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.

   Montauk’s first Polynesian tiki bar opened in June and the people — locals, vacationers, fishermen, and even kids — have found it. Lynn’s Hula Hut, owned by Lynn Calvo, is located in a sandy “island” in the Montauk Marine Basin’s parking area.

    Before opening the Hut, Ms. Calvo was hired to serve Polynesian-style drinks at South Fork parties from her small pickup truck, which has fringed palapa leaves (dried palm leaves) hanging from its bed.

    It took her two and half years to weed through East Hampton Town’s permit process; during that time she worked winters in Florida. She has worked her whole adult life in restaurants, and found the experience handy when she started designing restaurants and bars, the latest of which is a restaurant in Key West. Her father was a fisherman out of Montauk and she has spent most summers in the hamlet since she was a child.

    Unless you consider a Bloody Mary a meal, there are limited food items available at the Hula Hut. Ms. Calvo orders food daily from the Atlantic Terrace Cafe: three types of wraps, sandwiches, shrimp cocktail, and a smoked fish platter that comes with crackers, carrot sticks, and other crudites for dipping. “I’m not allowed to cook on the site,” she said.

    Drinks are the specialty, with Bloody Marys daily and, on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m., “epic” bloodies, with a choice of 20 hot sauces and tomato juices, jumbo shrimp, and a variety of vodkas.

    “You can get very creative,” Ms. Calvo said, sitting in the hammock garden, a shady section with a double lounge, a hammock, and other seats that surround a smiling Buddha. Wind chimes gently flutter at its entrance. “This is where people can come to relax from the downtown area. It’s very peaceful here,” she said. It’s also a spot where games are played, such as horsehoes, corn hole, and hook and ring.

    A patch of sand in front of the bar area offers all kinds of seating and a few tables, with tiki-type umbrellas for shade. There is always music, but it gets even better when live bands play, Thursdays through Sundays from 4 to 8 p.m.

    On Thursday mornings, you can find Ms. Calvo shopping at the farmer’s market in downtown Montauk. It’s where she buys fresh fruit and herbs for the infusions she makes and later mixes with alcoholic blends, such as her signature rum punch, hot pink drink, shark bite, and margaritas. Herbs are pureed for other exotic concoctions.

    Surrounding the site, which is perched on a small sandy dune just to the right of the marina’s entrance, are potted herbs and plants, blooming daylilies, beach grasses, and faux palm trees. The Hula Hut is open daily from noon to 10 p.m. The attire is casual, which is reinforced on a sign at the entrance that reads “You are now entering a flip-flop zone.”

   John Domanic and Marsha LaTessa don’t have too many years of farming experience under their belts, but by starting small with a farm stand and leased farmland on Pantigo Road just west of East Hampton Town Hall, they think they’ve got a pretty good shot at it.

    Their Little Dog Farm stand opened a week ago and is doing well so far, Ms. LaTessa said. On offer now are a variety of fruits and vegetables, specialty olive oils, Sweet ’tauk lemonade from Montauk, and Tate’s cookies. And be sure to say hello to the couple’s small dog, Flora, if you stop by the stand. By the end of the summer, they plan to sell mostly produce they’ve grown themselves organically, but as of now it is too early in the season to be providing vegetables like tomatoes.

    The two, who call themselves growers, not farmers, come from very different backgrounds. Mr. Domanic is a diehard fisherman from Baja, and Ms. LaTessa worked in real estate in New York City. “I’ve lived in New York City most of my life, but I left three years ago. That’s when I started growing. I was done with Manhattan and I needed to be in the dirt,” said Ms. LaTessa.

    When asked how she got into growing so quickly, she said, “I’m pretty nerdy and I’m a good researcher. I read a lot of books over the winter and then by the time spring came I knew a lot about growing.”

    While the couple may be new to farming, it’s sort of in the family genes. Mr. Domanic’s grandfather was a competitive tomato grower and used to grow beefsteak tomatoes as big as four pounds.  

