While it Lasts

    At Michael’s at Maidstone restaurant in Springs, a special on grilled steak or lobster is available daily from 5 to 6 p.m., or all night at the bar, but only while supplies last. The special is just $19.95. Reservations are required for those planning to eat in the dining room.

New in Noyac

    The Bell & Anchor, new this year at the Mill Creek Marina on Noyac Road in Noyac, has a menu featuring oysters, lobsters, pork belly, and more, and is serving dinner six nights a week beginning at 5:30. The restaurant is closed on Mondays.

Midday Muse

    At Muse in the Harbor, on Sag Harbor’s Main Street, every day is Sunday, so to speak, with both lunch and brunch being served from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the summer season. Diners can order from the lunch side, or the breakfast side of the menu. Dishes include a B.L.T. salad, tuna avocado salad, grilled zucchini rolltini, and a “grown-up grilled cheese” sandwich featuring Applewood smoked bacon, gorgonzola and smoked gouda cheeses, and sliced tomato. Burgers come in turkey, salmon, chicken, and organic grass-fed beef varieties.

    Breakfasty items include steak and eggs, omelettes made to order, blueberry or banana pancakes, creme brulée-stuffed French toast, and a “smoked salmon stacker,” with salmon, capers, cream cheese, chopped onion, hard-boiled egg, and frisée topped with Hollandaise sauce on grilled bread.

Locals’ Brewery

    Three East Hampton High School graduates have opened the Montauk Brewing Company, where they are serving their first signature brew, Driftwood Ale, an American-style  E.S.B. (Extra Special Bitter) beer. 

    Vaughan Cutillo, Eric Moss, and Joseph Sullivan opened their tasting room and gallery at 62 South Erie Avenue in Montauk on June 30. The tasting room is open on Fridays from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 8 p.m. Growlers of Driftwood Ale can be purchased to take home.

Sotto Sopra

231 Main Street

Amagansett

267-3695

Open for dinner Wednesday

to Sunday

   We arrived at Sotto Sopra (upside down) the other night in a roundabout way. Our intention was to review a more nightclubby establishment, but it turn­ed out to be closed on a Sunday night. We wandered aimlessly around the nightclubby parking lot, admiring all the flotsam and jetsam strewn about, which nightclubby patrons are wont to leave.

    Sure enough, a police cruiser arrived to ask what we were doing there. I engaged the exceptionally attractive policeman in a discussion of where-oh-where could we go to review. His partner pulled out his Streetwise East Hampton map. Smokin’ Wolf at the old Turtle Crossing? Love Arthur’s barbecue! How about Osteria Salina in Bridgehampton? We decided, with the help of East Hampton’s finest, to try Sotto Sopra in Amagansett, formerly Exile, formerly Mezzaluna, formerly good ol’ Gordon’s.

    Not too much has changed in the interior. The steel highway plates recycled into bartops remain. Sadly, the industrial lighting and artwork by such local luminaries as Dan Rizzie and John Alexander are gone. The walls are a pretty blond wood with sconces and rectangular light fixtures. The outdoor dining in back seems to have expanded.

    We decided to eat outside, and this is where the first few problems arose. The surface out back is more packed dirt than grass. So you must put your purse down in the dirt. If your sweater or jacket falls off your chair back, it is now in the dirt. The tables are small plastic ones with too-large chairs, making for awkward seating. And the tables were set with visibly filthy placemats. All four placemats were stained and goopy. We tried flipping them over. Dirty on the other side, too. We were so grossed out we simply removed them ourselves and laid them on a spare chair.

    Upon being seated you get a basket of focaccia and some thick squares of pizza. A bit messy, fairly tasty. We began our meal with the Robiola crostini, calamari fritti, and insalata bistecca.

    The Robiola crostini was a disappointment to my friend who ordered it. She was looking forward to the headlining Robiola, a fine, oozy treat of cheese. This version had very thin strips of cheese melted onto slivers of bread, served with grilled figs, spiced walnuts, and a salad with orange vinaigrette. Other than the skimpy portion of Robiola, we all agreed the figs were delicious and the salad refreshing.

