Sunday brings Mother’s Day, an occasion, for some, to enjoy a meal out at a local restaurant, a number of which have special plans for the holiday.

    The restaurant at the Montauk Downs golf course, called 360 East, will serve a Mother’s Day brunch buffet from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with seatings at 10:30, 11, 12:30, 1:30, and 2:30. There will be a carving station featuring grilled sirloin and herb-basted turkey breast, an omelette station, traditional breakfast fare, and lunch entrees such as stuffed flounder, baked ziti, salads, quiche, grilled pesto chicken, and peel-and-eat shrimp. The cost is $37.95 for adults, excluding tax and gratuity, and includes unlimited champagne, mimosas, and Bloody Marys, as well as dessert. The restaurant will also offer a special children’s buffet, $17.95 for children 12 and under; children ages 4 and under can eat for free. Reservations have been recommended.

    A buffet at the Gulf Coast Kitchen at the Montauk Yacht Club will be served from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday for Mother’s Day. It includes a carving station with roast turkey, leg of lamb, and smoked ham, pasta and egg and omelette stations, a raw bar, and a chef’s table featuring a variety of dishes and sides, as well as a chocolate fondue fountain and other desserts. The cost is $39 per adult, $17.95 for kids ages 4 to 12, and nothing at all for children under 4.

    At Navy Beach, also in Montauk, Sunday will bring a special prix fixe lunch menu and a free Bloody Mary or mimosa for moms. The three-course deal costs $35 plus tax and gratuity and comes with a choice of wedge salad, beet salad, or Montauk clam and corn chowder to start, followed by a burger, buttermilk-fried chicken, or miso-glazed salmon, and dessert.

    At South Edison, another Montauk eatery, the Mother’s Day specials will be a la carte and offered starting at 5:30 p.m.

    Brunch and dinner specials for Mother’s Day at Nick and Toni’s in East Hampton will include wild king salmon with fava beans, tomato, and smoked olive tapenade during brunch hours from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., as well as for dinner. A second dinner special will be a chilled crab and spring pea salad served with lemon aioli on a chive pancake. For those who like sweets, a lemon crespelle torta, with strawberry-rhubarb compote and rhubarb sorbetto, will be offered all day.

    Moms who visit the Highway Diner and Bar in East Hampton on Sunday have been promised special menu selections. The diner now has al fresco seating on the patio.

    A Mother’s Day prix fixe will be served from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Living Room in East Hampton for $65 per person. It comes with a mimosa or glass of prosecco and three courses, with starter choices including salad, chilled sweet pea soup with salmon rillettes, juniper-cured gravlax, and grilled asparagus, followed by eggs Benedict, poached salmon, blackened cod, herb-marinated spring chicken, spring vegetables with tofu, hummus, and edamame puree, or an open-faced hangar steak sandwich as an entree. The prix fixe also includes dessert.

    Harbor Grill, on Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton, will have a brunch buffet on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for $14.95. Choices for moms, and other family members, include French toast, pancakes, salmon gravlax, eggs Benedict, and omelettes made to order. For Mother’s Day dinner, the Harbor Grill will offer three courses for $29.95, with items such as lobster bisque, baked clams, onion soup, fluke, leg of lamb, shrimp scampi, ribeye, teriyaki salmon, and chicken cordon bleu. Children under 12 can eat for free on Sunday at brunch or dinnertime. Reservations have been requested.

    The Harbor Bistro, with a water view on Three Mile Harbor in East Hampton, will also have a brunch buffet on Mother’s Day. It costs $25 for adults, $15 for kids ages 7 to 12, and is free to children 6 and under. Beginning at 3 p.m. on Sunday, a three-course prix fixe, including menu items such as lobster bundles, tuna poke, Long Island duck, and the fresh local catch, will be offered for $39. A children’s menu will also be available.

East End Chefs

    Livia Hegner and Marianne Farrell, the owner and the manager of Pepalajefa, a food shop on Sag Harbor’s Main Street, will present the next class in the East End Chefs series at the Old Whaler’s Church in that village. On Wednesday beginning at 6:30 p.m., they will prepare a croque monsieur on homemade bread, followed by Swiss meatloaf served with tiny potatoes, plus dessert. The cost of the class is $20. Wine and water will be available for purchase. As space is limited, reservations can be made in advance by calling the church.

Local Squid and Rosé

    A family-style dinner at Almond in Bridgehampton, co-hosted by Edible East End magazine, will feature newly released rosé wines from Bridgehampton’s Channing Daughters Winery and a seafood catch from Montauk: squid. Christopher Tracy, the winemaker at Channing Daughters, and a Montauk squid fisherman will be on hand to speak about their topics during the meal.

    The four courses, each paired with a different wine, include squid ceviche, grilled squid and pulpo, squid served with rock shrimp and Maine crab, and squid bibimbap, which has cucumber kimchi with it. The cost is $60 per person plus tax and gratuity.

The Beacon Opens

    The Beacon restaurant in Sag Harbor will open for the 2013 season on Wednesday and will be serving dinner Wednesdays through Sundays from 5 to 10 p.m.

Afternoon Snacks

    Bostwick’s Chowder House in East Hampton is offering an afternoon snack special every Thursday and Friday between 3 and 5 p.m., featuring half-priced appetizers and raw bar items, $4 pints of beer, and $6 well drinks.

