Those looking to prepare a meal with fresh spring color, as well as the comfort and warmth of rice and spice, might enjoy one of the most popular entrees served by the Seafood Shop in Wainscott.

    The new executive chef on board, Paul LaBue, who brings 23 years of experience, most recently at Navy Beach in Montauk, to the job, shared the shop’s recipe for a traditional paella dish to feed four.

    While retaining the shop’s classics, Mr. LaBue said he plans to upgrade the menu to also offer patrons a taste of his specialties — globally inspired dishes made with local ingredients. The new menu will include Indian, Asian, and Mediterranean flavors, and will be, as always, “fish-centric,” with 95 percent of recipes including fish, almost all of which is local, when in season.

Seafood Shop Paella

2 cups long grain white rice

Pinch of saffron

2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup clam juice

2 11/4-lb. lobsters

12 local Little Neck clams

12 P.E.I. mussels

12 16-20 shell-on large shrimp

1 organic chicken breast, diced

2 tsp. Paprika

1/2 cup sliced chorizo

1/4 cup chopped garlic

    Mr. LaBue recommends using a heavy pan, since ideally the rice should stick to the bottom to become caramelized. A large, deep, cast-iron pan works best, he said, or a heavy stainless paella pan.

    The rice is started first, with enough olive oil to coat evenly, the saffron, and half of the liquid, a combination of chicken stock and clam juice.

    Stirring continuously throughout, the chicken is added first. After approximately five minutes, the diced chorizo and clams should be added, cooking until the Little Necks are almost opened. At that point, it is time to add the lobster and paprika.

    When the lobsters are three-quarters of the way cooked, Mr. LaBue said the mussels, shrimp, and remaining chicken broth and clam juice should be added, and the dish covered and left to cook until the liquid has evaporated.

New at Montauk Harbor

    Sam Joyce, a longtime chef at Gosman’s restaurant in Montauk, is opening his own place not far away on West Lake Drive. Calling it Sammy’s, he is taking over the spot where Clemente’s used to be. The menu includes appetizers such as Montauk oysters, tuna sashimi, “Irish nachos,” which feature homemade potato chips with traditional nacho toppings, and lobster salad tacos.

    Along with soups and salads, there will be sandwiches such as a shrimp po’boy and a Wimpie burger, and dishes that can be ordered tapas or entree size, such as walnut-glazed chicken, pork tenderloin pot stickers, tempura Montauk fluke, stuffed portobellos, and grilled rib-eye lettuce wraps. The new restaurant will have a soft opening this weekend, and will be fully open for business next week.

New Seafood Stop

    The Hampton Seafood Company has opened on Race Lane in East Hampton where Claws on Wheels used to be. Fresh fish and shellfish can be purchased for cooking at home or broiled, baked, or grilled for $5 and served with fries and coleslaw. There is also a “hot to go” menu, including fish tacos, grilled shrimp, Asian-spiced tuna burgers, and a pulled chicken sandwich — as well as two-pound servings of steamed mussels, clams, or Little Necks.  Salads, pasta, and wraps are also on the menu, as are daily lunch and dinner specials.

Empanadas To Go

    Gula Gula Empanadas is selling its treats at the Sag Harbor farmers market, held Saturdays at the parking lot at Bay Burger on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike. The empanadas come in many flavors, including buffalo, and can be purchased frozen for baking at home or ready to eat. Those who send an e-mail by Wednesday of each week to [email protected] can pick up orders at the market.

Spring Hors d’Oeuvres

    Ashley Foster of Water Mill, the owner of Tasty Bites Catering, will discuss “memorable spring hors d’oeuvres” at an Everyday Cooks program at the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton on Wednesday at noon. Reservations are required and can be made by calling the library or at www.myrml.org.

Estia in Darien

    Colin Ambrose, the chef and owner of Estia’s Little Kitchen in Sag Harbor, has opened Estia’s American in Darien, Conn.

    The eatery will offer cafe-style breakfast and lunch, with a juice bar, and shift into another mode for dinner and bar service. The menu will reflect Mr. Ambrose’s commitment to local and seasonal produce.

    Carissa Waechter, a co-founder of the Amagansett Food Institute who had been producing and selling breads through a business called Carissa’s Breads, will work in the kitchen at the new restaurant. She began her culinary career at Mondrian Pastry in New York City and worked as part of a pastry team under the chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud, as well as several other places, before finding her way to Amagansett.

