A “Barefoot Contessa” episode that aired on the Food Network on Monday featured cheeses selected by Ina Garten at the Lucy’s Whey cheese shop here in East Hampton. Ms. Garten was putting together an “all-American cheese plate.”

    The shop will be closed for a winter break during February and March. Tomorrow through Sunday, all jams, chutneys, honeys, and crackers will be 15 percent off. During the East Hampton store’s hiatus, items can be ordered from Lucy’s Whey online, or purchased at the shop’s New York City location at the Chelsea Market.

Cooking Demo

    On Saturday, a recipe from the cookbook “Country Weekend Entertaining” by Anna Pump will be prepared at the Loaves and Fishes Cookshop in Bridgehampton. Between noon and 2 p.m., visitors can learn how to make a macadamia nut tart during the free cooking demonstration.

Alsatian Week

    This is Alsatian Week at Pierre’s restaurant in Bridgehampton. Specials on the menu through Sunday reflect Pierre’s French heritage. The items include a soup with chicken liver balls in a rich vegetable broth, which the restaurateur says was his grandmother’s special Sunday evening treat, and a roasted potato dish with fromage blanc, garlic, onions, and chives, which is served by his mother.

    Also on the menu is Choucroute Royale, described as Alsace’s “national dish,” which is white, blood, and frankfurter sausage, pork shank, and smoked pork belly served with sauerkraut and steamed potatoes; veal kidney with spaetzle and a creamy sauce flambé with cognac, and a peasant dish of lamb shoulder, beef round, and pork shoulder cooked together, for 12 hours, with riesling, potatoes, onions, and carrots. There are special desserts as well and a list of selected complementary wines.

New, Tasty?

    Rowdy Hall, open all year for lunch and dinner, is keeping it interesting by adding some new wintertime menu items. On the lunch list is a potato and French bean salad, and, for sandwiches, grilled marinated eggplant with lemon aioli, arugula, chickpeas, and feta cheese; roasted turkey on a baguette with Camembert, frisée lettuce, and a red currant vinaigrette, and a “French Market Sandwich,” which is warm ham and melted Swiss on a croissant with baby field greens.

    At dinnertime, there is country paté with pickled pearl onions, Dijon mustard, and a grilled baguette as a starter, and entrees including pan-roasted local cod with mushroom ragout and grilled endive; New York strip steak served with hand-cut French fries, roasted shallots, and Bordelaise sauce; roasted acorn squash filled with spinach, leeks, pine nuts, and feta, and cassoulet made with braised pork shoulder, garlic sausage, and duck confit.

    Rowdy also has specials every day of the week. They are listed on the restaurant’s Web site, rowdyhall.com.

Eastern Specials

    For those whose home base is west of the easternmost hamlet, a trip across the Napeague stretch to Montauk can seem less than enticing this time of year. But the specials at two sister restaurants, East by Northeast and the Harvest, might be enough to prompt such an excursion. At the Harvest, a $24 prix fixe is served on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. In addition, for those who want to taste a dish but need less than the restaurant’s normal family-style offerings, half portions can be ordered.

    At ENE, there is a $15 prix fixe served all night on Sunday through Thursday, as well as until 6:45 p.m. on Friday, except on holiday weekends.

   My editor, Jennifer, recently turned me on to an awesome Web site called HauteLiving.com. The reason being they featured a little article called “Top 5 Power Lunches in the Hamptons.” Power lunches in the Hamptons? In January? Who does that?

    Well, I figured somebody out here must be having business lunches and power lunches. I eagerly sought out the “article” and was delighted by the lyrical writing, chic, glossy graphics, and informative content. Seriously, Haute Living makes Hamptons magazine (fast reading for the slow thinking) look like Henry James. The five restaurants featured were the American Hotel, East Hampton Point, Sant Ambroeus, La Plage, and Tutto Il Giorno.

    Okay, so to begin, both East Hampton Point and Sant Ambroeus are closed this time of year. La Plage is on the North Shore. So that leaves two restaurants in the Hamptons for your power lunch. Even CurbedHamptons picked up on this egregious error, but even they only detected one that is closed.

    The American Hotel is described as “wood garnished.” What’s that? They recommend the “simple grilled lamb chops mint.” At La Plage the “carmelized jumbo sea scallops as entree” are suggested. Sant Ambroeus is “based of equally named restaurant in Milan” and is “reminicint of the old country.” Best of all, Tutto Il Giorno is described as a “beachfront eatery.” Uh, that looks like a park and a marina to me, but who am I to quibble over facts?

