titleauthordatecontentpermalinkimageexcerptcategorycategoryidsitetitleauthordatecontentpermalinkimageexcerptcategorycategoryidsitetitleauthordatecontentpermalinkimageexcerptcategorycategoryidsitetitleauthordatecontentpermalinkimageexcerptcategorycategoryidsitetitleauthordatecontentpermalinkimageexcerptcategorycategoryidsitetitleauthordatecontentpermalinkimageexcerptcategorycategoryidsitetitleauthordatecontentpermalinkimageexcerptcategorycategoryidsitetitleauthordatecontentpermalinkimageexcerptcategorycategoryidsitetitleauthordatecontentpermalinkimageexcerptcategorycategoryidsitetitleauthordatecontentpermalinkimageexcerptcategorycategoryidsite[%title%]Hawkins Inn in Jamesport advances plans to add guest rooms[%title%][%author%]Tim Gannon[%author%][%date%]May 15, 2012[%date%][%content%][caption id="attachment_36629" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="BARBARAELLEN KOCH FILE PHOTO | The main building at the Jededian Hawkins Inn ."]
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A plan to build eight guest rooms in an existing barn adjacent to the Jedediah Hawkins Inn in Jamesport will be the subject of a public hearing at the Riverhead Planning Board’s June 7 meeting, which starts at 7 p.m.
The owners of the inn have made no secret of their plans to seek the guest rooms, which they say are needed to make the operation profitable.
There are two buildings on the property, the main inn building, which was built in 1863 and houses the Luce & Hawkins restaurant and six guest rooms, and the barn, which has been used for events like art shows.
Earlier this year, the owners received Planning Board approval to build a breezeway connecting the barn to the inn — a move that, under town code, allows the two building to be considered one, which, in turn, allows the additional guest rooms.
“We have a barn that’s just sitting there empty,” Luce & Hawkins proprietor Keith Luce told the News-Review last December. “We’d like to use it for more rooms. Having a few more guest rooms would really help our revenue.”
Some civic groups have said they fear the property will be used for outdoor catering, which Mr. Luce has said is not planned.
tgannon@timesreview.com[%content%][%permalink%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress/2012/05/15/hawkins-inn-in-jamesport-advances-plans-to-add-guest-rooms/[%permalink%][%image%]http://media.timesreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/riverheadnewsreview/files/Hawkins.jpg[%image%][%excerpt%]A plan to build eight guest rooms in an existing barn adjacent to the Jedediah Hawkins Inn in Jamesport will be the subject of a public hearing at the Riverhead Planning Board’s June 7 meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. The owners of the inn have made no secret of their plans to seek the [...][%excerpt%][%category%]Featured,Lifestyle[%category%][%categoryid%]4,8[%categoryid%][%site%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress[%site%][%title%]List of summer events scheduled for downtown Riverhead[%title%][%author%]Wine Press[%author%][%date%]May 14, 2012[%date%][%content%]An advertisement that will appear in this month's Times/Review Vacation Guide features a list of Summer 2012 Downtown Riverhead events sponsored by the Riverhead BID, Suffolk County National Bank and/or the Riverhead News-Review.
In case you want to start making plans now, here's the ad:
Summer events in downtown Riverhead
[%content%][%permalink%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress/2012/05/14/list-of-summer-events-scheduled-for-downtown-riverhead/[%permalink%][%image%]http://www.scribd.com/embeds/93124848/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list&access_key=key-200sugzqtuxbars3puyz[%image%][%excerpt%]An advertisement that will appear in this month’s Times/Review Vacation Guide features a list of Summer 2012 Downtown Riverhead events sponsored by the Riverhead BID, Suffolk County National Bank and/or the Riverhead News-Review. In case you want to start making plans now, here’s the ad: Summer events in downtown Riverhead[%excerpt%][%category%]Events,Featured,Lifestyle[%category%][%categoryid%]7,4,8[%categoryid%][%site%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress[%site%][%title%]Contest: Can you name this Riverhead restaurant?[%title%][%author%]Wine Press[%author%][%date%]May 7, 2012[%date%][%content%]
Want to win a free meal at a local restaurant courtesy of riverheadnewsreview.com? Here's your chance.