Wine Dinner at Almond

    The wines of Paumanok Vineyards will be featured at Almond restaurant in Bridgehampton next Thursday at a dinner beginning at 7 p.m. Jason Weiner, the restaurant’s co-owner and chef, will present a three-course meal, along with passed hors d’oeuvres and dessert, all paired with Paumanok selections. The menu will include striped bass with baby artichoke and an entree of leg of lamb with fava beans, chickpeas, baby carrots, and wilted greens.  The cost is $65 per person plus tax and gratuity.

Brunch in Sag

    Beginning this weekend, Muse in the Harbor will offer brunch each Saturday and Sunday, with a menu featuring dishes on the “lunch side” or “breakfast side.” It will be served from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.    

New at Nick & Toni’s

    Nick & Toni’s in East Hampton has added some new dishes for springtime. Serving dinner from 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, the restaurant now offers an antipasto of warm asparagus and crab with pea greens, orange aioli, and slivered red onions, a first course of ricotta gnocchi with fontina, spring peas, and straw mushrooms, and, for entrees, grilled lamb tenderloins with snap peas, baby carrots, and mint, among other choices.

Watch, Learn

    A free cooking demonstration at the Loaves and Fishes Cookshop in Bridgehampton on Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. will feature the preparation of sweet pea crostini.

    Jennifer’s mother-in-law cooks her brisket with Coca-Cola. Steve puts Spanish olives on his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Have you ever tried extra virgin olive oil drizzled over premium vanilla ice cream? Who knew these bizarre food combinations could be so good? And who was the first genius to stick a can of beer inside a chicken carcass before grilling?

    Some unusual food combinations and recipes have been around for years, some are chef’s secrets, and some seem to come about after a night of refreshing beverages and not much to work with . . . fried chicken with kimchi, anyone? Some of them make sense, like carrots with a pinch of sugar in the classic French recipe carrots Vichy. But tomatoes with a pinch of sugar? Try it, the acidity of the tomatoes works beautifully with a hint of sweetness. Another intriguing tomato trick I discovered but have not tried yet: cooking a small bit of the tomato vine with tomatoes because this is where a great deal of the flavor is stored.

    The combination of chocolate and chilies has become popular in the form of both chili powder in bittersweet chocolate and a pinch of cocoa powder in chili recipes.

    Some seemingly odd combinations became popular in the years of nouvelle cuisine — strawberries or peaches with black pepper, strawberries with balsamic vinegar. I resisted these for a while, but if you try very, very good, old balsamic vinegar (just a few drops!) on perfect summer berries, it really is delicious. Brie cheese with raspberries, and blue cheese with honey are reputed to be magical pairings. My friend Kathleen once gave me a jar of truffle honey with a card suggesting it be drizzled over Cypress Grove’s Humboldt Fog goat cheese. What a spectacular combination! Since I ran out of the truffle honey, I simply stir a few drops of truffle oil into honey and recreate it quite successfully.

    Apparently, a pinch of salt in coffee brings out the flavor but I’m skipping that one.

    Chef’s secrets include a pinch of star anise with stewing meats — it enhances the flavor but is undetectable — and Thai fish sauce in tomato sauce. I have used this trick and it is magical. Don’t be thrown off by the fishy smell, this dissipates when cooked. Just a dash in your basic marinara!

    In the olden days (probably when doctors were smoking in their offices and we didn’t wear seat belts), there were a lot of recipes involving shortcuts and soda pop and the kind of advertising that would make Don Draper proud. How about this suggestion from the folks at 7-Up:

    “Ham Basted With 7-Up — a he-man favorite made richer, more succulent! Pour half-cup 7-Up over ham, bake one and a half hours at 325 degrees. Try with duck to make gravy with an unusual, delicious flavor!” Honestly, doesn’t that last suggestion just sound lazy?

    Here’s another doozie from a time when we must have made our dentists very rich:

    “A Little Trick That Makes A Treat! Mother knows that this is a wholesome combination. The addition of 7-Up gives milk a new flavor appeal that especially pleases children.” Nothing like a little fizzy corn syrup milk to start your darling’s day!

    This recipe just sounds like an incomplete haiku by an angry person:

    “Deer Roast. 4 lb. deer roast, one apple, Coke.” Yum.

