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Guide to North Fork Restaurants

 
BY JOAN REMINICK
Newsday Staff Writer

While some of the restaurants on this list have been around longer than others, all have proven that they have what it takes to hold their own on the North Fork, what's becoming a highly competitive scene.

Antares Cafe -- Manhanset Avenue, Greenport, 631-477-8839. Situated in a boatyard, this Greenport hideaway compensates for an unspectacular view with a particularly buoyant New American repertoire.

Cafe @ EON, 56125 Main Rd., Southold, 631-765-6070. In minimalist black-and-white surroundings, chef Jonathan Studley offers an eclectic repertoire that includes duck spring rolls, grilled rosemary pork chops and Key lime pie. The menu, as well as the experience, can change from one visit to the next.

Fifth Season - 45 Front St., Greenport, 631-477-8500. Chef-owner Erik Orlowski's Greenport New American manages to be perpetually in season by changing its menu on a weekly basis.

Frisky Oyster - 27 Front St., Greenport, 631-477-4265. The ambience is both festive and tasteful at this year-old Greenport fish house, where the new American seafood-focused menu is seasonal and well-executed.

Hellenic Snack Bar & Restaurant - 5145 Main Rd., East Marion, 631-477-0138. For years, the satisfying Greek food and house-made lemonade at this indoor-outdoor standby has kept crowds coming back for more.

Jamesport Country Kitchen - 1601 Main Rd., Jamesport, 631-722-3537. Whether for lunch or dinner, this longtime favorite can be counted on for fare that's fresh and local. Chef-owner Matthew Kar's dill-spiked salmon cakes are especially sprightly.

Jedediah's, 400 S. Jamesport Ave., Jamesport, 631-722-2900. The restaurant at this restored Victorian inn on an idyllic piece of property is formal but not the least bit straitlaced. Chef and co-owner Tom Schaudel does well with appetizers such as tuna three ways (carpaccio, tartare and pepper-seared) and main courses such as butter-poached lobster.

Lobster Roll Restaurant Northside -- 3225 Sound Ave., Riverhead, 631-369-3039. Unlike its younger sibling in Amagansett, this classic, informal seafood house is open year-round (but closed Tuesdays), specializing in its namesake offering and more.

Modern Snack Bar - 628 Main Rd., Aquebogue, 631-722-3655. Locals as well as visitors to the area know they can rely on such homey staples as roast turkey, roast duck or bay scallops at this informal eatery that's practically a landmark.

North Fork Table & Inn, 57225 Main Rd., Southold, 631-765-0177. Gerry Hayden's refined but never fussy cooking glorifies both local treasures -- roasted beets with Catapano goat cheese, Shinnecock monkfish with house-made pancetta -- and carefully sourced "imports" such as wild Alaskan king salmon and rack of Colorado lamb. Hayden's wife, Claudia Fleming, who designed the simple, gracious dining room, makes the sensational desserts. Don't miss the caramel ice cream.

Seafood Barge - 62980 Main Road, Southold, 631-765-3010. Chef Americo Mintegui offers a combination of the classic (steamed lobster) and the contemporary (sashimi of striped bass) at this landmark waterside spot in Southold.

Scrimshaw - 102 Main Street, Greenport, 631-477-8882. Cookbook author and restaurateur Rosa Ross brings together Asian and European influences at her attractive Greenport restaurant, decorated with ships' figureheads and overlooking the sea.

The Frisky Oyster, 27 Front St., Greenport, 631-477-4265. This lively, popular New American restaurant excels with dishes such as squash blossoms filled with goat cheese, pan-roasted scallops with red miso vinaigrette and a rich chocolate pot de creme. Also available, an updated version of oysters mignonette.

Tweeds Restaurant & Buffalo Bar- 17 Main St., Riverhead, 631-208-3151. Under the ownership of Ed Tuccio, who also owns a local bison farm, this popular Riverhead bar and restaurant serves up buffalo in all manner of presentations, be it burger, brochettes or steak.

