Carissa’s Offers Sit-Down Service

Carissa Waechter made her mark at a small bakery tucked behind East Hampton’s Newtown Lane, but in July she is expanding to a second, 3500-square-foot location at 221 Pantigo Road, the space that formerly housed Turtle Crossing and briefly, Momi Ramen.

The new Carissa’s will still turn out favorites like raspberry-rosewater croissants, polenta cakes, sweet potato brioche and the most awe-inspiring, Instagram-worthy peach-raspberry meringue pie with peaks adorned by rose gold shavings, edible flower petals, and white chocolate pearls with organic shimmering dust, but there will also be a restaurant component that doesn’t exist in the original space.

Helmed by chef Molly Levine, who trained at the legendary Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA, it will begin by serving soups, sandwiches, salads, coffee, and home-made gelato, but by early August, will offer a full menu that changes daily, along with wine and cocktails.

“The location came about serendipitously,’’ explained Waechter. “When we opened Carissa’s the Bakery in 2017, we didn’t expect the amount of volume needed to keep up with the demand for our breads and pastries. It took us a year to search for a nearby production facility and when this previous restaurant became available, we decided it would make sense to offer sit-down service.”

Gurney’s Montauk Resort and Spa (290 Old Montauk Hwy, Montauk) will begin Sunday barbecues on June 30, and Thursday lobster bakes beginning June 27. Among the offerings at the seafood spread ($120): a spring harvest salad of sweet peas, favas, radishes, and snap peas in a lemon vinaigrette; clams and mussels in smoked uni butter with chorizo and herbs; steamed lobster; corn on the cob; Yukon potatoes; apple-rhubarb pie; and a donut station. The meaty feasts ($120) offer Korean BBQ short ribs, smoked wagyu brisket, St. Louis pork ribs, lamb porchetta, and wood fried chicken, along with smoked beans and pastrami bacon, North Country rice, pickles, potato salad, and five-cheese mac ‘n cheese. Don’t worry, you will be right on the sand and can run it off on the beach later in the day.

If you head over to über-popular Duryea’s Lobster Deck (65 Tuthill Rd, Montauk), which doesn’t take reservations, odds are you’re in for a very long wait, if you get seated at all. So as not to make the trip a waste, the restaurant has introduced a range of take-out baskets that can be enjoyed at picnic tables set up across the street, or taken to a boat or beach.

“We were turning away a lot of people and that doesn’t feel good, so now they will be able to experience Duryea’s a little differently,’’ said general manager Steven Jauffrineau. There are four different options, including a $225 combo of a cheese plate, 2.5-oz burrata, charcuterie, crudités, baguette, crisp bread or crackers, olives, small honey, small mustard, pickles, and nuts; and a $250 basket for two containing snow crab cocktail, shrimp cocktail, a two-pound cold steamed lobster, smoked salmon, baguette, coleslaw, crudités, and sauces. Both include water and a choice of beer, Wölffer cider, or fresh pressed juice. Caviar can be added for $125, and a blanket for $17.

If you are in the area and get hungry in the morning, The Clam Bar at Napeague (2025 Montauk Hwy, Amagansett), famous for its lobster rolls and raw mollusks, has just started serving breakfast for the first time. Among the offerings: lobster Benedict made with garlic naan, avocado toast (you can add a poached egg or lobster), acai bowls, pancakes, eggs, and a gravlax platter. There will also be fresh juices, coffee, cocktails and, if you insist, lobster rolls.