Food Revolution Day

    Slow Food East End and the Edible School Garden Group are sponsoring Food Revolution Day on Friday, May 17, the East End’s version of a national event promoted by the chef Jamie Oliver.

    On what is described as a “day of action for people to make a stand for good food and essential cooking skills,” local activities will include a potluck supper, cooking demonstration, and musical performance at the Bridgehampton School greenhouse from 5 to 7 p.m. Attendees have been asked to take a “fresh, local” entree, side dish, or dessert — large enough to serve six to eight people. Nadia Ernestus of Hamptons Health Coach, Bryan Futerman of Foody’s in Water Mill, and Bhavani Jaroff of Slow Food Huntington will present cooking demonstrations, local farmers will be on hand to answer questions about growing vegetables, and the Bridge Marimba Band will play. The film “Growing Farmers” will be shown.

    Those who wish to attend have been asked to R.S.V.P. online at the Slow Food East End Web site or go to the Slow Food East End Facebook events page.

    Frank Trentacoste, a new farmer who started Bhumi Farm in Amagansett this year, is serving as Jamie Oliver’s ambassador for the Long Island Food Revolution Day.    

Nick and Toni’s

136 North Main Street

East Hampton

324-3550

Friday and Saturday, 6-10:30 p.m.

Sunday, 5:30-9:30 p.m.

Monday and Thursday, 6-10 p.m.

   Nick and Toni’s Restaurant is like the ideal lover or spouse.  Of course you want one that supports you and comforts you and takes care of you, but if you can find one that constantly surprises you, that is ideal. There are no other restaurants on the East End that change their menus so frequently and creatively.  As they are in their 25th year of robust success (rare!) and have recently completed a renovation, we felt they warranted a second review.

    The changes to the interior are subtle. It is a sleeker but at the same time more comfortable space. There are beautiful grey-green-taupe banquettes, a higher ceiling, and super-cool bathrooms. (So cool, I might just order my zucchini chips to be delivered to the one behind the woodburning pizza oven.)

    The pretty bistro chairs are still in place, surrounding black walnut tables.  A temporary, but very attractive, oak bar is awaiting a zinc top. It still feels like a cozy farmhouse with lots of windows. (I can still feel Ma Bergmann’s.) An impressive collection of outsider artwork adorns the walls of all three dining rooms.

    Upon being seated you get a basket of delicious, chewy, rustic bread and some fruity Greek olive oil, along with a little dish of marinated black and green olives. If you ask for salt and pepper, they are offered in two small mounds on a slab of black slate with a sprig of rosemary dividing them. Simply charming.

    On a recent visit we began our meal with calamari salad, a pizzette, and a springtime special, a half order of sweet-pea ravioli. The grilled calamari salad was delicious, dressed in a slightly spicy, slightly sweet chili vinaigrette, tossed with frisee and a smattering of oil-cured olives. You don’t see oil-cured olives very often and they were a great addition. Their flavor is assertively salty, a tad bitter, and the texture nicely chewy with the crunchy frisee and tender calamari.

    The pizzette was a well charred thin-crust pizza with just enough tomato sauce, some slivers of artichoke, and fresh mozzarella. The sweet-pea ravioli was dreamy — tender pockets filled with pureed peas, served in a buttery mint and tarragon sauce. We also received an amuse-bouche of scallop ceviche, one spoonful each of silky scallops brought to life with a citrusy spicy dressing.

    For entrees we ordered roasted cod, the vegetarian option of spring fava and morel ragu with grilled sweet potato, and a special that evening, antelope. The cod was just right, well crusted and seasoned on the outside, cooked just enough on the inside. It was served on a bed of black barley that had delicious bits of something sweet and anise-like that I couldn’t identify because I forgot what the menu description was, duh. It was caramelized fennel. The dish was topped with bright pink julienned slivers of watermelon radish. The whole thing was pretty and delicious and seemed rich but wasn’t.

    The spring fava and morel ragu is insanely good and I have had it twice.  This time the fava beans were quite al dente. The sauce is rich from creme fraiche; it is a naughty and nice vegetarian choice.

    The antelope was also a big hit, beautifully presented with peas, fingerling potatoes, asparagus, and roasted red peppers in a sauce tasting subtly of smoked paprika. The antelope was served rare and was tender and full of flavor.

    On the night of our visit the staff was well aware that it was a review. We were barely hiding in plain sight. I had, coincidentally, dined there twice the week before, so I have to mention a few more dishes I tried.

    The arugula, kale, and grapefruit salad with avocado vinaigrette is excellent and the grilled sardines outstanding.  The Caesar salad, always on the menu, is a classic version, properly proportioned with lemon, anchovy, garlic, and cheese.  The zucchini chips are the best around, bar none, a pile of paper-thin discs of crispness without the weight of oil, served with wedges of lemon. Our waiter, Radu, was knowledgeable, professional, and very entertaining.

    The prices at Nick and Toni’s are moderate to expensive. The prix fixe is an incredible deal, as you can order anything on the menu and get three courses for $35. Appetizers are $13 to $18, pastas and risotto $22 to $28, entrees $28 to $46, sides $8 to $12, and desserts are $10 to $20, although you can get smaller portions for one for $6, two for $11, and three for $14.

    For desserts we ordered the rosemary cake, mascarpone panino, Limoncello tiramisu, and a quarter of their famous signature dessert, the tartufo. The rosemary cake was a dainty round of fragrant moist cake served with olive oil gelato and slices of blood orange. There was a hint of salt on the olive oil gelato.