    The calamari had an excellent, excellent crust but was overcooked, a bit rubberbandy. The fried pepperoncini mixed in with it was a great touch, salty and a bit spicy. The dipping sauces were okay, one a mayonnaise that had a few whole mustard seeds peeking through and one a thin, lightly spiced tomato sauce.

    The insalata bistecca was basically an iceberg wedge salad with tiny diced tomato bits, even tinier bits of pancetta bacon, and not quite enough blue cheese dressing.

    At this point we spied our friend Arthur, who was clued in to our mission. Throughout our meal he would deliver bits of his group’s food for us to try — Caesar salad, for instance. It was lacking in all the things that make a Caesar good: lemon, garlic, anchovy, Parmesan.

    For entrees we tried the pesto chicken pizza, linguine mollusco, and branzino al forno, along with some sides of sautéed mushrooms and “local” corn. The quotes because I find it hard to believe we already have local corn.

    The pizzas at Sotto Sopra are probably the best way to go when dining there. They are very good; the crust is flavorful and chewy, nicely charred in spots by the wood-burning pizza oven. The pesto pizza was great except for the chicken slivers on top, which had no seasoning.

    The linguine mollusco was good and full of sweet cockles. The branzino was also good, served with fingerling potatoes and sautéed spinach. I recommend the sautéed mushrooms, a mixture of cremini, oyster, and portobellos. The “local” corn was corn off the cob, cooked a little too long. Arthur appeared at our table and bestowed upon us a piece of his piccante pizza topped with pepperoni, spicy sausage, and ricotta. We all agreed it was delicious.

    Service on the night of our visit was terrific. They were very busy but the waiters and busboys (all handsome Irish lads) couldn’t have been more efficient or helpful. The manager, an attractive woman clad all in summery white, was efficient, friendly, and quite witty.

    Prices at Sotto Sopra are a bit steep for the quality of the food. Starters cost $11 to $18, pizza and pastas cost $18 to $26, fish and meat cost $28 to $49, sides $10 and $11, and desserts $9.

    Although we saw slices of what appeared to be cheesecake glide by us, we were informed that the only desserts available that night were blood orange sorbet and a house-made chocolate mint gelato. Both were quite fine. The blood orange sorbet was served with a shot glass of lemoncello to be poured over it, a wonderful, boozy, and refreshing concept. The chocolate mint gelato was creamy and rich.

    Sotto Sopra is a lovely place to dine, with a charming and outgoing staff and great pizza. The rest of the food needs tweaking.

    Local support was visible at Whole Foods’ new location in Wainscott last week, with the names of farms and local vendors whose produce the chain is selling  displayed indoors, and the vendors themselves setting up in the parking lot of the former Ford dealership on Montauk Highway.

    Mark Stewart, the general manager of Eli’s Bakery, said that Whole Foods was “trying to show support and get the summer started on a good note. They also want to sell some bread,” he added, smiling. Mr. Stewart was on site last Thursday to do just that, as well as deliver soups, pies, pecan crisps, and cookies to the site.

    Taking advantage of the fresh bread from the tented vendor was Lovella Beres of Sagaponack, who said she was happy to see local vendors at the market, and hopes Whole Foods decides to stay put.

    “We will be here next week,” said Tatiana Monteiro Teixeira, the founder and co-owner of Plain-T of Southampton, which will sell its iced teas at the site. Other vendors bustling around the place last week said the same, and a representative of Whole Foods said that “everyone here should be in the market shortly.”

    Ellenka Baumrind, the president of Ellie’s Country Delights of East Hampton, said her jarred stews are currently sold in Whole Foods’ “Mid-Atlantic region.” Lisa Tremblay, of Joe and Liza’s ice cream, was simply pleased that her frozen goods will be in the Wainscott store shortly, as was Anke Albert, whose Amagansett company, Anke’s Fit Bakery, will soon be selling its flour-free cookies, cakes, and breads.

    Other East End food sellers offered are Fat Ass Fudge in Springs, Open Minded Organics in Bridgehampton,  and Post Pies in Water Mill.   

