It’s that time of year . . . kind of. One day it’s 70 degrees, next day it’s 42. This puts me in the mood for casseroles. Hearty or light, rich or delicate, it’s a good time to utilize the end-of-season corn and tomatoes and incorporate them into whatever kind of casserole, stew, or chili you like.

    It could be a rich, cheesy penne dish like one from the famous Al Forno restaurant in Providence, R.I., or the light and spicy chicken chili recipe that I wrestled from my good friend Beverly Kazickas.

    If you are going to stew or braise something on top of the stove or bake it in the oven it is essential that you have the right piece of equipment. That would be the Dutch oven, a heavy cast iron vessel coated in enamel that can go from stove to oven to under the broiler to refrigerator. If you are going to assemble a casserole and simply bake it, then a glass Pyrex dish or ovenproof ceramic dish is fine. But Dutch ovens have lids to hold the heat and preserve the moisture of the dish, so that’s another reason you should have one. Plus, they’re better looking than a glass Pyrex dish when you bring them to the table to serve.

    Cooking vessels for casseroles and stews have been around for centuries. In the late 17th century the Dutch were producing these molds with dry sand over cast iron to create a smooth, heatproof surface. In 1704, an Englishman named Abraham Darby traveled to the Netherlands to study their process, then returned home and produced and patented his own version which then made its way to the American colonies. Because the Dutch ovens could be used for anything from boiling to baking to stewing, roasting, and frying, they were a treasured piece of equipment. In fact, they were so treasured and durable they would be passed from generation to generation, as they were in Mary Ball Washington’s (George’s mum) will to her two grandchildren.

    Similar cooking pots existed in other cultures — the bedourie of Australia and potjie of South Africa. In Japan the pot is known as nabemono, “nabe” meaning pot and “mono” meaning things or stuff. Nabe kakomu means “sitting around the pot.” The Japanese believe that sharing nabemono will create warm relations between the diners who eat together from the pot.

    A casserole, from the French word for saucepan, can be anything from a ragout to hotpot, cassoulet, tagine, moussaka, lasagna, shepherd’s pie, gratin, rice timballo, or carbonnade. The general difference between a stew and casserole is a stew is cooked on top of the stove, a casserole baked in the oven.

    For a while casseroles were a popular potluck dish, usually something smothered in canned cream of mushroom soup such as green bean casserole, topped with canned fried onions, and tuna noodle casserole. These dishes remain popular in the Midwest and are called “hotdish.”

    So adopt the Japanese philosophy, make a cozy fall casserole or ragout or chili and create warm relations among family and friends dining together around a shared pot.

Click for Recipes

    The Plaza Cafe in Southampton will participate in Cancer Awareness Month by donating $5 from every prix fixe dinner served on Wednesdays throughout  October to two local organizations, Lucia’s Angels and the Ellen Hermanson Breast Center.

    A $32, three-course prix fixe is offered Monday to Friday from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. and includes a selection among starters such as Long Island seafood chowder, organic greens salad, and prosciutto-wrapped shrimp, and entrees including horseradish-crusted local cod served with roast garlic mashed potatoes and crispy leeks with chive oil, sliced flatiron steak with potato-spinach hash and crispy shallots, herb-marinated free-range chicken with wild mushroom polenta and baby vegetables, and farfalle with gulf shrimp, asparagus, peas, sun-dried tomatoes, and prosciutto in lobster sauce. Dessert is included as well.

    The restaurant serves dinner nightly at 5:30, except on Mondays, and Sunday brunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Film and Food

    At Nick & Toni’s restaurant in East Hampton, a two-course dinner will be served along with a ticket to the East Hampton movies on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday for $35 per person. The menu will include a choice of antipasti followed by a choice of a pasta dish or a wood-oven pizzetta. The “film and food” special is not available during holiday periods, or in combination with other specials.

Nibbles and Drinks

    The Living Room restaurant at c/o the Maidstone inn in East Hampton has resumed its happy hour, which includes half-off cocktails and bar menu items. The specials are available from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays.

Autumnal Dishes

    A list of autumnal dishes added to the menu at Muse in the Harbor in Sag Harbor includes, as starters, apple salad with smoked Gouda and smoked salmon “bacon” served on a Gruyere cheese bread pudding, beet and sweet potato salad with goat cheese and arugula, lobster pot pie, and fried blowfish served with sweet-potato chips. Entree choices include jumbo shrimp casino, tilapia Wienerschnitzel, “Thanksgiving meatloaf,” mushroom parmesan, and wine-braised boneless short ribs served on pumpkin sage polenta with collard greens.

Daily Specials

    At Pepalejefa, a takeout food shop on Sag Harbor’s Main Street, different fall specials are offered each weekday, except for Wednesdays, when the shop is closed. Among the soups of the day are Tuscan bean and French onion, lentil and sausage, artichoke soup, fish chowder, and black bean soup. Other daily specials include chicken, meat, pasta, and vegetable dishes. A daily “lunch box” boxed special is also available, featuring a choice of entree served with potatoes and a vegetable.