    The mascarpone panino was our favorite, a gingery carrot cake topped with crunchy cashew brittle, with a baby scoop of mascarpone gelato. A toasted coconut tuile added some more glamour and crunch. The Limoncello tiramisu was a pretty, snow-white dessert, comprised of a layer of creamy sweet fiore de latte on top of moistened lady fingers. The sorbet served with it was tart and refreshing.

    The tartufo, when served whole, is huge, thus the $20 price tag. This is a dessert to be shared. It is a labor-intensive multi-layered concoction of caramel truffle, chocolate and hazelnut gelato, and almond biscotti crumbs, encased in a dark chocolate shell — basically, my favorite food groups.

    I have said this before but I’ll say it again. While Nick and Toni’s has a reputation as a celebrity clubhouse, I can assure you that the gracious and lovely ladies in charge, Bonnie and Kristen, will greet you as warmly as Alec and Hilaria. Joey Realmuto, the executive chef, continues to surprise  with creative and ever-changing, seriously seasonal dishes.

    William Hawkins, one of the outsider artists featured here, once said of his work, “You have to do something wonderful, so people know who you are.” Nick and Toni’s, you continue to consistently do wonderful things, and we are lucky to know who you are.

News for Foodies

    Fresh is the new restaurant this season in the spot on Bridgehampton Turnpike in Bridgehampton where South Fork Kitchen used to be. Todd Jacobs, who was the chef at Sag Harbor’s American Hotel before moving to Tierra Mar in Westhampton Beach, has opened a “farm-to-table” eatery billed as family-friendly as well as “affordable and accessible.” The menu includes organic, raw, gluten-free, and vegetarian options, with most dishes available in different-size portions, including, for entrees,  quarter-pound, half-pound, and one-pound servings.

    Among the “small plates” choices are a raw summer roll, fried calamari, and raw bar selections. Entrees include hemp-flour-crusted flounder with organic carrot butter infused with ginger and lemongrass, and braised boneless beef short ribs with Merlot wine sauce. A bar menu is served late, and there is a juice bar and a children’s menu. Take-out is available.

    Fresh is open for dinner Sunday through Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m. Lunch will be served Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Barbecue in East Hampton

    The Smokin’ Wolf barbecue folks have a new location this year on Pantigo Road in East Hampton, at the store that formerly housed Pumpernickel’s deli and then Fish 27, just a bit west of where Smokin’ Wolf was found last year. There will be counter service for takeout meals at lunch and dinnertime seven days a week, and catering will be available.

At Almond

    Juan Carlos Landazuri is the new chef de cuisine at Almond in Bridgehampton, working alongside Jason Weiner, the restaurant’s co-owner and executive chef. Mr. Landazuri spent the last 10 years cooking at several New York City restaurants, including Opia French Bistro, Tao, Delicatessen, Tavern on the Green, Lugo Caffe, and Veritas Restaurant. Most recently he worked alongside the noted restaurateur Alison Price Becker at Alison Eighteen, and was invited to cook at the James Beard House.

Seasonal Openings

    In Montauk, Dave’s Grill will be opening for the season tonight, serving dinner from Thursdays through Sundays.

    OSO reopened on Saturday at the Southampton Inn and is serving breakfast, lunch, and supper from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. A new pastry chef at the restaurant this summer will prepare desserts as well as tea sandwiches, petit quiches, and Parisian-style pastries.

Farmers Markets

    The Sag Harbor Farmers Market will begin seasonal sales on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. from its location on Bay Street in that village.

    In East Hampton, the farmers market will have its opening day on North Main Street on Friday, May 24. Sales will continue weekly from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Summer Players

    BLT Steak will open a pop-up restaurant next Thursday at the Capri Hotel and Bathing Club in Southampton, where Nobu was the previous seasonal visitor. The newcomer will offer a traditional menu as well as poolside fare during the day on weekends and appetizers in the evening at the outdoor bar and lounge areas. Dinner hours until the July 4 weekend will be Wednesdays through Sundays beginning at 5:30 p.m., with service until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

    In East Hampton, Sienna Restaurant and Ultralounge will take the place of last year’s Beaumarchais on Three Mile Harbor Road. The spot will combine several concepts and offerings: “Sienna Restaurant by T-Bar,” based on Tony Fortuna’s T-Bar, which was previously housed at Savanna’s in Southampton, and a nightlife program, with DJs every Saturday, offered by Pink Elephant and its promoters, David Sarner and Robert Montwaid.

    The restaurant, a joint venture by Mr. Fortuna and Jonathan Rapillo, the restaurateur behind Beaumarchais and Rocco’s a la Playa, which was in Sag Harbor, will serve eclectic American fare from Wednesdays through Sundays as well as “festive brunch parties” on Saturdays and “a more serene brunch” on Sundays, according to a press release. Ben Zwicker is the executive chef.

   I was recently fortunate enough to spend some time at a health-concscious resort called Miraval. Miraval’s motto is “Life in Balance.” It is set on 400 acres next to the Santa Catalina Mountains outside of Tucson, Ariz. And it serves booze!

    Miraval has been around for almost 20 years. Oprah likes to come here, so now it is super famous for that. Dr. Andrew Weil has been a part of its integrative wellness program from the beginning. He is so adorable, looks like a Zen Santa. Besides having every kind of exercise from beginner’s yoga (an expensive nap) to the challenging all-day hikes up the mountain, it has lots and lots of woo-woo stuff like spirit journey and astrology readings and a “discover your soul mission.” I go for the food. It is delicious and it is free, or perhaps I should say included in the entire package.

