Food

Sam Gelin was enjoying a nice piece of fish that had come from Montauk one day not long ago in New York when he thought it would be really interesting to use salt that derived from the same waters. He had recently traveled on the West Coast, where he had seen a sea salt company, and it “kind of lodged in my mind,” he said in a recent interview. And so the Montauk Salt Company was born.

Hungry for seafood? Bostwick’s, the seafood spot on Pantigo Road in East Hampton, is now open seven days for lunch and dinner, beginning at 11:30 a.m. Sail your boat westward to the Bell and Anchor in Noyac for even more seafood. It is now featuring raw bar specials on Montauk Pearl oysters and littleneck clams, for $2.50 each, all night Sundays through Thursdays, and on Fridays and Saturdays from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Twenty years ago, on the fourth of July, Breadzilla opened its doors. Well, it was about to open its doors, but the owners realized 20 minutes before that they forgot to get screen door handles. So Brad Thompson, co-owner, co-chef, and friendly ex-husband of Nancy Hollister, co-owner, co-chef, and friendly ex-wife, grabbed a drill and some nails and some forks and spoons he found in the basement and .created some bent utensil door handles. They remain in place today as just another quirky and charming element to this bakery and takeout shop.

When he talks about the various dishes from around the world that can be made over an open cooking fire and the different effects flame has on food itself, Adam Kelinson exudes enthusiasm and expertise.

Wolffer Estate winery in Sagaponack will release a new rosé, Finca Wolffer Rosé, on July 1. It is the second vintage of a rosé made from grapes grown in Mendoza, Argentina. Amber Waves Farm in Amagansett will kick off a series of brunches and dinners with an Argentine-inspired asado barbecue meal in the field on Saturday. It will be cooked by Paula Segura Mallmann, whose uncle, Francis Mallmann, is an Argentine chef, along with her partner, Emiliano Cordeiro.

Some call it preppy food. I call it WASP soul food. For those not familiar with this acronym, it stands for white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. As an Irish Catholic with a good dose of Norwegian from my grandmother’s side, I am clearly not a member of this tribe. But many of my schoolmates and lifelong friends certainly are. As a result of this, I have become extremely familiar with WASP “cuisine.”

The Hamptons goes rosé wild! Events include a “pink party” at Domaine Franey Wines and Spirits in East Hampton on Saturday from 3 to 7 p.m. Then Five rosé wines from the Channing Daughters winery in Bridgehampton will be paired with each course of a dinner at Almond next Thursday at 7 p.m. Arbor restaurant in Montauk will also feature summer’s pink wine at its prix fixe weekend brunch.

The chef, John Ross, will speak at the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton at noon on Wednesday about his new cookbook, "The Poetry of Cooking,” Registration is with the library, by phone, or at myrml.org. Today is the debut of the Montauk farmers market on the Montauk green from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thirty-five vendors will participate this year.

At the ripe young age of 23, Jay Astafa is an accomplished vegan chef, owner of his own catering and event company, a consultant for Surf Lodge’s vegan menu, and will be providing the food for the Wellness Foundation’s summer benefit on June 18 at the Mulford Farm in East Hampton.

Kozu, a restaurant that offers Japanese cuisine and sushi with Peruvian influences, has been opened in Southampton by Zach Erdem, the restaurateur behind 75 Main. The head chef, John Keller, is formerly of Nobu; the sous chef, George Nikolo­polous, worked at Le Bernardin, and the sushi chef, Joseph Kim, is formerly of Morimoto. The second annual Food Lab conference will take place tomorrow through Sunday at Stony Brook Southampton, sponsored by Slow Food East End.

The farmers markets have opened for the season, and while many visitors associate them with the bountiful berries, corn, and tomatoes of mid to late-summer, right now is a glorious time. There are tender stalks of freshly picked asparagus, bright peonies, crisp spinach and lettuce, plants to help you to get started on your own garden, mushrooms, honey, cheese, chickens, and so much more.

While the culinary world’s emphasis on locally sourced ingredients shows no sign of abating, the ingredients and techniques of global cuisine are increasingly important to the chef community, as exemplified by the presence at the Stony Brook Southampton Food Lab’s upcoming conference of Deuki Hong, a 25-year-old chef at one of New York’s hottest Korean restaurants.

I like to drink, but I don’t like to get drunk. If I’m going to drink with alacrity I do it at home or within walking distance of home. Do I even need to say you people should drink responsibly? Call a cab if you’ve had one too many out on the town, or have a designated driver. Our roads are dangerous enough, what with all the dumb deer and city folk in Escalades.

