Food Seen: Doubles Opening, Riverhead Dining & More

Tour Riverhead’s fabulous dining scene, try local happy hour and weekend specials, check out Doubles food shop, make a stop at Top Hops Beer Shop’s tap truck, and more foodie news bites and sips from the East End “Food Seen.”

Situated at the mouth of the Peconic River, Riverhead is home to an increasingly hot restaurant scene. Farm Country Kitchen offers homemade soups, sandwiches, paninis, wraps, salads and entrée specials. It’s housed in a late-1800s colonial home on the banks of the Peconic, making it a pleasant fine dining experience. Free delivery is available in the entire Riverhead area, too.

For fresh seafood, dine at Buoy One. The restaurant and market serve fresh market-to-table, New England-style seafood. Open year round, seven days a week, standout dishes include clams on the half shell, pepper seared tuna, warm shellfish medley salad and the salmon burger on brioche.

Jerry & the Mermaid serves a solid lobster roll, available hot or cold and served with waffle fries, coleslaw and pickle. Other nautical delights include the nut crusted pangasius (mild-flavored), Cajun pan-roasted salmon and sesame crusted ahi tuna.

If you dance to a different tuna, Sakura on Route 58 offers a vast array of authentic Japanese cuisine, such as chicken teriyaki, shrimp and vegetable tempura, unagi don and volcano rolls. The hibachi lunches (including filet mignon, scallop and chicken) are served with clear soup or house salad, vegetable, and fried rice.

For a taste of Eastern Europe, The Birchwood of Polish Town is the place to go. The kielbasa and kraut sandwich are imported from Brooklyn and served with sauerkraut on rye toast with Polish mustard. The Birchwood is also known for its fun costume parties. This past June there was a Hero Bash with costumed superheroes, and on July 16, a princess-themed tea party will be had. Bring your prettiest costume to the cleaners now!

Baron’s Cove in Sag Harbor is celebrating the Fourth of July all weekend long. On July 2, hotel guests can enjoy complimentary fruit kebabs and corn dogs while relaxing poolside. The grilling station opens at 5:30 in the evening, serving up tomahawk steaks, lobsters, corn on the cob, and an assortment of dinner specials. Before fireworks along the Harbor begin at 9:30 p.m., a raw bar with clams, oysters and more will be available from 3–6 p.m. Complimentary popsicles will also be offered by the pool! On July 4, Baron’s Cove is hosting a classic summer barbecue with hot dogs, pulled pork sandwiches and a vegan-friendly marinated portobello mushroom sandwich. Sides include coleslaw, macaroni salads and more. Shortcake with whipped cream, blueberries and strawberries will be the free dessert for hotel guests.

Bostwick’s on the Harbor has announced a summer happy hour Monday, Thursday and Fridays from 5–6:30 p.m. at the bar and in the lounge. Drink specials include $5 draft beers, $10 glasses of wine (excluding rosé), $8 well drinks and $10 specialty cocktails. Bar bites available during happy hour include shrimp cocktail, yellowfin tuna poke, Local littleneck clams on the half shell and Korean BBQ pork sliders.

In other happy hour news, the waterfront dining spot Manna at Lobster Inn has launched a summer cocktail hour, offered Sunday through Thursday from 3–6 p.m Drink specials include $8 house wine, $5 draft beers and $8 frozen margaritas. Happy Hour snack specials feature 50% off oysters, deviled eggs, baked clams, edamame, ceviche, burgers and cod sandwiches.

Did you know? Ted Kenny’s Top Hops Beer Shop is going mobile this summer by bringing its award-winning beer to the Hamptons and the North Fork in a vintage-inspired tap truck: The Half Pint. Developed by the makers of Vespa, the three-wheeled scooter was designed at the end of World War II as a transport solution in economically depressed Italy that could handle the tricky small Italian roads with light delivery items. The retro-style mobile bar specializes in serving high-quality draft beer curated for each party or event.

The Brothers Bennett (Daniel and Evan) are natives of the South Fork and have dreamed of opening a restaurant in Amagansett Square since they were teenagers. The 30-somethings will turn their dream into a reality when Doubles, a Caribbean and beach-themed food store, opens in the square this summer. It will operate as a pickup window. The focal point of the menu will be roti, the Caribbean specialty with Indian origins. Other treats such as hot grilled fish and friend chicken sandwiches, salads, curried pumpkin, slow cooked vegetable and grain bowls, smoothies and rotating flavors of soft-serve ice cream will also be served. The mahi-mahi for the sandwiches will come daily from Montauk. The “doubles” in the name refers to a Caribbean street sandwich made from curried chickpeas tucked between two pieces of fried flat bread and dressed in tangy sauces. More items will be rolled out after the opening.

South Fork Sea Farmers host their fourth annual Shell It Out fundraiser on August 7 in Springs. The local benefit involves a silent auction of East End artists, oysters shucked on-site and additional fresh offerings from Food & Co.

Food Quote: “A great restaurant doesn’t distinguish itself by how few mistakes it makes, but by how they handle those mistakes.”

~ Danny Meyer, Founder, Union Square Hospitality Group

Got a restaurant news item or tip? Email us at dansfoodseen@gmail.com!