A Taste of Montauk

    Locally made beer and wine will be served along with fare from a number of Montauk restaurants on Sunday at “A Taste of Montauk,” a Montauk Chamber of Commerce event to be held at the 360 East restaurant at Montauk Downs from 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $55 in advance ($65 at the door) and can be reserved online at montaukchamber. com. Sponsors, besides 360 East, include Gurney’s Inn and the Bridgehampton National Bank. 

Vegan Potluck

    The Wellness Foundation of East Hampton will host its monthly vegan potluck on the beach on Monday evening. Participants have been asked to take a “vegan-friendly” dish to share, along with a copy of the recipe, and one’s own utensils and plates. Water will be provided. The free event gets under way at 6:30 p.m. at the pavilion at Main Beach in East Hampton. Ten cooks will be able to enter a “best summer dish contest” by pre-registering with the foundation. Dishes will be judged on taste, presentation, and the best use of healthy, vegan, and nutrient-rich ingredients, and the winner will receive a prize. Those who wish to enter the contest have been asked to send an e-mail to [email protected].

Sunset Prix Fixe

    A sunset prix fixe dinner is offered at East Hampton Point in the waning hours of the day, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. A $45 cost includes a choice from the menu of any appetizer, any entree (except steak, which comes with a $5 supplemental charge), and any dessert.

    A “dock and dine” special at the Point offers boaters who visit for lunch and dinner free dockage, based on availability, along with a 10 percent discount off their entire check.

“Coffee Experience”

    The Hampton Coffee Company, with locations in Westhampton Beach and Water Mill, opened its third cafe and espresso bar recently, on County Road 39A in Southampton.

    Billed as a “coffee experience store,” it is modeled on West Coast-style espresso bars and includes a “pour-over bar,” where customers may work with a barista to select the type of coffee they’d like to try and a particular method of brewing. The company’s coffee roasting equipment has been relocated to the new site from the original Water Mill store, and there is a conference room where seminars will be offered. The first, on a date to be announced, will feature an introduction to the farmer from Sumatra from whom Hampton Coffee Company purchases some of its green coffee beans.

    There are certain foods that come into our lives and we wonder how we ever lived without them. All of a sudden everyone is talking about them, serving them, altering them, wrecking them, and serving them again. Fad foods and food trends, they’re like child stars. We love them briefly, then we just want them to go away or grow up. This is a completely subjective topic, and I would like to defend some of these foods and rip a few others to shreds.

    Remember when goat cheese was chevre and it was everywhere? Balsamic vinegar became ubiquitous, being used not just in salads, but on peaches and strawberries, drizzled over grilled vegetables, getting reduced into a glaze to be Jackson Pollocked all over your plate. Well, these are two delicious things that I still embrace, love, serve — and find myself defending. However, if you present me with a watermelon and feta cheese salad or Nutella crepes I will run the other way. Fruit and cheese pairings are marvelous but this one grosses me out. Nutella crepes are just lazy restaurant desserts.

    Raspberry vinegar, arugula, pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, blackened redfish, pasta salads, bran muffins, edamame, cupcakes. Some of these have come and gone, some endure. There is nothing better than a well-made, fresh pesto. But have you ever, ever had a good bran muffin? My friend and fellow chef Deena Chafetz says “I’m still haunted by the pesto years . . . where a perfectly good sauce was used in cruel and unusual ways . . . pesto mayonnaise, pesto cream sauces, and it overlapped with the blackening of anything that would hold still, blackened chicken sandwich with pesto aioli.”

    Pork belly (and bacon in everything) is still in vogue, a delicious and dangerous fad. I recently saw some cupcakes that had been sliced through and two crisp bacon strips were crisscrossed through their waistline. Is it supposed to be a snack? A dessert? A secret weapon for Lipitor?

    Red velvet cake has experienced a resurgence in popularity and I just don’t get it. Why would you choose a cake full of red dye over a real chocolate cake made with cocoa powder? Red velvet cake came about out of necessity because of the food rationing during World War II. Some bakers used beet juice to add color and make up for lack of chocolate. The Adams Extract Company of Texas is credited with marketing the dreadful dye as a cocoa powder substitute, enhancing the cake’s color but most certainly not its flavor.