Adieu Till Spring

    The Harbor Bistro in East Hampton has served its last meal until spring, although fans of its cuisine will find Bistro-style offerings on the menu at its sister restaurant, the Harbor Grill, which is open all year. The Harbor Grill is on Three Mile Harbor Road just south of the head of Three Mile Harbor.

Bell & Anchor

    At the Bell & Anchor restaurant on Noyac Road in Sag Harbor, two prix fixe choices are now available all night on Thursdays and Sundays, and on Fridays and Saturdays until 6:30 p.m. A two-course special is $30, and three courses are $35. Both include a choice of appetizers such as brandade with potatoes and garlic, salads, and chowder, followed by fish of the day, steamed mussels with french fries, flatiron steak, or an herb-crusted pork chop served with mascarpone polenta and asparagus. Dessert is also included. The Bell & Anchor also offers raw bar specials such as Montauk Pearl oysters for $1.50 each and local Little Neck clams for $1 each.

    A bite of a Tate’s Bake Shop gluten-free chocolate chip cookie brought a woman to tears at the International Fancy Food Show in July, said Kathleen King of Water Mill, the company’s founder and owner. “Oh my God, I never thought I would be able to eat a good cookie again,” the woman told her.

    That same day, the cookie was announced as the 2012 Editor’s Pick in the gluten-free cookie category and won a silver medal. Ms. King, no stranger to awards, has expanded her gluten-free options to include cupcakes, brownies, blondies, peanut butter squares, muffins with blueberries, chocolate chips, and pumpkin, and even a Tateswich cookie sandwich with gluten-free vanilla ice cream.

    She said that she does not follow any specific diet herself, but tries to keep up with what’s going on with people and what they need. “I should have a chocolate chip cookie for everybody,” she said. “Nobody should go without.”

    Her newest creations are gluten-free, double chocolate chip cookies and crystallized ginger cookies that will be available in retail stores in another month or so. Ms. King said she is also crushing the gluten-free ginger and chocolate chip cookies and covering them in dark chocolate to create a Tate’s cookie bark with unique toppings including pumpkin seeds.

    Next up is the building of a 5,000-square-foot gluten-free kitchen in East Moriches, where her cookie production plant is located. There are a lot of guidelines to follow with gluten-free baking, she said. The products must be baked on separate days from other goods and are always sent right out for testing to ensure the absence of gluten.

    The cookies are not just for those with intolerances, allergies, or specific diets, according to Hilary Woodward of Southampton, who sat outside the shop on Thursday afternoon. She said she visits Tate’s almost every day, and buys the gluten-free products purely for their taste.

    “Sometimes it takes 10 to 12 times more to get it right,” experimenting with the texture and flavor of rice and almond flour, for example, Ms. King said. But she was “really lucky” to get it right on the first try with the gluten-free chocolate chip cookie. Or maybe it is because she has been baking cookies since she was 11, when she began to sell them from a card table at North Sea Farm, owned by her parents.

    She opened her first shop in 1980 when she was 21, and her baked goods are now seen in conventional and natural markets across the country, and are also distributed in the Caribbean, Hong Kong, and Canada. She is also the author of two cookbooks, “Baking for Friends,” published this year, and “The Tate’s Bake Shop Cookbook,” published in 2006.

    While some of her gluten-free products, such as the chocolate chip cookies and brownies, are offered on her Web site, Ms. King said the largest selection is at her shop on North Sea Road, where she also offers products that are not her own, such as crackers and pancake mix, that she thinks are really good.

    She also purchases products from locals whenever possible, like Aldo’s organic coffee beans from Greenport for her espresso drinks and brewed coffee, apples from the Milk Pail in Water Mill for her pies, jam from the North Fork, and some bread from the Blue Duck Bakery around the corner.

    “Growing up on the farm made me everything that I am today,” she said. When she began to work at a young age, she said she learned about integrity, a good work ethic, and quality of ingredients. She named the company after her father, Tate, who still lives on the farm in North Sea.

    Those whose appetite for films was not satiated by the Hamptons International Film Festival might well consider Rowdy Hall when planning dinner and a movie. Beginning on Monday, the East Hampton restaurant, just a few doors down from the theater, will once again offer discounted movie tickets, at $8.50, to diners who purchase an entree for lunch or dinner from Sundays through Thursdays. For burger fans, a $20 special offered at dinnertime Sundays through Thursdays, also beginning on Monday, will include both the burger and a movie ticket.

Afternoon Tea

    Afternoon tea is served at the Living Room restaurant in East Hampton, located at c/o the Maidstone inn.

    Available on Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 4:30 p.m., it includes finger sandwiches, scones, jams, lemon curd, cream, and cookies, and costs $29 per person. Reservations are required.

