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Feast Days in the Hamptons
August 2000

New York City favorite, Gotham Bar and Grill, under the direction of Alfred Portale, served possibly one of the best summer dishes ever, a Poached Atlantic Salmon Salad with Summer Vegetable Vinaigrette. A serious dish with a light edge and the brilliant color of summer vegetables was a refreshing, and welcome addition to the feast.

Roy's New York Szechwan Grilled Baby Back Pork Ribs

Erik Blauberg and Amy Falbaum

The 21 Club, with Erik Blauberg and Amy Falbaum at the helm, provided the antithesis of light summer eating, serving an extravagant little sandwich of lobster and crab with a decadent caper-citrus dressing that was scrumptious but a little heavy and not so easy on the thighs. The sandwich generated a succession of hungry moans from salivating partiers and provided profound satisfaction with lingering pangs of guilt.

Petrossian Sevruga Caviar

The Bubble Lounge, a bastion of extravagance, showed up with Petrossian Sevruga Caviar. There's something almost heavenly about a blue tin heaping with fish eggs and calling out to pick up toast points and dig in. Others felt the same way—one strange little man was caught heaping piles of caviar onto the toast as if he were heaping deviled ham onto a slab of Wonderbread. The folks at Bubble Lounge quickly chimed in, helped the gentleman with an impromptu caviar etiquette lesson. Another crisis averted in the culinary community.

Mina Newman of Dylan Prime Restaurant, Shrimp Cocktail Marbles

Estia Restaurant, Tiger Skewers in pesto with Thai spiced shrimp vida slaw

Michael Ginor, Hudson Valley Foie Gras Restaurant Grilled Hudson Valley Foie Gras with fruit glaze

One of my new favorites is David Ruggerio from Brasserie Bit, a stand-out at the affair with a delightful charred Lamb Salad with Artichokes, Fava Beans and Confit of Tomato that was simply mouth-watering and worthy of a return trip back to the table, although technically, attendees are frowned upon for such wanton behavior.

The most hard-working boys in white work at Roy's New York. With Troy Guard as their leader, they slaved over hot flames all afternoon and into the evening making Huli-Huli BBQ Chicken with Lanai Papaya and Pineapple Jam and Szechwan Grilled Baby Back Pork Ribs that combine down home comfort food with exotic flavors. Despite a rigid and sweaty work ethic, the Roy's New York boys were never camera shy and had time to throw food into the air to achieve that dramatic effect. We love the combination of good food and stellar showmanship.

There are times at these feast days when people feel like children on Christmas morning, voraciously unwrapping one ornate package, savoring its contents and then, moving on to tear into the next. Such is the reveler, moving from one booth to the next, juggling plastic plates, wine glasses and pocket books, while taking in the sight of one gorgeous ensemble of food, relishing the new flavors and then, with the wonderment of a child moving to the next new booth to see what awaits them.

And no matter what Pope Pius may have believed some 400 years ago, that expectation of unknown adventure around each corner is why food people are happy to celebrate with a feast every day of the year.