    So this got me to thinking, where are the power lunch spots in the Hamptons and who goes? As far as I can tell the only power brokers out here are real estate agents and nail bangers. I would imagine that places like Bobby Van’s in Bridgehampton, Cittanuova in East Hampton, and Silver’s in Southampton are good midday meeting spots. But my idea of a power lunch location is the bench in front of Mary’s Marvelous in Amagansett, where you can wolf down a chipotle chicken panino followed by cold green tea and gossip about the surf, where you’d rather be this time of year, and who’s having an affair with whom. Or perhaps Rowdy Hall in East Hampton for a warming bowl of onion soup, fish and chips, or a superlative burger. The Living Room offers a business lunch menu but this option is woefully underutilized. I know; I work there.

    Once the domain of men only, business lunches over the decades have come to include women. Formal business lunches remain popular in countries such as Denmark, Argentina, and France, each with their own etiquette. The three-martini lunch, popular in the 1950s through the ’90s, has virtually disappeared. However, thanks to the popularity of AMC’s show “Mad Men,” about Madison Avenue ad execs in the 1960s, you can get a Mad Men-style business lunch called “From Reel Life to Real Life” at the Ruth’s Chris Steak House . . . in Dubai. Much beef is proffered and preferred, the raw and the cooked.

    Once upon a time, the three-martini lunch was tax-deductible as a business expense. While campaigning for president in 1976, Jimmy Carter condemned the practice, claiming the working class was subsidizing what he called “the $50 martini lunch.” His opponent, Gerald Ford, responded by saying “the three-martini lunch is the epitome of American efficiency. Where else can you get an earful, a bellyful, and a snootful at the same time?” This was obviously before his wife, Betty, revealed her struggle with alcoholism and opened the Betty Ford Clinic.

    In 1986 a law limiting the meal expense deduction to 80 percent was enacted and by 1993 only 50 percent was deductible, leading the comedian George Carlin to respond “while the three-martini lunch is being cracked down on, it shouldn’t affect the working man’s two-joint coffee break.” Ha ha.

    Times are busier, people want to be healthier, and very few folks have hours to spend over lunch, whether business, power, or otherwise. Perhaps there are clusters of high-powered people meeting at Yama Q or Nichol’s or Southampton Publick House for midday brainstorming, but I wouldn’t know. I think the top five power lunch spots in the Hamptons are the Fairway at Poxabogue in Sagaponack, your car at Wiborg’s Beach in East Hampton with a Villa Combo, the Candy Kitchen in Bridgehampton, John Papas Cafe in East Hampton, and your own desk at work.

    For those who would like to duplicate the decadent power lunch recipes of yore, let’s begin with the martini. . . .

    Teaching cooking is both fun and challenging. I have led large groups of adults through five-hour classes with labor-intensive recipes. I have taught young children beginner knife skills and how to use a blowtorch. Yes! I have had an adult student argue with me over the history and legality of imported prosciutto, and an 8-year-old student argue with me over consuming one more mouthful of raw peanut butter cookie dough. It is rewarding to see grown-ups leave a class full of confidence and new recipes and even more rewarding to see children learn what I consider to be one of the most important life skills.

    Recently I took on a different kind of cooking lesson, one that required an entirely new mind-set for me, and for my student. My former boss in Washington, D.C., was recently widowed at the age of 82. His wonderful wife had always done all of the cooking, and now here he was, rattling around his big, empty farmhouse in McLean, Va., without a clue.

    They had four wonderful children, two of whom live near him. They are doting, loving sons with lovely wives and they are doing the best they can to make sure he eats right. When I told him I would come down for a few days of cooking lessons, he excitedly planned a dinner party.

    Roger is fit and active. He has no food allergies but he banned duck, liver, and brussels sprouts from our upcoming lessons. Oh, well, there goes the 20-minute cassoulet I thought he would like!

    My goal was to demonstrate recipes that required a minimum of work, nothing daunting, nothing with massive amounts of fussy ingredients. It was also important to keep movement to a minimum, I didn’t want to exhaust him. Spending an hour over the stove stirring risotto or basting a chicken would probably not be very appealing to an elderly beginner.

    I gathered up a collection of recipes that were simple, nutritious, and would freeze well. Upon arrival I went through the pantry looking for expired tins of tomato sauce and old spices. Half-empty boxes of tapioca made me sad. Roger’s wife, E.J., was a wonderful cook and this well-stocked larder was evidence of her wide-ranging abilities.