Summer Shellfish

    The Montauk Shellfish Company, which has been growing Montauk Pearl oysters in Lake Montauk for four years, is selling oysters at Rick’s Crabby Cowboy Cafe on East Lake Drive in Montauk for $22.95 a dozen or $11.95 a half dozen.

For the Fourth

    The Fourth of July holiday has prompted a lineup of special events at Solé East resort in Montauk. Besides musical performances, listed separately in today’s Star, and a schedule of hair and makeup services by a “celebrity hairstylist” throughout the weekend, there will be a brunch at the Backyard Restaurant at Solé East on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a la carte menu choices and live Brazilian music beginning at 11:30 a.m. The brunch will continue throughout the summer.

Plaza Cafe Prix Fixe

    A three-course prix fixe at the Plaza Cafe in Southampton is offered on Sunday through Friday from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. for $32 plus tax and gratuity. Starter choices include Long Island seafood chowder and prosciutto-wrapped wild Pacific shrimp, and main courses include horseradish-crusted local cod, flatiron steak, herb-marinated free-range chicken, and farfalle with Gulf shrimp.

Smokin’ Wolf

    At Smokin’ Wolf in East Hampton, where Turtle Crossing used to be, Arthur Wolf, the chef for the restaurant’s last incarnation, is cooking up barbecue seven nights a week for dinner starting at 5, and for lunch from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Lunch specials are offered for $12. The barbecue may be “smokin’,” but the restaurant is airconditioned.

East End Chefs

    Mr. Wolf will be the guest chef at the next East End Chefs event at the Whalers Church in Sag Harbor. On Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., he will prepare a meal featuring “cowgirl quesadillas” with caramelized onions, guacamole, and mango salsa, organic salad and cornbread, pulled-pork sliders with cole slaw, and, for dessert, Valhrona chocolate marble swirl brownies.

    The cost is $30, and includes wine. Reservations may be made by calling the church.

Goat’s Milk Caramel

    At Lucy’s Whey cheese shop tomorrow, there will be a visit from Hannah Reid of Fat Toad Farm in Vermont, who will provide samples of her family’s goat’s milk caramel. The confection, made in small batches with milk from pastured dairy goats, is a traditional Mexican sweet known as cajeta and used in iced coffee or drizzled onto ice cream or cake. Ms. Reid will be at the North Main Street, East Hampton, shop from 1 to 4 p.m.

Green Smoothies

    Nadia Ernestus, who calls herself the Hamptons Health Coach, will demonstrate how to make a healthy green smoothie at a Hayground Forum event at the Hayground School in Bridgehampton on Sunday at 3 p.m. The program, for adults and supervised children, costs $25 per person.

An outreach effort to South Fork food producers was visible at Whole Foods' new location in Wainscott last week, with the names of farms and vendors whose produce the chain is selling displayed indoors, and some of the vendors themselves setting up for a day in the parking lot of the former Ford dealership on Montauk Highway.

Mark Stewart, the general manager of Eli's Bread, which now runs the Amagansett Farmers Market, said that Whole Foods was "trying to show support and get the summer started on a good note. They also want to sell some bread," he added, smiling. Mr. Stewart was on site last Thursday to do just that, as well as brings soups, pies, pecan crisps, and cookies to the site.

Taking advantage of the fresh bread from the Eli's booth was Lovella Beres of Sagaponack, who said she was happy to see local vendors at the market, and hopes Whole Foods decides to stay put. The food chain opened the Wainscott location as a trial site, though the property owner's plans apparently lean more toward a chain drug store there once the season ends.

Tatiana Monteiro Teixeira, the founder and co-owner of Plain-T of Southampton, said Whole Foods will sell its iced teas at the site. Other vendors bustling around the place last week said the same, and a representative of Whole Foods said that everyone there should be in the market shortly.

Ellenka Baumrind, the president of Ellie's Country Delights of East Hampton, said her jarred stews are  sold in Whole Food's Mid-Atlantic region.