    One of the things I loved about this place is that a lot of the guests, men and women alike, just wander around in their bathrobes. They are on their way to or from a spa treatment, so why bother with clothes? There is also a welcome and refreshing no-cellphone policy, which is constantly ignored by the more type-A types who simply cannot bear to be disconnected from their little rectangles of aluminum. I like to be the cellphone tattletale in places like this. No one needs to hear you yammering on your phone while they’re trying to enjoy the view of desert flora and fauna, hummingbirds, prickly pear cacti, and men naked under their robes.

    Maybe you’re jealous by now — “Wow, she’s so lucky she gets to go to this fancy resort” — and you would be right. But I earned it. In the year before this trip, my brothers and I sold our family home, an event as fraught with sibling nastiness as it should be in a family that usually puts the “fun” in dysFUNctional. I moved to Sag Harbor, and four months later my dog died suddenly and unexpectedly. Two weeks after that a moron fell asleep at the wheel on Route 114, plowed through a streetlamp, a tree, and then my house, destroying the porch and foundation. The moron was fine, by the way. Two months after that I tore a tendon in my hand, preventing me from working (as a chef) for a month. So I arrived at Miraval with a custom-made hand brace that makes it look like I am perpetually about to give you the finger.

    “Mindfulness is the core of the Miraval philosophy,” begins the mission statement. Mindfulness is the practice of “being awake and fully aware, giving you the opportunity to work toward greater self-understanding and peacefulness,” according to the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Miraval is now owned by Steve Case, former C.E.O. of AOL, so its interpretation of mindfulness is just a smidge different, calling it “a vivid perception of one’s choices, strengths, and potential — empowering yourself and optimizing your energy.” The food was awesome, but I was mindful of the frightfully small portions.

    The breakfasts at Miraval had all the things you would expect at a health and wellness-oriented buffet. Fruit of all kinds, low-fat muffins, oatmeal, ground-up birdseed, I mean flax, yogurts, etc. But it also had bagels and lox, omelets, burritos, salsas, pancakes, homemade sausages, salmon patties, baked sweet potatoes, and so on. There was a smoothie and juice bar open all day in case you were compelled to drink something green between your desert zipline adventure and Unleash the Power of your Soul sessions.

    All of the food has a Southwestern flair, with such local delicacies as prickly pear syrup, nopales salads, and desert flower honeys. The calories and carbohydrates, sodium, and fat content of every dish are displayed with little signs or on the menus. Surprisingly, this bothered some people because they don’t want to be reminded (or mindful?) that they just opted for the bagel-palooza instead of three blackberries. I found the information helpful because a lot of people do come here to lose weight or have to watch their sodium intake. Sadly, the coffee served here was God-awful weak, but I concluded this was intentional. Don’t need people to be all Starbucked-up in this serene environment.

    Some of the more genius creations at Miraval are the peanut butter and guacamole. The peanut butter was thinned with cooked carrots, giving it a disconcerting orange hue but making it slightly sweet and far less fattening. The guacamole has all the fun stuff you expect — avocado, lime juice, jalapeno, red onion, cilantro — but is also made more virtuous with the addition of edamame and steamed broccoli. There are risottos and steaks and brownies and pizza and polenta and elk, all delicious but made less fattening and served in smaller portions.

    Miraval recognizes the advantage of sauces and aiolis and truffle oil and spices to perk up an otherwise dull dish. While tempeh scallopini doesn’t sound too exciting to me, doesn’t caramelized three-onion polenta lasagna with wilted baby arugula, goat cheese, and ratatouille sauce sound good? Blue corn crab cakes with avocado corn salsa? Pecan pie empanada?

    Although I am having a bit of fun describing the woo-woo activities and corporate interpretation of mindfulness, the fact is Miraval is a place where many people come while recovering from or dealing with cancer, coping with the death of a loved one, divorce, and other rotten life experiences. And once we’re all in our bathrobes and our “Crackberrys” have been stowed in our casitas, we are all equal on the journey to mindfulness.

    Places like Miraval are both an escape from everyday life and a place where you can learn how to better deal with everyday life. The trick is to take and keep the exercises you have learned and put them to use once you leave. For me, the ongoing quest is to make food healthier and tastier, learning tricks from these talented chefs and bringing them home to share with friends and family. Mindfulness. Life in balance. With a glass of wine.

Click for recipes

    Nick and Toni’s reopened on Friday after undergoing an interior renovation.

    The East Hampton restaurant has some new menu items including roasted cod served with black barley, caramelized fennel, and watermelon radish, wood-roasted Gardiner’s Bay striped bass with seared artichokes, lemon, and capers, grilled lamb chops, and a fish soup with monkfish, mussels, rock shrimp, and Meyer lemon compote. New antipasti choices include grilled sardines, warm sea scallop crudo, duck confit salad, and fritto misto with pork belly, chicken liver, sweetbreads, shiitake, and rosemary aioli.

Back for Spring

    More restaurants are opening their doors for a new season. Bostwick’s Chowder House on Pantigo Road in East Hampton will reopen next Thursday, as will the Harbor Bistro on Three Mile Harbor, which will be serving dinner on Thursday through Sunday until later in the spring when full-time hours begin. Also on Three Mile Harbor, Andrra reopens on Friday, April 19.