    Lollipop foods, acai, pomegranate-infused this ’n’ that, elderberry flower cocktails, paninis, wraps, baby vegetables, towering Frank Gehry desserts. Again, some of these have come and gone; some have staying power. Paninis are genius; panini presses unnecessary. Wraps always seem to be 90 percent moist flour tortilla with mysterious ingredients being suffocated inside. Vegetable embryos are cute . . . but tiresome. I’d rather wash and slice two medium zucchini than manicure 23 tiny ones just to feed two people.

    My friend Lanie Goodman, who sadly has to live in Nice, France, tells me that the trend of weird ice cream flavors has not abated. She has recently tried foie gras ice cream, grand cru de vin ice cream, Amaretti peach, and Guinness sorbet. Barbara recently toured Paris looking for the best quiche. Now that’s a delicious fad food that deserves a comeback. Properly made, quiche is a classic French example of how to use up leftovers in a labor-intensive way.

    A lot of people mentioned 1980s food fads and nobody knows more about these than my friend Ellen who was the chef of the Silver Palate. She is pining for those miniature meatballs swimming in a grape jelly gravy of the 1950s, Mad Men food. “The Silver Palate Good Times” cookbook, published in 1984, is a treasure trove of goat cheese, raspberry vinegar, and pink peppercorn recipes. It’s so old school, some of the recipes are labeled “Oriental.”

    Going back in time, TV dinners were once a popular fad. Aspics, Jello molds, and fondues were hostess go-tos in the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s. Remember bread loaves hollowed out and filled with dips or soups?

    A lot of people would like to see deviled eggs make a comeback. Pigs in blankets certainly have. A trend I shall love forever is salted caramel. Bring it on!

    Cupcake shops have had their 15 minutes. The latest fad to drive people bonkers is the cronut. Yes, it is what it sounds like, a super healthy, low-fat (not!) hybrid designer confection combining the buttery, flaky deliciousness of a croissant deep-fried like a donut and topped or filled with some creamy stuff. It is the invention of pastry chef Dom­inique Ansel and is sold at his bakery in SoHo. People wait in line for hours, are limited to two, and they have been rumored to be sold by scalpers for $100 each. I predict the fad will subside when Dunkin’ Donuts starts selling them and changes the name of its over 2,900 locations worldwide to “Crunkin’ Cro­nuts” and plays Outkast and Lil Jon on its sound systems. That’s a little crunk humor.

    A lot of my male friends lament the current craze for kale and quinoa. Sorry, guys, I kinda like this stuff. Consider quinoa a condiment and you’ll get it down. If someone offers you a kale chip, just make sure you’ve got a glass of water nearby.

    As for the molecular gastronomy movement, is it over? I wouldn’t know because I have never been able to afford any restaurants that serve, as I like to call it, “spit, foam, ash, pollen, and dust.” And if duck crackling dust or lobster tomalley air or sea buckthorn essence ever show up on my Rowdy burger, I’ll cry uncle.

    As I said at the beginning, this is a completely subjective column. I intend to defend my little bottle of truffle oil and excessive fondness for microplaning lemon zest on everything. And I will forever scoff at coconut water, chia pets, I mean seeds, and bulgogi, kimchi tacos, the latest Korean-Mexican fusion mash-up.

    Here are some recipes to make you feel nostalgic, gullible, glad it’s not the ’80s anymore, or perhaps just plain grateful that we have so many choices.

Click for recipes

Chefs Dinner at Hayground

    This weekend brings another annual Chefs Dinner to the Hayground School, a benefit for the school’s culinary center, Jeff’s Kitchen, and for the Jeff Salaway Scholarship Fund, both in memory of a school founder and restaurateur.

    The event will be held at the school, which is in Bridgehampton, on Sunday, beginning with a 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. cocktail party featuring hors d’oeuvres prepared by local chefs using local ingredients. Chefs will include Tom Colicchio of the Topping Rose House, Bryan Futerman of Foody’s, Jason Weiner of Almond, Joel Realmuto of Nick and Toni’s, Cheryl Stair of the Art of Eating, and Christian Mir of the Stone Creek Inn.

