Charity Robey

First and South: A collaboration of food, drinks and community

Sarah Phillips partner/operator visits K.K’s Farm in Southold where she purchases and harvests lettuce and other produce for the weekend menu. (Credit: Randee Daddona)

At the intersection of First and South streets in the Village of Greenport, there’s a lovely old house; all windows and garden, with a homey vibe that begs you to “find your way” in.

It’s First and South, the five-year-old bar and eatery that has become a center for the collaborative, community-based style of hospitality championed by partner and manager Sarah Phillips.

She calls it “the blend.”

“Farmers, boat-builders, second-home owners, it’s so great to get people together. Food and drink is a pretty good common ground,” she said.

Phillips grew up in Babylon, Long Island, a small place with a seafaring tradition, not unlike Greenport. “In Babylon, you knew what everyone was having for dinner and whether their grandma was coming over to eat,” she said.

Bartender Bob Paquette also known as “one-eyed Bob” at First and South in Greenport. (Credit: Randee Daddona)

Her father was a teacher, ran a bar on the side and worked as a lifeguard for over 50 years. Phillips grew up with fishing and sports and, although she did some catering even before studying at the International Culinary Institute in New York, her main work during the decade before she got into the restaurant industry was also lifeguarding.

After culinary school, Phillips was living in New York and working as a consultant to restaurants when she realized she had gone astray. One hot night in June 2011, she was stuck on an L train that was completely lacking the refreshing smell of the sea she remembered from Long Island summers. “I couldn’t believe I was in the city. It felt so wrong,” she recalled.

By July 4th weekend, Phillips made it happen. Visiting the Jedediah Hawkins Inn in Jamesport she noticed the restaurant was short-staffed and offered her resume for consideration.

“Are you a restaurant angel?” the general manager asked, hiring her as beverage manager and later general manager. Jedediah Hawkins was exactly the track change her career needed, introducing her to all the best of North Fork food and wine and leading her to the Greenport property that would become First and South, her delicious community fishbowl.

Chef de cuisine Ivo Duarte at First and South in Greenport. (Credit: Randee Daddona)

Ivo Duarte is chef de cuisine at First and South and Phillips said his experience working at Sang Lee Farms enriches what he brings to her kitchen. “We got a whole new perspective,” she said, “because he was working hands-on at the farms.”

Bartender April Uihlein works one day a week with Ira Haspel at KK’s The Farm, harvesting greens on Thursday for First and South to serve on Friday. It gives Phillips a pipepline to her main vegetable provider that’s the next best thing to a kitchen garden. During a recent spinach-harvest, Uihlein texted Phillips from the field to ask, “Do you want the small, fine spinach or do you want the larger leaves?”

These are not unimportant questions. First and South goes through 22 pounds of lettuce in a weekend and menus are planned around what’s in season “I want to do some zucchini fritters, and a local summer crudité with a warm crab dip. But I need really great, fresh zucchini to do that,” she said.
From Surrey Lane Farms, the June crop of scallion scapes found their way into the striped bass and the steak frites and nasturtium blooms are adding zest and “a beautiful touch of femininity” to the Negroni.

Huckleberry Lemonade at First and South in Greenport. (Credit: Randee Daddona)

The transition of the North Fork from a land of potato and duck farms to wineries, diversified farms and specialty foods has made it a food destination; a land where the fruity perfection of Briermere’s apple pie lives side by side with the dark chocoholism of Blackbottom Oat Pie from Orient’s Four and Twenty Blackbirds. At First and South, Phillips serves these signature products that make the North Fork food scene so vibrant. “People come out to Greenport without a car. These are brands they can’t get hold of easily,” she said.

A trained sommelier and a devotee of North Fork wines, Phillips is especially happy to include her favorite winemakers in the First and South collaboration. “At Macari, Kelly Urbanik takes it up a level every year,” she said. “Anthony Nappa is doing an incredible cabernet franc.”
“We like to showcase varietals that are outstanding,” she added, ticking off a list that includes chenin blanc from Paumanok Vineyards, McCall Wines’ 2013 Chardonnay and the grüner veltliner from One Woman Wines & Vineyard.

“Wines that pair well with our food,” she said.

First and South in Greenport. (Credit: Randee Daddona)

Phillips sees the restaurant as a place where people who share an interest in the food and drink of the North Fork can develop and move forward. “This place was always intended as a platform for people who want to be in this industry,” she said.