Pierre’s in Fall

    Pierre’s restaurant in Bridgehampton has modified its menu for fall. Onion soup, escargots, and brandade of cod have returned as appetizers. New items that have been added include endive and pear salad, salmon with lentils, and duck magret with prunes and turnip confit. Also on the menu is a 12-hour-braised loin of pork with winter spices and pistachios.

    The prix fixe at Pierre’s is $26 for two courses, $32 for three, and is served all night every night, except on Fridays and Saturdays, when it is offered until 6:30 p.m.

Seasonal Takeout

    Also offering new items for fall is Pepalajefa, a gourmet takeout shop on Sag Harbor’s Main Street. Cooler-weather items include Spanish lentil soup, a focaccia sandwich with eggplant caponata and goat cheese, meatloaf with cornichons served on a baguette, polenta with wild mushrooms, and chorizo with leeks or Moroccan chicken legs, sold by the pound.

    The shop also has daily specials that include soups, meat, pasta, and side dishes.

Sunday Brunch

    Brunch on Sunday is a good reason to get up and out. At the Plaza Cafe in Southampton, brunch is served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and includes such offerings as slow-cooked pork belly with fried egg and braised lentils, Long Island duck-confit hash served with a poached egg and duck cracklings, and an omelette with butter-poached lobster, asparagus, morels, and Gruyere cheese.

Cheese Month

    For those not already celebrating it, October has been designated “American Cheese Month.” At Lucy’s Whey cheese shop in East Hampton, those who have purchased an American Cheese Month “passport” for $10 are entitled to discounts on a featured cheese, which will vary throughout the month. The shop has a second location at Chelsea Market in Manhattan; the East Hampton store is open Friday through Sunday.

   A three-course prix fixe at the Gulf Coast Kitchen, a restaurant at the Montauk Yacht Club in Montauk, has a Creole take. The menu for the $29.95 special changes weekly.

    At 668 The Gig Shack, also in Montauk, dinner is served nightly starting at 6, as well as lunch on the weekends, beginning at noon. On the menu are Gig Shack classics such as fish tacos, Hawaiian-style ribs, and scallop salad, along with weekly specials, among them pumpkin ravioli with brown butter, sage, and pignoli nuts, and filet mignon with pesto-roasted fingerling potatoes. There is live music at the bar every weekend.

Red Horse Doings

    The three chef-owners of the Red Horse Market in East Hampton will present the next East End Chefs at the Whalers Church in Sag Harbor this evening at 6:30. On the menu are fresh mozzarella with prosciutto as a starter, followed by homemade sausage and a chocolate-caramel tart. Admission is $30, which includes wine. Space is limited, so those interested in attending have been asked to call the church.

    At the market itself, there are some new offerings for those looking for takeout options. A “restaurant-style” takeout menu is offered from 3 to 7 p.m. most days, and until 8 on Friday and Saturday nights, and the shop’s collection of “grab and go” meals has been expanded.

Old Stove Pub

    The Old Stove Pub in Sagaponack has reopened under new ownership, but is still serving some of the classics for which diners have looked to the eatery for many years: authentic Greek food, and steaks.

    Dinner is served nightly starting at 5, and continues until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and until 10 on other nights.

Harbor Grill

    The specials at Harbor Grill in East Hampton this fall include a $19 three-course prix fixe and a two-course lobster dinner for $29, both available every night. At the bar, there is a $10 burger-and-brew special, and on Sundays, the all-you-can-eat brunch buffet is offered for $14.95, along with $3 mimosas and Bloody Marys, starting at noon.

    Harbor Grill, which has added a selection of world and United States microbrews to its beer list, has a daily happy hour from 5 to 6 p.m. On Saturday nights there is live music from 7 to 10.

Holiday Weekend

    Navy Beach restaurant in Montauk will see out its 2012 season this weekend, serving dinner tonight through Sunday as well as lunch on Saturday and Sunday. The fall menu includes duck tacos with mango salsa, braised short ribs, and warm duck salad.

Plans for Brunch?

    The Bell and Anchor in Sag Harbor will be serving brunch on October Sundays from noon to 4:30 p.m.

    The restaurant is also serving dinner, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and at 4:30 p.m. on Sundays. Service continues until 8:30.    

Cultural Evening

    Almond restaurant in Bridgehampton has invited artists and writers to gather to dine and chat on the first Wednesday of each month, and is offering a three-course prix fixe for $28 for the event. The menu will change monthly.

    Jason Weiner, the restaurant’s chef, said the goal is to continue “the time-honored Hamptons tradition as an incubator of creativity.”

Harbor Prix Fixe

    Andrra, the restaurant perched above Three Mile Harbor in East Hampton, has a new prix fixe menu available from 5 to 10 p.m. on Thursday and Sunday, and from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Two courses — either an appetizer and entree, or entree and dessert — are offered for $23, or three courses for $28, plus tax and gratuity.

