Where on the North Fork can you find the juiciest, tenderest piece of filet mignon for just $12?
At Four Doors Down in Mattituck, where chef Eric Linker has revamped the low-key pub’s menu.
The beef tenderloin tips — marinated in a mixture of soy, worcestershire sauce, honey, cumin and other ingredients and served with a side of horseradish blue cheese sauce — were better than I expected. With a generous portion of high-quality meat, this appetizer should be a staple when eating there. Order it medium rare for optimal texture and taste.
Linker said he wanted to include it on the bar menu after seeing the pub food staple do so well at Digger’s Ales & Eats in Riverhead, where he previously worked for seven years. But he stressed that the Four Doors recipe is his own.
“We are trying to do more creative techniques here,” he said.
We stopped in to Four Doors Down for lunch recently and were pleasantly surprised to the see the overhaul of the restaurant’s formerly dark and dated dining room. The adjacent restaurant, The Crazy Fork, recently took over the kitchen and Four Doors is undergoing interior renovations.
Wood floors appeared to be freshly sanded and the walls are painted a bright shade of light green with white wood paneling. The restaurant is still in a transitional phase, as the long-closed 50-seat dining room will be revamped and serve as overflow seating for The Crazy Fork.
Members of the Red Hat Society were enjoying a luncheon there on Tuesday.
“We’re creating a nicer atmosphere. Our hopes are to get this dining room as quickly as possible,” Linker said.
I also ordered the potato corn chowder soup ($4) made with baked potatoes, carrots, corn, celery onion and cream. It was hearty, but would have been better had I eaten it on a cold day with a roaring blaze going inside the eatery’s stone fireplace.
Linker encouraged patrons to try his new menu items like the port tostada (a fried corn tortilla filled with marinated pork), or the salmon topped with ginger-honey Sriracha glaze.
“People shouldn’t be afraid to try the salmon,” he said. “You might not go for that off the bar menu, but it’s delicious.”
If lunch on Wednesday is a sign of things to come, it certainly looks promising.
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