    The next project was “smart shopping.” I wanted Roger to see the vast possibilities now available at most supermarkets. “Check out the salad bar for pre-chopped vegetables! Look, butternut squash and string beans already manicured for you! Do you like pizza? Some of these frozen foods are not bad! Let’s get some steaks so you’ll have them in the freezer!” I had noticed that the crisper bins in his refrigerator were devoid of fresh fruits and vegetables. He was also averse to the oven and preferred to cook on top of the stove. Turns out this was due to the discomfort of having to bend over so far, something new to consider in our AARP cooking lessons!

    On our first day I went about making Craig Claiborne’s veal meatballs with tarragon in tomato sauce. Slightly complicated but a good meal to have in the freezer. Roger wandered off muttering something about needing a nap.

    Next was the butternut squash. I showed him how easy it is to drop the cubed squash into a gratin dish, drizzle with maple syrup, a bit of grated ginger, rosemary, and olive oil, into the oven and come back an hour later. The same for new potatoes, thinly sliced, olive oil, more rosemary. Again, pop into the oven and walk away for an hour. This was even easier to prepare than the sad little box of instant mashed potatoes from Betty Crocker that I found on the kitchen counter. The sauce we made for boneless chicken breasts was also a breeze. A vinaigrette to keep in the refrigerator for a week’s worth of salads rounded out that day’s lesson and we were done.

    Roger was grateful, but there was something akin to resignation about him during these lessons. Almost surrender.

    As things were bubbling and baking, I would take occasional breaks to wander around E.J.’s gardens. I could feel her everywhere and I hoped she approved of me muscling my way into her kitchen. Perhaps I shouldn’t have thrown out that half-empty box of tapioca that expired in 2008? There are birdbaths and fountains and little holy places all over their 10-acre property. A rock with a quote from Goethe by the koi pond, a baby Jesus feeding bunnies and birds in a far corner. E.J. was a formidable, marvelous, beautiful woman, a poet of great talent. Her moral compass was inspiring, her husband and children her greatest pride and joy.

    Roger’s dinner party was a great success and one of his sons even asked for some of the recipes. We toasted the most important woman of his life, missing from our table.

    On the day of my departure we cooked up a big casserole of homemade macaroni and cheese to take to his other son Jonathan and his wife, Carol, who had had a baby seven days before. This dish was bland and easy, a crowd pleaser for all of their other children, and safe for a nursing mother.

    Although retired from a long and distinguished career in journalism, Roger’s perspective and expertise are still in demand. As we were cooking, he had to escape to his den to conduct an interview with Douglas Brinkley for an upcoming book about CBS News. Another writer sent hundreds of black-and-white pictures from the Watergate trial so that Roger could identify the more obscure players. I feared the picture of Richard Nixon with sideburns would ruin our appetites!

    Did the old dog learn new tricks? I think so. But I think I learned even more. How to gently lead a reluctant and still mourning student into the land of self-sufficiency, practical skills, nutrition, and the pleasures of a meal you made yourself. Every one of us will someday be where Roger is now, slowed down, possibly alone. Cooking in a restaurant for the pleasure of others is what I do every day and it is rewarding. Cooking for those in need is even more so.

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    Growing up, I was lucky to live close to the Chesapeake Bay. This meant an abundance of blue crabs and bay scallops.

    As a young bride I often prepared a certain scallop dish for company. Boy, was it bad! But I didn’t know it at the time. I would dredge those sweet, tiny morsels in flour, then sauté them, then dump some garlicky tomato sauce on them and cook them for another 15 to 20 minutes. The flour thickened the tomato sauce in a nasty way, and the way-too-long cooking time made the scallops taste like rubbery little garlicky nubbins. What a waste.

    I’ve learned a lot about scallops since then, about their fragility, perishability, and their right to be left alone so that their sweetness can shine.

    This is a good year for bay scallops, they are plentiful and priced fairly reasonably. They are good raw, with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of sea salt, in ceviches, quickly seared, and yes, even good when floured and cooked briefly in tomato sauce.

    In America, we tend to only eat the adductor muscle of the scallop, while the “rims ’n’ roe” are prized in Europe and Canada.

    What makes scallops so sweet? They are full of the amino acids glycine and glycogen, a portion of which is gradually converted by enzymes into glucose when the animal is killed. When sautéed, they quickly develop a rich brown crust thanks to this combination of free amino acids and sugars.