And Brand New

    The restaurant and event space at the Montauk Downs golf course is now called 360 East, and is operated by Lessing’s Hospitality Group, a catering concern involved in a number of Long Island venues.

    The restaurant will first be open to the public for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day brunches, and then a weekly Sunday brunch during the summer, as well as for weekly “tropical-themed” promotions.

    Catered events will be offered both at the Montauk Downs site and off-site at other Montauk locations. Guy Reuge, the executive chef, received the La Toque d’Argenti (Silver Toque) award from the Maitres Cuisiniers de France, who declared him chef of the year in 2006.

At James Beard House

    Larry Kolar, the chef at the Backyard Restaurant at Sole East hotel in Montauk, will be the featured chef at the James Beard House in Manhattan on April 25. He will present a Market Fresh Montauk six-couse dinner paired with Long Island wines. Tickets are $170, or $130 for James Beard House members. Reservations may be made by calling the James Beard House.

Artists and Writers Night

    Storytelling will be the theme for the next Artists and Writers night at Almond restaurant in Bridgehampton on Tuesday. It will feature three local authors, Steven Gaines, Gabrielle Selz, and Erica-Lynn Huberty, who will lead a discussion, along with a three-course dinner served family style. The cost is $40 in advance or $45 at the door and includes a glass of local wine or craft beer as well as the tax and gratuity.

    Mr. Gaines, a contributing editor at New York Magazine, is the author of 12 books, including “Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the Hamptons.” His work has appeared in Vanity Fair, Connoisseur, and other publications. Ms. Selz, a former resident of Westbeth, a utopian artists’ housing project, writes regularly on art for the Huffington Post and has been published in magazines and newspapers including MORE and The New York Times. Ms. Huberty is the author of “Dog Boy and Other Harrowing Tales.” Her work has been anthologized in Garrison Keillor’s “Good Poems” and has appeared in publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

    On the dinner menu will be a spring salad with wild arugula, shell beans, smoked feta cheese, and buttermilk dressing, garlic and rosemary-studded leg of lamb, and strawberry-ginger crisp a la mode.

“Baking for Friends”

    Kathleen King, the owner of Tate’s Bake Shop, will talk about her latest cookbook, “Baking for Friends,” and offer samples of new Tate’s products during a program at the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton on Wednesday at noon. The program is free but reservations must be made by Sunday by calling the library or at myrml.org.

   With the confidence that comes from years of first-hand food experience around the world — having lived and worked in France, Morocco, Italy, Vietnam, Argentina, Thailand, and India — Livia Hegner is clearly her own boss. However, the name of her Sag Harbor food shop, Pepalajefa, which means Pepa the Boss, refers not to Ms. Hegner, but to another restaurant owner she knew in Spain.

    Pepalajefa is Ms. Hegner’s dream come to fruition, offering a gourmet sampling from around the world, served in a to-go container or catered to a beach, boat, or home.

    Within the glass case last week delectable choices included Argentinean pot pie, Moroccan chicken legs, tomato crespelles, and poached tuna with caper dressing. Thursday’s soup offerings were carrot orange mint, garden pea, and vichyssoise.

    “We make everything ourselves,” Ms. Hegner said, down to the mayonnaise, stock, and dressings. Living in third world countries, she said, “I learned to be inventive.”

    “I cooked all my life,” said Ms. Hegner last Thursday afternoon. The daughter of a diplomat, Ms. Hegner vacationed in Sag Harbor for about 25 years, and is now a resident. She studied hotel and business management at Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, the world’s first professional hotel management institute in Lausanne, Switzerland. The shop’s managing partner, Marianne Farrell, a close friend, worked in restaurants in Sonoma County, San Francisco, Aspen, and Providence, R.I., and as a private chef on the East End.

    They opened the shop last July. After a four-month winter break, it reopened at the end of March. This year, which will be its first full summer, it will offer more Asian foods, including dishes from Thailand, filling a niche following the closing of Phao down the street.

    Fluent in five languages, Ms. Hegner’s English is sometimes rough, but she has no trouble getting her point across. “Maybe someone will grab a meatloaf,” she said on Friday, and “bring it home and pop in the oven” with a side of roasted potatoes seasoned with lemon and cumin. Not your average meatloaf by any stretch of the imagination, she explained, her recipe is from Germany and it’s “totally different.” Lobster with tarragon mayonnaise was another choice. If the mood is Italian, she offers an eggplant capanata, stuffed crepes, or Vitello tonnato, sliced veal with a tuna mayo, a staple in Italy, she said.

    Along with takeout, Pepalajefa does catering with prices that are not as high as the food might indicate. Vegan and gluten-free champignons stuffed with feta can be had for just $2 each, for example.

    Vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options in the shop are all clearly labeled, and there are a number of them on offer, as well as fresh juices and smoothies. A cooler labeled “Home-Heat-Eat” offers “fast food for bon vivants,” including things like liver paté.

    The shop serves Hampton Coffee Company’s roast from Water Mill, and other local products like Lorna’s Nuts, Bees Needs honey from Sag Harbor, Sweet Tauk lemonade from Montauk, Plain-T teas from Southampton, and bread from the Blue Duck Bakery in Southampton.

    Beyond the clean white facade, Pepalajefa pops with bright colors — hot pink walls, a high, metallic ceiling, and a full wall of newsprint from around the world in a single day. Peek-through windows allow for a look into the kitchen.