Fun and Food

    Townline BBQ in Sagaponack is reviving its Thursday-night pub quiz, starting at 7 p.m. each week. An entry fee of $10 per person goes into the pot for the grand prize. Teams of five can be formed in advance, or will be formed at the event. All participants will receive a 10 percent discount on the regular menu.

Learn About Raw Foods

    Ann Harper, a raw-food chef and the owner of Raw Oasis Foods, will be at Provisions in Sag Harbor on Monday from noon to 2 p.m. for a demonstration and tastings.

    Those who visit will have an opportunity to learn about the benefits of incorporating raw and vegan food into their diets.

Fall Specials

    At Osteria Salina, also in Bridgehampton, specials are offered each night the restaurant is open. On Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m., diners can choose among a la carte items included in a three-course, $27, prix fixe. A pasta-and-salad special is also offered, for $19. On Wednesdays, lobster fra diavolo is the special, for $21, and on Thursdays the $21 special is farsumagru, Sicilian-style stuffed steak, a steak rolled with speck, ground beef, eggs, peas, and cacciocavallo cheese.

    Beginning at 9 every night, a late-night menu is available. On Friday and Saturday, lunch is served from noon to 3:30 p.m., or brunch during the same hours. Osteria Salina is closed on Tuesdays.

Author at Sylvester Manor

    Silvia Lehrer, a cooking teacher and the author of “Savoring the Hamptons: Discovering the Food and Wine of Long Island’s East End,” will be among the authors at the Plant and Sing event at Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island on Saturday.

    She will read from her book, and provide tastings of some of the food referenced, at 12:45 p.m.

   The very much anticipated Topping Rose House is finally open. The meticulously renovated and restored former Bull’s Head Inn is not completely finished but the restaurant is up and running, smoothly and beautifully.

    As the building itself is an interesting and significant part of the center of Bridgehampton, I believe a bit of historical information is warranted.  This stately Greek Revival house was originally built for Judge Abraham Topping Rose in 1842. His buddy Nathaniel Rogers had built an equally large house across the street, now owned and being restored by the Town of Southampton. After the judge’s death, the family sold the property and it was variously used as a restaurant, antiques shop, and even a pop-up store for Target a few years ago.

    Although the structure is large and imposing, the restaurant on the ground floor seats only a lucky 50, although there is also a large barn for bigger parties and a 25-seat bar area. There is a welcoming wraparound porch with dark wicker chairs, and on the night of our visit, a charmingly warm hostess to greet us outside the entrance.

    We lingered for a while at the door to admire the dark-aqua lacquered bar. There are two dining rooms behind the bar, all-white rooms with large pieces of art, wide plank floors, and black chairs. The rooms’ decor shows a respect for the bones of the house, with modern touches that add luxury to the whole atmosphere.  

    Can you tell where I’m going with this? Yes, this place is a “destination” restaurant, a special-occasion location.

    Whenever I review a restaurant that is newly opened, I am prepared to cut them some slack on service, computer glitches, long waits for food, whatever. But as I have also oft repeated: “if you are open and charging for food you are fair game for a review.” The Topping Rose House, a mere few weeks old on this particular evening, was impeccable from the greeting to the meal to the attentive management to the little after-dinner madeleines and the dainty baggies of granola bestowed upon our departure. More on that later.

    The menu is somewhat short and very imaginative. There are eight appetizers, six main courses, and six pastas. The vegetable accompaniments get star billing with the proteins listed below.

    We began our meal with the beet risotto, foie gras torchon, and a half order of gnocchi with braised lobster mushrooms. The beet risotto was as pretty and tasty as can be. It was a deep magenta with flashes of green from the leaves and neatly slivered stems adorning it. The arborio rice was cooked perfectly al dente and the sweet roasted beet flavor came through. There were bits of raw beet, giving it texture, and a few sprigs of fresh tarragon, a surprising and perfect addition. A dried goat cheese was grated tableside, adding some tang and richness to the dish. Catapano Farm is one of the many local farms and purveyors honored on a whole page of the menu, so perhaps this cheese was from there, but it was deliciously reminiscent of an aged crottin de Chavignol.

    The foie gras torchon was a generous slice of goosy-fatty heaven, accompanied by a tart, lemony dandelion salad. “Au torchon” is a traditional form of terrine (translates to “in a towel”) in which the whole lobe is wrapped, slow poached, pressed, and served cold in slices. One of the best parts was a warm, buttery brioche with a fig jam compote and a few drops of fig balsamic vinegar. This was a sweet, tart, rich, savory symphony on a plate.

    The gnocchi was served with not-often-found lobster mushrooms. I don’t want to gross you out, because lobster “mushrooms” are truly delicious, but they are in fact a parasitic ascomycete that grow on mushrooms, covering them completely with a bright orange or coral or cinnamon-colored hue and deep, dense, almost seafood flavor. The gnocchi were soft pillows and the whole dish was buttery and divine.