Lisa Tremblay of Joe and Liza's ice cream, which is based in Sag Harbor, was pleased that her frozen goods will be in the Wainscott store shortly, as was Anke Albert, whose Amagansett company, Anke's Fit Bakery, will soon be supplying flour-free cookies, cakes, and breads.

Other East End food makers whose wares are on the shelves are FatAss Fudge of Springs, Open Minded Organics of Bridgehampton, Posh Pies of Water Mill, and Spy Coast Bee Farm in Setauket.

   Former East Hampton Town Councilwoman Julia Prince is now in the restaurant business, and running a restaurant is a breeze compared to helping run East Hampton Town, she said.

    “In comparison to the workload on the town board, this is nothing. That job prepared me for anything. You still have problems but they’re manageable,” she said on Monday, sitting in a booth at La Bodega in Montauk while eating a plate of scrambled eggs and toast.

    With her business partner, Paulette Davis, who was busy behind the counter, Ms. Prince opened the restaurant that was the Plaza on Memorial Day weekend and the patrons have been streaming in ever since. The two women stripped the tint from the windows of the curved-front building on Montauk Highway and brightened up the dated wood-paneled interior with shiny corrugated tin on the walls, globe lights, a new bar countertop, reupholstered booths, and bright white tables and chairs.

    Ms. Prince wanted to open her own version of a bodega ever since she spent time some years ago in Uruguay. She was eyeing a location on the Napeague stretch, thinking it would be cool to serve people on their way to East Hampton.  “They could stop and get coffee in the morning and chips and beer on their way home,” she said.

    La Bodega serves breakfast and lunch, and since it got its liquor license, now dinner. On weekends the restaurant is open from 8 a.m. to 5 a.m., with a security guard standing by. “We want to feed people. We don’t want to get them drunk. If you’ve been over-served you’re not welcome,” she said.

    The two women hardly knew each other when they went into business. They had been talking one day and realized they both had the same dream. “We didn’t know each other that well. We sat and talked one day and it all just fell into place,” said Ms. Prince.

    Ms. Davis owns a bakery with her boyfriend, Jose Rodriquez, in Rincon, Puerto Rico; he is La Bodega’s chef. Many of the bakery staff came to Montauk to help run the new joint. “They were coming here anyway,” said Ms. Prince.

    Ms. Davis, who was too busy behind the counter to talk, said she worked at the Plaza in college. “They remembered me,” she said of the former owners. She, too, said that the beauty of the business is that small problems quickly become fixed problems.

    Were they expecting to become so busy so fast? “Yeah, a little bit because of the location and the quality of the food,” Ms. Prince said.

    In addition to the usual breakfast food, the menu includes such items as empanadas, fish bites with chipotle sauce, rice and beans, spicy chicken quesadillas, Cuban spring rolls, and other healthy items named after popular surf spots in Rincon such as Dogman’s bowl and Tres Palmas.

    The drink menu has a tropical feel too, with such drinks as mojitos, a dark and stormy, and one called a pain killer, made of black rum, Coco Lopez, pine­apple, and orange juice. The Lost Gringo is mix of Jameson Irish Whiskey, raspberry ice tea, and lemonade.

    Ms. Prince and Ms. Davis have not yet decided whether the restaurant will be open year round. A lot will depend on what it costs to heat the place, Ms. Prince said. “With the glass windows, we’re not sure yet.” said Ms. Prince. As of right now, they open at 8 a.m. and keep running until the people stop walking in the door.

Thursdays

Montauk

On the green, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Fridays

East Hampton

Nick and Toni’s parking lot, 136 North Main Street, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Bridgehampton

Hayground School, 151 Mitchell Lane, 3-6:30 p.m.

Saturdays

Shelter Island

Shelter Island Historical Society

16 South Ferry Road (Route 114),

9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Sag Harbor

Bay and Burke Streets, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Springs

Ashawagh Hall, Old Stone Highway and Springs-Fireplace Road, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Sundays

Southampton

West side grounds of Parrish Art Museum, 25 Job’s Lane, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Wednesdays

Amagansett

Route 27 Farmers Market

American Legion Hall, Corner of Abraham’s Path and Montauk Highway, 2-6 p.m.

