originally we were scheduled to be open last July,” he explained, “but by last June we were still under construction. This is our first full season with everything up and running.” The restaurant opened last September. The inn was fully operational beginning Memorial Day. In Mr. Colicchio’s estimation, “It’s going well.”

    By the time Bill Campbell, former chairman of Visa International, laid down $5 million for the Topping Rose property in 2006, it had served as a restaurant, an antiques shop, and even at one time a Target pop-up store. Judge Abraham Topping Rose built his Greek Revival mansion in 1842, but time and neglect had turned it into a near-crumbling heap. Mr. Campbell brought in Simon Critchell, the tastemaker and one-time chief executive at Cartier, as a partner in 2010. With the help of the architect Roger Ferris, they restored the house to its former grandeur, bringing back its wide porticos, a back porch, shuttered windows, and its sleek wide-plank floors.

    Quaint country inn, however, was not the plan. A spa, a lap pool, and media-rigged event spaces have brought Topping Rose House firmly into the 21st century. Mr. Ferris’s contemporary guest cottages, constructed out of concrete and glass and enveloped in gray shutters, are a fresh take on clapboard and maximize privacy and light inside. Lest guests be self-conscious about traipsing back and forth across the lawn in their Chadsworth & Haig robes, an underground corridor connects everything to the main house. Ubiquitous contemporary art gives the interiors — in the designer Alexandra Champalimaud’s serene, neutral tones — their occasionally whimsical character. In the bar area, for instance, a flat screen features a Robert Wilson piece, “Kool,” with a high-def owl against a cerulean sky gazing out quizzically from its tree branch perch. Works can often be had for the asking through Christine Wachter, Mr. Campbell’s wife, who owns a New York gallery.

    Reports have put Mr. Campbell and Mr. Critchell’s investment in developing the four-acre property at $12 million. Mr. Colicchio confirmed that it could be a while before profits exceed the considerable outlay involved. From its fitful start, Topping Rose House was poised to bring a new kind of heightened luxury to the South Fork, which has a surprising dearth of swanky hotels. But with Mr. Colicchio on board, plans for Topping Rose House assumed mythical proportions, a kind of glamour unusual even in the Hamptons, which can be pretty ho-hum when it comes to celebrity. The centerpiece, of course, is its 75-seat restaurant.

    Produce is the star of the restaurant at Topping Rose House. Mr. Colicchio urged his visitors to take a look at the “farm,” personally leading them on the obstacle course through the bushes to the back acre. Here, “farm to table” becomes an illustrative reality. The ingredients for the vegetable ragout you order tonight at Topping Rose might well have come out of the ground just hours before. Harvests include expected fare like baby carrots, romano beans, zucchini, and cippolini onions, as well as more exotic entries such as Thai basil, borage flowers, lovage, purslane, and cardoons. “Flavor profiles,” as they call them in the biz, are in the herbs or the vegetables, not the protein. A roasted chicken dish leads with baby carrots, chanterelle mushrooms, and wheat berries. Seared scallops appear in fine print under sweet corn, smoked tomato, and toasted grits. The dishes on the original menu were largely created in Mr. Colicchio’s North Fork kitchen last summer, though menu items change daily and are driven by what’s fresh and relatively plentiful.

    It’s worth noting that in his very first job at 10 years old in Elizabeth, N.J., Mr. Colicchio worked in an open-air food market, where his uncle George sold vegetables. He recalled in the book “Think Like a Chef,” published in 2000 by Clarkson Potter, that as a young chef working stints in the Gascony and Midi-Pyrénées regions of France he learned the importance of local sourcing. “It is far better,” he said in the book, “to offer a few dishes of freshest ingredients than a menu filled with everything under the sun, made from mediocre food.”

    Before farm-to-table became the nutritional mantra, he was combing green markets for the best produce he could possibly find because it “tastes better” and “is just the way I always cooked.” At Gramercy Tavern, which he owned with the restaurateur Danny Meyer until 2006, and his Craft restaurants, his most elegant dishes were derived from “good, honest ingredients.”

    On the menu at Topping Rose, the outside purveyors such as Dale & Bette’s Organique, Amagansett Sea Salt, and Milk Pail Farms get top billing. Kitchen staff venture out to meet with farmers in the fields, quite literally, to discuss what looks delicious and plentiful. Items like olive oil and meat necessarily come from outside the immediate area. Mr. Colicchio has considered raising sheep on property adjacent to his on the North Fork. “The problem,” he said, “is that there is no U.S.D.A. slaughterhouse nearby.”

    “We don’t have a 100 percent sustainable restaurant at Topping Rose,” he said, “but I think the closer we can get to it, the better it is for the flavor of the food and for the environment.” He likes ingredients to speak for themselves and to keep the showmanship to a bare minimum. As he said in his book, “the best compliment I can get is for someone to say that a scallop tastes like a scallop.” For the diner, this results in total transparency; nothing less than flawless technique and split-second timing is required to pull it off. Food is plated to highlight ingredients, not the considerable effort involved.