She’s also a booster for former First and South colleagues, including her former chefs: Taylor Knapp started the pop-up restaurant PawPaw in Greenport and farms snails at Peconic Escargot, and Scott Leventhal went on to make beautiful blue smoke at North Fork Smoked Fish Company.

On Monday nights in the spring and fall, the main dining room becomes a dance floor with Phillips’ friend Blake Hobby, a champion swing dancer, leading the celebration. On Monday nights in the summer, Phillips pairs a pig from Wells Farms and beer from a local brewery to reach for the pinnacle of traditional American outdoor cooking: the pig roast. “We have fun together and highlight each other’s businesses,” she said adding, “There is a lot of Tetris here.”
Phillips has become the ringmaster of this group of local farmers, fishers, artists, dancers and pie- and winemakers, who work with her to create a rich experience of North Fork hospitality at the corner of First and South.

Two-Wheels to Seven Wineries in Two North Fork Tours

 I like wine, and I like visiting farms. But I've never made a tour of the North Fork wine country; even though I’ve admired the landscape and the wines for years. So I decided to explore both the farmland and the wines this spring--by bicycle.

 I mapped two routes with scenery and serenity in mind.  Each one amounts to about an hour of easy pedaling and is dead flat.  Cyclocross this was not.  No carbon frames, spandex shorts or aerodynamic accessories. Both routes take in small, low-key wineries situated in the earthy, farm paradise called the North Fork.

 Bikes are allowed on the Long Island Rail Road with a $5 permit (check the LIRR site for rules) so each route begins and ends near a train station. A morning train from Penn Station in New York City arrives in Mattituck around noon, and Southold 15 minutes later--perfect timing for an afternoon wine tour.

 Dan’s Bike Rental in Greenport (212-380-1119, greenportbikerental.com) will deliver a rental bike to train station and Hampton Jitney stops in Mattituck and Southold.

 The Mattituck/Oregon Rd. Loop Oregon Rd. may be the most beautiful country road anywhere, and this 8.5 mile route makes the most of it. Starting at the train station, I pedal through town on Pike and Wickham, and cross Rt. 48, with the stoplight coming in very handy. Next is a lovely stretch of Wickham Ave. and Mill Rd. with beautiful old homes and tiny Wolf Pit Lake. A right onto Oregon Rd. puts me in the heart of prime North Fork farmland.  Acres of fields and farmhouses spread out around me as I arrive at Shinn Estate Vineyards.

 

Shinn Estate Vineyards 2000 Oregon Rd. Mattituck Shinn is a vineyard, country inn and wine-tasting room with a comfy, homespun feeling that goes with my low-key approach to wine country. It is a weekday, so I avail myself of the self-guided tour. For $10 I get a wine tasting and a booklet to guide me around the vineyard. On weekends, the tours are in small groups, at 1:30 and 2:30.

On the tour, I learn that Shinn is a biodynamic grower. The kitchen garden, chickens and honeybees are every bit as essential to the wines as the rows and rows of cabernet franc, merlot, and sauvignon blanc grapes.  In the tasting room, I put my $10 tour fee toward a bottle of Pear Cider, wedge it into my saddlebag, and roll back onto Oregon Rd., toward Lieb Cellars.

 

Lieb Cellars, 13050 Oregon Rd., Cutchogue Lieb Cellars has three tasting locations on the East End, but the small, Oregon Rd. tasting room, set on the edge of their 62 acre vineyard suits me best. An outdoor patio with fire-pits and tables looks out on farmland and has the laid-back vibe I like.  After some tasting, swirling and expectorating, I heave my leg over my steed of steel, and head for some more farmland-appreciation.

Alvah’s Lane runs north/south with views of such green fertility that I think I can hear things growing. Approaching Rt. 48, I see Castello di Borghese across the way.

Castello di Borghese 
Vineyard & Winery
17150 County Rte 48, is the home of several award-winning wines, including a 2010 Cabernet Franc and  2010 Riesling. My timing is off--tours and tastings at Borghese are on Thursdays and Sundays at 1pm July through October, and
Saturday at 1pm November through June--so I continue west on Rt 48 to Elijah’s Lane to check out Sherwood House Vineyard’s roadside tasting room.