Vine Wine + Cafe, 100 South St., Greenport, 631-477-6238. On a fine day, the veranda of this tastefully designed restaurant becomes the ideal spot to savor a flight of wines, along with selections from a light menu. Choices include cool cucumber-yogurt soup, a salad of local beets, greens, fruit, fresh mint and goat cheese and a sliced beef tenderloin sandwich.

New options for dining on the North Fork

This year, the picturesque North Fork may be stealing the spotlight from the glitzier Hamptons. Here, it's not only the vineyards and farms that are flourishing. A once-sleepy dining scene, which has been picking up steam over the past few years, is in the throes of a major energy surge, thanks to some formidable new players.

The Manhattan super couple of Gerard Hayden (formerly of Aureole and Amuse) and Claudia Fleming (celebrated past pastry chef of Gramercy Tavern ) has moved out here, teaming up with partners Mary and Mike Mraz (she was service manager at Gramercy Tavern, he, at Hearth) to open North Fork Table & Inn, 57225 Main Road, Southold, 631-765-0177, where Coeur des Vignes used to be.

"I equate the North Fork to Sonoma," said Hayden, who, with Fleming, has left the Big Apple for what he termed "an agriculturally rich community." The restaurant, which shares quarters with a boutique-style hostelry, serves the produce of local growers, along with locally-caught fish and duck from nearby farms.

Another high-power restaurateur-chef, Long Island's Tom Schaudel (of CoolFish in Syosset, PassionFish in Westhampton Beach, to name just two of his locales), is poised to open the painstakingly restored Jedediah Hawkins Inn, 400 S. Jamesport Ave., Jamesport, 631-722-2900. "I think the North Fork is the next Napa Valley, and I want to be part of that in some small way," said Schaudel, whose New American restaurant and boutique-style hostelry is slated to open June 14.

Another boutique-style inn and restaurant combination, which quietly came in this past December, is Cafe @ EON (or Elements of Nature), 56125 Main Rd., Southold, 631-765-7070. The historic building, restored with care and taste by owner Michael Miller, houses a New American restaurant. In a minimalist black and white room, chef Jonathan Studley serves such dishes as duck spring rolls and flounder rollatini.

Open as of Memorial Day weekend, Big Mama's Creole Kitchen, 623275 Main Rd., Southold, 631-765-1200, is the second enterprise of Dan Reyburn and Ron Philipp, who, last year, opened Farmer Bar-Cutchogue Barbecue Co. in Cutchogue. Philipp does the cooking at the New Orleans-style restaurant, designed to evoke landmark dining spots like Arnaud's and Antoine's. The menu is rife with classics like crawfish and shrimp etouffe and fried oyster po' boys.

Another newcomer to Southold will be Founders Tavern, to open in mid-June at 55500 Main Rd., 631-765-3100, where Joanthony's was. Chef Rob Grogan will offer an American menu focusing on what owner Eric Russell termed "higher end bar food," as well as a roster of good beers and local wines.

In Greenport, the Shady Lady Inn Steak House, which closed last year, has reopened under new management and with an emphasis on red meat at 305 North Rd., 631-477-4500. The Victorian-style dining spot and inn also houses a retail cigar club, where cigar smoking is permitted.

Barbecue Bill's should be firing up the hardwood smokers in late June or early July at 37 Front St., Greenport, 631-477-2300. According to co-owners Bill Winkle and Doug Cress, the bi-level restaurant and bar will serve authentic Texas 'cue. The new place will offer outdoor seating on a harborside deck and slips for up to 100 boats.

On scenic Shelter Island, Onshore, 13 Winthrop Rd., 631-749-2300, recently debuted in the Dering Harbor Inn. In a comfortable dining room, graced with both a fireplace and water view, I enjoyed the French-influenced New American cooking of chef Marcel Iatoni. I was as impressed with texture-flavor combination presented by his escargots in puff pastry as I was with his supernally tender crumb-coated roasted Cajun calamari.

Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.