Over the next five days, we'll feature a close-up photograph of a Riverhead restaurant. All you have to do for a shot at winning is to correctly identify all five eateries in a comment at the bottom of each post on riverheadnewsreview.com, on our Facebook page or while mentioning us on Twitter.
We'll select one winner at random from everyone who guesses all five correctly. The winner, who we'll announce at 10 a.m. next Monday, will receive a $50 gift card for whichever of the five eateries they choose.
Be sure to check back throughout each day all week long for the next four clues.
Have fun and tell your friends.[%content%][%permalink%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress/2012/05/07/contest-can-you-name-this-riverhead-restaurant/[%permalink%][%image%]http://media.timesreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/riverheadnewsreview/files/photocontest050712.jpg[%image%][%excerpt%]Want to win a free meal at a local restaurant courtesy of riverheadnewsreview.com? Here’s your chance. Over the next five days, we’ll feature a close-up photograph of a Riverhead restaurant. All you have to do for a shot at winning is to correctly identify all five eateries in a comment at the bottom of each [...][%excerpt%][%category%]Featured,Food,Lifestyle[%category%][%categoryid%]4,5,8[%categoryid%][%site%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress[%site%][%title%]Wine Column: Carving out her niche, California-style[%title%][%author%]Louisa Hargrave[%author%][%date%]April 30, 2012[%date%][%content%]
Milla Handley has been making wine in California since 1975. Back then, she was one of very few women actually down in the cellar, dragging hoses around and monitoring fermentation temperatures. In 1978 she and her husband, Rex McClellan, moved to the remote Anderson Valley, north of Sonoma, where, over time, they planted 29 acres in chardonnay, pinot noir and gewurtztraminer. In 1982, she began to make her own wine in their basement.
At the time, Milla and Rex were true winemaking pioneers. While Napa was surging to prominence under the leadership of such wine greats as Robert Mondavi, the Anderson Valley was a little too far from San Francisco, a little too cold, a little too rural for the kind of investors who poured money into Napa. But Milla liked its isolation. She enjoyed the camaraderie of her hardscrabble farming neighbors. Even after Rex’s death, she continued making wine there despite its many challenges.
At Milla’s vineyard, heavy fog from the Pacific Ocean makes for cold nights (around 50 degrees during the growing season). When the fog clears, it can get as hot as 112 degrees. Most of the time, a 35-degree change in 24 hours is typical there. This makes the vines struggle to ripen, but it also conserves acidity in the fruit. Just when the fruit is almost ripe, autumn rains begin, sometimes forcing a premature harvest.
I met Milla in Manhattan at Keen’s Steakhouse, where a small group of wine writers was led through a retrospective tasting of 12 Handley pinot noirs from the 1997-2009 vintages. We tasted silently and seriously, then asked questions of Milla and her co-winemaker, Kristen Barnhisel. It was indeed a tasting worthy of focused attention; the wines were seriously good. But what I liked best about the tasting was Milla herself. She and I began making wine at the same time (1975), and she told stories that I could really identify with about raising two children while making wine professionally.
As much as Milla liked the remoteness of her Anderson Valley home, from a very early age her eldest daughter wanted to live in a more populated area. “Mom,” the child said, “Let’s move to New York.”
“No,” said Milla. “New York is too far away.”
“Then can we move to San Francisco?”
“No,” said Milla. “That’s too far, too.”
“Well then,” asked the child, “How about Booneville?”
My own daughter, at age 3, used to say, quite regularly, “I wanna go somewhere!” And we were already in Cutchogue, which was about as populous as Booneville back then.
Milla may live in the middle of nowhere, and favor a laid-back personal style, but she is sophisticated in the world of wine. She told me of her meeting with the cellar master at the famed estate of Romanée Conti in Burgundy. This man, revered for his wines but a notorious fanny pincher, encircled her shoulders with one arm, grasping her breast in one hand while firmly holding a bottle of 1966 Le Montrachet in the other. Being a true lover of wine, and not wanting to compromise her chance to taste one of the world’s finest white Burgundies, Milla ignored the inappropriate gesture.