    Some other combinations that appear over and over again are cheddar cheese in vanilla ice cream, bananas with sour cream, and bagels topped with everything. My favorite strange bagel topper — cream cheese, yellow mustard, gobs of fresh ground black pepper. Some combinations are logical in that we crave the salty-sweet or crunchy-creamy mouth feel. But pepper jack cheese with pineapple? Sourdough pretzels with avocado? Tomatoes dipped in ketchup?

    Just as chicken rice is a delicious street food in Singapore — probably because the rice is cooked in a lot of chicken fat and this is usually eaten at 3 a.m. after a night on the town — there is a popular Filipino breakfast dish called champorado. It begins with a sweet, glutinous rice cooked with cocoa powder and condensed milk. Sounds good so far, right? Then it is topped with salty, crunchy dried fish.

    Some food combinations are genius. Try popcorn with champagne. Apples cooked with vanilla. Beer can chicken is the perfect vehicle for adding flavor and moisture to your bird. The Dr. Pepper-Coca-Cola marinade concept adds a touch of sweetness and helps tenderize the proteins in the meat. It also takes rust off of nails in case you’re looking for other uses for your colas.

    I found a recipe for sauerkraut cupcakes and have heard about black bean brownies and chocolate cake moistened with mayo, but I’m not sure I’m ready or willing to try them. But a homemade apple pie infused with vanilla bean? Yes. Even fried chicken with kimchi sounds freakishly appealing. . . .

Click for recipes

    The Palm restaurant in East Hampton is offering a three-course prix fixe dinner for Easter for $58.90 per person, plus tax and tip. The meal will begin with a choice of salad or lobster bisque, followed by filet mignon served with a choice of panko fried shrimp, bacon-wrapped scallops, jumbo shrimp, or jumbo lump crab cake. Dessert will be New York-style cheesecake or creme brulée. Reservations have been suggested.

    Pierre’s restaurant in Bridgehampton will serve an Easter brunch from 10 a.m. till 10 p.m.

    At the new Muse in the Harbor on Easter Sunday, the menu will include traditional holiday entrees such as lamb and ham. A kids menu will also be served. A three-course holiday prix fixe to be offered for $28.95 will include a choice of first courses such as various kinds of meatballs, soup, salad, and rice balls on a stick, and entrees including Mambo Chicken Italiano, Three Little Piggies, which incorporates three types of pork, and tilapia Wiener schnitzel, as well as a vegetarian selection. Dessert will be included as well.

    The Easter brunch special at the Living Room in East Hampton will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and include three courses, with a glass of sparkling wine for adults, and an opportunity for children to decorate their own cookies. The cost is $65 per person.

    At Cafe Max in East Hampton on Easter Sunday, a three-course prix fixe will offer diners a choice of appetizers such as the soup du jour, spring rolls, pear with gorgonzola and walnuts, shrimp cocktail, or fettuccini Alfredo. The entrees include penne with chicken sausage in tomato concassé, grilled or Cajun-style local fish, grilled salmon with a Dijon sauce, chicken Francaise, roast leg of lamb (for a $2 supplement), or roast prime rib. For dessert, there will be strawberry shortcake, Key lime pie, cranberry apple tarte, vanilla or chocolate ice cream, or fruit sorbet. The cost is $30 per person, or $20 for children 13 and under.

Easter in Montauk

    In Montauk, there are a number of Easter specials to be had. Inlet Seafood overlooking the water on East Lake Drive will serve a Sunday brunch from noon to 3 p.m. and an Easter dinner menu from noon to 8 p.m.

    At the Shagwong Tavern on Main Street, a three-course prix fixe will be offered all day for $29 per person.

    The Montauk Yacht Club will be have an Easter brunch from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. that will include carving, pasta, and omelette stations, a raw bar, hot and cold buffets, and an array of desserts including homemade ice cream sundaes made to order.

    Manucci’s, on the corner of West Lake Drive and Flamingo Road, will have a $31.95 Easter prix fixe with entree choices to include a roast half-duck, filet mignon, crab and shrimp-stuffed fluke, braised lamb shank, and zuppa di pesce. The special will include soup or salad and a dessert.

    Gurney’s Inn will serve a traditional Easter dinner from 1 to 9 p.m. Among the entree choices will be veal chops, shrimp scampi, lamb chops, pork loin, steamed or broiled lobster or monkfish, and three “heart-healthy” selections.