    For entrees we ordered the lamb loin, roasted saddle of rabbit (when’s the last time you saw that on a menu?!), and striped bass. The lamb loin was served in neat, tender slices and lightly pink. Served with it were bright-red roasted sweet peppers and slices of eggplant that alternated fried crunchy discs with softer roasted slices. We loved all of it.

    The saddle of rabbit, my choice, was a good demonstration of fine cooking and attention to detail, with elements that were so subtle and sophisticated, I couldn’t decipher and deconstruct them. The saddle of the rabbit is the two loins from rib section to haunch, with small rabbits being preferable for tenderness and the cooking process just so much to maintain that tenderness. This was a dainty-but-just-enough portion. A tiny rabbit kidney topped the dish, speared with a sprig of fresh rosemary. There were tiny chanterelle mushroom embryos in the sauce, along with the surprising addition of pickled watermelon.  What made this addition so surprising and entertaining was the perfectly uniform way it was cut.  Each slice of pickled watermelon had a bit of pale rind and a bit of pink, making them look exactly like bacon lardons on the plate. Off to the side was a mysterious schmear of something resembling mustard or roasted garlic purée. We found it spectacular and had to ask what it was. It was a purée of chanterelles, shallots, and rosemary.

    Last but not least was the striped bass served to my friend Marilyn, who is a striped bass aficionado. The fish was beautifully cooked with a nicely crusted exterior. It was topped with finely julienned sugar snap peas, green and wax beans, and fava beans in a buttery sauce. There were a few fine slivers of summer truffle, adding a hint of earthiness.

    The service on the night of our visit was excellent. Our waitress, Elizabeth, was sweet and smart. We had made our reservation through my chef friend Paul, who alerted them to his profession. We were on a waiting list but were able to get in at 5:30 and were treated like kings and queens. This may have been out of respect for a fellow chef, but I suspect they treat all guests just as kindly. We were also given samples of granola, some cantaloupe jellies, and little chocolate chip cookies, all delicious.

    During our meal we spied Anna Pump (of Loaves and Fishes shop and books fame) and her family. I checked in with them after they had finished and all of them found their meals as delicious as we did, and these folks have discerning palates!

    Unless you live under a rock out here, you probably already know that Tom Colicchio of Craft, wichcraft, and “Top Chef” fame is the executive chef. Ty Kotz is chef-de-cuisine and he is doing a splendid job executing Mr. Colicchio’s menu.

    The Topping Rose House is expensive. As I said before, this is a fine-dining establishment, a destination. The portions are small, but you will not feel gypped. You can easily spend $100 per person but you will not regret it.  First courses are $13 to $28, pastas and main courses are $18 to $42, desserts are $10 and $12.

    For desserts we tried the warm chocolate tart, cardamom-spiced dough­­nuts, and peach tart tatin. The warm chocolate tart looked like a baby pie, only cuter. The crust was a dark chocolate cookie base, perhaps a sable, with a warm interior somewhere between melted ganache and baked chocolate pudding. The small oval of ice cream was delicious and creamy, but we couldn’t identify the flavor. It was made with ricotta. Two roasted figs were served with it, making this dessert virtuous and healthy. The cardamom-spiced doughnuts were light and not greasy at all. They were served peeking out of a pristine white napkin with a dish of lemon curd for dipping. 

    The peach tart tatin was the best of all. The caramelized peaches were nestled in the buttery, flaky shell and served with sweet corn ice cream. The pastry chef, Cassandra Shupp, also makes the wide variety of ice creams and sorbets, in flavors that sound so intriguing I look forward to trying them next time, milk chocolate and plum ice cream, concord grape and red pear sorbets, raspberry sherbet!

    Our Topping Rose House experience was a delight. They have embraced the East End’s local bounty of fruits and vegetables, cheeses, eggs, fish, and wines, but cook it all with the heft and gravitas of a big-city restaurant with money.

    There are future plans for a pool and a crabapple orchard and cottages on the property, but for now, there simply exists this stately inn with a fine restaurant. And that’s good enough for me.

    Fall harvest time brings lots of celebrations of local bounty. The Wolffer Estate Vineyard harvest party will take place at the vineyard in Sagaponack on Oct. 7 from noon to 5 p.m. The rain date is Oct. 8.

    There will be barrel-rolling, hayrides, face-painting, a petting zoo, and a horse-jumping competition, along with a gourmet lunch, live music, and a chance to pick and stomp grapes. And, of course, there will be Wolffer wines. Tickets are $135 plus tax for adults, and $65 plus tax for those ages 4 to 20. Kids younger than 4 will be admitted free. No pets will be allowed.

    Wolffer Wine Club members may purchase two adult tickets at a discounted price of $125. The event usually sells out, so those interested might wish to check the vineyard’s Web site at wolfferestate.com.