    Lest you imagine Mr. Colicchio personally executing your bucatini or ordering your wakeup call, dream on. He handpicked his executive chef, Ty Kotz, formerly of Tabla in New York, to head his kitchen for his likeminded sensibility. Topping Rose House’s overall operations are headed up by Pradeep Raman, the general manager. It was Mr. Raman’s childhood avocation to check for missing lightbulbs in restaurant chandeliers. What more needs to be said? Before coming to Topping Rose, he brought his fastidious attention to detail to luxury hotels in New York, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and Beverly Hills. In the summer, a staff of 60 to 70 backs him up.

    On the East End, Mr. Colicchio might rise at 7 a.m., turn on CNN, play a little guitar, and have breakfast with his wife, Lori Silverbush, a filmmaker, before leaving at around 10 a.m. to drive across Shelter Island to the South Ferry to Sag Harbor. “It’s not so bad. It takes about an hour,” he said. However, there is often a demanding schedule of meetings with his senior staff once he gets there. It doesn’t leave much time for saltwater fly-fishing, Mr. Colicchio’s abiding passion, but he does manage to squeeze in a day here and there. It was fishing for “albies” (false albacore) in the fall that brought him to the East End in the first place. As a child, he went out crabbing and fishing with his grandfather on the New Jersey coast.

    Though he’s not there every day, Mr. Colicchio remains deeply involved in Topping Rose, particularly when there’s a significant menu change. “I set up the parameters and Ty works within these,” explained Mr. Colicchio. “The great thing about Ty is that he completely embraced the style. I am not worried that I’m going to go in there and find some kind of Thai dish or Indian dish.” For his part, Mr. Kotz claimed that Mr. Colicchio “trusts the people he hires.” In the kitchen there’s a great spirit of collaboration and visible pride. The only near disaster so far was when half of the kitchen crew came down with the flu one night. But as Mr. Kotz said, “the show had to go on.”

    When Mr. Colicchio steps into the kitchen to cook at Topping Rose, he “oozes creativity,” Mr. Kotz said. One of Mr. Colicchio’s top recommendations is the fluke crudo, “in a broth with compressed watermelon finished with Thai basil and a little bit of chili, which was very different than anything I’ve ever done before.” Or tuck into the baby stewed tomatoes with squid when it’s on the menu. For breakfast, the Bridgehampton Town Fry is a perennial favorite among guests — scrambled eggs with house-cured bacon bits and fried oysters on top. In a tribute to the East End’s farming traditions, delectable little potato rolls, made daily by the pastry chef Cassandra Shupp, are served with every meal.

    As Labor Day approaches, it would appear that Topping Rose House is here to stay. Restaurant bookings extend into the foreseeable future. The reviews suggest that the experience might be worth a helicopter ride from Midtown Manhattan. At the inn, even at a whopping $3,000 a night for a “one-bedroom cottage” replete with a living room and deck, there is no shortage of guests who might stay for as long as a month. A few swells pay to leave their belongings behind in their booked rooms as they head into the city for the week. “People treat Topping Rose as their place to go,” said Mr. Colicchio, “so they don’t have to deal with renting a house.”

    While it might sound like an oxymoron to find escape in the thick of Bridgehampton, this is Mr. Colicchio’s goal. “What we are trying to do is make the best small country inn we can in the tradition of European country inns — while obviously staying true to the East End. We don’t want it to be the party place. We want to keep it small and intimate. That’s really it. We want it to be a refuge from all the craziness.”

    The summer vacation season may be ending, but local restaurateurs continue to bring specials to the table.

    At The Bell & Anchor in Noyac, customers may choose either a two-course or three-course prix fixe, for $30 or $35. Both are offered all night from Sunday through Thursday, and on Friday and Saturday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

    Among the choices are such appetizers as chowder, served with salad, and brandade, served with potatoes and garlic.

    Entree choices include a fish of the day, moules frites, and flatiron steak. The Bell & Anchor’s raw bar specials include Montauk Pearl oysters for $1.50 each and Little Neck clams for a dollar apiece.

    The specials continue at Fresno in East Hampton, which is associated with Bell & Anchor. Two and three-course prix fixes at the same prices are offered during the same time periods, with the addition of a 6:32 p.m. stop time on Friday and Saturday, to coordinate with the arrival time at the nearby train station of the Long Island Rail Road’s Cannonball. Fresno is closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Gluten-Free

    The folks at Fresh restaurant in Bridgehampton want diners to know that the menu there includes a number of gluten-free dishes. Among them are entrees such as skate served with lemon-dill vinaigrette, wood-roasted organic Scottish salmon, and hemp flour-crusted flounder. There are gluten-free side dishes, and even a brown sundae for dessert, sans gluten.