“Hey, he’s French! And he was scheduled to have a triple bypass. He looked like a garbage man,” she told me. “Besides, the wine was worth it.”
Having survived this and other forms of disrespect familiar to many female winemakers (“We were once called a coven,” Milla says), Milla has expanded Handley Cellars, so that now she makes wines from several vineyards. Still, my favorites were those from her home vineyard, called “RSM” after her late husband. The 1997 had a wonderful subtlety rarely found in California pinot noirs. As old as it is, the wine still blossomed in the glass, with flavors of black cherries and allspice.
I also admired the 2005 RSM Pinot Noir, which had nuanced fruit and sweet, nutty wood.
Other tasters preferred the bigger, more extracted wines, like the 2009 RSM, with its brilliant color and lush fruit. But this is a style one expects from a California pinot. When Milla said, “New York has a European palate,” someone yelled, “No they don’t. They want fruit bombs!”
That’s an issue for Long Island’s vintners, too: Wine critics have led consumers away from subtle, cool-climate wines. I sympathize with Milla, who said, “I’m trying not to be a bitch. I’m trying but I fail sometimes.”
Ms. Hargrave was a founder of the Long Island wine industry in 1973. She is currently a freelance writer and consultant.[%content%][%permalink%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress/2012/04/30/wine-column-carving-out-her-niche-california-style/[%permalink%][%image%]http://media.timesreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/suffolktimes/files/home2.jpg[%image%][%excerpt%]Milla Handley has been making wine in California since 1975. Back then, she was one of very few women actually down in the cellar, dragging hoses around and monitoring fermentation temperatures. In 1978 she and her husband, Rex McClellan, moved to the remote Anderson Valley, north of Sonoma, where, over time, they planted 29 acres [...][%excerpt%][%category%]Featured,Wine[%category%][%categoryid%]4,6[%categoryid%][%site%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress[%site%][%title%]North Fork Chef: Carrots are more than just good for you[%title%][%author%]John Ross[%author%][%date%]April 25, 2012[%date%][%content%][caption id="attachment_31624" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="JOHN ROSS PHOTO | Moroccan carrot orange salad (left) and carrot confit served over arugula with roasted peppers and olives."]
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“But some of us are beginning to pull well away, in our irritation, from … the exquisite tasters, the vintage snobs, the three-star Michelin gourmets. There is, we feel, a decent area somewhere between boiled carrots and beluga caviar, sour plonk and Chateau Lafite, where we can take care of our gullets and bellies without worshipping them.” — J.B. Priestly (1894-1984)
Carrots are found in every supermarket produce section and most everywhere else vegetables are sold. They are the second most popular vegetable in the United States, next to potatoes. They are available year-round and can be purchased for 99 cents per pound or less. Even the certified organic carrots are only $1.49 a pound. They can be eaten raw or cooked and, either way, they are very good for you. They contain more beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A, than any other vegetable. They are a great source of vitamins B and C and the fiber pectin. They also contain falcarinol, a compound that reduces the risk of cancer.
And yet, carrots are not something that people get very excited about. We think of them either as something for “health food nuts” or as just a boring vegetable for people who just don’t care. In reality, their natural sweet flavor, firm texture and attractive color give something very special for a chef to work with.
Carrots have been around in their wild form for centuries, but the domesticated variety that we eat today began in present-day Afghanistan about the year 700. These early carrots were purple or yellow in color and had a more bitter taste than today’s varieties. It was the Dutch, during the 17th century, who perfected the sweet orange carrot. We are now showing interest in yellow carrots, red carrots, purple carrots, white and black carrots. These varieties are not really new, they just capture some of the ancient past.
All carrots are not the same. Being a root vegetable, the best carrots come from the best soil, which would be in organic fields that have been properly rotated to retain their nutrients. Also, the best carrots are sold with the tops on, guaranteeing freshness. Those packages labeled “Baby Carrots” and cut into perfect cylinders are not baby carrots at all. The actual label reads “baby-cut carrots,” meaning they have been mechanically cut from mature carrots, dipped in a chlorine solution and packaged. There are real baby carrots that are sold with the tops on and have a delicate, delicious flavor. Here are a few recipes that might help you get excited about carrots again.