    There are approximately 400 species of scallops that range from a few millimeters in size to a yard across. Most food scallops are harvested from the ocean floor. Sea scallops are usually dredged from deep, cold waters year round. The smaller bay and calico scallops are either dredged or hand-gathered by divers closer to shore during a defined season, like right now. Calico scallops are smaller and have less flavor than bay scallops and must be partially steamed to get them out of the shell. They are sometimes sold as bay scallops but are easy to recognize; they are pale white and opaque around the edges, kind of like baby marshmallows. Bay scallops are cream-colored, slightly pink, or orange and have an appealing sheen.

    When purchasing shucked scallops, avoid those that are pure white, brownish, or dull looking. It’s okay to ask if you can smell them. They will have an odor, but it shouldn’t be strong. Try to buy scallops of a similar size so they’ll cook evenly. It is a common practice for some scallops to be soaked in water to which tripolyphosphate has been added.

    This is to help preserve the freshness and add a little more weight to them. This is, however, catastrophic when the scallops are sautéed because the water runs out as soon as the scallops get hot. Wholesalers sell scallops labeled “wet” or “dry” but retailers are not required to pass this information on to you. Soaked scallops often look pure white and seem to merge together. Scallops that have not been soaked retain their ivory to pink to orange hue and remain separate.

    While you must be sure your scallops are super fresh, they are probably the safest shellfish to eat raw. All shellfish filter large amounts of seawater to obtain nutrients. Bacteria, viruses, and toxins tend to accumulate in this filtration apparatus. The filtration apparatus in scallops is discarded and only the adductor muscle (where few toxins accumulate) is eaten.

    Enjoy these special and delicate treats while they are in season. Their life span is a mere 24 months, so you never know from year to year how abundant the supply will be.

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    Bread by Nightowl Baker, a Montauk business that creates wild-yeasted, triple-fermented, extra-tangy sourdough bread, will be available throughout the winter at White’s Liquor Store on Montauk’s Main Street, on Fridays through Sundays. Bread deliveries can also be arranged through the Web site nightowlbaker.com.

Winter Market

    An indoor food market, meant to extend the Sag Harbor Farmers Market summer season, will be held on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. inside the Bay Burger building on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike in Sag Harbor beginning this weekend.

    The East End Fair Foods Market will feature winter produce by local growers, homemade baked goods, and items such as sauces, jams, olive oil, pesto, and tapenades. There will also be locally produced dairy items including cheeses, yogurt, cow and goat’s milk, and butter.

    Additional details about the market can be found at www.eastendfoodies. com. The managers may be contacted at [email protected].

Christmas Cookie Exchange

    The Southampton Historical Museum will host its annual cookie exhange on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Rogers Mansion on Meeting House Lane in Southampton. Participants will swap cookies and recipes by the dozen, and soup and cider will be served. The cost is $5 per person. As space is limited, those interested have been asked to call the museum to register.

Holiday Food and Drinks

    The East End Chefs series of cooking classes at the Old Whalers Church in Sag Harbor will wind up the year with an evening of holiday food, drinks, and desserts prepared by Lillian Woudsma, an East Hampton caterer, with Gerri Tomitz of Kiss My Cakes in Montauk, Sandra Wolge of East Hampton, who will demonstrate how to make table decorations from found materials, and a representative of Multi Aquaculture Systems in Amagansett.

    The menu includes turkey breast with scalloped potatoes and cranberry compote, lobster bisque, cheesecake, and peppermint brownies. There will also be instruction in making a gingerbread house and a yule log. Wine will be served, and there will be an auction of some of the items.

    The program begins at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday and will cost $30. Advance reservations have been recommended, and can be made by calling the church.

Tree Lighting Prix Fixe

    At the Living Room restaurant in East Hampton, housed at the c/o the Maidstone inn, a three-course holiday prix fixe will be offered on Sunday, when the inn has its holiday tree lighting event at 6 p.m. The $85 meal will include a variety of appetizers, choice of venison loin, local fluke, grilled hanger steak, or a veal dish with lobster as an entree, and dessert.

    Also at the Living Room, the next in a series of Art and Dine dinners will feature Ruth Appelhof, the executive director of Guild Hall, and Dawn Watson, the features editor at The Press News Group, as guests. The Dec. 20 event will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a chance to meet the guests, followed by a two-course prix fixe dinner. The $36 cost includes a glass of wine and a cookie plate for dessert, and excludes tax and gratuity.