 

Sherwood House Vineyard, Corner of Elijah Lane and (2600) Oregon Rd., Mattituck Stopping at Sherwood’s Oregon Rd. tasting barn is like pulling into a small farmstand.  Except instead of corn and peas, you find Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay. Closed for the last two summers, the tasting barn is set to open on weekends again in late June, “as soon as school is out” says tasting-room manager, Kristen Hand.

I’m working up an appetite with all this tasting and pedaling, so it’s back into Mattituck. 

 Love Lane in Mattituck is a one-block downtown lined on both sides with interesting shops and excellent food options.  One of the best is Love Lane Kitchen, (240 Love Lane, Mattituck), where they make a great burger from organic grass-fed beef.  If I’m feeling fancy, their Duck Tagine is a fragrant and flavorful Moroccan version of roasted duck made with a bird that was raised a few miles away.  The Village Cheese Shop, 105 Love Lane has a casual café with a wine-friendly menu of fondue, cheese platters and charcuterie. Behind their big, glass cheese-case is an impressive and fragrant assortment of cheeses and meats, and they also make sandwiches. Or you can just get a loaf of good bread and a few select cheeses--the ideal to-go lunch for wine country.

 The Southold Town and Country Loop 

My second route is around 12 miles; begins and ends at the Southold train station, and features three small vineyards, each with a distinct personality.  The ride is an easy and beautiful loop that takes in the charm of Southold village as well as the farms and waterways that lace the area.

From the station, I head east on Traveler St. and turn south to cross Main St. at the light. Passing Town Creek and into Calves Neck, the road turns and winds along the water.  I cross Jockey Creek with more winding and turning until I see the rows of grapevines that indicate my goal is nigh, Croteaux Vineyards.

 Croteaux Vineyards, 1450 South Harbor Rd., Southold Croteaux feels like a private country mansion that is somehow open to the public. The tasting area is a lovely garden of flowering plants and trees with tables and Adirondack chairs between a barn and the vineyard. Croteaux makes rosé, so I sample six kinds (with lots of sniffing, swirling and spitting, because this is my first stop of the day.)

 Leaving Croteaux, I pedal past farms and sheep, then down Main St. in Southold through town, and two miles to The Old Field Vineyards on the right.

 The Old Field Vineyards, 59600 Main Rd. Southold Walking up the gravel driveway, I see the shimmering waters of Southold Bay at the far end of the vineyard.  The Old Field Vineyards feels like a real farm. The tasting room appears to be a former chicken coop, complete with antique nesting boxes. The current chicken coop is just outside, and its residents mingle with wine-tasters on the outdoor deck and picnic tables. The birds provide local color as well as inspiration for wine-names. I like the red table wine they call “Rooster Tail.”

 Back on the Main Rd, I cross to the north side and head west for a half a mile to The North Fork Table and Inn, 57225 Main Rd. (631-765-0177), one of the finest, and best-loved restaurants on the East End. I’m not ready for the kind of meal that is served at a table, but I can still enjoy the food of chefs Hayden and Fleming at The Lunch Truck, parked next to the Inn, and serving from 11:30-3:30 on most summer days. Very partial to the beef and black-bean chili; I can also vouch for the excellence of the lobster roll. After a fine lunch, I rolled through the farmland north of Southold on Old North Rd. to One Woman Wines and Vineyard.

 One Woman Wines and Vineyard, 5195 Old North Rd., Southold In keeping with the stripped-down nature of this adventure, One Woman is a vineyard and winery conceived and created (not to mention planted) by one woman, Claudia Purita.  One Woman is known primarily for one grape- Gruner Veltliner—and is the one place Gruner is grown on the North Fork.  And taste it I did, sitting on the sunny deck in the middle of farmland with the grapevines everywhere I looked.

 Leaving One Woman, I pass a sign directing me to Horton Point, a worthy side-trip to a tiny and charming lighthouse. I pass more farms with the patina of age and weather and then roll back to the Southold train station, and the end of another North Fork wine-tasting, loam-smelling, bike-touring adventure.

 Turn-by-turn route instructions

 
The Mattituck/Oregon Rd. Loop -Begins and ends at the Mattituck train station on Pike St.

East on Pike St. and left on Wickham Ave.

Cross Rt. 48 at the stoplight and continue on Wickham Ave., as it veers right.

Left on Mill Lane to Oregon Rd. 

Right on Oregon Rd. to Shinn Estate Vineyards 2000 Oregon Rd. on the right.