    During the cocktail party there will be live music by Lily and the Parlor Tricks, a silent art auction, and cooking demonstrations in Jeff’s Kitchen by George Hirsch, a chef and TV host.

    Following the cocktail party, a V.I.P. dinner will be held at the residence of Toni Ross from 7:30 to 10 p.m., with the chef Eric Ripert as the honoree. A four-course meal will be prepared by several chefs, including Claudia Fleming of North Fork Table and Inn, Stefan Karlsson of Fond in Gothenburg, Sweden, and Taku Sato of Nobu57. Aldo Sohm, a sommelier at Le Bernardin, will select wines to complement the meal. A live auction will follow the dinner.

    Tickets cost $175 for the cocktail party only, and $1,000 for the cocktail party and dinner. Children’s tickets cost $40 and include a kids’ dinner and child care provided by Hayground Camp counselors. They can be reserved by going to greatchefsdinner.com.

Flavors of India

    Anil Kumar, a native of Bangalore, India, will share some of the techniques used to produce the diverse flavors of Indian cuisine at a free program at the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton at noon on Wednesday. Reservations must be made by Sunday by calling the library or online at myrml.org.

Food Riot Dinner

    A dinner benefiting Slow Food East End will be held on Saturday in conjunction with the Hamptons Preventative Health and Sustainable Technology Expo in Sag Harbor. From 5:30 to 9 p.m. at the Dodds and Eder store on Bridge Street, the dinner will begin with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, to be followed by a meal prepared by Todd Jacobs, the chef and owner at Fresh in Bridgehampton. East End wines from Martha Clara Vineyards and others will be served.

    The main course, served family style, will include pan-seared porgy with epazote and chili-lime beurre blanc, pan-roasted organic chicken with fresh rosemary and pan gravy, and merlot-barbecue boneless Mecox pork with Calvados sauce. The cost is $150. Tickets can be ordered online at mastersofhealthand­wellness.com.

Award for Pierre’s

    Pierre’s restaurant in Bridgehampton has received a 2013 Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator magazine. The wine list at the restaurant has been developed over the last few years; Pierre’s now has more than 5,000 bottles in its wine cellar, according to the restaurant’s namesake proprietor, who often enlists customers in efforts to choose new featured wines.

Weekly Specials

    Indian Wells Tavern in Amagansett has a weekly specials lineup beginning on Tuesday nights, which are steak nights: A three-course steak dinner is offered for $25. A fourth course — dessert — can be added for $3. On Wednesday, fajitas are the special, in steak, chicken, or vegetarian varieties, with all the fixings, for $19. Margaritas are on special that night as well.

    Thursday at Indian Wells is prime rib night. With soup or salad, potato, and vegetables, a prime rib dinner costs $23. Lunch and dinner are served every day from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Indian Wells, and the bar there stays open late.

Wings Menu

    Townline BBQ in Sagaponack has a new Wild Wings menu featuring a number of flavor options for $8 orders of wings. They include a honey hot sauce, Dry Bones, a spice-rubbed version, the Southfork, and Ain’t No Tang, a vinegar hot sauce. Townline is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, beginning at 11:30 a.m.

New at Rowdy

    The menu at Rowdy Hall has some new additions. At lunchtime, they are a chopped vegetable salad featuring local cucumbers and beets, along with hearts of palm and cherry tomatoes, a leek and goat cheese tart, and a salad of frisee with bacon lardoons. A new sandwich choice is a grilled tuna loin sandwich served with vinegar onions, arugula, and aioli, with a side of Balsam Farms sugar snap peas salad.

    At dinnertime, the East Hampton restaurant has added entrees including the local catch served with snap peas, radishes, and a green olive vinaigrette, a pork chop served with rainbow chard from Balsam Farms and local rhubarb-apple compote, and two dishes featuring local vegetables: ratatouille with parsley pistou and vegetable kabobs served with grilled pita, herb couscous, and yogurt sauce, along with local corn on the cob. Rowdy serves lunch and dinner daily.