Holiday Lunches

    Rowdy Hall in East Hampton will prepare a holiday lunch for businesses, customizing a menu, and offering a free meal for the boss, if serving parties of 15 or more.  The lunches can be eaten at the restaurant, or taken out.

    The daily winter specials at Rowdy Hall, beginning this week, will include a Sunday supper featuring slow-braised meats and hearty stews, with an appetizer and entree for $20; a burger-and-a-movie night on Monday and Tuesday, with a burger and a movie ticket voucher for $20, “date night” on Wednesday, featuring an entree and dessert, plus a glass of wine for $20; and a two-course prix fixe for $25 on Thursday through Sunday.

1770 House

    The 1770 House in East Hampton, which is open nightly for dinner, is offering a three-course prix fixe for $35 all night each Thursday. On Tuesday, the restaurant offers a 35-percent discount on bottles of wine that are regularly priced at $200 or less.

Gift Ideas

    Those thinking about holiday gifts will find some edible choices at Lucy’s Whey, the North Main Street, East Hampton, cheese shop, including handmade caramels, chocolates, and jams, local honey, preserves, and confits along with the cheeses. Other items to go with the edibles, such as cheese boards, are available as well.

    The Harbor Grill is offering gift cards good for dining at the restaurant, a locally owned, family-friendly eatery that is open year round on Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton.

    Homemade food gifts for the holidays are thoughtful, economical, and original. I love making them and receiving them. They can be as elaborate as fruitcakes, stollens, and babkas or as simple as spiced nuts and infused vinegars. No offense to Williams-Sonoma, but why spend a fortune on store-bought seasonal peppermint bark when you can make your own in literally about 10 minutes for a quarter of the price? Get your children involved in simple baking and decorating the gift boxes.

    Some things to consider when making homemade food gifts are: How far are the gifts expected to travel, and how much time do you really want to invest in their preparation? If you are shipping baked goods, make sure they are the least perishable, like rum cakes or the dreaded fruitcake, which, like a ham, can last for eternity. Don’t risk shipping glass bottles full of rosemary oil; save those for local deliveries. Spiced nuts will keep for weeks, as will homemade granola. Crisp cookies are more durable and stay fresh longer than soft-baked.

    One ambitious year I made cinnamon rolls from a Parker House roll recipe and delivered them risen but unbaked on Christmas Eve. I liked imagining all of my friends and their children waking up Christmas morning to the smell of homemade cinnamon buns. Another favorite is a French orange-infused brandy for adding to white wine or Champagne. I save bottles throughout the year for this concoction, along with jam jars (Bonne Maman has good ones) for homemade chutneys and preserved lemons.

    Unfortunately, we don’t have many craft stores out here so you have to hunt around for containers. Wide-mouthed Mason jars from the supermarket are good for some gifts, Golden Eagle has pretty boxes, and even simple cellophane bags can be dolled up with homemade stickers and pretty ribbons. I like to include the recipe along with my gingersnaps or spiced nuts.

    Personalizing each food gift is fun. Why not make a spice rub for the dude who likes to barbecue? Granola for your hippie friends? Cheese straws for the homesick Southerner?

    Rather than write on and on, this column will instead have more than the usual number of recipes. Some of these you should make now, in time for Christmas. Others you can make at the last minute, or make ahead and freeze. Wishing you happy and delicious homemade holidays!

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For Hanukkah

    Charlotte Sasso at Stuart’s Seafood in Amagansett will be making latkes and applesauce next week for Hanukkah. Those interested have been asked to call ahead to reserve their holiday goodies.

Christmas Eve

    With December flying by, it’s time to make reservations for Christmas Eve dinner, if your tradition is to have a holiday meal at a restaurant. Among the choices is Nick and Toni’s in East Hampton, which will offer a la carte specials beginning at 6 p.m. on

Christmas Eve. Diners will receive a complimentary amuse-bouche, a bacalao fritter with caper aioli. Choices will include a seafood salad with Peconic Bay scallops, shrimp, and calamari as an appetizer and, as an entree, grilled octopus with Tuscan white beans braised in tomato, served with Satur Farms escarole. At dessert time, diners will get another free tidbit, hazelnut ganache cups, and may choose to order a chocolate chestnut torta with candied chestnuts and cranberry compote.