Carrot Confit
Cut off the leaves and stems of 2 bunches of fresh carrots, leaving about a half-inch of stem on each carrot. Peel the carrots and place them, whole, into a shallow baking casserole.
Combine 1/4 cup canola oil, the zest and juice of 2 oranges, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon coarse salt and 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Pour this mixture over the carrots and bring to a boil on the stove.
Remove from heat, cover with foil and place in a 250-degree oven for 1 hour. Remove the foil, add 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill and continue cooking in the oven at 300 degrees until most of the liquid evaporates, about 45 minutes. Serve as is or over cooked, dried lima beans.
Serves 4.
Moroccan Carrot and Orange Salad
Grate 1 pound of peeled carrots into a bowl, using the large holes of a box grater. Peel and section 2 navel oranges, removing all pulp. Cut orange sections into bite-sized pieces. Add to grated carrots.
Make a dressing by combining 1/4 cup olive oil with 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/2 cup orange juice, 2 teaspoons minced garlic, 1/4 cup honey, 1 teaspoon coarse salt and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Vigorously shake this mixture in a jar and pour over the carrots and oranges. Fold in 1/4 cup chopped cilantro and serve over baby arugula.
Serves 4.
Roasted Carrot and Celery Root Soup
Peel 1 pound of carrots and cut into 2-inch chunks. Peel and trim 1 head of celery root and cut into 2-inch chunks. Toss vegetables in a bowl with 1 tablespoon canola oil and 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Place on a sheet pan and roast at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes, when they should be turning brown. Remove and set aside.
Bring 4 cups vegetable stock and 1 cup water to a boil in a soup pot and add 1 peeled piece of ginger (about 1 inch) and 3 sprigs of fresh thyme. Simmer this stock for 30 minutes, then remove ginger and thyme.
In a separate soup pot, add 2 tablespoons canola oil along with 1 chopped leek (white part), 1 chopped onion and 1 tablespoon minced garlic. Cook briefly over medium heat and add the roasted carrots and celery root. Add the stock to the vegetable mixture. Simmer for 20 minutes and puree in a food processor. Check for seasoning and serve with a garnish of sour cream.
Serves 4-6.
Carrot Cake
Peel and grate 1 1/2 pounds of carrots into a large bowl. Stir in 1 cup brown sugar and set aside. Peel and slice a wedge of fresh pineapple. Dice into quarter-inch pieces to make about 1 1/2 cups. (Reserve remaining pineapple for another use.) Dice 1 cup dried apricots and place in a small bowl with 1/4 cup brandy.
Spray two 10-inch cake pans with no-stick.
In a bowl, combine 3 cups flour with 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 tablespoon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon salt. In a separate bowl, beat 4 eggs with a whisk until frothy. Whisk in 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup canola oil and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Slowly stir in the flour mixture to form a batter. Stir in the chopped pineapple and apricots along with their juices. Stir in 1 cup chopped walnuts and fold into the carrot mixture. Make sure all is well combined before pouring into the cake pans.
Cook in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick (it should come out clean) and remove to a cooling rack. After 10 minutes, cut around the edges with a knife and turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Meanwhile, make a cream cheese frosting by placing 8 ounces cream cheese and 5 tablespoons butter into an electric mixer. Mix with a paddle at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add 1 tablespoon sour cream at low speed along with 1 teaspoon vanilla and a pinch of salt. Turn up the speed to medium and add 1 cup confectioner’s sugar. Set aside until cake cools.
Place one cake layer on a cake serving stand and frost the top. Place the other layer on top and frost it on the top only. Chill before serving.
Serves 8-10.