    Midweek brings Weiner Wednesdays to Smokin’ Wolf BBQ on Pantigo Road in East Hampton. A $10 special includes two hot dogs, fries, and a drink.

Beer Tastings

    The Southampton Publick House will host a free beer tasting on Saturday at the Southampton Center on Job’s Lane in Southampton, before an indoor screening of “Drinking Buddies.” The tasting begins at 6 p.m. The movie, a comedy about two co-workers at a craft brewery, which was shown at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival, starts at 7:30.

    Beer lovers may also want to head to Riverhead on a Wednesday night, when the East Main Street restaurant, the­RIVERHEADPROJECT, presents beer-themed events, including a beer dinner on the first Wednesday of the month. Several courses served family-style will be paired with various craft beers at a cost of $40 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Next week’s beer dinner will be hosted by Rocky Point Artisanal Brewers. The restaurant also holds a “beer school” every second Wednesday of the month, with mini-lectures and beer samples, and Kegger Wednesdays on the third Wednesday of a month, where kegs are tapped on the patio or in the lounge. On the last Wednesday in the month, the restaurant’s chef and its beermeister pair different brews and small bites.

Food Truck Derby

    The second annual Great Food Truck Derby is slated for Friday, Aug. 9, at the Hayground School in Bridgehampton. From 4 to 7:30 p.m., more than 20 food trucks based from Manhattan to Montauk will dish up all kinds of eats. Among the participants will be Montaco, with Mexican fare; Wandering Palate, offering fish soup, bruschetta, and vegetarian paté; Hamptons Foodie, with shrimp ceviche, sesame noodles, and more; Eat Me Drink Me, which has truffle fries; Silver Spoon Specialties, with pulled pork sliders, and Whole Le Crepe, with all kinds of crepes.

    Tickets are $60 per person and include one serving at each food truck, and free beverages. Availability is limited. Tickets can be purchased through the EdibleManhattan.com Web site.

    The food truck derby coincides with the weekly Hayground School community farmers market, which includes programming for kids and families.

On Merlot

    Roman Roth, the winemaker at Wolffer Estate, will present the “ultimate merlot class and tasting” tonight in the winery’s cellar in Sagaponack.

    From 6 to 7:30 p.m., Mr. Roth will lead participants through a sampling of seven Long Island merlots and merlot-based blends, and they will be compared with wines from other world regions renowned for the merlot grape, in an effort to show how Long Island merlots are one of the area’s signature wines.    Participants with all levels of wine expertise are welcome. The cost is $40, or $35 for Wolffer wine club members. Those attending have been asked to check in at the boutique in the winery tasting room on Sagg Road. For more information, an e-mail can be sent to [email protected].

Backyard Restaurant’s Week

     The Backyard Restaurant at Solé East in Montauk presents Mexican Mondays, featuring an open mike night, three tacos for $12, $6 margaritas, and $3 Pacifico beers. On Tuesdays, there is a two-for-one deal on the weekly pasta dish. Wednesday brings a 20-percent discount on bottles of wine, while Thursday brings an opportunity to buy Jamaican beef patties for $8 and Red Stripe beers for $4 while listening to a live reggae band. On Sundays, when Solé East screens surf films, there is a pig roast, and $4 draft beers.

Party to Go

    The restaurant at Montauk Downs, called 360 East, is offering catering options for parties at home or on the beach, for a minimum of 20 guests. The menu includes a buffet of grilled vegetable, chicken, steak, and shrimp skewers with flour tortillas and fixings, along with corn, orzo, or mixed green salad, and a choice of two desserts. 

    I’m not sure which was more exciting, attending the L.V.I.S. Fair on Saturday or being asked to work at the fair. At the cakes, cookies, jams, and jellies booth, no less! I have attended this fair almost every single year of my life, many times with my grandpa, then with my son. The Mystery Booth, cookbooks, and Rosita Medler’s iconic beach plum jelly have always been my priorities. I arrive at 10 on the dot and plot my strategy like General MacArthur. One year I scored a brand new fishing rod for $20. Another year, a first edition James Beard cookbook.