    At Serafina, also on East Hampton’s North Main Street, Christmas Eve specials will be served from 5 p.m. to closing. On the menu will be starters such as artichoke carpaccio with baby shrimps, garlic, and chopped tomatoes, tuna tartare, and imported Italian burrata cheese, served with cherry tomatoes. Entree specials will include slow-braised veal shank osso buco with saffron risotto, homemade pappardelle with roasted duck ragu, and halibut with cremini mushrooms and broccoli rabe. Italian panettone will be available for dessert.

    The Christmas weekend will officially start at noon on Friday, Dec. 23, at the Harbor Grill in East Hampton, which will open then and offer a holiday happy hour that day and on Christmas Eve from noon to 3 p.m. at the bar. It will feature half-price drinks and free appetizers, as well as homemade eggnog — a plain version for kids and a “Santa-spiked” version for adults, for $3. A $19 prix fixe menu, and a kids’ menu, will also be available.

    The Harbor Grill also has holiday gift cards for sale, and will reward those who purchase them. Those who buy a $50 gift card will get an extra $10 worth, giving the card a total value of $60, while those who buy a $100 card will receive one actually worth $120.

Suckling Pig

    This Christmas Eve will mark a decade since Almond restaurant in Bridgehampton began a tradition of serving a roast suckling pig dinner for the holiday. The $31 special, which includes not only the main course but also cabbage, caramelized apples, and spaetzle, will be served from 6 to 10 p.m., as will items from the regular a la carte menu.

    The restaurant will donate 10 percent of all revenue from Christmas to the Pajama Program, a nonprofit group that provides new warm pajamas and new books to children in need.

Meal and Movie

    Having a meal at Rowdy Hall in East Hampton comes with the option to purchase a ticket to the East Hampton Cinema at a discount. A voucher can be bought for $8.50, along with an entree, on Sunday through Thursday during lunch or dinnertime.

Art and Dine Series

    Ruth Appelhof, the executive director of Guild Hall, and Dawn Watson, the features editor at The Southampton Press, will be the guests at the Living Room restaurant’s Art and Dine dinner on Tuesday. The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. and will include a two-course dinner, served with cookies for dessert, and a glass of wine, and an after-dinner discussion with the guests. Before coming to Guild Hall, Ms. Appelhof led several art museums throughout the United States, and taught at several universities. The cost of the evening is $36 per person, plus tax and gratuity.

Gingerbread and Coffee

    A free cooking demonstration at the Loaves and Fishes Cookshop in Bridgehampton on Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. will focus on making gingerbread, to serve along with Nespresso coffee.

    Driving back and forth on County Road 39 in Southampton recently I noticed that Meson Ole was gone, and in its place is a big sign announcing the arrival of Greek Bites Grill.

    There is a Greek Bites Grill in Moriches. It is a casual, gyro and souvlaki-on-a-stick kind of place. The Greek Bites Grill in Southampton is its white-tablecloth cousin. And what a lovely cousin it is! And who better to go with than my friend Spyros, who knows his way around a Greek menu.

    We arrived for lunch on a Sunday to find the parking lot filled to the brim, and a valet parker on the job. “Are you here for the party?” he asked us. No, just lunch. Upon entering we encountered a frazzled manager who told us the kitchen was currently overwhelmed and we would have to wait about 30 minutes for food. No problem, we settled in at the attractive marble bar and decided to eat there.

    The interior of Greek Bites Grill is quite pretty, all white with a few bright blue accent pillows, a nice screened porch, and a few white leather banquettes.

    We decided to start with the Greek Bites sampler, the octopodi, and grilled haloumi cheese. The sampler was a platter full of very good pita bread surrounded by mounds of tzatziki, a yogurt, cucumber, and garlic dip, spicy feta cheese dip, “like a Greek version of pimento cheese” offered Spyros, taramasalata, a dip made with the salted and cured roe of carp or cod, skordalia, a spread of mashed potatoes with garlic, and a roasted eggplant dip with garlic and lemon juice. All of them were delicious, especially the taramasalata, which was rich and fluffy, and the spicy feta dip, which was salty from the feta cheese and flecked with little bits of red pepper.

    The octopodi (the octopus is flown in from Greece, as is most of the fish served here) was tender and smoky, dressed with capers, cherry tomatoes, grilled slices of lemon, and parsley. Haloumi cheese, traditionally made with goat and sheep’s milk, has a high melting point, so it can be fried or grilled without falling apart. The firm texture of the curds makes the cheese squeak when chewed. This version was delicious, salty with the addition of sliced black olives, cherry tomatoes, and a light dressing of balsamic vinegar and very fruity Greek olive oil.