For Oenophiles

    Winemakers from local vineyards will be the featured speakers at a series of dinners celebrating the upcoming harvest season at Noah’s restaurant in Greenport. On three Sundays in September, beginning Sept. 8, a five-course tasting menu will be paired with wines from the selected vineyard. The cost is $75 per person, plus tax and gratuity.

    Reservations have been strongly recommended, as seating is limited. The series will begin with an appearance by Anthony Nappa of Anthony Nappa Wines. On Sept. 22, the guest will be Greg Gove of Peconic Bay Winery, and on Sept. 29, Rich Olson from Bedell Cellars.

    A sample menu includes raw bar items, salads such as a watermelon salad with feta cheese, mint, and pickled spring onions, or a local cherry tomato salad. Entrees include grilled whole striped bass and local goat cheese ravioli served with sweet peas, summer vegetables, and pea shoots.

Holiday Farm Schedule

    Round Swamp Farm in East Hampton will be open throughout the coming holiday weekend, (daily 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.). From Monday, Labor Day, through Sept. 8, the farmstand will be closed, a break in recognition of the hard work of its employees and another successful season. It will reopen at 8 a.m. on Sept. 9.

Fudge Lady on TV

    Donna McCue, the founder and baker of Fat Ass Fudge, can be seen on the TV program “Shark Tank” during a rerun airing on WABC at 8 p.m. tomorrow. Ms. McCue was among the contestants trying to convince the panel of business investors to support her company. A regular vendor at local farmers markets, she also sells her products through a Web site, fatassfudge.com.

Pan-Seared Swordfsh With Black Olives and Cherry Tomatoes

    This recipe is just a guideline, feel free to play with it.

Serves four.

1 lb. thick-sliced swordfish, belly is good

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup pitted and chopped kalamata olives

1/2 cup each chopped fresh basil and parsley

1 lemon, 1/2 cut into thin rings and seeded, the other half for squeezing juice at end of cooking

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

    Heat a large frying pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Dry off swordfish, then season with salt and pepper, a good bit.

    Add oil to pan and let it get hot. Add swordfish steak and cook until just done, approximately eight minutes per inch.

    Transfer swordfish to serving platter. Add olives and tomatoes and thin lemon rings to hot pan and swirl around for about a minute. Pour over swordfish. Garnish with chopped herbs and sprinkle with remaining lemon juice.

Thai Style Swordfish Satay

    This recipe is from James Peterson’s “Fish and Shellfish Cookbook.” I like the idea of a Thai swordfish, and we usually just think of pork, beef, or chicken for satays.

    Serves six as a first course.

11/2 lbs. swordfish steak, skin and bone removed, cut into 1-inch cubes

Marinade:

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 Thai chilies, seeded and finely chopped

2 Tbsp. Thai fish sauce

Juice of 1 lime

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 Tbsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. peanut or vegetable oil

For sauce:

3 Thai chilies, seeded and finely chopped

2 shallots, finely chopped

2 tsp. sugar

Juice of 1 lime

2 Tbsp. fish sauce

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

    Place swordfish cubes in bowl with all marinade ingredients except oil. Toss thoroughly to distribute the ingredients evenly. Refrigerate covered for two hours, tossing every 30 minutes.

    Whisk together all the sauce ingredients until smooth.

    Drain swordfish, discarding the marinade, and thread the cubes on 12 metal or wooden skewers so you’ll have two skewers per serving. Swordfish cubes should be touching.

    Roll skewers in oil.

    Grill about two inches above a bed of extremely hot coals, turning once, for about two minutes on each side.

    Serve immediately on hot plates. Place a small bowl of sauce next to each plate for dipping. Serve with cucumber salad.

    Swordfish are found around the world in tropical, temperate, and sometimes cold waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. North Atlantic swordfish annually migrate thousands of miles along the eastern seaboard of the United States and Canada. They are one of the fastest and largest predators in the ocean, capable of swimming up to 50 miles per hour, thanks to their beautifully streamlined bodies.

    We seldom get to see a whole swordfish, as they grow an average of 50 to 200 pounds and are usually sold in wheels, then cut into steaks and loins. They can reach 15 feet long with swords as long as 5 feet, and can live about nine years.

    Swordfish is a tasty, meaty fish. Moderately oily, it is an excellent source of selenium, niacin, vitamin B12, and zinc. It may, however, contain enough methylmercury that nursing mothers, pregnant women, and young children should not eat it. Thorough cooking (but not overcooking) is also essential.

    The flesh of swordfish is usually pale pinky-white with colored bands of blue or deep purple, which you should cut out before cooking. Occasionally, when the swordfish are feeding on more squid and shrimp, their flesh turns slightly orange, these are called “pumpkin” swordfish and are particularly delicious, according to my friend Mike of Amagansett Seafood. Look for them in the fall!