Class at Old Whalers

    The three chef-owners of the Red Horse Market in East Hampton will take part in a food event at the Old Whalers Church’s East End Chefs series next Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

    Pasquale Langella will start things off with his house-made mozzarella, served with prosciutto. Tim McClung will demonstrate sausage-making and then how to incorporate the result into a main course. Finally, William Bertha will dish up a chocolate-caramel tart. Wine and water will be served throughout. Registration in advance, with Lillian Woudsma, has been asked: 631-553-6515.

    The proceeds go to the Sag Harbor church’s Community House fund.

For the Group

    Up on the North Fork, the McCall Vineyard and Ranch in Cutchogue will host a dinner prepared by Tom Schaudel on Saturday to benefit the Group for the East End.

    The Wood-Fired Full Moon Harvest Supper is billed as a “farm-to-table celebration,” and will include a cocktail and hors d’oeuvres hour followed by an Argentine-style barbecue dinner al fresco. Tickets are $150 per person.

Indian Wells Tavern

    Prime rib night returns to Indian Wells Tavern in Amagansett on Thursdays. A dinner of prime rib, soup or salad, potato, and a vegetable will be served for $22.

Wine at Race Lane

    The coasts meet tomorrow in a five-course wine dinner featuring some of California’s notable vineyards at Race Lane in East Hampton. Champagne-poached Montauk oyster is paired with a Domaine Carneros rosé, steamed scallop with a 2009 Lincourt sauvignon blanc, and duck Magret with a 2008 Schug pinot noir, to describe but three of the courses. Reservations are a must.

    The cost is $72 per person plus tax and tip. Service starts at 7 p.m.

Shagwong Fest

    Starting tonight, the kitchen at the Shagwong restaurant in Montauk will simmer with a distinctively German sizzle for a month-long Oktoberfest offered Monday through Thursday for $21. Monday’s main course is weiner schnitzel a la Holstein, Tuesday’s is sauerbraten with potato pancake, Wednesday’s is roast duck with sausage stuffing, and Thursday’s is a mixed grill of sausages, smoked pork chops, and sauerkraut.

Slow Food East End

    Slow Food East End will have its annual meeting and potluck dinner on Sunday from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Hayground School on Mitchell Lane in Bridgehampton. Mary Morgan is handling the R.S.V.P.s at mcfm.morgan@ gmail.com. Those taking part have been asked to provide a dish serving six to eight people.

Rowdy Oktober

    Rowdy Hall in East Hampton Village begins its version of Oktoberfest this evening through Sunday with knockwurst, bratwurst, bockwurst, and German potato salad. As with the rest of the weeklong special menu, the cost is $24 per person. On Monday the main course will switch to kassler rippchen with cabbage and grilled apples. Next Thursday, things change again with sauerbraten on the plate. German-style desserts will accompany the entrees all week.

    A Rowdy Hall beer mug will be sold for $7; refills are $4. Notable from the taps for the week will be Paulaner Hefe-Weizen, Warsteiner Premium Pilsner, and Hacker-Pschoor Oktoberfest.

Osteria Price Fix

    A fall special of three courses for $27, plus tax and tip, has been added at Osteria Salina on School Street in Bridgehampton on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights.

    Choices include eggplant parmigiana-pomodoro, crab cake with saffron citrus oil, Scottish salmon, strip steak, and rigatoni with eggplant, tomatoes, peperonciono, and basil.

Almond Veggie

    Almond in Bridgehampton has announced a fixed-price menu with three changing courses each night from 5:30 to 7 p.m. for $28. On Mondays, the choices will be entirely vegetarian.

Nick and Toni’s $35

    Three courses at Nick and Toni’s are $35 for its prix fixe special on Wednesday-Thursday and Sunday-Monday.

Andrra Hours

    For the fall, Andrra, off Gann Road at Three Mile Harbor in East Hampton, will be open Thursday through Sunday from 5 p.m. The kitchen closes at 11 p.m. on Friday and Sunday.

    New on the menu is a tuna tartare “tower,” strip steak, filet mignon, swordfish, and house-made gnocchi with fresh squid.

    It takes a family to make a bagel — and to run a bagel mini empire.

    “Izzy was the bagel maven,” Paul Wayne, a partner in Goldberg’s Famous Bagels in East Hampton and Montauk, said of his grandfather, Izzy Goldberg, who started the family in the bagel business in the years after World War II.

    As he talked on Sept. 16, he cut a brisket into paper-thin slices. Rosh Hashana would begin at sunset, and the demand for brisket, corned beef, and pastrami was strong. As was the call for challah bread, which the store continued to make throughout the day.

    Mr. Goldberg had four sons, Artie, Jerry, Alfred, and Marty, all of whom went into the family business, starting at a shop on Webster Avenue in the Bronx, then at shops in Brooklyn and Manhattan, before the family took their businesses to New Jersey.

