More East End food purveyors are offering picnics to-go and The Gray Lady has taken note.
Fork and Anchor in East Marion, which offers takeout meals as well as delivery options, was mentioned as a North Fork staple for vineyard or beach picnics in a recent article in the New York section of The New York Times.
“We try to stick with cold sandwiches because they hold up better. We do the classics but with our own special twists on them,” Fork and Anchor co-owner Lucy Muellner told the Times.
The eatery’s popular green goddess chicken salad sandwich and corn salad in tarragon lime dressing were both highlighted as perfectly suitable options for an alfresco meal (a statement many North Forkers would agree with.)
But don’t go looking for the latter before Independence Day. Fork and Anchor will not be offering corn salad until the crop comes in, which is usually around the first week of July.
“You need fresh corn or it’s not the same,” Mueller said.
In other news, Wall Street Journal wine columnist Lettie Teague trailed Bedell Cellars winemaker Rich Olsen-Harbich for an article on the day in the life of a North Fork winemaker. Teague highlighted the hectic nature of the job which calls for balancing work in the vineyard with winery tasks and sometimes managing sales as well.
“Winemakers seem happiest when they’re engaged in more than one task—which makes them well suited to their job,” Teague wrote. “After all, a winemaker assumes multiple roles in multiple locations—in the vineyard, the winery and, increasingly, on the road, assisting with sales and marketing.”
She also notes that Long Island is a draw for winemakers who like a challenge, as great growing conditions in this maritime climate are far from guaranteed.
“It’s cold [here]. It rains. It’s humid. It’s not a slam dunk,” Olsen-Harbich told her.