    You should choose swordfish steaks with firm flesh and no raggedy edges. Some people believe they should be at least one-inch thick, but I find thin steaks just as easy to cook, as long as you are careful to not overcook. Beware of dull, discolored skin; this is a sign of poor handling. If there are signs of browning (called “burning”) this means the fish struggled when caught and got overheated. I don’t think there is any reason to suspect fish markets of trying to sell you cheaper shark steaks instead of sword, like “in the old days,” but take a good look at the swordfish slices to detect their distinctive, symmetrical whorl pattern.

    Do you recall the swordfish shortage in the late 1990s? The population was only 58 percent of what it should have been, and the method of catching the swordfish, pelagic longlines, was also accidentally capturing sea turtles. With cooperation between fishermen, managers, and scientists, undersize swordfish were allowed to grow and the catch limits were reduced. After 10 years and much sacrifice on the part of Atlantic swordfishermen, the population is now robust.

    Now it is time for me to confess that I run rather hot and cold on swordfish, the way I do on salmon. Sometimes I crave it, sometimes I’m like, blech. Is it the texture, which can range from deliciously meaty, flavorful, and moist to mealy, dry, or gelatinous? Or is it the fact that swordfish can have worms in their belly meat? Well, that’s why you must cook it thoroughly, no Xiphias gladius sushi for you! As for preparation, I like the simpler, Mediterranean style of cooking, a quick sear or grilling followed by a zesty, acidic addition like lemon juice, herbs, perhaps some chopped black olives and tomatoes. It is also wonderful baked and as kebabs. Don’t try to deep-fry it; this will end in tears. Caribbean salsas with mango or pineapple with chopped jalapenos are a great topper.

    Swordfish are not schooling fish. They travel in loose groups, keeping their distance from each other. Except when young, they have no predators other than man and the occasional killer whale. They are vigorous, powerful fighters and use their sharp bills to slash prey. Since they lose their teeth at a young age, they swallow other fish whole (or moderately sliced and diced from their swords). Females grow to be larger than males and are capable of carrying from 1 million to 29 million eggs. Baby swordfish look completely different from adults. They are snakelike, scaly, and have teeth. Swordfish enjoy basking on the surface of the ocean and can sometimes be observed breaching in an attempt to rid themselves of pesky hangers on like lampreys. Ew. They also have an interesting bodily feature that warms their brains and eyeballs for deeper, coldwater swimming.

    This is a good time of year to enjoy swordfish, let’s start with a recipe I just made up out of the blue the other day.

Click for recipes

   The highlight of Quail Hill’s At the Common Table on Saturday, the 10th such benefit for the community-supported farm overseen by the Peconic Land Trust, was dinner served in the orchard at a long table for 165, set beautifully with flowers, candles, and Mason jars of pickles — dilly beans, cucumber spears, garlic scapes — preserved from the Amagansett farm’s bounty.

   The haunting sounds of a flute trailed through the dusk as guests made their way down a hill to their seats, in a scene reminiscent of the film “Elvira Madigan,” set in 19th-century Sweden, according to one wag.

The evening’s magic was due to efforts by untold volunteers, members of the community-supported agriculture program under the guidance of the event chair, Hilary Leff, who did everything from play music to set the table and provide the lighting, a mixture of candles, torches, and LED bulbs in paper lanterns strung from trees. It was Megan Chaskey, wife of the farm’s director, Scott Chaskey, on the flute.

    Several local chefs happily toiled together in a makeshift kitchen replete with wood-burning oven, where Bryan Futerman of Foody’s baked pizzas. The team was overseen by Joseph Realmuto, executive chef of Nick and Toni’s, who has presided over the dinner since its inception.

    The party managed to run the gamut from elegant to rustic, down-home to upscale, and wholesome to enchanting. Guests, including many members of the farm’s community-supported agriculture program, started the evening at the farm stand to nibble on assorted hors d’oeuvres and sip wine, all donated for the cause.

    Channing Daughters has donated the wine since the event’s inception, and the winery’s principals, Larry and Jacqui Perrine, were on hand to pour. The oysters and clams supplied by Stuart’s Seafood Market went quickly, as did the lobster rolls by Zachary Tyler Lynd.

    The party was sold out and the silent auction also raised considerable money, with the final bid on passes and other perks to the Hamptons International Film Festival coming in at $1,000. The auction also included much artwork, including a landscape of Scuttlehole Road by Walter Us. Both the executive director of the film festival, Anne Chaisson, and Mr. Us were in attendance.

    Revelers imbibed a zingy 2012 Rosato di Syrah while spreading assorted Greek dips by Mr. Futerman on disks of flat bread baked by Carissa Waechter. A former pastry chef for Daniel Boulud and David Burke, Ms. Waechter mills wheat from Quail Hill to bake her bread, or acquires flour from wheat grown and milled at nearby Amber Waves Farm, a C.S.A. run by her tablemates, Katie Baldwin and Amanda Merrow. Amber Waves is on land leased from the Peconic Land Trust.