Pierre’s in Spring

    At Pierre’s in Bridgehampton, a new menu revamped for spring includes lobster salad, pan-seared red snapper served with vegetables and an orange juice-infused broth, and a salad of tomato with fresh mango, avocado, and virgin olive oil. Hanger steak will replace the pot au feu that has been on the menu, and an artichoke velouté will replace the onion soup.

    Pierre’s also has a two-course prix fixe for $26, and a three-course prix fixe for $30, available all night except on Friday and Saturday, when it is offered only until 6:30 p.m. The prix fixe will not be offered on Easter.

Restaurant Week

    The recent Hamptons Restaurant Week — the 10th annual — had 56 participating restaurants offering a prix fixe promotion and jumpstarting their new seasons.

    A total of $2,495 ($10 for each new fan of the Hamptons Restaurant Week Facebook page) was donated to Maureen’s Haven, a nonprofit group that offers services for the homeless.

Pajama Party at Phao

    At a “pajama party” tomorrow night at Phao restaurant in Sag Harbor, which begins at 10:30, guests who wear pajamas will receive a complimentary drink. Judging for a $50 cash prize for the most comfortable and sexiest pajamas will be at 12:30 a.m. A D.J. will spin tunes. There will be no admission fee.

Cook’s Cook

    Joe Realmuto, the executive chef at Nick and Toni’s in East Hampton and the Nick and Toni’s Cafe in Manhattan, will teach a class at the De Gustibus Cooking School in New York City on April 17. The dishes to be prepared will highlight his devotion to local and organic produce, fish, and Mediterranean cooking.

Back From the Farms

    Lucy Kazickas, the owner of the Lucy’s Whey cheese shop on North Main Street in East Hampton, has returned from recent trips to visit farmers in the Finger Lakes region and Wisconsin, where she sampled new cheese as well as some of the old favorites.

    The shop will reopen for the season today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will also be open tomorrow and Saturday. Springtime hours on subsequent weekends will be Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Memorial Day.

    It’s confession time. Two years ago you would have found me jogging three and a half miles at least four days a week, swimming a few miles at Gurney’s twice a week, and attending frequent yoga classes. But working as a chef is tiring and I’m gettin’ old. I slacked off on the exercise and the pounds crept up on me. This is all it took to lead me to my current status as a person with hypertension: a 15-pound weight gain and sheer laziness.

    My doctor recommended the DASH diet, “dietary approaches to stop hypertension,” along with moderate daily exercise. I mentioned this diet a few weeks ago in a column about the delicious, decadent food and adult beverages of New Orleans and how I tried to safely navigate this terrain while in that city for six days. I have learned a lot in the six weeks I have been on the DASH diet, have lost five pounds, and have successfully lowered my blood pressure.

    Springtime is here, soon there will be plenty of fresh local fruits and vegetables, and perhaps you, too, would like to shed a few pounds and adopt a healthier lifestyle. The good news is how easy it is. The DASH diet is easy to follow, and because it is heavy on grains, fruits, and vegetables, you never feel hungry. More important, it is endorsed by the American Heart Association, the Mayo Clinic, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (part of the National Institutes of Health), and has been voted the number-one best and healthiest overall diet plan by U.S. News and World Report.

    Based on your age, weight, sex, and level of activity, you can calculate what your daily diet should include. In my case, it is six servings of grains (this means wheat bread, cooked pastas, rice, and cereals), four each of fruits and vegetables, one and a half of meat, poultry, or fish, a quarter of nuts, two of low-fat dairy, one of fat, and half a serving of sweets. Obviously in the grains category they mean brown rice not white, and oatmeal, not Cap’n Crunch.

    I have embraced the challenge of coming up with tasty meals and knocking off as many of my required items at a single sitting. Some have been tremendously successful and delicious, others went straight into the garbage, with me cursing the waste of time and money spent. Here is what I love: brown rice and oatmeal. Here is what I hate: turkey bacon, whole-wheat pasta, and non-fat sour cream.

    One day I found poblano peppers at the market. As I love chiles rellenos, I attempted to come up with a healthy alternative. After roasting and peeling the peppers I stuffed them with a mixture of quinoa, corn, cumin, and a tiny bit of grated cheese. Topped with some homemade pico de gallo they were delicious. Another time I tried a recipe from Food and Wine’s “healthiest new ingredients” issue. It was so time-consuming, expensive, and ghastly I tried to find a Food and Wine Web site so I could complain about it. There’s no way they tested that recipe. It was punishment.