    This year I donated some sticky toffee date cakes for the baked goods booth and a French bistro cooking lesson for the silent auction. Then I thought it would be fun to write about the experience. Then I realized, “Hey, what if nobody buys my cakes or bids on my delicious dinner for four to six people?!” Uh oh.

    The required uniform for volunteers at this event is a white dress, green apron, and straw hat. You have to earn the green apron, however, so I showed up wearing an old butcher’s apron that tangled around my ankles. I surveyed the goods with my co-workers, Nancy, Susan, and Barbara. Cupcakes, bear claws, brownies, sour dough breads, pickles, chutneys, heaven! But where was the beach plum jelly? Not there yet. A good number of the items are homemade; many are donated by such companies as Eli Zabar’s, Panera, Breadzilla, and Levain Bakery.

    We got busy . . . fast. Thankfully, Barbara was the banker. I cannot add 4 plus 4 plus 3 on my feet. Seriously. But I am a good carny and I know my product. “Try these sticky toffee date cakes,” I crowed. No takers. It was breakfast time. By 1 o’clock we had sold most of our goodies, at 2, everything was half price. This gave me a chance to wander around and sample other wares. The booth with sandwiches and salads had gazpacho made by Terry O’Riordan, the former Suffolk County health inspector who struck the fear of God in every restaurant kitchen out here. It was delicious! Some of the salads were prepared from original recipes from the “L.V.I.S. Cookbook,” such as a delicate tarragon chicken salad with grapes. There were goodies from the Maidstone Club, Seafood Shop, and awesomely moist cornbread from Arthur at Smokin’ Wolf. Another booth had pizzas from Fierro’s and Pepperoni’s in East Hampton and La Capannina in Wainscott.

    I checked the silent auction table. Only one bid on my super delicious, extra special French bistro dinner. Oh, dear. I wandered toward the back, where some of our town trustees were shucking clams. Dr. Russ, Joe Bloecker, Fred Overton, and I discussed clam chowder secrets. I was mostly straining to hear Mr. Overton as his clam chowder served at the Largest Clam Contest every year is one of the best. Joe and Fred agreed that a little bit of leaf thyme is good. Fred uses plenty of clam juice. Joe enhances his with Vidalia onions and a bit of warmed cream at the end.

    The clams, donated from Duryea and Sons and hailing from the Great South Bay, were tiny, briny delights. There were four sauces to accompany them, provided by a company called Goumba. They have entertaining names like Elvis’s Favorite, Key West’s Favorite, Montauk’s Favorite, and the Devil’s Balls. The Key West sauce was tart with key lime juice. The Montauk was slightly sweet and mild. The most popular and most spicy was the Devil’s Balls. At this pronouncement, much jocularity ensued.

    Next stop on the walkabout was visiting Bob Schaeffer, president of the Lion’s Club, as he supervised the grilling of 450 whole chickens, a gazillion pounds of new potatoes, 1,000 ears of corn (donated by the awesome Ian Calder-Piedmont of Balsam Farm) and more. A huge amount of the food for the barbecue came from the supplier J. Kings, at a very generous discounted price.

    At 3, I wound back around to the silent auction area. Yahoo, my dinner was now up to $350! Granted, I did browbeat two friends into bidding on it, but now complete strangers were willing to let me cook for them!

    And what about the beach plum jelly? Eight jars magically appeared at 10:30 a.m., and were sold out by 10:32. I got mine. Cute Albert Fierro scored a few as gifts.

    The Ladies Village Improvement Society is now 118 years old. What began as a small group of women trying to keep the dusty streets of East Hampton clean and beautiful has grown to over 300 volunteers who give scholarships to local students, maintain all the precious trees and greens of the village, and much more. Times have changed, but the spirit of preservation and volunteerism in our community has not.

Click for recipes

    Tickets have gone on sale for the Peconic Land Trust’s popular annual “Through Farms and Fields” event, taking place this year at noon on Aug. 4 at the Port of Missing Men estate in North Sea.