    Ms. Baldwin and Ms. Merrow met as apprentices at Quail Hill. On Saturday they were attired in lovely frocks, in contrast to their rough hands with short, soil-stained fingernails, a condition they proudly call “perma-dirt.”

    The first course was a warm salad by Jason Weiner of Almond that featured duck shavings, a dusting of sumac, and wild purslane, a highly nutritious “weed” that is making its way into farmers markets. The main course — striped bass and tabbouleh by Mr. Realmuto, and sides of charred kale, heirloom tomatoes, and fingerling potatoes by Jeff Schwarz and a vegan tagine by Mr. Futerman — was served family style. Laura Donnelly, the pastry chef at East Hampton Point and The Star’s restaurant reviewer and food writer, made the dessert, an Arabic rice pudding known as roz bil halib.

    New to the festivities, the new farm manager, Layton Gunther, who joined Quail Hill in January, was struck by the participants’ “element of gratitude.”

    Leslie and George Biddle, members who live in Southampton, joined Quail Hill mainly for autumnal produce, particularly kale from which Ms. Biddle makes a soup with white beans. “It’s the only event we come out for all summer,” she said.

     Rebecca Chapman, vice president of the Peconic Land Trust, marveled at how the farm attracts “everyone from hedge fund people to teachers to Alec Baldwin,” a supporter who “would have been here tonight if his wife wasn’t about to have a baby.” As for the event, it “brings together multi-generations.” Indeed, Emma Rose, 15, enjoyed her fifth year attending with her parents, particularly “because everyone sits together like a family.”

    During dinner, Mr. Chaskey, who is also a poet and author, ascended a vertiginous apple ladder and addressed the gathering, reciting a poem by Charles Reznikoff that ends with the lines, “not for a seat upon the dais, but at the common table” — a fitting testimony to the night’s predominant sentiment.

Pie Making

    Farm stand shoppers enjoying luscious late-summer fruits and interested in learning about making pies with them will have an opportunity next Thursday, when Leslie Dumont, a onetime pie-crust purveyor, offers a class in her Amagansett kitchen. Ms. Dumont’s Proud to be Flaky Pie School will present a 6 to 9:30 p.m. session on summer fruit pie and autumn apple tart. Participants, limited to four, will master piecrust, she promises, and create a double-crust lattice fruit pie as well as a rustic fruit tart.

    The cost, $75, includes a light dinner and the pie. Those who wish to sign up can do so online at Proudtobeflaky.com. Another class will be offered from 2 to 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 15.

At La Brisa

    La Brisa, a Mexican restaurant in Montauk that opened at the start of the summer season, has plans to remain open throughout the year. The eatery has an in-house tortilla machine and features traditional Sonoran-style tacos, fish tacos, ceviches made with locally caught fish, and more.

    It serves breakfast daily beginning at 7, as well as lunch and dinner, with service until 1 a.m. on weekends.

Slow Food Potluck

    Members and nonmembers alike have been invited to Slow Food East End’s annual potluck supper and meeting at the Shelter Island Historical Society’s Havens House barn on Sept. 15, from 4 to 7 p.m. Those interested in attending have been asked to R.S.V.P. by e-mail to Linda Slezak at Lndslzk1@ gmail.com.

How to Fillet

    Keita Nakashima, the executive sushi chef at Sen restaurant in Sag Harbor, will demonstrate how to fillet a large fish at the Sag Harbor Farmers Market on Saturday at noon. Jesse Matsuoka, the general manager of both Sen and its neighboring restaurant, The Cuddy, will be on hand to explain the process.  Depending on the fish, Chef Keita will do a 3 or 5-piece cut.

    The fish will be donated by one of the market’s fish vendors. The market is on Bay Street opposite Burke Street.

The Wine Project

    The Riverhead Project restaurant’s last wine dinner of the summer will be held on Tuesday night at 7. A representative of Martin Scott Wines, a wine purveyor, will select the wine pairings for a multicourse, family-style menu. Rita Winkler of Vines and Branches Specialty Olive Oils of Greenport will also be on hand.

    The dinner will be served on the Riverhead restaurant’s outdoor patio and will cost $60 per person, plus tax and gratuity. On the menu will be a first course of roasted eggplant and feta dip with vegetables and pita chips, followed by grilled octopus salad with seasonal greens and charred peppers; paella with rice, spicy tomato jus, and summer beans, and a dessert of olive oil-cornmeal cake made with lemon-scented olive oil, caramelized peaches, and toasted pine nuts with lavender honey.