John Ross, a chef and author, has been an active part of the North Fork food and wine community for more than 35 years. Email: johncross@optonline.net.[%content%][%permalink%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress/2012/04/25/north-fork-chef-carrots-are-more-than-just-good-for-you/[%permalink%][%image%]http://media.timesreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/suffolktimes/files/T042612_Chef_C.jpg[%image%][%excerpt%]“But some of us are beginning to pull well away, in our irritation, from … the exquisite tasters, the vintage snobs, the three-star Michelin gourmets. There is, we feel, a decent area somewhere between boiled carrots and beluga caviar, sour plonk and Chateau Lafite, where we can take care of our gullets and bellies without [...][%excerpt%][%category%]Featured,Food[%category%][%categoryid%]4,5[%categoryid%][%site%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress[%site%][%title%]Baiting Hollow distillery produces LI’s first whiskey[%title%][%author%]Gianna Volpe[%author%][%date%]April 24, 2012[%date%][%content%][caption id="attachment_31595" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="GIANNA VOLPE PHOTO | LiV owner Richard Stabile with casks of the company's new single malt whisky."]
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The makers of Long Island’s first vodka have expanded their offerings, moving beyond potato-based spirits to embrace barley.
LiV, Long Island’s first and only distillery, just released a 150-case micro batch of the region’s first and only locally produced single-malt whiskey, a 95 proof spirit.
“It’s brand-spanking-new,” said LiV owner Richard Stabile. The first batch of the malted barley liquor was released in New York a few weeks ago.
Marketed under the name “Pine Barrens,” bottles of LiV’s inaugural whiskey batch are still available for purchase in 375 mL “mickeys” at some local liquor stores.
Because only a small amount of Pine Barrens has been distilled, availability is limited. Before LiV’s next batch of 100 cases is released in May, tasting samples are available at LiV’s Baiting Hollow tasting room, accompanied by pine cone shot glasses crafted specifically for the product, but their stock had already sold out by April 11.
“I’ve always been a whiskey fan,” said Mr. Stabile. “But we wanted to do something different with ours. Most American whiskeys are bourbon-style, made from corn, and there’s a lot of ryes out there. We wanted to do a scotch-style whiskey, single malt, but rather than develop our own peated malt, we thought it would be unique if we used a commercially finished beer. Nobody else does this, that we know of.”
The beer they chose was Blue Point’s Old Howling Bastard, described as an American barleywine that, according to tasters on beeradvocate.com, has notes of honey and caramel.
“All whiskeys start out as beer, but 99.999 percent of those beers are undrinkable before you distill them,” said Mr. Stabile. “We started our whiskey-making process with a great, high quality, drinkable beer and distilled it in micro batches.”
The process of developing Pine Barrens began in late 2009 when LiV held discussions with the Blue Point Brewing Company about cooperating to create a whiskey. Experimentation followed, and cotinued until the beginning of 2011, when the distillation and aging of batch No. 1 began.
850 gallons of Blue Point’s Old Howling Bastard was first distilled down to roughly 100 gallons of 160 proof alcohol. It was then blended down to 125 proof with purified water and placed into 10-gallon casks for two months. Then the alcohol was removed only long enough to blend it down to 95 proof before it was placed back into the barrels to age for another 10 months.
“Because of the small size of our new American oak casks, the surface area that touches the whiskey is increased and allows for a 5-1 maturation process,” Mr. Stabile said. The significance is the one year LiV aged its whiskey in 10 gallon casks is equivalent to a five-year maturation process in a 50-gallon cask, he added.
“Normal American whiskeys come out a little younger, in the two- to four-year range, but this is a full-bodied, very complex spirit produced in just a year,” he said. “It’s just got an incredible taste profile. The nose is very welcoming and it has a smooth, polished finish. It’s very, very sweet.”
Three-year LiV distiller Jonathan Bittner, a 25-year-old Cutchogue resident, said he was “very impressed” with the premiere batch.
“It tops a lot of the whiskeys I’ve ever tried,” he said.
LiV became Long Island’s first craft distillery in 2006 with its first vodka, which hit the market in June 2008. Mr. Stabile has been the company’s sole owner for the past two and a half years. He the lack of competition in the local market allows LiV to take its time developing products.