    The Hampton Market Place in East Hampton, closed last fall after a fire on Nov. 15, reopened on June 13 after an extensive reconstruction. The market continues to offer a salad bar, fresh produce — now including organic choices — and a deli featuring hot and cold foods. A bakery, with gluten-free selections, has been added, as has a section featuring organic groceries and “green” items such as personal-care products and compostable disposable plates. The market now runs its own fresh meat department and continues to sell sushi. The Star is also now being sold there, after a hiatus.

The New Sunday

    Navy Beach restaurant on Fort Pond Bay in Montauk is stretching the weekend, beginning Monday, and offering discounted bottles of rosé wine from noon to 5 p.m. each Monday in July and August. Diners can choose a Lieb Cellars 2011 Bridge Lane rosé at 25 percent off, or a magnum of St. Tropez’s Cep d’Or from Cotes de Provence at half off. The restaurant will serve diners at tables on the beach or in its “sun lounge,” and takes reservations for its sun beds for noon to 4 p.m. or 4 to 8 p.m. sessions.

Montauk’s Hideaway

    The Hideaway restaurant, a casual Mexican eatery at the Diamond Cove Marina on West Lake Drive, is now serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily.

“Yes, Chef” Guest Chef

    Marcus Samuelsson, a chef and cookbook author, will prepare a meal to be served at two seatings on Saturday at Solé East in Montauk. The $125-per-person cost will include four courses paired with Bedell Cellars, Channing Daughters, and Clovis Point wines, as well as a signed copy of Mr. Samuelsson’s forthcoming memoir, “Yes, Chef.” Reservations can be made by calling Solé East or sending an e-mail to [email protected].

Free Wine Tasting

    Apres Soirée wine on tap will offer tastes of its products at a party on Saturday at Banzai Burger on Napeague. Complimentary wine and light appetizers will be served from 4 to 7 p.m. Those who wish to attend have been asked to RSVP to [email protected].

Farmers Market Sweets

    Dolce Nirvana, a new East Hampton dessert company run by two sisters, is not only selling its pies and other products — fruit pies, cakes, cookies, muffins, and signature Key lime pies — at the farmers markets at the Hayground School (Bridgehampton) and East Hampton on Fridays, but is now providing its traditional and mango Key lime pies to the Whole Foods pop-up store in Wainscott. The company’s products were recently featured at the Williams-Sonoma store in Bridgehampton as well.

    Also available at local farmers markets are goodies made by Hamptons Cupcake Lounge. The company bakes with whole grains, fruit purées and unsweetened applesauce, sugar substitutes, and egg whites to create cupcakes that are lower in fat, sugar, carbohydrates, and calories than their traditional counterparts. Varieties, which include a selection of booze-infused “cuptails,” are available singly, by the dozen, or in miniature versions. They are being sold at the Hayground market on Friday afternoons as well as at the Southampton farmers market on Sundays.

BBQ Beach Delivery

    It’s summer, so Townline BBQ has reinstated its daily noon and 2 p.m. deliveries to Main Beach in East Hampton. Orders must total at least $20, excluding a $5 delivery charge, and be placed by 11 a.m. for the noon delivery and by 1 p.m. for the later delivery. Payment for phone orders must be by MasterCard or Visa. The eatery’s menu includes pork ribs, organic smoked chicken, pulled pork and chicken, burgers, and more.

Free Demo

    At the Loaves and Fishes Cookshop in Bridgehampton on Saturday, a noon to 2 p.m. demonstration will feature how to make an “instant” wine refresher, using Channing Daughters wines.

    Have you ever read a cookbook cover to cover? Me, neither. But one of the great joys of writing cookbook reviews is to read every single word, from introduction to chapter headings to analyzing each recipe and photograph. This immersion into a book can transport you to wonderful places: to Cyprus for a light lunch in the shade, to a North Fork farm stand for the ripest peaches, or to a Hamptons’ idyll so brightly colorized you’ll need to wear shades.