    Beth D’Alessio Catering will provide a “country lunch”; wines will be provided by Wolffer Estate Vineyards, and dessert by Tate’s Bake Shop of Southampton. There will be live music, and a live and silent auction. Individual tickets, at $350, can be purchased by calling the land trust’s office in South­ampton.

“Food Riot Dinner”

    Also upcoming is a “food riot dinner” to benefit Slow Food East End, to be presented on July 27 as part of a two-day Hamptons Preventive Health and Sustainable Technology Expo.

    Todd Jacobs, the chef and owner of Fresh restaurant in Bridgehampton, will prepare the food for a casual dinner party that will include live music, a raffle, and a keynote speaker. Dishes will center on local and seasonal foods and wines to create “comfort food that’s healthy.”

    A cocktail party featuring passed hors d’oeuvres will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m., with a family-style dinner to follow. The dinner menu will include pan-seared white sea bass, barbecued boneless Mecox pork, and organic chicken with pan gravy and fresh rosemary.

    Tickets for cocktails only are $75; full tickets that include dinner are $150. Both include access to both days of the expo. They can be ordered online at mastersofhealthandwellness.com.

    Mr. Jacobs was recently given the Northeast Organic Farmers Association’s first Green Skillet Award for “outstanding support and belief in promoting local produce.”

Grillhampton

    New York City chefs will compete “grill to grill” with a team of East End chefs at Sayre Park in Bridgehampton tomorrow night at an event called Grillhampton. Local team members include Bryan Futerman of Foody’s in Water Mill, Colin Ambrose of Estia’s Little Kitchen in Sag Harbor, Peter Ambrose of the Hampton Seafood Co. in East Hampton, and Emanouil Aslanoglou of the Old Stove Pub in Sagaponack. The competition will be hosted by Geoffrey Zakarian of the Food Network’s “Iron Chef,” and judged by a five-member team that includes Jeffrey Chodorow of China Grill Management, Kate Krader, a restaurant editor at Food and Wine magazine, and Dan Rattiner of Dan’s Papers, a sponsor of the event. Tickets are $115 and can be ordered through the paper’s Web site.

“Riviera Weekend”

    At Navy Beach restaurant in Montauk, Saturday and Sunday will bring a celebration of Riviera style, including a menu featuring dishes paired with selections of Chandon wines.

Foodie Fatale

    A new radio show called Foodie Fatale premiered last weekend on the Southampton station WPPB 88.3 FM. Jocelyn Ruggiero, an ex-New Yorker who writes for Saveur and other magazines, is the host of the show, which will feature various guests. Michael Stern of “Road Food” was the first.

Donations to ARF

    East Hampton Gourmet Food has pledged 10 percent of its proceeds during July from sales of its vegetarian and vegan items to the Animal Rescue Fund in Wainscott. The takeout shop on Newtown Lane offers both ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner items, along with frozen hors d’oeuvres and other groceries.

Signing, Tasting

    Two cookbook authors will sign books and offer tastes of their fare at the Loaves and Fishes Cookshop in Bridgehampton on Saturday. From 1 to 3 p.m., Kathleen King of Tate’s Bake Shop in Southampton, whose most recent book is “Baking for Friends,” will be on hand. Andrea Nguyen, the author of “Asian Tofu,” will be at the shop from 3 to 5 p.m.

   Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, it’s been hot out here! I’ll bet all you want to do is escape to the beach and spend the entire day there, dipping in and out of the water, picnicking, and putting off the return home for as long as possible.

    The key to a successful day (and evening) at the beach is what you bring. You can keep it as simple as you like with beach towels, sunblock, and some trashy magazines, or go for more comfort with umbrellas, chairs, and a big fat cooler of food and drink. The fact of the matter is, the more you bring, the more comfortable and successful your time will be.

    Some of the more essential items, in my opinion, are a small collapsible table and thin bedspreads or tablecloths. The table will keep your food out of the sand. Trust me, no matter how well trained your children or guests or pooch are, somehow sand will get kicked or blown onto your food. And while beach towels may be big enough for you to spread yourself out on, they are not big enough to lay a feast on.