“We spent a lot of time experimenting with Blue Point before we got going,” Mr. Stabile said, “But we’re just blown away with what we came up with.”
gvolpe@timesreview.com[%content%][%permalink%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress/2012/04/24/baiting-hollow-distillery-produces-lis-first-whiskey/[%permalink%][%image%]http://media.timesreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/suffolktimes/files/T041912_Whiskey2_gv_C.jpg[%image%][%excerpt%]The makers of Long Island’s first vodka have expanded their offerings, moving beyond potato-based spirits to embrace barley. LiV, Long Island’s first and only distillery, just released a 150-case micro batch of the region’s first and only locally produced single-malt whiskey, a 95 proof spirit. “It’s brand-spanking-new,” said LiV owner Richard Stabile. The first batch [...][%excerpt%][%category%]Featured,Wine[%category%][%categoryid%]4,6[%categoryid%][%site%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress[%site%][%title%]Tex-Mex joint set to open in downtown Riverhead[%title%][%author%]Paul Squire[%author%][%date%]April 17, 2012[%date%][%content%][caption id="attachment_36075" align="aligncenter" width="475" caption="BARBARAELLEN KOCH PHOTO | Restaurant owner Ken Loo describes where the salsa bar will be in his new restaurant, which he hopes to have open by the end of April."]
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About 10 years ago, restaurant owner Ken Loo began visiting nearby Spanish grocery stores. He would buy fresh ingredients to cook up tacos inside the kitchen at his West Main Street restaurant, Hy-Ting.
Now, the downtown Riverhead restaurateur is set to open his own Tex-Mex restaurant on East Main Street to share his love of burritos and tacos.
“It’s just a food I’ve always liked,” Mr. Loo said. “It’s amazing how easy it is, but people don’t have the time to put it together.”
Blue Agave, located behind Mr. Loo’s second restaurant, Haiku sushi, will serve tacos, burritos, and fajitas, he said. The shop will be similar to a Chipotle Mexican Grill and will feature fresh food made-to-order with meals going for under $10.
Mr. Loo hopes to open the restaurant by the end of April.
To differentiate Blue Agave from other taco joints, he said the eatery will specialize in exotic and seasonal sauces and salsa to put on the tacos. The shop will feature toppings like roasted corn salsa in the summer, and would mix ingredients like strawberries and cucumber to make unique sauces.
“With the toppings, we’re trying to kick it up a bit,” he said.
Blue Agave, named after the plant used to make tequila, will also serve beer, he said.
It has been more than a year since the Blue Door Gallery left the site of the new restaurant. Since then, workers have renovated the storefront, building a serving area that Mr. Loo designed to look like a hut, complete with stone accents.
The space will provide space for about 20 diners. Mr. Loo plans to make space for outdoor seating in the alleyway too.
psquire@timesreview.com[%content%][%permalink%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress/2012/04/17/tex-mex-joint-set-to-open-in-downtown-riverhead/[%permalink%][%image%]http://media.timesreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/riverheadnewsreview/files/Blue_agave.jpg[%image%][%excerpt%]About 10 years ago, restaurant owner Ken Loo began visiting nearby Spanish grocery stores. He would buy fresh ingredients to cook up tacos inside the kitchen at his West Main Street restaurant, Hy-Ting. Now, the downtown Riverhead restaurateur is set to open his own Tex-Mex restaurant on East Main Street to share his love of [...][%excerpt%][%category%]Featured,Food[%category%][%categoryid%]4,5[%categoryid%][%site%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress[%site%][%title%]Food & drink servers take to the streets in Greenport[%title%][%author%]Wine Press[%author%][%date%]April 16, 2012[%date%][%content%][caption id="attachment_31455" align="aligncenter" width="475" caption="KATHARINE SCHROEDER PHOTO | Lucy Senesac of Porto Bello finished in third place in Sunday morning's Great Waiter Race in Greenport."]
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Food and drink servers from several North Fork restaurants and wineries took to the streets of Greenport Sunday morning for the Great Waiter Race to benefit health and wellness activities at Eastern Long Island Hospital.
Sponsored by The Market and Body Armor drinks, the race required waiters to balance a wine glass and a bottle of Body Armor on a tray while they walked as fast as they could from the Opportunity Shop on Main Street, down to Claudio's dock and over to Front Street, ending in front of The Market. (Visit The Market's Facebook page.)
Peconic Bay Wineries' Melissa Danchalski took first place, followed by Kerstan Pringle of Claudio's and Lucy Senesac of Porto Bello.