    Working in a restaurant and writing restaurant reviews present more challenges. At work, I have access to all kinds of healthy and delicious things — every kind of fruit, salad ingredient, kale, squash, cabbage, you name it. But I am also confronted on a daily basis with the home fries sizzling in butter with bits of caramelized onion, mashed potatoes, bagels, and gravlax, not to mention the desserts and ice creams I crank out for the restaurant. Family meal, or staff meal, is frequently loaded with pasta, creamy sauces, cheese, and all manner of pork products. When dining in restaurants I simply remind myself, “You don’t have to eat it, you just have to taste it.” As I abhor waste, I do ask for doggy bags and give them to my dining companions.

    The DASH folks offer diet tips: Take advantage of deli and supermarket salad bars, double up on vegetables (one cup is two servings), put berries on your cereal, nuts are okay! Some convenience foods make DASH easier, bagged ready-to-eat baby carrots, broccoli, and cabbage slaw. Make your plate colorful. You want to see greens and oranges and reds, not just the browns and whites of meat and starch.

    My refrigerator has changed; my pantry has changed. They’re actually quite picturesque! Look, there’s a lovely bowl of black grapes where the Epoisses cheese used to be. Falafel and sweet potato chips have replaced those awesomely delicious Cape Cod potato chips. I make fruit crisps with no sugar, topped with homemade granola, and served with vanilla frozen yogurt. Homemade hummus is a snap to make and has much less fat than commercial brands. I keep a toasted nut mixture of sunflower, pumpkin seeds, almonds, and dried cranberries on hand to toss on top of every salad or just to snack on. When I was too pooped to cook the other night, the lure of takeout Chinese food was too much. I succumbed, but only to the sautéed string beans and brown rice.

    I am not hungry. I am probably eating more than I did before, but the food is better. I don’t really miss butter or the extra dash of salt I would always put on everything or cookies or steak. The DASH diet does not forbid any of these things, it simply recommends smaller amounts. You can try fad diets and you will lose weight. You can brag about rapidly losing 30 pounds on the high protein “A” diet, but I guarantee you will probably gain it back. I am not a doctor. I am not a nutritionist. I am just a person with common sense who is trying to improve her health. Diet bad. Moderation good. Lifestyle change best!

Click for recipes

   Mirko’s restaurant in Water Mill, among the longstanding eateries that have built up a dedicated base of customers from year to year, is getting set for a springtime reopening. After a winter break, Mirko’s will begin serving again next Thursday.

Bavarian Beer Haus

    In Montauk, the downtown building on South Elmwood Avenue that once housed Oyster Pond restaurant is slated to become Zum Schneider MTK, an eastern outpost of the Zum Schneider Restaurant and Biergarten in Manhattan’s East Village. The owner, Sylvester Schneider, has said it will remain open year round.

Hampton Seafood Company

    In place of Claws on Wheels, the Hampton Seafood Company will soon be open on Race Lane in East Hampton. Peter Ambrose, a longtime chef and caterer at the Seafood Shop in Wainscott, is setting out on his own to begin the fish market and takeout shop and will run Peter Ambrose Events and Endless Summer Catering from the new location.

Spring Holiday Treats

    Charlotte Sasso at Stuart’s Seafood Market in Amagansett will prepare homemade gefilte fish and other foods for Passover for those who place holiday orders.

    On Sunday at Cittanuova in East Hampton, the Italian eatery will have its fifth annual Easter egg coloring festa for children ages 3 through 8, accompanied by an adult. The Easter Bunny will be on hand, and there will be a raffle of two big chocolate bunnies. The event takes place from 9 to 11 a.m., and there is a suggested donation of $3. The proceeds will go to the Kiwanis Club of East Hampton for local projects.

   I don’t know a lot about beer but when I heard Rowdy Hall was having its 10th annual beer dinner, celebrating local recipes and foods of the East End paired with local beers, I couldn’t resist.

    If the end of summer Shoe Inn warehouse sale is the siren call to all women, then surely the Rowdy Hall beer dinner is the same for all men. Or as one of the few women attending remarked upon surveying the room, “I’ve never seen so many seated men, and so well behaved!”