    When it comes to food, again, it can be as simple or elaborate as you wish. Some Villa Combos from Villa Italian Specialties in East Hampton are one of my favorites, along with picnic chicken from Round Swamp Farm. But the easiest and most economical trick is to cook extra food at home and use your leftovers in creative ways the next day. Cook a few extra steaks on the grill to make sandwiches or Thai beef salad. Roast an extra chicken. Pastas and rice can be reborn as a salad with vegetables and vinaigrette.

    Food historians tell us picnics evolved from elaborate traditions of moveable outdoor feasts enjoyed by the wealthy. There were medieval hunting feasts, Renaissance-era country banquets, and Victorian garden parties. In France, when the beautiful city parks were finally opened to the public, picnics became very popular.

    An anonymous article from a 1912 New York Times describes how a proper picnic would evolve. “All eatables were provided by the feminine portion of the party. We weren’t hard to please. A few cold fried chickens, some peanut sandwiches, a big paper sack of Saratoga chips, some potato salad in a fruit jar, two or three kinds of jelly, bread and butter, a couple of chocolate cakes, and a coconut cake and a freeze of strawberry ice cream and a few accessories were practically all we expected.” A couple of chocolate cakes?! The young gent who wrote the article also laid out the battle plan for romance. If a chaperone had to come along, they would find one only a few years older than the picnicking party, then bring along a similarly-aged member of the opposite sex to distract the chaperone. Another article from 1904 recommended “be careful to dress for the entertainment, after consulting the barometer and thermometer.” Also “find a spot with reasonable freedom from tormenting insect life.”

    Some of the suggestions are just as practical today as they were then. Rather than lug massive quantities of lemonade or iced tea, bring along concentrates to which you can add water later. Some of the menus, however, are downright peculiar. From 1900, a picnic bill of fare was “cold roast chicken, sandwiches of potted rabbit, Bewitched veal, chow-chow, Bombay toast, pickles, and orange marmalade.” Another menu was fish balls, graham bread and butter, prune whip, and lemonade. Also “sardines, accompanied by sardine-scissors are the easiest to manage, and altogether the most satisfactory — but don’t forget their intimate friends, the lemons.”

    Some more up-to-date suggestions are just common sense. Use lightweight materials like recyclable plastic instead of glass bottles. Don’t forget a bag for garbage, a bottle opener, and hand wipes. Take a flashlight so you can find all the flotsam and jetsam that has gotten scattered about in the sand. Finger food makes sense, carrot sticks, deviled eggs, fruit such as grapes, plums, peaches, and watermelon already cut up. Brownies or other bar cookies are easy to transport. If you bring cheese, bring one that will melt nicely in the heat of the day, such as brie or camembert. Don’t bring cheddar; it will just turn oily.

    Another cool invention for picnics is the collapsible bowl. Tupperware makes them but I found mine at the pet store! Always bring more water than you think you’ll need, hydration is particularly important for a full day of fun in the sun.

    My friend Tommy is a genius cook. Instead of vitello tonatto, a classic, cold Italian dish of sliced veal with tuna sauce, he makes turkey tonatto, using thickly sliced fresh turkey breast from the deli. This is a perfect outdoor dish. You simply puree a can of high quality tuna with a bit of olive oil and lemon juice, pour over turkey slices, and top with capers, lemon slices, and parsley. Add some anchovies if you want to go for super fishy tonatto. Another friend recently made a slaw with asparagus, carrots, and mint. All I could think about was how perfect it would be for a beach picnic.

    Some people like to bring lobster rolls and potato salad and other, similarly rich mayonnaise-laden foods to the beach. While commercial mayonnaise is, in fact, a very stable and safe food at room temperature, it’s the other stuff we add to it that could make picnicking risky. Why not just make salads with a vinaigrette instead? And be sure to keep everything on ice until you’re ready to eat. Here are some recipes for your happy, healthy, and safe outdoor dining adventures.

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