    There are two new books out right now, “Love, Laughter, and Lunch” by Helen Tsanos Sheinman, published by Pointed Leaf Press ($50), and “The Hamptons: Food, Family, and History” by Ricky Lauren, published by Wiley ($39.95). I’ve included a third book, “Fresh From the Farm: Great Local Foods from New York State” by Susan Meisel and Natalie Sann, published by Rizzoli ($40), because somehow this fine baby slipped by me when it was published two years ago.

    Ms. Tsanos Sheinman, a summer resident of Shelter Island, has written such a lovely, warm, colorful book that by page 33 I was craving Greek coffee and wishing for an invitation to one of her dinner parties. She explores her roots in Cyprus and covers a life lived in London and New York, always with an appreciation for her cultural heritage. Besides the food and family stories, the book is filled with the history of Greek textiles, embroidered linens, and pottery.

    Her parents began extolling the virtues of food presentation to her at a young age. “It has to be pleasing to the eye so that the appetite grows bigger!” Indeed, by page 19, I was seeking out a source for halloumi cheese, to be prepared with fennel, cilantro, mint, olive oil, and plenty of lemon juice.

    The recipe pages are handwritten, with the opposite page showing the completed dish or a nice array of the ingredients. Every picture includes the beautiful, bright woven fabrics, delicate lace linens, and rustic pottery of Cyprus. There is so much to learn from the book: Who knew you could make olive bread with orange soda? There are delicate Greek pastries such as kourabiethes, shortbread cookies, and melomakarona, honey cookies with walnuts.

    Ms. Tsanos Sheinman’s family is large and loving, and every page is an homage to the past with an eye toward keeping the Greek Cypriot traditions alive for the future. There is a page dedicated to the culinary and medicinal uses of herbs, along with an explanation of how to make coffee in a briki: Plain is called “sketo,” sweetened is “metrio,” and super sweet is called “glyko.”

    While “Love, Laughter, and Lunch” is a lusty, sensual adventure of a book, Ricky Lauren’s “The Hamptons” is a stylized peek into a picture-perfect life in . . . you guessed it . . . the Hamptons. The chapters are divided into the areas that the Lauren family has lived — first Southampton, then Amagansett, East Hampton, and Montauk.

    Every single picture is themed in red, white, and blue, mostly blue. Blue, which was my favorite color until I reached the end of the book. There are charming little watercolors throughout, penned, I believe, by Ms. Lauren. There are also very good snippets on local history, architecture, artists, and writers. Ms. Lauren describes the recipes as “tried and true that we have enjoyed as a family.” Some she learned as a young wife and “many have come from the wonderful and talented chefs who we have been proud to claim as part of our family over the years,” she wrote.

    Therein lies the rub for me. The recipes are no more original than those you would find in “Joy of Cooking.” The food styling is reminiscent of issues of Sunset magazine circa 1978. The color has been brightened and enhanced to the point that one chef friend asked if he was looking at Play-Doh when he saw a picture of scrambled eggs. If you need some simple recipes for omelettes, French toast, quiche, steamers, or sautéed breast of chicken, then by all means, this lifestyle cookbook may be for you. There are many beautiful family photos, along with pictures of polo, sailing, and some of Ralph’s vintage cars.

    “Fresh From the Farm” is another book that really takes you places. You can almost smell the lavender growing in East Marion and taste the raspberry strudel of Junda’s Pastry Shop in James­port. It’s such a great book that I wish they would print an addendum every year, adding new gourmet shops and wineries and bakeries, kind of like a locavore’s Zagat guide. The pictures, stories, and recipes are thorough and engaging, and it offers charming vignettes and beautiful photography.

    Without a doubt, the North and South Fork chapters are the lengthiest and most satisfying, perhaps because they are most familiar to me. And any book that has a picture of the Flanders Big Duck in its first few pages but refrains from referencing “the Hamptons” every other chapter is okay with me.