    The Rowdy Hall beer dinner has become a popular tradition, the brainchild of the omnipresent and awesome bartender Joe Gonzalez and proprietor Mark Smith. While some of us may think of Rowdy as the place for the best burgers, fish and chips, and French onion soup, beer aficionados recognize it as one of the best bars around. There are eight taps with a rotating selection, some international, some domestic, some very esoteric. There is also an eclectic mix of bottled beers. For those who may want to try some unusual brews such as Old Peculiar or Firestone’s I.P.A. — that’s India pale ale — Mr. Gonzalez recommends Peconic Beverage as a great source.

    The dinner began with passed hors d’oeuvres served with Southampton Publick House’s Biere de Mars, a “French farmhouse style ale that is clean and smooth with a lager-like finish.” I am quoting the menu description because I don’t know diddly about beer. There were delicious tiny codfish cakes, giant clam fritters, pickled squid, bluefish paté, and chicken liver crostinis, all excellent. Struggling for the right words to describe the Biere de Mars, I spied Jacques Franey of Domaine Franey and asked him. “Fresh!” he happily replied. Yes, fresh.

    The first course was a rich broth of potatoes and leeks from Balsam Farms studded with lightly poached Montauk oysters. Excellent with Greenport Harbor Brewing Company’s Black Duck Porter, which was “malt forward, strong cocoa with hints of coffee and a roasty dry finish.” Indeed, I get that.

    Upon arrival, every guest got raffle tickets. Between courses, Mark Smith, a most entertaining M.C., shouted out numbers for prizes, shared jokes that veered between cornball Henny Youngman to almost P.C. Louis C.K. This kept the gents laughing as the bowls were cleared and fresh brews delivered. The next course was East End clam pie served with Hamptons Beer Company Pale Ale. The clam pie, based on Saveur magazine’s version, which is supposed to be close to the original Crystal Room’s clam pie, was delicious. It was kind of like a solid clam chowder with all the flavors you expect, briny clams, a bit of thyme, finely diced vegetables. The beer was one of my favorites, “a subtle sweet malt, balanced by a crisp, citrusy hop finish.” I asked Joe where, exactly, in East Hampton, is the Hamptons Beer Company? “Well, it’s kind of a gypsy brewery.” Gypsy brewing is brewing on the go, a subculture of the craft beer industry. I found it apricot-ty, a bit fruity, very good.

    Next on the menu was roasted Long Island duckling with Cumberland sauce, accompanied by a root vegetable gratin and served with Montauk Brewing Company’s Driftwood Ale, “an American E.S.B. (Extra Special Bitter) with a harmonious existence between the malt and hop leading this brew to high quaffability.” I concur. The duck was tender and delicious, and when is the last time you saw Cumberland sauce on a menu?!

    All of the recipes used for the all-local menu came from old cookbooks, a good number from ancient L.V.I.S. cookbooks.

    So how do they choose the foods to go along with the beers? According to Mr. Gonzalez, they choose the menu first, then pair the beers with it. Among the favorites of past beer dinners was Fuller’s E.S.B., which was chosen to partner with the passed hors d’oeuvres. “There was a lot of synchronicity with that one,” he told me. The Peter Luger’s Steakhouse menu dinner was another huge hit.

    Mr. Gonzalez pointed out that when Rowdy Hall opened 16 years ago there was very little interest in or knowledge of microbreweries, craft brewing, and now, gypsy brewing. Over the years beer drinkers have become more interested, and the savvy folks who come out from New York City make it a point to stop by Rowdy Hall to try, say, the rare Nogne I.P.A. from Norway, or Belgium’s Lindeman’s Framboise.

    Rowdy Hall’s beer dinners have become a popular community event and are always sold out. They are fun, funny, and informative, and the majority of attendees come every year.

    So what does Joe Gonzalez, a bartender’s bartender, who surely has tried everything under the sun and moon, like to drink? “I am a beer guy. I like Beck’s on tap. Around here we call it ‘Rowdy water.’ ”

    Ospreys have been sighted and restaurant stoves are heating up after winter dormancy, so it must be spring.

    At the almost-tip of East Lake Drive in Montauk, overlooking the mouth of the Montauk Harbor channel, Inlet Seafood will begin serving lunch and dinner on Thursday, extending its long weekends. Lunch and dinner is served each day.

Gluten-Free Pizza

    Those following gluten-free diets may be heartened to hear that Pepperoni’s, on Springs-Fireplace Road in East Hampton, is now serving pizza made with gluten-free dough.