    The goal, Ms. Hegner said, is to prepare something for every taste. So those who want conventional items like potato salad, will find it, but “spiced like nobody else.” Challah bread is baked on the premises, and used in grilled sandwiches or premade minis.

    We do “a lot of chocolate things” she said, and when a visit is timed right, the aroma of butter and chocolate in the shop can be ecstatic. She also makes coffee or lemon mousse and boasts about her carrot cake, stuffed apples, and caramel flan, among other desserts.

    The shop is open at 9 a.m. and at least until 8 p.m.

    This week’s column has been let off the leash. We are going to talk about what you feed your dog.

    First of all, what ever happened to the good old days when your dog happily thrived on kibble from the grocery store, Milk Bones for treats, and the occasional table scrap? Well, in the good old days we also didn’t wear seat belts, pregnant women drank alcohol, and doctors would smoke in their offices. We know better now. Or do we?

    Nowadays there are so many choices for our dogs. There are special diets for heart health, kidney and liver function, weight loss, shiny coats, old age. Some people opt for the raw meat diet, others have converted their beloved toutous to vegetarianism. Have we reached a point in our culture where we have anthropomorphized our dogs far too much?

    My curiosity and concern over this matter was sparked by the dog menu at a local pet-friendly hotel that shall remain nameless. The offerings range from petite portions of greens, carrots, and apple for your “vegetarian” dog to “chef’s menu selection of cold cuts,” “a proper piece of meat spiced with secret dog herbs,” and “a huge portion of a grand dog’s favorites.” Cold cuts, really? Ham, salami, and mortadella are considered a meal for your dog? The “proper piece of meat” is in fact a Hebrew National hot dog — a sodium nitrite, fat-filled weiner. I’m sure your dog would love to scarf that baby down, but I can assure you, he or she will no doubt be emitting fragrant pouffies throughout the night in your hotel room. The “huge portion of a grand dog’s favorites” is meatballs, people meatballs, with all the spices, salt, and fillers your dog doesn’t need.

    We all love our dogs and want what’s best for them. I asked a number of friends what they feed their dogs and consulted my dogs’ veterinarian at East Hampton Vet Group, Dr. Paul Hollander.

    Susan feeds her 9-month-old Portuguese water dog “high octane” puppy chow from Orijen and the occasional bully stick. Orijen is an excellent brand of dog food. Nancy’s dog eats a special dog food from the vet, supplemented with a little chicken, string beans, sweet potatoes, and . . . matzo . . . to make it interesting. My friend Ellen, who lives on a ranch in Carmel, Calif., has a standard poodle that steals apples from the trees and enjoys a “taste of the wild” killing and eating gophers and rats. Yikes! My friend Jule gives his dog a little bit of his leftover oatmeal every morning, in addition to his regular dog food.

    Peter and Betsy win the prize for most reasonable, well-balanced, and properly informed dog owners. Peter’s bottom line? Common sense: “Don’t be cheap when it comes to your dog food. Most big brand dog food consists mainly of cereal or corn, i.e. carbs with vitamins and minerals added. This is like eating mostly pasta and taking vitamin pills and thinking you are eating a healthy diet.” Betsy is a believer in the raw food diet as long as it comes from a reliable source. She is a fan of Aunt Jeni’s Homemade brand.

    Just as you should read the label on what you eat, so too should you read the label on the dry and canned foods you feed your dog. Keep in mind that the ingredients are listed in order of volume. If the first ingredient listed is corn, fuggedaboutit. You should also be wary of the raw meat diet. Some of the lesser brands have numerous recalls due to salmonella. Some online recipes, including Rachael Ray’s, call for raw ground meats and raw ground fish, liver, and kidneys. Not a good idea, folks. These uncooked items can carry salmonella and e. coli bacteria.

    What does Dr. Paul Hollander recommend as the ideal, balanced diet for your dog? It should have meat, and dry food is not enough. A good canned dog food with real meat and vegetables is healthy and Dr. Hollander supplements his dogs’ meals with frozen beef stew meat that has been seared on the outside to kill surface bacteria.

    It should go without saying that raw chicken, pork, and ground beef are no-nos. His dachshund mix, Buddy, is 16 years old and has a chronic kidney condition for which he gets a special diet of dry food in the morning and canned food in the evenings. His spunky 5-year-old Yorkie, “Txiki” — pronounced “cheeky” — which means “little one” in Basque, eats regular dog food supplemented with the seared raw meat. Dr. Hollander is adamantly opposed to a vegetarian diet for dogs and reminds us “they are descended from wolves! Since when did dogs choose to become vegetarian?”

    I asked Dr. Hollander why it seems dogs have developed more allergies over the last 20 years. Like doctors for humans, he points out that perhaps it is our ability to detect these allergies, along with diabetes, kidney and liver function, skin conditions, etc., that have enabled us to modify diets for certain ailments. Last but not least, I asked the good doctor, “Do you feed your dogs treats and table scraps?”

    “Very few,” is the first answer, then “Do as I say, not as I do,” followed by a chuckle and the admission, “We all spoil our dogs. We love them; what else are you going to do?”

    Dogs, like people, need protein, carbohydrates, sufficient vitamins and minerals, and some fat. Combinations like lamb and rice, beef and potatoes, and chicken and pasta are okay. Dogs have short digestive tracts, so vegetables and brown rice tend to just pass right through, unless they are precooked and finely minced. Stay away from onions and garlic, raisins and grapes, macadamia nuts, and chocolate.