Brunch at little/red

    Brunch is served at little/red restaurant in Southampton from Friday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., in addition to the regular lunch menu. Specialty cocktails to go along with the brunch include a Bellini with prosecco and blood orange, and a Bloody Mary with pickled vegetables.

Wolffer Hard Cider

    The Wolffer Estate Vineyard has begun making  sparkling hard cider. Called Wolffer No. 139, it comes in two varieties, dry white and dry rosé, made from apples grown by the Halsey family at White Cap Farm in Bridgehampton.

    Packaged in a pretty carrier, and with labels depicting summer beach scenes, the ciders are available at the winery’s tasting room and at its wine stand on Montauk Highway in Sagaponack.

    This is usually the time of year that corn and tomatoes are at their best, plentiful and delicious. I do not tire of eating either of them, the raw corn that turns up in delicate salads, providing a bed for seared striped bass or a red and fragrant slab of beefsteak smeared with mayo on white toast.

    This year, while the corn is excellent, I have yet to try an outstanding tomato. Once again, the weather has not been helpful to local tomato crops, nor has the reappearance of tomato blight. It is not as bad as in seasons past, but it has been detected at some farms in Riverhead.

    I have been searching for good tomatoes for weeks. I scour the farm stands and farmer’s markets. There are plenty of pretty heirlooms, baskets of Sun Golds, and currants. My friend Mitch served some beautiful, coarsely chop­ped, brilliantly red tomatoes on top of crostinis the other night and I asked him where he got them. “Blankety-blanks farm stand at the corner of Thing-a-ma-jig and Whatchamacallit Lane,” he told me. I made a beeline the next day only to be confronted by a shelf of pale, uniformly sized, perfectly-shaped, obviously commercially-grown-who-knows-where tomatoes. Turns out he got them somewhere else. Dang. My hunt continues. In the meantime, I thought it would be helpful to figure out ways to coax maximum flavor out of the not-so-perfect tomatoes I’ve come across this season.

    Whether bicolor, white, or yellow, our corn is sweet and crisp and needs only a whisper of steaming or boiling. This is the only time of year that I use butter with alacrity.

    You can be sure that most of the farm stands are selling the freshest, just-picked corn, but it is useful to be observant of how they are displaying it. If the pile of corn is sitting out in the sun and the husks are shriveling up, steer clear. The best places will have an umbrella or some other kind of shade for the fragile ears, or perhaps some burlap covering them. Try to cook your corn within hours of purchase or, at the very least, within two days. If you want to savor this summer delicacy in the dreary months of winter, do what I do: When you find your favorite corn, buy dozens of ears, blanch them, pare the kernels off the cob, and freeze in plastic bags. When defrosted they will be a smidge watery, but that summery sweet flavor will still be intact. This is perfect for chowders or sauteed with onions and peppers.

    Back to less-than-perfect tomato rescue. One way to coax more flavor out of them is to peel, slice, and very lightly salt them. The easiest way to peel them is to pour boiling water over them for about 20 seconds or dunk them in a pot of boiling water for same amount of time. The skin will slip right off. If you want to get all pinkies-in-the-air about it, seeding the tomato slices will also help. From there all you need are a few drops of a mildly acidic vinegar like fig balsamic or a high-quality sherry vinegar. Drizzle some olive oil over them and you will have made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

    If the tomatoes are particularly sad, I add chopped garlic or generous slices of Vidalia onion, sliced avocado, and plenty of fresh black pepper. Another method is to slow roast the tomatoes. You can do this with Roma plum tomatoes, grape or cherry tomatoes, or halved larger tomatoes. This tactic is good when you are serving the tomatoes as more of a relish with roast chicken, steak, or fish.

    David Falkowski, who is best known for his mushrooms, has been selling a wonderful variety of heirlooms this season. Mortgage Lifters, Green Zebras, and Purple Russians make up a nice colorful platter with different flavors from sweet to tangy to musky.

    A lot of farmers and gardeners have been using copper spray as a preventative measure in an attempt to stop blight. Sounds scary, but it is a safe, organic method. Just be sure to rinse your tomatoes well before eating. If you are growing your own, keep your eyes peeled for the telltale signs of blight: dark concentric spots (brown to black), a quarter to half-inch in diameter, form on lower leaves and stems. Early blight is marked by rings. Fruit can also be affected; spots often begin near the stem and the lower leaves turn yellow and drop off.

    While this is not the worst year we’ve had for tomatoes, it is certainly not one of the best. Let’s make the most of it and get creative with some tricks to coax the maximum flavor from our Solanum lycopersicums.

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    Tickets are on sale for Harvest East End, a celebration of 40 years of winemaking on Long Island’s East End, to be held at the McCall Vineyard and Ranch in Cutchogue on Aug. 24. The event will include a tasting from 7 to 9:30 p.m. of regional winemakers’ current releases and barrel samples of wines yet to be released, along with foods from local farmers, fishermen, and other food artisans, prepared by a team of local chefs.