    Outside of the five boroughs, “there was a lack of bagels in the late 1960s,” said Mr. Wayne, whose father, Marty, changed his last name to Wayne, after his hero John Wayne, during a brief pursuit of a theatrical career.

    It was Mr. Wayne’s cousin Mark Goldberg who brought the family business from New Jersey to the East End. “Fourteen years ago, I was vacationing out here and I saw a sign in Southampton that said, ‘Bagel store wanted.’ I left a bunch of stores in Bergen County for a better life in the Hamptons,” Mr. Goldberg said.

    Located on County Road 39, Goldberg’s Southampton shop was a success, and six years later, Mark Goldberg had the opportunity to open an East Hampton store, this one at 100 Pantigo Place.

    “I was in O’Malley’s when I heard that the health food store wanted to get out of their lease,” Mr. Goldberg said. His uncle Marty Wayne was his partner in opening the second South Fork store.

    At first, the elder Mr. Wayne had his doubts about the location. “You’re in the back of a building. You’re not in town,” Mr. Wayne remembers his father saying to his cousin. But he threw himself into the business.

    “My father was a real schmoozer,” Mr. Wayne said about the business’s early days in East Hampton. “He would go to London Jewelers, Prudential, the hair salons” to drum up business.

    Eventually, though, the elder Mr. Wayne wanted to return to New Jersey. His son wanted to come to East Hampton. “He was 65. I said to him, ‘Whenever you don’t want to do this anymore.’ ” Two years ago, the two men traded businesses, with Paul coming east.

    Now, Paul Wayne knows most of his clientele by their first names, and just how they like their bagels.

    Key to the Goldbergs’ success was mastering the art of making a bagel and slicing the lox.

    “My dad taught me,” Mr. Goldberg said. “I am by trade a bagel roller and bialy maker. Paul is more of a counter man. Cutting corned beef and pastrami, a lox cutter.”

    Lox must be cut paper thin to qualify for a Goldberg’s bagel or flagel (a flat bagel).

    From Memorial Day until Columbus Day, Goldberg’s imports a lox slicing expert from Staten Island to stay ahead of the demand.

    “I’ve been doing this since I was a kid,” Stuart Kull, the Goldberg’s hired knife, said last week.

    “The key to slicing lox is a light hand and a sharp knife,” Mr. Kull said. “During the height of the season, I can slice up to 100 pounds a day.”

    While not a Goldberg, Mr. Kull is part of the extended family. “His dad had a store next to my dad’s store in Jersey,” Mr. Goldberg explained.

    Indeed, the entire staff has a family feel. “It’s fun here,” said Aura Hernandez, as she doled out bagels to hungry customers.

    Mr. Goldberg and Mr. Wayne are willing to discuss their recipe for bagels, to a point. “Flour, water, brown sugar, a little salt, and our own special ingredients,” said Mr. Wayne, explaining that the secret ingredients used date back to the first Goldberg store in the Bronx.

    “We mix the dough for about 12 and a half minutes,” Mr. Wayne said, adding that some bagels can be mixed in one of their 200-pound mixers, though all are rolled by hand, while other bagels, pumpernickel among them, must be done entirely by hand, depending upon the particular dough.

    Mr. Goldberg’s father taught him the art of bagel rolling.

    Originally, the bagel business in New York City was a wholesale business, with the bagels being sold to delis and stores nearby. 

    The bagel rollers who made the bagels were part of a tight union, which was strictly father and son. Owners were not taught the secrets of the trade.

    That changed when the first retail bagel store opened, according to Mr. Goldberg, “The first retail store was Bagel Oasis on the Long Island Expressway — really called Triboro,” because the three owners were from the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. “That’s where everybody went to learn back in 1960. It was in Fresh Meadows, and is still there today.”

    That was where Mr. Goldberg’s father learned the secrets of bageldom, which he, in turn, taught his son.

    But there is more to Goldberg’s than bagels. There’s also what Mr. Goldberg called “the Jewish soul food” — brisket and corned beef, pastrami and matzo ball soup, and other traditional dishes, all prepared under the direction of Denise Goldberg, Mr. Goldberg’s wife, who doubles as chef, as well as supervising the day-to-day operations at the Southampton store, along with their daughter, Amanda.

    At the beginning of July, Mr. Wayne and Mr. Goldberg opened Goldberg’s Bagels and Flagels Deli in Montauk, which they are hoping to keep open year round.

    Besides their Hobo, a bagel with eggs, cheese, bacon, and home fries, their Power House wrap — egg whites, turkey, and cheese in a whole wheat wrap — became their hottest Montauk seller.

    The East Hampton store is open seven days a week, 365 days a year, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.

    “It’s not about the money,” Mr. Wayne explained. Their customers rely on them to be there, on holidays as well as on working days, and so they are. Mr. Goldberg gets to work at 4 a.m., and Mr. Wayne not much later.