    Personally, I believe in high quality, commercially made pet foods, supplemented with some healthy tasty goodies from my own kitchen — bits of chicken, a bite of cheese, the carrot that dropped on the floor. This is my philosophy for myself. Everything in moderation, well balanced, no deprivation, and I believe the same should be true for our pets.

    These recipes sound relatively harmless. Naturally, you should consult your veterinarian before you start making homemade doggie biscuits and cas­seroles for your fidele compagnon.

Click for recipes

Highway Diner al Fresco

    At the Highway Diner in East Hampton, the outdoor patio is now open. Added to the restaurant’s daily menu are two specials that have proven to be among the most popular — crawfish etouffee, and grilled yellowfin tuna with grilled eggplant, curried yogurt dressing, and arugula salad.

Stuart’s All Week

    Stuart’s Seafood Market in Amagansett will be open seven days a week beginning Tuesday.

New in Sag

    The next venture for Jeff Resnick, the restaurateur behind Sen and Phao, will reportedly be an American bistro called the Cuddy. It will take the Main Street space that Phao has occupied.

Food Truck Derby

    Edible East End magazine is sponsoring a food truck derby on Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. in the parking lot at the Tanger One mall in Riverhead, as a part of Tanger’s Great Taste, Great Style Home and Garden Weekend.

    A Taste of the East End will feature vendors such as the Long Island Oyster Company, with its rolling oyster bar, and East Hampton’s own Silver Spoon Specialties, which is hoping to become one of the regular food truck vendors at a Montauk beach this summer. Other food trucks will include a grilled cheese vendor and Korilla BBQ, featuring Korean tacos, burritos, and bowls, and a couple of ice cream trucks. Beverage choices at Tanger will include Peconic Bay Winery selections and Hampton Coffee Company roasts.

Laotian Cuisine Demo

    Those interested in attending a cooking demonstration and tasting of Laotian cuisine, to be held at the Montauk Library on May 4, must sign up at the library by Wednesday. The event will be presented by Penn Hongthong, a Laotian chef, from 1 to 3 p.m. and will cost $5.

Perennials Return

    Two perennial restaurants will be open again this weekend, while two others will begin a second season. The Harbor Bistro heads into its eighth season tonight, and will again be offering two prix fixe deals. A $29 special featuring a choice of three courses, or two courses with a glass of wine, will be offered Thursday to Sunday between 5 and 6 p.m., as well as all night at the bar, and a $19 menu will change nightly, featuring a choice of soup or salad, a pasta, fish, or meat entree, and a dessert. There will be live music at the Bistro on Friday at 6 p.m.

    Bostwick’s, in its second location on Montauk Highway in East Hampton, also opens tonight and will be serving up its seafood specialties and more, and Andrra, the restaurant that opened last year in the former Bostwick’s location on Three Mile Harbor, will reopen for the season tomorrow.

    In Montauk, Swallow East, on the docks at West Lake Drive, will also reopen tonight for the season.

    A longtime favorite, the Clam Bar on Napeague, which has passed the three-decade mark, will now be open Fridays through Sundays beginning at noon. The days and hours will expand on May 1. Besides clams on the half shell, the Clam Bar serves chowders, lobster rolls,

   As the earth awakens from a long, cold slumber, Frank Trentacoste is awakening to a new path, exchanging a 15-telephone turret and bank of Bloomberg terminals for a tractor and pickup truck.

    Mr. Trentacoste, who was an equities strategist and director at Macro Risk Advisors and worked before that at two New York hedge funds, has established Bhumi Farm, an organic vegetable farm, on the Amagansett land he leased from the Peconic Land Trust.

    He plans to grow a range of produce on his two-acre plot, including beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, onions, potatoes, and tomatoes, which will be sold at farmers markets at the Hayground School in Bridgehampton and at Nick and Toni’s restaurant in East Hampton. Mr. Trentacoste has also applied to sell at farmers markets from Montauk to Westhampton Beach.

    Like the nearby Quail Hill Farm, Bhumi will be a cooperative farm in the community supported agriculture format. Families and individuals can purchase a membership for the 22-week season between Memorial Day and Oct. 20, or for smaller periods within that span. Mr. Trentacoste hopes to realize 60 percent of the farm’s revenue through these memberships, with farmers markets accounting for the balance.

    With a five-year lease in hand, the new farmer’s plans are the manifestation of an inner transformation that he hopes will extend to the community. Though he maintains a positive view of his work and the financial industry, a life under the open skies in the fields off Town Lane reflects the changed priorities to which many a transplanted urbanite can relate.

    In New York, he said, “you have pace and noise and masses, and culturally it’s more robust. But it gets exhausting. As time went on I wanted something more tangible, a feeling that I was contributing more to society at large. It’s a huge lifestyle change. I’ll make a lot less money, clearly. My life, hopefully, will be more rewarding in other ways.”

    Mr. Trentacoste, who grew up in Lynbrook, exuded passion and excitement for his new career as he walked the length of his plot on a cold and windy afternoon earlier this month, measuring the parcel he will soon till. “One of the driving forces of the farm is for people to get grounded and back into earth,” he said. “We just wanted a place where people could slow down.”