    This book includes everything from the Catapano Dairy Farm in Peconic to East Hampton’s Dreesen’s doughnuts to Cavaniola’s Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor to the awesome sausage from Villa Italian Specialties, also in East Hampton, from the bigger, well-established farms and purveyors (Briermere, Braun, Mecox Bay Dairy) to the small and artisanal (the Tomato Lady, Widow’s Hole Oysters). “Fresh From the Farm” makes me feel proud and privileged to live here and be able to taste many of the delicious foods throughout the book. It reminds me that it’s time for a trip to Lavender by the Bay for honey, Iacono Farm for fine chicken, and Loaves and Fishes, if for no more than an inspiring chat with the tirelessly creative Anna Pump.

    All three cookbooks would make wonderful coffee table gifts, one sunny and laughing, one filled with rich history, and one a useful guide to our many resources for local foods.

Click for recipes

    Alexander the Great was a big fan, as were George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. Charles I of England was so entranced with its flavors that he tried to keep the recipe secret as a royal prerogative.

    The cause of this historical brouhaha? Ice cream.

    History tells us that ice cream — or some form of shaved ice and flavored syrups — first made an appearance in the second century B.C. as a treat for royals. But it took almost another two millenniums for it to reach the masses, and when it did, it took off like an ice cream avalanche.

    Liza Tremblay, co-owner with her husband of the local company Joe and Liza’s Ice Cream, doles out cups and cones at the East Hampton farmers market on North Main Street Friday mornings from an old-fashioned ice cream cart. She can also be found Friday afternoons at the Hayground farmers market in Bridgehampton and the Sag Harbor market on Saturday mornings.

    But the ice cream — which is all natural, made in Sag Harbor with as many local ingredients as possible, and free of stabilizers like guar or xanthan gum — is also being served at some of the most popular restaurants and shops in the area now.

    Ms. Tremblay and her husband, Joe, opened Bay Burger in Sag Harbor in 2007. “When we decided to start Bay Burger, we wanted to do as much fresh and on site as possible, The meat is ground fresh each morning, the buns are made in the store daily.” It was a natural jump for the couple to offer fresh ice cream. Ms. Tremblay, who is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education, decided to take a course in ice cream making with Malcolm Stogo, “the ice cream guru,” who runs the prestigious Ice Cream University in West Orange, N.J.

    All of the ice cream produced by Joe and Liza begins with a private-label base from Hudson Valley Fresh, which contains no hormones or antibiotics in the cream and milk. Then, when making strawberry ice cream, for example, all-natural sugar and 10 pounds of frozen strawberries are added to the two-and-a-half-gallon base, along with natural vanilla extract. “And that’s it,” Ms. Tremblay said.

    Along with the six regularly produced flavors — vanilla, chocolate, coffee, straw­berry, cookie jar, and pistachio — Joe and Liza’s creates specialized flavors, either for their restaurant clients or according to the season. A recent creation, served up at the farmers markets, was a fresh mint with chunks of Fat Ass Fudge, locally produced by Donna McCue. A Tate’s cookie-crumb ice cream is sold at Tate’s bake shop. Joe and Liza’s has also served up a basil ice cream for Sang Lee Farms and are working on a lavender flavor for them, along with a lemon-balm sorbet.

    Even more locally, Sylvester and Company carries a private-label flavor in their shops: “Dreamy” coffee with chocolate-covered almonds. And the new Mary’s Marvelous store opening in East Hampton in a few weeks will carry a Joe and Liza’s ice cream made with Mary Os, the store’s signature cookie.

    Ms. Tremblay now works full time with the ice cream part of the Bay Burger business. Mr. Tremblay, a grill man at some of Manhattan’s poshest eateries, concentrates on the restaurant part.

    It may have been the birth of the couple’s 18-month-old son, Leo, that helped Ms. Tremblay decide over the winter to stop adding stabilizers and emulsifiers to the frozen treat. “It was because of customer demand,” she said. “People just don’t want to feed their kids words that they can’t pronounce.”

    Although she called the new formula “a little less forgiving” — the shelf life is a little shorter — she doesn’t see that as a negative. “Customers are so pleased that we cut out the stuff that wasn’t natural,” she said. “And that’s really what it’s all about — happy customers.”