The Greenport hospital's president and CEO, Paul J. Connor, and Greenport Mayor David Nyce were on hand to present awards to the winners.
Check out a slide show from the event on suffolktimes.com.[%content%][%permalink%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress/2012/04/16/food-drink-servers-take-to-the-streets-in-greenport/[%permalink%][%image%]http://media.timesreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/suffolktimes/files/waiter_anchor.jpg[%image%][%excerpt%]Food and drink servers from several North Fork restaurants and wineries took to the streets of Greenport Sunday morning for the Great Waiter Race to benefit health and wellness activities at Eastern Long Island Hospital. Sponsored by The Market and Body Armor drinks, the race required waiters to balance a wine glass and a bottle [...][%excerpt%][%category%]Featured,Food[%category%][%categoryid%]4,5[%categoryid%][%site%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress[%site%][%title%]Blue Duck Bakery eyes Riverside for production plant[%title%][%author%]Tim Gannon[%author%][%date%]April 13, 2012[%date%][%content%][caption id="attachment_36013" align="aligncenter" width="475" caption="TIM GANNON PHOTO | The Blue Duck Bakery is expected to open its third location in June. The bakery will be located on East Main Street in Riverhead."]
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Blue Duck Bakery expects its downtown Riverhead store to be open in June, and it's also working on getting a new production plant up and running in Riverside, according to owner Keith Kouris.
The new bakery will be located in the same re-faced building as the Ralph's Famous Italian Ices store that opened last week.
"We're crossing our fingers about the June opening," Mr. Kouris said Friday.
The store is expected to create 12 to 15 new jobs.
The production center would be located at the Riverside Enterprise Park, which is being planned by Southampton Town on the site of the old Flanders Drive-In theater property off Route 24. As of now, there are a few small businesses operating at enterprise park buildings, but it is mostly empty land.
Blue Duck Bakery has operated a store in Southampton Village for 13 years and another one in Southold for almost four years.
"We've been looking at Riverhead for the last two years," Mr. Kouris said. "We see the activity going on there. We love that spot. It's near the aquarium and there's a lot of people there."
He said the company was originally looking to build a production plant in Riverhead, but couldn't find a big enough site, which is why he ended up targeting Riverside.
The Riverside Enterprise Park is also planned to become a hamlet center in the future, according to Southampton Town's plans for the area. Mr. Kouris said Blue Duck Bakery plans to have a retail store in that hamlet center when it opens, and will probably have an outlet store there prior to that.
The production center, he said, "is a few months away."
Ralph's Famous Italian Ices and Blue Duck Bakery both are in a 6,500-square-foot former auto parts building that's been renovated by owners Richard and Ike Israel into a retail center. The building has room for one more tenant.
The Israel's company, Mirah Max LLC, received tax incentives from the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency earlier this year that hold the property tax assessment on the building at its current rate for five years, with an option to review it after that. The company also will get sales tax exemptions on contruction materials associated with the project, and a mortgage recording tax exemption, according to Tracy Stark-James, the executive director of the IDA.
While the IDA incentives apply to the whole building, Mirah Max must get each tenant approved separately by the IDA before the tenant can qualify for tax incentives (in order to ensure tenants meet IDA criteria), Ms. Stark-James said.
Blue Duck Bakery's lease was approved at the April 2 IDA meeting.
The Mirah Max building also received a $15,366 gram from a New York State Main Street Program earlier this year, Ms Stark-James said. The grant money allowed the Israels to reduce the building footprint, set back the façade and expose the original brick fascia to create an attractive patio-entrance to the storefronts, Ms. Stark-James said.
tgannon@timesreview.com
[caption id="attachment_36011" align="aligncenter" width="475" caption="TIM GANNON PHOTO | The Blue Duck Bakery owners are planning to build a production plant at the Riverside Enterprise Park, above, just a short drive from downtown Riverhead."]