    That slowing, he said, should extend to diet, as illustrated in the recent emphasis on consuming locally grown food. “Life has gotten so crazy,” he said. “You’re texting, you don’t have conversations anymore. That pace has manifested itself into really poor diets, and those poor diets have led to really, really bad health in children. It makes me sad. I’m not saying people are bad parents, but this is where society is heading. Society has really moved away from farming — growing your own food, preparing your own food — to its own detriment.”

    The statistics are well known and irrefutable: obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are epidemic in the United States, and some types of food — fast, junk, processed — are leading culprits. “The goal of the farm is to connect people to the land,” said Mr. Trentacoste, a vegetarian since 2009. (Bhumi, the Hindu goddess of the earth, taught that living in harmony with sea, soil, mountains, plants, and animals is necessary for mankind’s survival, according to the farm’s Web site.)

    “I look at my nieces and nephews, see them glued to the television, computers, not understanding where food comes from, not having any sense of what is healthy and non-healthy,” he said. “I think a farm is a great place, because it’s an interactive classroom.”

    To that end, Mr. Trentacoste will offer free, educational children’s crafts at the farmers markets and offers himself as an educational speaker to classes, scouting groups, and other organizations. Last month, he visited a Girl Scout troop in Greenlawn, which is recounted on the Bhumi Farm Web site, bhumifarm.com.

    His change of course may seem radical, but there is precedent for Mr. Trentacoste’s career U-turn. “My grandpa used to have a vegetable garden,” he said. “I spent a lot of time with him. That’s where the love came from.”

    Mr. Trentacoste’s brother is a member of Quail Hill Farm, he said, and the act of picking produce with him proved an additional catalyst for a career change. “I liked the feel of it,” he said. “It was a different sensation. I would leave there feeling very relaxed, very alive, just having different feelings about working the land.” Last summer, he spent time with Jon Wagner and Karin Bellemare, the owners of Sunset Beach Farms, who have since vacated the plot on which Bhumi Farm now sits and relocated to Vermont. “I worked with them and learned more. I just felt it was time to do something for others, and everything aligned,” he said.

    Last week, Mr. Trentacoste learned that he has been selected as a member of the chef Jamie Oliver’s Ambassador Program, an outgrowth of Mr. Oliver’s Food Revolution movement to combat obesity and poor diets. “That basically means doing what I’m doing now,” he said. “It was something I wanted to do anyway, but now I’m basically co-branding. I’m hoping people will listen a little harder.”

    Mr. Trentacoste’s altruism is clear, but goes hand in hand with an equally unmistakable humility. He is learning the fundamentals of his new career, but acknowledges the likelihood of missteps. He hopes to blog about his experiences as farming begins in earnest, hiccups and all. “I’ve been studying a ton, but that only gets you so far,” he said. “It could be really funny to see all the blunders I make. I’m not the first person, but there will probably be more behind me that do this.”

   The familiar sights and sounds of children and families talking and laughing as they munch on pizza and sip soda returned to Fierro’s Pizza last Thursday. Al Fierro, a co-founder of the pizzeria, which opened at 104 Park Place in East Hampton in 1983, was back behind the counter, along with Stephen Hickey, his new business partner. A portrait of Mr. Fierro’s father, Albert Fierro Jr., looked down from a wall by the counter and a Yankees preseason game played out on the television overhead. All was right in this little slice of the universe.

    “They haven’t had the pizza in about two weeks, so they’re kind of jonesing a little bit,” said Mr. Fierro, gesturing to the children who filled nearly every table. “But this is the after-school hit that we get every day.”

    Mr. Fierro and Mr. Hickey had just completed a renovation of the restaurant: new ovens and furniture, a new ceiling, newly painted walls. This, after Mr. Fierro, his brother, John, and their mother, Barbara, sold the business in 2007.

    It was only about six months ago, said Mr. Hickey, that he and Mr. Fierro bought the business from Claude Cardin, to whom the Fierros had sold it. “It was really exciting for both of us, because we’d looked at other opportunities over the years,” he said. “Al and I wanted to go into partnership together in some type of restaurant, but we never dreamed that this opportunity would arise. It was a blessing that we waited.”

    The partners had met and worked together at Indian Wells Tavern in Amagansett, where Mr. Fierro was a bartender and Mr. Hickey a member of the waitstaff. “I had no other restaurant experience,” said Mr. Hickey, who moved to the South Fork from Connecticut in 2008 to care for his ailing father. The job at the tavern, he said, provided essential on-the-job training. “I figured I’d do whatever they told me to do. It really helped, learning the business from the ground up. But if there was anybody I would have done this with, it was only going to be Al. I was leaning on his expertise.”

    Mr. Fierro has plenty of it. With his family, he’s operated pizzerias UpIsland, in Farmingville and Shirley. Being back in the restaurant that bears his name, he said, “feels like I came back home — I kind of grew up in this building.”

    After the summer, Mr. Fierro said, he may make some adjustments to the menu, but the offerings will remain consistent with what patrons have come to know and expect. “Our chicken rolls are great,” he said. “We make some great crispy chicken salads, chicken tenders, and the wings are great. We’ll have some great gelato in the summertime. But we’re here for pizza. And of course, the lottery — I don’t have to tell anybody about that.”

    Mr. Hickey is thrilled to be part of the once-and-present ownership. “Al has people who have come here since they were 10 years old, and now they’re coming in with their own 10-year-olds,” he said. “He’s a staple of the community, so it was really special for him to get back into the business. I feel blessed to be part of it. We’re excited.”