The farmers markets are reopening. The Hayground School market in Bridgehampton opens tomorrow and the East Hampton farmers market, which sets up in the Nick and Toni’s parking lot on North Main Street, launches for the season on Friday, May 27. The Amagansett Food Institute’s market on Main Street, in the Amagansett Farmers Market building, will also reopen on Friday, May 27.

Seasons by the Sea: All the Tools You Need

There are three new cookbooks with local ties — “Plated: Weeknight Dinners, Weekend Feasts, and Everything In Between” by Elana Karp and Suzanne Dumaine, “Tiki With a Twist” by Lynn Calvo with James O. Fraioli, and “It’s All Easy” by Gwyneth Paltrow with Thea Baumann.

“It’s the crust. The sauce has to be good, too. And don’t forget about the cheese,” said Mr. Giugliano, pizza maker extraordinaire at the Red Horse Market in East Hampton. “Anybody can make pizza, but you also need a heart. Without that, it doesn’t come out the way you want it to.”

The Red Maple restaurant at the Chequit Inn on Shelter Island has added a weekend lunch and brunch service for the 2016 season. Juice Press, a chain offering fresh juices, is adding an East Hampton shop to its stores in Bridgehampton and Southampton.

Today is Cinco de Mayo, so get down to La Fondita in Amagansett for some holiday specials. Saturday, Southern fare and mint juleps will be served at a Kentucky Derby party at Baron’s Cove in Sag Harbor from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Flowers are the focus, along with food, at the Living Room restaurant and c/o the Maidstone in East Hampton. Sunday’s Mother’s Day brunch will include bouquets for moms whose families or friends make arrangements with the inn ahead of time.

When reviewing restaurants, I almost always sample their fried calamari offerings. Just about every restaurant out here has it on the menu. It’s a good test of the chef’s abilities. Is it lightly crisped and tender? Are the tentacles included? Is it served with an imaginative sauce or just a tepid marinara?

Ride a Hampton Jitney busto the North Fork to visit the Shinn Estate, Paumanok, and Palmer Vineyards for wine tastings, with a stop for a catered lunch. A $100 fee includes all. Sponsored by Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits. In Montauk, Navy Beach restaurant reopens tomorrow at 5 p.m., serving dinner through Sunday night as well as lunch on Saturday.

I had what I called a “dinner for swells” the other night. “Swell” is a word I learned from Lee Bailey, the cookbook author, lifestyle and entertaining expert, bon vivant, and Bridgehampton resident, a native Louisianan. It is an old-fashioned term used to describe important people you want to impress. In other words, you gotta step up your culinary repertoire.

The South Fork Kitchens Cafe in the student center of the Stony Brook Southampton campus will offer grab-and-go salads, soups, and sandwiches. The cafe is a cooperative food center. In observation of Passover, both Nick and Toni’s and Rowdy Hall in East Hampton will have a la carte menu specials from tomorrow through April 30.

This spring I had the honor of moderating the Peconic Land Trust’s “Long Island Grown: Food and Beverage Artisans at Work” panels for the third time. Sponsored by Edible East End, they manage to get the best people from the North and South Forks who are involved in farming, fishing, winemaking, beekeeping, baking, duck wrangling, cooking, mushroom growing, candy creating, fermenting, brewing, and more.

It’s mid-April and the weather forecast calls for temperatures in the 30s at night. Harold McMahon Plumbing sends out a form every “spring” asking clients when they’d like their outside water turned on. The form warns against turning it on before April 15. But the cheery flats of pansies are out at Wittendale’s, so spring must be drawing nigh. Right? This is zone 7a and 7b, after all.

Lisa Kaplan will be the speaker at the wine talk at Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits, on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Her subject will be “The Wild Man of Walla Walla: Charles Smith’s Washington Wines.” The sixth annual Taste of Tuckahoe benefit will take place on Friday, April 22, at 230 Elm in Southampton

The Golden Pear Cafe will offer a new Healthy Kids breakfast and lunch menu that will feature healthy and enticing choices. Stratis Morfogen, a Manhattan restaurateur, is opening a branch of the Jue Lan Club, his Chelsea Chinese restaurant, on Elm Street in Southampton later this month.

Almond’s Brussels Sprouts

"What Do You Mean, the New California? The Case for Santa Barbara,” is the title of the wine and tasting program at Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits. Steve Clifton, a winemaker for Palmina Wines and La Voix Winery, will present the program at the wine shop on Wednesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The Dock in Montauk is slated to reopen for the season tomorrow, April Fool’s Day, perfect timing, it seems, for George Watson, its owner, who is known as a trickster.

What are you supposed to do when you are trying ever so hard to stick to a nutritious diet and you travel a lot? At home, every aspect of what you eat is under your control. When traveling, almost none of it is. Interestingly, it seems like airport terminals have gotten better about offering healthful choices (hummus, sushi, fresh fruit), but the airlines have gotten worse.