    “It’s a mom-and-pop kind of place,” Mr. Wayne said, “It’s old school, just like the bagels.”

   It takes Fred Overton, the East Hampton Town Clerk, two days to make 30 gallons of chowder. He does the kitchen prep the day before and puts everything together in two 15-gallon vats on the morning of the East Hampton Town Trustees’ Largest Clam Contest.

   Clams and potatoes in equal amounts — 50 pounds apiece — are the main ingredients. (The Seafood Shop in Wainscott sells 10-pound “setups” of clams and their juice. Mr. Overton uses five setups.) Then, 8 to 10 pounds of onions — “I don’t like too many onions, they overpower the soup,” he said — and about eight 28-ounce cans of canned whole peeled tomatoes.

   The number of tomatoes “depends on what it looks like.” Bonac chowder should not be too red.

Borrow a vat from the firehouse if you can and line the bottom with quarter-inch strips of salt pork (one package lines one vat). Add equal amounts of clam juice and water: 10 quarts juice, 10 water. Add potatoes, chopped onion, diced tomatoes, and “just a pinch of thyme.” Simmer. Put the clams in last, “not until after the potatoes are done. Otherwise they get rubbery.”

   Season to taste. Some people add carrots or celery. This recipe serves at least 200.

   A story on the contest and its winning clams and chowders appears elsewhere in today’s Star.

    I moved recently from East Hampton Village to Sag Harbor. All of my friends think I should miss my oceanfront childhood home but I really don’t. I now have my dream kitchen. It’s big enough for a table that will seat six, it has a fireplace, and there’s a six-burner Garland stove, a dishwasher (a small luxury I have been living without for two years), and windows galore.

    For various reasons, I have been living out of a suitcase for six weeks. This has not been a trial. What has been a trial is the fact that my friends insisted I repaint the entire interior of the new house before I bring in my furniture, cooking equipment, clothes, cookbooks, etc. In the last stages of the move out of East Hampton, I packed up some fancy, frilly dessert plates, etched wine glasses and other glamorous flotsam and jetsam that belonged to my grandparents and great-grandparents. This is all I have to work with. Oh, and one tea kettle, one Griswold cast iron skillet, a Pyrex baking dish, and a bowl.

    For the first couple of nights I lived on pizza and salad from Espresso in Sag Harbor. A small pizza lasted three days. Smothered with fresh tomatoes, basil, and garlic, it was awesome the first two nights, not so hot by the third. I would fry the slices in the skillet and eat them off one of the fancy dessert plates.

    But my desire to cook a proper meal, despite the lack of equipment, got the better of me. I bought some chicken and threw together a Vietnamese marinade. I managed to concoct a cornbread without measuring cups and spoons. At least my moderate skills as a pastry chef come in handy when eyeballing and guessing measurements. A salad of raw corn cut off the cob mixed with red peppers and parsley rounded out my first meal. Served, yet again, on one of the dainty dessert plates.

    On my first evening in the house, my friends and I broke out the etched wine glasses to celebrate. Sure enough, I broke mine within 10 minutes. Sorry, Grandma!

    I have borrowed a pot to boil water and a spatula. Now I can make pasta with cherry tomatoes and bread crumbs. I attempted the breadcrumbs in the cast iron skillet and set off the fire alarm. Slowly but surely, I am getting the hang of cooking without my usual cooking equipment.

    I’ve probably got another two weeks before I can retrieve my belongings out of storage. I have begun to see this as more like camping, or college boy bachelor life, than a nuisance. When I get takeout from Espresso, I grab as many plastic forks and napkins as good manners will allow. I tip heavily for this pilfering. I ask for extra dressing that comes with every delicious rosemary focaccia bread sandwich. This I stockpile for later use. For those who have been dying to know how they make this creamy, addictive sauce, I think I have been able to deconstruct it. I’m guessing, but I think it is a little bit of cream or mayo, balsamic vinegar, Parmesan cheese, garlic, and black pepper.

    Cooking pasta in larger than necessary amounts has also helped. Each batch can be tailored to suit whatever vegetables I have purchased that day. Roast cauliflower with onions and curry one day, fontina cheese with fennel and peppers the next. I have also been consulting Web sites tailored to dorm cooking. They all seem to rely on canned condensed cream of mushroom soup, hamburger meat, and microwave ovens. Blech.

    I fantasize about my first dinner party. I will have my beloved well-seasoned wooden salad bowl with utensils to toss oily leaves of arugula. We shall dine on my plain white plates with no fear of breakage. My Le Creuset casserole will be put to good use with a quickie duck cassoulet. Wine shall be drunk out of bistro-style Duralex glasses.

    I don’t mind that I am still wearing my summer whites, layered with a sweatshirt I found in the trunk of my car. And until I get all of my cookbooks and cooking equipment, I don’t even mind my limited abilities to prepare a balanced meal. If I can do it, you can too. Here are some recipes I have managed to throw together quite successfully.

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