    Tickets to the tasting are $150 per person. V.I.P. tickets, at $250 per person, will include advance entry beginning at 6 p.m., sparkling wine, exclusive table seating, and access to a lounge featuring tastings of older vintages and special East End wine selections, and V.I.P. parking.

    Sponsored by Wine Enthusiast magazine and organized by the Long Island Wine Council and Merliance, the event will benefit East End Hospice, Group for the East End, the Peconic Land Trust, and the Long Island Farm Bureau’s Promotion and Education Foundation.

    Along with the tasting event, the Harvest East End celebration includes  a series of 10-Mile Dinners at private residences, where a small group of 10 diners will be served wines and foods sourced from within 10 miles of the dinner location. The dinners are by invitacan send an e-mail to [email protected]. One sponsored by Roman Roth, a winemaker and partner at Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack, and his wife, Dushy Roth, at the residence of Nina Lesavoy in the Georgica area of East Hampton, will take place on Friday, Aug. 23. Complete information is available at harvesteastend.com.

Cooking Class

    Abby Elelam, a former executive chef at the Marriott Hotel in New York City, will give a cooking class tonight at the Whalers Church in Sag Harbor beginning at 6:30. The menu will include Mediterranean and Moroccan dishes such as a lemon tagine chicken dish, traditional Moroccan couscous with lamb, and a dessert pastry filled with almond paste and nuts.

    The session is one of an East End Chefs series held at the church, and costs $20. Reservations can be made by calling the church.

Lunch, Then Movie?

    The Blue Parrot restaurant in East Hampton is offering those who stop in for its Southwestern-style cuisine for lunch on weekdays, and spend $25 or more, a free movie ticket for the East Hampton Cinema.

Lobster Dinner

    The Harbor Grill on Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton is offering a two-course lobster dinner special every night, including weekends and holidays. For $29, diners will get a one-pound lobster, corn on the cob, and a choice of a side dish. The deal is also available for takeout.

    Harbor Grill also offers a $12 burger-and-brew special at the bar, and a $14.95 Sunday brunch.

At Fresh

    Fresh restaurant in Bridgehampton is offering a three-course meal for children age 12 and under for $15. Kids will be able to choose one item per course from the menu, which features healthy, organic foods. Fresh is also serving juices made to order with local and organic fruits and vegetables, for $8.

The Dory

185 North Ferry Road

Shelter Island

749-4300

Lunch and dinner daily

    Taking the short ferry ride over to Shelter Island is always a pleasant experience. Although you are only “traveling” for about five minutes, you really feel like you’ve gone somewhere. Somewhere quiet and charming and low key. A group of us took this little trip recently to try the Dory restaurant on North Ferry Road. You’ve seen the building, a pretty brick red structure with a dory on top.

    Entering the Dory feels like walking into “The Twilight Zone,” perhaps into one of the more unsettling episodes involving hoarders, a time warp, and a guy at the bar who hasn’t moved in 35 years. Continue walking through the bar cluttered with flotsam and jetsam and mounted fish and cranky signs about tourists and you will come upon one of the loveliest views out here. A big outdoor deck looks out onto Chase Creek, green and quiet, a row boat here, a barely visible house there, and one lone cormorant performing his toilette with punctilio.

    The back deck is also pretty cluttered. There’s a bar, another bar, and a tiki bar, lots and lots of promotional beer paraphernalia and various neon signs. A blackboard announcing the specials of the evening offered “Senior Sangria.” We’re pretty sure they meant “Senor Sangria” but agreed that “senior” was pretty cute.

    The warmed rolls — sourdough, whole grain, and pumpernickel — served when we were seated were quite good. For appetizers we began with fried calamari, clams on the half shell, coconut shrimp, and Caprese salad. Oh, and a pretzel dog from the bar because I’ve never had one and my friend insisted they are a taste sensation, nice gummy, chewy pretzel dough wrapped around a sodium nitrite piggy product. It really was good, the one bite I took.

    The fried calamari was very good, a generous portion and super crunchy. It was offered with basil aioli, which did not exist, so we were given marinara sauce. The clams were clams, served with some okay cocktail sauce. The coconut shrimp were excellent. The six big shrimp were coated with lots of coconut and served with a sweet, slightly Asian-style sauce, kind of like Saucy Susan with sesame oil or something. The Caprese salad was a nice looking platter with thick slices of red beefsteak, yellow, and green tomatoes and slabs of mozzarella. In place of basil, however, the salad was adorned with mint leaves. We weren’t sure if this was a boo-boo or if someone in the kitchen was being creative. Do not try this at home. Mint does not taste good with mozzarella and tomatoes. Other than that, it was a good salad.