    For entrees we tried the tsipoura, a dorado fish, and the moussaka. There is a whole fish menu, with offerings grilled and served whole or boned. The tsipoura, similar to our porgy, was served with a lemony dressing, lemon potatoes, and horta, a wild green similar to chicory or Swiss chard. In this case it was ruby-stemmed Swiss chard, lightly sautéed and delicious. The fish was delicate, super fresh, split in half, and served with the head. Some people are squeamish about being served a whole fish, but I rather like poking around the crevices, finding the tender cheek meat. The lemon potatoes served with it were like nothing I’ve ever had before. Wedges of potato are marinated in a brine of lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and oregano, then roasted. The lemony zing permeates the whole potato.

    The moussaka was a huge square portion of rich lamb meat and eggplant, topped with mashed potatoes and bechamel sauce. I thought it was good but Spyros insisted his homemade version was better.

    It became apparent that the party going on at Greek Bites was a large church group from the Greek Orthodox church nearby. Many toasts were given, which were followed by some of the most beautiful singing we have ever heard. Hymns and Christmas songs sung in Greek were enhanced by what seemed to be the amazing acoustics of the restaurant. We seriously got goose bumps from the beauty of it.

    As the other tables emptied out, the manager and owner stopped by our spot at the bar to check up on us, chat about Greek culture, religion, and food. The bartender, Kasey, was wonderful and knowledgeable about the wines and the menu. F.Y.I., some of the Greek wines served by the glass for a mere $8 were outstanding. The wine list is detailed, with an entire page of helpful Greek terms for the different grapes and their characteristics for pairing with food.

    Greek Bites Grill is not inexpensive. Appetizers are $6 to $18, the grilled fish are $23 to $45 (for 2), entrees are $19 to $32, sides are $6 to $12, and desserts are $7 to $12. There is also a reasonably priced family special that feeds four to six people for $75.

    For desserts we tried the rice pudding and baklava. The rice pudding was excellent, creamy with a bit of vanilla and topped with a dusting of cinnamon. The baklava was perfect and obviously very fresh. The phyllo dough layers were crisp and the honeyed walnut filling not too sweet. All desserts are made in-house.

    I have always loved the simplicity of Greek food and the respect for fresh ingredients simply prepared. With a bit of lemon, garlic, and good olive oil you can do (healthy!) wonders with fish, chicken, and vegetables.

    Our lunch at Greek Bites Grill was delicious from start to finish. Listening to the beautiful singing was a pleasurable bonus. So allow me to say “kalos orisate” and “kali tihi,” welcome and good luck.

For the Holidays

    Stuart’s Seafood in Amagansett has the makings of the traditional Italian Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes: all kinds of seafood, including bacalao, eels, smelt, sole, calamari, scallops, and clams.

    Nick and Toni’s in East Hampton will be closed on Christmas day, but will serve dinner beginning at 6 p.m. from Tuesday through New Year’s Day.

     Reservations are being taken for New Year’s Eve at Nick and Toni’s, when there will be a la carte holiday specials on the menu, a complimentary amuse- bouche to start the meal and a dessert amuse to end it.

    In Bridgehampton, Almond will be closed on Christmas Day. 

    Pierre’s market in Bridgehampton has holiday goodies for sale, including Dresden stollen, and buche de Noel, or yule logs. There is also a dessert made with tiramisu that is decorated like a snowman, in individual and party portions.

    Pierre’s restaurant will be open all day on Christmas Eve, and at dinnertime will offer a $55 prix fixe in addition to the a la carte menu. On Christmas morning, Pierre’s will serve breakfast from 8 a.m., and then serve brunch and dinner until 11 p.m.

And Up Next . . .

    For a New Year’s Eve at home, Cheryl Stair, the executive chef at Art of Eating Catering in Amagansett, can provide a plethora of dishes, including appetizers, seafood, soups, salads, vegetables, entrees, and desserts. Orders must be placed by Monday for New Year’s meals, or at least two days ahead for other dates. 

    Babette’s, on East Hampton’s Newtown Lane, is accepting reservations for New Year’s Eve, when a special prix fixe dinner will be served, and for New Year’s Day, when breakfast will include a selection of omelettes as well as cinnamon swirl French toast and fresh Bloody Marys.

