“God forbid anything happen to that sign, people would be lost,” said John Wittmeier in a recent interview with staffer Parker Schug for the 75th anniversary of his and brother Otto’s Modern Snack Bar. But Wittmeier certainly must know that the iconic sign is much more than a directional guidepost out here. It’s a happy thread to the past that, thank goodness, still seems to be holding strong for the foreseeable future.
There’s something about August that turns on the nostalgia for me. It might be those mild melancholy feelings that another summer is running down, darn it, but it also makes me think about all kinds of fun things to reminisce on. Days spent hanging out on the raft at Wade’s Beach, flirting with cute summer boys. Drippy ice cream cones and round after round of Pac-Man at the Tuck Shop. Dinner at the now long-gone Millcreek Inn or Kraus’s Family Restaurant (the current Sunset Beach) with my parents for a well-deserved summer family night out. A hot August afternoon spent school shopping at Swezey’s in Riverhead, the only place that also used to sell Russell Stover candy bars (back then, a big fat treat!), which I’d be treated to on occasion, or a chilly chocolate shake and fries from McDonald’s.
It’s simple stuff, but they’re the things that seem to stick in my brain. It’s what I really like about this issue of Northforker. It’s chockablock with the stuff memories are made of. Like Nicole Wagner’s look at the Riverhead Raceway. Nearly three quarters of a century old, this whiplash wonderland has been entertaining families for a reasonable night out (it’s still affordable after all these years!) of sizzling stock-car thrills since 1951. If you’ve never been but have seen at the giant statue of Chief Running Fair hailing you in, make this the summer it happens.
Like a lot of people around my age, I have memories of half-searching for, half-fearing the strange spikey oddity of horseshoe crabs on beach shores. The once-prevalent creature is now at risk of becoming endangered due to overharvesting—both for bait and so that biomedical teams can study their blood. Parker Schug talked to folks at the venerable Cornell Cooperative Extension and Group for the East End about what’s being done to fight for these fascinating East Coast prehistoric creatures.
Chef Scott Bollman certainly remembers the days when horseshoe crabs crept on the sand. Raised in Southold and deeply influenced by the beauty of our environment, Bollman and his wife, Kassata, run what is, in my absolutely not-humble opinion, the best breakfast and lunch place on the planet: Bruce & Son in Greenport. There is so much creativity and care that goes into Bollman’s food that every time I eat some creation of his, I’m utterly slayed—and thinking about the next time I get to eat there. Stephanie Villani got to know him for our story here, and I really think you, too, will enjoy getting to know him and the history of the business.
One of my favorite more recent memories is volunteering to shuck sweet corn alongside my fellow Islanders for the Shelter Island Fire Department’s chicken barbecue (sadly, in a stasis for many years—I refuse to believe it won’t come back). Biting into a butter-slathered ear, that first pop of fresh sweet corn in my mouth is a summer sensation I cannot live without. Hannah Selinger, writer and author of the recent and much-lauded “Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly” takes us on a sweet corn primer on p. 86 that’ll keep you munching all year round (yup, there’s tips for hanging on to it all winter in there!).
Speaking of nostalgic, we take a Dream Day tour through Hampton Bays, peruse the shelves of Burton’s Bookstore, head over to Salt (14 years old now!) for a great day of outstanding dining on the dock and a whole bunch of other summer stuff. You know what they say: You don’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been. We’ve got a whole lot to hang onto and look forward to here on the North Fork — cheers to summer, friends.
Amy Zavatto
Editor-in-Chief