    For entrees we ordered the grilled local striped bass, tuna tartare, a steamed clam special, and chicken Milanese. The grilled striped bass was served with roasted fingerling potatoes and a vegetable medley of wax beans, green beans, and baby carrots smothered in jarred garlic. The striped bass was neither grilled nor seasoned with anything like salt and pepper. It had a drizzle of something brown and slightly sweet. The potatoes may have spent a few nights in the refrigerator before being reheated. The beans were pretty good. The tuna tartare wasn’t so hot. The bottom layer was some pretty well ground up tuna with a lot of mayonnaise. The top layer was smushed avocado and more mayo and bit of wasabi, topped with black and white sesame seeds. It needed a hint of citrus or vinegar or salt or something.    

    The steamed clam special was the best of the lot. It was a good-size bowl of clams with bacon bits and sun-dried tomatoes. The chicken Milanese was very, very cooked and needed salt and pepper.

    It wouldn’t be fair to expect great food at the Dory. It’s more of a bar that serves food. I approach places like this the way I approach blind dates; if I have low expectations I am bound to be delightfully surprised. Or at the very least, get a free meal.

    The service was pretty good. We only had to ask for utensils once and water twice. Our waitress was friendly enough, but had a knack for ignoring my wide-eyed, hand-waving “excuse mes.” There were perhaps three other tables of diners on the patio this particular evening . . . on a weekend . . . in August. Ouch.

    The prices are moderate, but for the quality of the food, I’m going to say too expensive. Appetizers are $5.95 to $18.95. Entrees are $14.95 to $37.95. There was only one dessert, cheesecake, which our Eastern European waitress assured us was “special, made locally.” I had visions of a sweet, little old lady living in a Victorian house in the Heights whipping up cheesecakes for local restaurants. When pressed, our waitress informed us it was from J. King’s, which is, in fact, a pretty huge industrial restaurant supplier. Oh, well. It was gummy.

    I wouldn’t say don’t go to the Dory. I would say absolutely go, go for the restorative view of the creek, and have a beer and some clams or coconut shrimp.

    The Great Food Truck Derby will bring a caravan of mobile food vendors to the Hayground School tomorrow afternoon from 4 to 7. Tickets are $60 for adults and $20 for children and include drinks as well as one serving from every food truck, with at least 20 expected to be on site. They can be ordered at the Web site of the event sponsor, EdibleManhattan.com.

A Quarter Century

    Nick and Toni’s restaurant in East Hampton is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a menu full of classic items that have been the most popular or memorable dishes served throughout the years.

    Beginning today, steamed mussels with white wine and garlic, a 1988 concoction, will be on the menu, along with two items from 1989, beet ravioli with poppy seeds and grilled rabbit with roasted Vidalia onions and sweet fennel. Also to be offered will be panzanella, which appeared on a 1990 menu, linguini with shrimp, lemon, and arugula, and Cataplana — local Little Neck clams, mussels, shrimp, and Merguez sausage — both a la 1994, and a 1994-style salad of bitter greens, balsamic-roasted Vidalia onions, and crumbled blue cheese. Smoked bluefish pate will be the amuse bouche for the week, and desserts to be offered — “serious chocolate cake,” tiramisu, and vanilla ice cream with espresso — will be made by Toni Ross, one of the restaurant’s owners and the founding pastry chef.

    During the celebration, which began on Saturday, Nick and Toni’s is donating a percentage of its food sales to food pantries in Springs and East Hampton.

Gazpacho Competition

    The Amagansett Farmers Market is once again holding “Souper Tuesdays,” a day when soups made by local chefs with local ingredients will be featured. Next week will bring a gazpacho competition.

    Farmers will work with chefs to create their entries, which will be judged by Laura Donnelly, The Star’s restaurant critic. Participating farms and food producers are Quail Hill Farm, Balsam Farm, Amber Waves Farm, Bhumi Farm, Lisa and Bill’s Fresh Vegetables, Pike Farms, the Milk Pail, and Amagansett Sea Salt. The chefs will include Jeff Schwarz, Susan Spungen, and chefs from the Amagansett Farmers Market and Nick and Toni’s.

    From 6 to 8 p.m., the soups will be served for $12 per serving, or $10 if you take along your own bowl. There will be tastings of local wines, organized by Michael Cinque of Amagansett Wines and Spirits, and live music by Escola de Samba Boom.

Home Canning Workshop

    Mark Vosburgh, an expert in canning who has been canning fruits, vegetables, soups, jams, and jellies for 15 years, will give a workshop on home canning using salt, vinegar, and seasonal produce at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor next Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  The presentation will include information on the history of canning, principles of safe food handling, equipment, and food preparation, as well as water bath and pressure canning methods, and troubleshooting. The program will take place at the library’s temporary location on Water Street.

Beer and Barbecue

    After having received a license, Smokin’ Wolf barbecue in East Hampton can now serve customers some beer to wash down their barbecue selections.