    A New Year’s celebration at Serafina in East Hampton can include a special prix fixe beginning at 8:30 p.m., featuring four courses for $50 per person, plus tax and tip. The a la carte menu will also be available. A pizza al tartufo for the table, and champagne toast for diners, will be included. Tiramisu for dessert will be served with sparklers.

    On New Year’s Day, Serafina will serve brunch beginning at noon.

    How can you not love a place called the Corner Bar that has an address of 1 Main Street? So American, so Americana. Throw in a primo view of passing citizens, the windmill, and Long Wharf and you’ve got Norman Rockwell and Edward Hopper all wrapped up into one cool bar.

    The Corner Bar is charming and cheap, cozy and lively all at the same time. That is what I had to remind myself of when we went out for our review: It is a bar, not a restaurant.

    Upon entering there is a dining room to the right, a bar to the left, and tables around the windows looking out onto the corner of Main Street and Bay Street, or Route 114. There is wood paneling, lots of fish prints on the walls, and even more flat-screen TVs.

    We began our meal with clams on the half shell, clams casino, and Caesar salad. The clams on the half shell were excellent, greatly enhanced by the very horseradishy cocktail sauce. The clams casino were good, but a bit odd. They were served swimming in a dish of garlic oil, with melted cheese on top and some slices of Texas toast to sop up the sauce. The Caesar salad was very good and big. The dressing was just right, lemony and with plenty of Parmesan cheese.

    For entrees we had the beer-battered shrimp, fish and chips, cheeseburger with onion rings, the broiled flounder, and baked flounder. All entrees come with a salad and vegetables. The side salads were very good, a mixture of mesclun, carrots, cherry tomatoes, red onion rings, and cucumber slices.

    The beer-battered shrimp weren’t very good. They were huge, made even huger by the massive quantity of fried batter matter on them. “The bar food version of the elephant man,” remarked the witty wag who ordered them, as he peeled the layers off the shrimp. The same fate befell the fish and chips. The pieces of cod were encased in the same shell, which another guest peeled off of every one.

    The cheeseburger was excellent. And everyone should already know this is the way to go at the Corner Bar. It is eight ounces of high quality chuck, perfectly seasoned and served with very good french fries. The broiled flounder was good, too, and easily dolled up with a squeeze of fresh lemon and salt and pepper. The baked flounder was a bit more interesting, with a coating of horseradish sauce. We got a side order of sweet potato fries, which were delicious.

    We all noted that the broccoli and cooked carrots served along with each platter were very good, fresh, and cooked just enough.

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The Corner Bar

1 Main Street

Sag Harbor

725-9760

Lunch and dinner daily

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    The Corner Bar was very busy on the night of our visit, a lot of fellas with ponytails and patriotic hats at the bar, and happy groups at every table. It is worth noting that the prices at the bar are very reasonable. There are excellent beers on tap (Stella Artois at $6 per pint). You can get a martini for $8, and a glass of wine for $6.50.

    “The night would have been more lively if the Jets had showed up!” cried another clever guest in our group. Sheesh, we were a regular Algonquin round table that night at the Corner Bar. Bons mots were flying through the air faster than the mozzarella sticks at a neighboring table.

    I am sorry to report that the service on the night of our visit was perfunctory and indifferent. Our waitress had to be asked to remove empty glasses and the dirty plates piling up around us. Utensils weren’t replaced, and questions about the salad dressings and desserts seemed to be a big nuisance. Again, I had to remind myself that this is a bar, not a restaurant. But don’t despair, we did spy another busy waitress who was moving briskly and efficiently and had a smile for all of her customers.

    Prices at the Corner Bar are $7 to $13.50 for appetizers, $4.95 to $13.95 for soups and salads, $8.50 to $11.95 for burgers and sandwiches, $13.95 to $23.95 for entrees, and $6 for desserts.

    The desserts come from the Holey Moses Cheesecake company. We tried the chocolate mousse pie and Key lime pie. Both were served with that artificial squirt whipped cream that begins to collapse and weep as soon as it hits the plate. The chocolate mousse cake was okay. The Oreo-type cookie crust was good but the mousse filling lacked chocolatey flavor. The Key lime pie, however, was very good, tart and tangy and fresh tasting.

    We all liked the Corner Bar very much. It is a fun and lively spot with an egalitarian clientele. For practically 34 years it has occupied this central location in the heart of charming Sag Harbor. If you stick with the classics like clams and Caesar salad, the great burgers and brews, you will have a fine time, too.