New BBQ

    Eric and Mark Miller have opened the Millers’ Real BBQ takeout shop at their Food & Co. building on Montauk Highway in East Hampton. The new barbecue spot, with a menu full of smoked, barbecued, and hickory-roasted pork, brisket, chicken, and duck, along with sandwiches, quesadillas, and side dishes, opened last weekend and will be serving from noon to 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Catering for a minimum of 10 people is available as well.

Still Restaurant Week

    Foodies readers who have not yet gone out to a restaurant participating in Hamptons Restaurant Week have a few more opportunities to avail themselves of the prix fixe specials being offered through Sunday night. Meals cost either $19.95 or $24.95. A list of the participating eateries can be found at hamptonsrestaurantweek.com.

March Fest

    Just a bit over a week remains of the March to Spring food and wine fest at Michaels’ in Springs. All this month, the restaurant is offering a special including a three-course dinner with three glasses of wine for $45 a person, or the food only, without spirits, at $30 per person. Michaels’ is open nightly, and menus are posted at michaelsofmaidstone.com.

More Market Vendors

    The Fair Foods Farmers Market, held Saturdays at the Bay Burger building on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike in Sag Harbor, will continue until May 12.  Early spring produce from local farmers will be coming soon, but available now are baked goods, Latin American-style empanadas, pickles, East End wines, spices, sauces, jams, olive oils, dairy products, and premium steaks, bacon, and sausages from grass-fed animals. The market is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

More Mary’s

    Soon devotees of Mary’s Marvelous’s whole wheat maple scones, vegan muffins, and other tasty choices for breakfast and lunch will have two stores to choose from. The Amagansett favorite is expanding to East Hampton Village, where it will take the spot formerly occupied by Bucket’s Delicatessen.

    The new store will be similar to the original, minus the seating, and will have a few additional offerings, like a juice bar, according to Mary Schoenlein, the owner. She is aiming for a July 1 opening, and is contending with the two locations by “splitting myself in half,” she said with a laugh.    B.L.

A Bit o’ the Irish

    A two-course special for St. Patrick’s Day will be offered at Rowdy Hall in East Hampton on Saturday and on March 25, the day of the Friends of Erin parade in Montauk. A two-course meal for $20 will include a choice of an appetizer and entree, or an entree and dessert. Menu choices include potato leek soup, corned beef and cabbage with potatoes, bangers and mash, shepherd’s pie, and sticky toffee pudding. There will also be drink specials and, on Saturday, live Irish music from 3 to 6 p.m.

At the American Hotel

    A wine dinner at the American Hotel in Sag Harbor next Thursday is part of a series called Partners in Living Local, arranged by Jon Leo, a winemaker and Slow Food member. It will feature wine by the Premium Wine Group in Mattituck — their T’Jara Merlot and T’Jara Reserve. The cost of the dinner is $70 plus tax and tip. The hotel is taking reservations for the Slow Food organization’s Josh Levine Memorial Dinner on April 1, honoring a young man who worked at Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett. Tickets can be purchased separately for a cocktail hour with hors d’oeuvres that will be held at Bay Street Theatre that evening from 5 to 7.

Restaurant Week

    Hamptons Restaurant Week begins Sunday. Participating restaurants, a list of which can be found at hamptonsrestaurantweek.com, are offering a three-course prix fixe for $19.95 or $24.95 each evening through March 25, except on Saturday nights, when the special will be available only until 7.

East End Chefs

    Jimbo Renner, the chef and owner of Il Capuccino in Sag Harbor, will prepare a meal next Thursday at the Old Whalers Church in Sag Harbor, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The menu will include mussels with poblano peppers, baked local fish, a local spring vegetable, and challah bread French toast with heavy cream and berries. Wine will be served. The program, the first in this year’s East End Chefs series at the church, costs $30. Space is limited, and advance reservations can be made by calling the church.

   So I went to the doctor a month ago and got the bad news. All of a sudden I have high blood pressure. My entire life I have had low blood pressure. The blood pressure of a lizard sunning herself on a mesa in New Mexico — chill, baby, chill! The doctor recommended the DASH diet. DASH is a silly acronym I keep forgetting. It’s something like “diet to abolish stupid hypertension.” No, seriously, it’s “dieting approaches to stop hypertension.”