[/caption][%content%][%permalink%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress/2012/04/13/blue-duck-bakery-eyes-riverside-for-production-plant/[%permalink%][%image%]http://media.timesreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/riverheadnewsreview/files/blue_Duck.jpg[%image%][%excerpt%]Blue Duck Bakery expects its downtown Riverhead store to be open in June, and it’s also working on getting a new production plant up and running in Riverside, according to owner Keith Kouris. The new bakery will be located in the same re-faced building as the Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices store that opened last week. [...][%excerpt%][%category%]Featured,Food[%category%][%categoryid%]4,5[%categoryid%][%site%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress[%site%][%title%]Fishermen: It was a great scallop season[%title%][%author%]Beth Young[%author%][%date%]April 10, 2012[%date%][%content%][caption id="attachment_31257" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="JENNIFER GUSTAVSON FILE PHOTO | From left, Ed Densieski of Riverhead and Dave Cullen of South Jamesport harvests scallops in Orient Harbor."]
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It’s hard to top last year’s scallop season, but the fishermen who hung in there plying the waters these last several months say they weren’t disappointed and expect great things again next year.
“It was a great season, the best season since I started,” said Ed Densieski of Riverhead, who scallops part-time from opening day in November to the season’s close at the end of March. “There are plenty of bugs [baby scallops] out there. I’m thinking next year’s going to be a great year.”
Mr. Densieski said that while opening day was “a zoo” at scalloping hot spots, he saw an average of two to three boats out each day throughout the season.
“I just moved around. I’d work one spot and then another,” he said. “We were lucky to keep finding some. It wasn’t cold. There was no ice to deal with. It was a great year.”
Billy Hands of Orient, who scallops in his free time when he’s not working at the Orient Service Center, agrees.
“I thought it was good and plenty to eat!” he said. “There are lots of bugs out there right now and as long as the summer doesn’t produce a brown tide and water temperatures stay normal, then it should be a great season in November 2012.”
Researcher Stephen Tettelbach, an LIU professor who works with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Peconic Bay scallop restoration program, said he’s heard mixed reports from baymen this year. He added, however, that he believes many more people were scalloping this year than last year, after word got out that it was expected to be a good year.
“On opening day, the numbers of baymen on the water were in the hundreds,” he said. “I think there was more effort expended this year. It may have spread it around a little more than previous years.”
Mr. Tettelbach said the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has not yet released the number of scallops caught in calendar year 2010, so it will be quite some time until this year’s catch is quantified.
He said he saw many bugs on the bottom last fall and has heard the same from baymen. Bugs are immature scallops less than one year old. Scallops are large enough to be harvested in their second year, after which they die.
“There’s a real buzz about lots of bugs out there. People are seeing very high concentrations,” Mr. Tettelbach said.
He added that one scalloper he knows recently reported that the scallops are fatter and healthier looking than usual for this time of year.
That may be weather related, he said. Because of higher water temperatures, scallops were able to feed on algae during February, when they’re usually in a semi-hibernating state. That’s good for the harvest, but how it might affect the shellfish’s post-season survival is another matter.
“The crunch time that we’ve seen for scallops dying off naturally occurs in April,” said Mr. Tettelbach. “Their metabolic demands are increasing and there may not be as much food around as they need at that time. That seems to be a real critical period of the year.”
Mr. Densieski said he worries that warm temperatures could lead to damaging algae blooms like the brown tide, which nearly wiped out the scallop population in the mid-1980s.
Mr. Tettelbach said there’s no way of knowing how the scallops might do in the short term, particularly this month.
“Time will tell whether that happens at the same rate this year as in the past,” he said.
byoung@timesreview.com[%content%][%permalink%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress/2012/04/10/fishermen-it-was-a-great-scallop-season/[%permalink%][%image%]http://media.timesreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/suffolktimes/files/T040512_Scallops_JG_C.jpg[%image%][%excerpt%]It’s hard to top last year’s scallop season, but the fishermen who hung in there plying the waters these last several months say they weren’t disappointed and expect great things again next year. “It was a great season, the best season since I started,” said Ed Densieski of Riverhead, who scallops part-time from opening day [...][%excerpt%][%category%]Featured,Food[%category%][%categoryid%]4,5[%categoryid%][%site%]http://magazine.timesreview.com/liwinepress[%site%]