From Shinn, continue east on Oregon Rd., 2 miles to Lieb Cellars, 13050 Oregon Rd., on the right.

From Lieb, head left (west) on Oregon Rd.

Left on Alvah’s Lane, 1 mile to Rt. 48. (Castello di Borghese 
Vineyard & Winery
17150 County Rte 48 is on the South side of Rt. 48 at Alvah’s Lane)

Right (west) on Rt. 48 1.3 miles to Elijah’s Lane. 

Right on Elijah’s Lane, 1 mile to Oregon Rd.

Sherwood House Vineyard tasting barn at the Corner of Elijah’s Lane and Oregon Rd.

From Sherwood, head left (west) on Oregon Rd. to East Mill Rd.

Left on Grand Ave. which becomes Wickham Ave.

Cross Rt. 48 at the light.

Turn right on Pike St. to train station, or left on Love Lane to Love Lane Kitchen and The Village Cheese Shop.

 

The Southold Town and Country Loop-Begins and ends at the Southold train station on Traveler St.

East on Traveler St.

Right on Youngs Ave.

Cross Main St. (Rt. 25) at the light and continue past Town Creek.

Stay left as Youngs Ave. becomes Calves Neck Rd.

Calves Neck becomes Hill Rd. in ½ mile, then becomes Hill Rd. West for another ½ mile.

Left on Wells Ave. for ½ mile.

Left on Oaklawn Ave. across Jockey Creek.

Right on Clearview Ave. for ½ mile to a left/fast right to Clearview Ave.West.

Left on Main Bayview Rd.

Right on Baywater Ave.

Right on South Harbor Rd. to Croteaux Vineyards, 1450 South Harbor Rd.

on the left.

From Croteaux, left on South Harbor Rd.

Right on the Main Rd. (Rt. 25) for ¼ mile.

Right on Corwin (aka “Peanut Alley”).

At the end of the alley, cross Main Bayview Rd. to right on Pine Neck Rd.

Left on Oaklawn Ave.

Right on Main St. Southold for two miles to The Old Field Vineyards, 59600 Main Rd. on the right.

From The Old Field Vineyard, cross to the north side of Rt. 25 and head west for ½ mile to The North Fork Table and Inn, 57225 Main Rd.

From The North Fork Table and Inn, head right (west) on Rt. 25 for 1 mile.

Right on Boisseau Ave. ½ mile.

Left on Hummel.

Right on Youngs Ave.

Cross Rt. 48 at the light and continue on Youngs Ave.

Right on Old North Rd.

One Woman Wines and Vineyard, 5195 Old North Rd. is ½ mile ahead on the left.

From One Woman, head right (west) on Old North Rd. past sign for Horton Point Lighthouse at Lighthouse Rd.

Left on Horton Lane.

Cross Rt. 48 at the light, for ½ mile across train tracks. 

Left on Traveler St. to the train station on the left.

Three Shelter Island chefs and the wine they pour | North Fork wine, food, lodging, leisure—life on Long Island's top fork: Northforker.com

The North Ferry from Greenport to Shelter Island leads foodies from Wine Country to a small island with several great restaurants. (Credit: Grant Parpan)

via northforker.com

With sweeping views west to Pipes Cove, east to Gardiners Bay and ahead to the bluffs of Shelter Island Heights, the North Ferry ride from Greenport offers a 15-minute introduction to the geography, geology and climate of Long Island’s North Fork. Some people say you can taste the North Fork in the food and wine produced from its fruits, vegetables and animals. 

The proprietors of three distinguished Shelter Island Restaurants — Terry Harwood at Vine Street Café, Joe and Dennis Smith at the Ram’s Head Inn and Jimi Rando at Sweet Tomato’s — find a sense of place they can taste in the food and wine created on the North Fork. They say they find inspiration in the local fish, shellfish, cheese, produce and wines. And when they discuss their signature dishes, they also like to talk about the Long Island wines they pour with them.

(Credit: Julie Lane)

Vine Street Café

Lisa and Terry Harwood’s Vine Street Café has been delighting diners on Shelter Island since 2003 with a menu that’s in harmony with Long Island’s land and seasons.

You can still hear a hint of Tennessee when Terry Harwood speaks, a reminder of his being “born and raised … on my grandpa’s vegetable farm.” Where he grew up, all vegetables were local and organic because that’s what they could get.

From the beginning, Long Island wines were an important part of the experience at Vine Street Café.