   But that’s not what this story is about. In the midst of this strict new diet, I was scheduled to attend a six-day conference in New Orleans. New Orleans! One of the greatest food cities in America! Land of the fried oysters, beignets, po boys, pralines, muffalettas, hurricanes, Sazeracs, ’n’ grits. Not one of those delectable items is on the DASH diet. How could I navigate the rich, fatty, salty food landscape of that beautiful, rundown city and stick to my diet?

   While still at home I found myself embracing the discipline of DASH. I love brown rice and oatmeal and kale and butternut squash. Quinoa is fun! Nonfat Greek yogurt is a miracle! The DASH diet suggests six to eight servings of grains per day, four to five each of fruits and vegetables, two of dairy, one and a half of meat or fish, and very little fat and sweets. At the restaurant where I work it has been hard to resist the “family meal,” always delicious but most often pasta-centric. On the other hand, I have access to all kinds of fruit and salad fixings. It’s easy to just grab a handful of berries and whip up a smoothie or build a balanced salad full of greens, carrots, and sunflower seeds.

    But New Orleans was looming and I love every salty, deep-fried crustacean and mollusk that city has to offer. Every restaurant I wanted to revisit or explore for the first time offers such naughty dishes such as Mr. B’s barbecued shrimp, a Worcestershire sauce and butter extravaganza, Nola’s andouille sausage bread pudding, and Arnaud’s oysters Bienville, full of cream and Romano cheese.

    The food of New Orleans doesn’t change. This city is as enamored of its Cajun and Creole cuisine as every tourist who visits it. There is no farm-to-table movement, no vegan options at K Paul’s, and if you don’t embrace walking the streets with an adult beverage in your hand at all times of the day, what are you doing here?

    Well, it turns out it wasn’t that hard to be virtuous and pick my way carefully through the land mine of menus. I could order the simplest fish preparations and plenty of vegetable side dishes. In lieu of a Sazerac or milk punch, a glass of sauvignon blanc went quite nicely with the savory spices of traditional N’Awlins cooking. My colleague Ken discovered the coolest, funkiest (and healthiest) restaurant in the entire city. Green Goddess, a tiny spot tucked down an alleyway, with only eight seats and four bar stools, was my savior. It was so good we ate there three times. They serve dishes such as muhammara, a Syrian dip of roasted red peppers, walnuts, and pomegranate molasses served with raw and cooked vegetables, a vegetarian Cuban sandwich filled with collard greens, Indian lentil pancakes, and satsuma shrimp salad with arugula. Of course, they also had a few classics; a pressed crab sandwich, pork belly with red eye gravy, and a rich bruléed apple French toast.

    There was one day, however, when I had to let myself off the leash. I wandered into Cafe du Monde for the fried dough squares known as beignets. You get three to an order, piled high with powdered sugar. I daintily nibbled on one and went my merry way. Next stop, for another irresistible New Orleans classic, Central Grocery for a muffaletta. These sandwiches consist of huge, soft, round loaves filled with Italian meats such as soppressata, mortadella, salami, some provolone cheese, and, most important, an oily pickled mixture called olive salad. I only ate a quarter of the sandwich and was happy to leave the rest.

    As I tried to navigate through this fattening foodie heaven, I realized that there were so many ways I could cook these foods at home without all the fat and frying and salt and sugar. Remoulade? Why not try making it with yogurt and Vegenaise instead of mayonnaise? Blackened redfish dipped in butter? Why not bake it with a whisper of olive oil? Maque choux, that lovely mixture of corn, peppers, onions, and tomatoes swimming in butter and cream? Again, cook it in olive oil.

    I proposed to my colleagues Ken and Nick that, upon our return, I would cook a virtuous, healthy New Orleans-style meal for us all. I combined a variety of fish — red snapper, grouper, and tilefish — and baked them with the classic blackened fish spices. The maque choux, enough for eight people, had no more than two tablespoons of olive oil. The remoulade for the blackened fish was a combination of diced celery, sweet onion, lemon juice, cayenne, and yogurt. The salad, an homage to Green Goddess’s kooky, clever, healthy menu, was a mixture of Asian greens, slices of Asian pear, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and crushed sweet potato chips on top. For dessert, however, I felt the need to adhere to one great New Orleans classic, Commander Palace’s souffléed bread pudding.

    The meal was a great success and I liked knowing that I sent my friends home sated, not bloated. Last but not least, I discovered upon my return that I am probably the only person in history to have come home from a week in New Orleans three pounds lighter and feeling pretty darned good. Like a lizard sunning herself on a rock in the desert.

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