|
8 Days to Eat
by Susan Novick
March 30, 2008
For many restaurantgoers on the East End, the annual Hamptons Restaurant Week is the first sign of spring. The eight-day promotion, which this year runs from March 30 through April 6, marks “the end of cabin fever,” according to Walter Struble, the general manager of Della Femina in East Hampton. “It gets people out of the house to come and try the restaurants,” he said.
Now in its sixth year, Restaurant Week includes more than 60 participating restaurants on the North and South Forks, each of which will offer a three-course prix fixe dinner for $21.95 all evening long (except Saturday, when it will be available until 7 p.m.). Tax, beverage and gratuity are extra.
Mr. Struble said the value-priced menu draws a crowd to Della Femina’s, where curried carrot soup, seared organic salmon and warm croissant bread pudding are some of the possibilities on the prix fixe menu. “We’ll change it up every night, just to give a variety,” he said.
At Michael Anthony’s Food Bar in Wading River, Mr. Anthony, the chef-owner, anticipates that his usual business will double during Restaurant Week. “We put our best food forward,” said Mr. Anthony, who will offer choices like miniature lobster spring rolls, tangerine-glazed fish fillet and chocolate mascarpone won tons.
Lodgings and wineries are also offering discounts. At the East Hampton Point Resort, spring rates are reduced by 25 percent for the week, so a one-bedroom cottage that usually goes for $435 a night is $326 before tax. At Peconic Bay Winery in Cutchogue, a bottle of 2005 riesling, for example, is discounted by 15 percent to $15.30 in the tasting room.
“I think some people try to go out every night that week,” said Elaine DiGiacomo, co-owner of Stone Creek Inn in East Quogue, who, with her husband, Christian Mir, co-owner and chef, will feature crispy calamari salad, sirloin steak and tarte Tatin. “It all seems very festive.”
|