“Our wines are grown on an island surrounded by the sea where ocean breezes along with a particular soil composition gives that distinct mineral note to most Long Island wines,” Harwood says. “Our vegetables are grown in the same soil with the same breezes, so it makes for a better fit.”

Duck confit is a year-round favorite at Vine Street Café and Harwood likes to pair it with Bedell Cellars merlot. He also uses the merlot in the reduction for the duck jus.

“It’s the French oak barrels that tame the tannins and therefore do not overpower the delicate duck confit,” he says.

To accompany fish preparations, such as pan-roasted wild striped bass with roasted root vegetable-kale salad and potato-crusted local fluke with fingerling potato, Harwood calls for Bon Appetit Chardonnay from The Lenz Winery.

“We love and serve Lenz’s reds,” he says. “But I like pairing the chardonnay because of its straightforward, dry citrus and crispness, which goes so well with many of our seasonal white fish preparations.”

He says he’s impressed with the wine being made on Long Island.

“We have smart winemakers who are handcrafting some great wines that can only come from our soil,” Harwood says. “I take personal inspiration from this.”

(Credit: Eleanor P. Labrozzi)

 Ram’s Head Inn

Since 1929, the Ram’s Head Inn has stood at the crest of a hill blanketed by a huge green lawn, dotted with old trees and sloping down to Coecles Harbor.

Chef Joseph Smith, who began his cooking career in the Ram’s Head kitchen when he was just 16, designs his menu both to honor the history of the building and to show off the bounty of the North Fork.

His brother, general manager Dennis Smith, pairs those dishes with the best Long Island wines.

A great meal at The Ram’s Head Inn often starts with oysters.

“I always have a local oyster. I’ll get Montauk Pearls, Blue Points … most people like the East Coast oysters,” the chef says. “They are brinier.”

Dennis Smith likes to pair local oysters with Sparkling Pointe Brut, the award-winning sparkling wine made in Southold.

A highlight of last spring’s menu was herb-crusted rack of lamb with morels and crushed fava beans — a local specialty. Dennis Smith paired it with Pellegrini Vineyards’ 2007 Petit Verdot.

In developing their menu, the brothers work closely, collaborating to balance the flavor profile of each dish with its paired wine and keeping in mind the strengths of the local wines.

(Credit: Julie Lane)

Sweet Tomato’s

Take a beautiful old Victorian house in Shelter Island Heights, equip it with a wood-burning brick oven fueled by kiln-dried hardwood, add an Italian-American family obsessed with food and you have the start of a great restaurant. But according to general manager Jimi Rando, a trip to Northern Italy in 2009 was the defining event for Sweet Tomato’s.

“Northern Italy and Shelter Island,” Rando says. “We really wanted to connect the two because we felt there really was a connection. On the plane ride back, my brother and I wrote our first great menu. It was a success. That was when we really started to do what we are doing now.”

That’s also when they were introduced to a Tuscan dish called zucca fresca, a raw salad of green and yellow zucchini sliced thin, to resemble pappardelle, and dressed. Only their version takes advantage of the North Fork’s great zucchini.

“A lot of our dishes are replicated from something we saw there,” Rando says of his trip to Italy.

His short ribs have become Sweet Tomato’s signature dish.

“We serve the whole short rib,” he says. “We braise it for nine hours, put it over pappardelle with a brown demiglaze with a little wine added.” To accompany those short ribs, he recommends Dos Aguas from Macari, a wine named for the two waters that embrace the North Fork.

“I think the 2008 Dos Aguas was one of the best values,” he says. “In so many ways it represents the North Fork for what it is.”

The brick oven plays an important role in many dishes at Sweet Tomato’s, including the oven-roasted fluke, made with olives and rosemary and served on a mascarpone risotto with asparagus.

“The olives wilt a bit in the oven, and I almost char the asparagus to get that woody taste of the oven,” he says.

With the fluke, Rando suggests Raphael’s Sauvignon Blanc or Taste Rosé from Bedell, which, he says, “has really impressed me … it’s an amazing value in the glass.”

Of course, a great Shelter Island restaurant experience ends with a great dessert — and Macari’s Block E Ice Wine got the nod from more than one Shelter Island chef as the North Fork wine to serve with that last course.

Rando described the effect of pairing it with his zabaglione, which is served with shaved young pecorino and balsamic reduction: “Every bite tastes like white chocolate.”