For Long Island Summer restaurant season, ingredients and hospitality matter

A meal and a glass of wine al fresco amid lush gardens. A dockside lunch with a water view. Even the cool indoors when the heat and humidity tend to linger.

Summer restaurant season is just beginning on Long Island, where ingredients and hospitality matter. A compelling narrative can enhance the dining experience.  And innovation can keep patrons returning again and again.

This much was apparent at Jamesport-based The Dimon Estate, which boasts an abundance of orchids and a robust vegetable garden, and where the history of the shipbuilding Dimon family is ever-present.

“The summer menu, starting July 13, is classic farm to table,” said Chef Chris Kar, who has incorporated the history of the estate into the restaurant’s offerings, from décor to curated dishes.

“The Dimon family farmed the land for over two centuries and three of four generations of Dimons that lived on the Manor Lane property were farmers by trade,” Kar added. “To honor these roots, we have put in an heirloom farm this year that will by hyper-focused on tomatoes, peppers and squash – my personal favorite produce to grow.”

Apples will be crushed to make cider. Tomatoes will be served on the menu in season and saved for sauce. The squash will be incorporated in everything from crudités to soups.

That plan is fitting for this parcel of land on Manor Lane, to hear Kar tell it.

“The estate already has over 250 dwarf apple trees, which would have been common on most 18th and 19th century estates, but the addition of the farm this year is extremely exciting,” he said.  “I hand-selected 18 varieties of cherry and beefsteak tomatoes to grow that will be going in our salads and tomato caprese for this summer.”

Dining is a favorite pastime for many not only on Long Island, but also nationwide, though rising costs are a challenge, experts say. The food-service industry is expected to reach $997 billion in sales this year, in part driven by higher menu prices, according to the 2023 State of the Restaurant Industry Report by the National Restaurant Association. The industry is expected to grow by 500,000 jobs, employing 15.5 million by year’s end.

And no wonder. A reported 84% of consumers deem that dining out “with family and friends is a better use of their leisure time than cooking and cleaning up,” according to the report.

Meanwhile, the restaurant industry continues to recover since COVID-19, with the number of restaurants up by 18%, according to the most recent information from NPD, the research organization with offices in Port Washington.

Among those newly opened restaurants is Bayberry in Islip. The 5,000-square-foot American bistro is the latest from Lessing’s Hospitality Group and features a 40-seat bar, an outdoor patio, and private event space, all in the venue formerly known as Maxwell’s. The menu is created by Group Chef Emeritus Guy Reuge, who is a La Toque d’Argent awardee, and Executive Chef William Muzio.

“Chef Reuge and I wanted to design Bayberry’s menu to be seasonal and approachable and welcoming to all,” Muzio said in a statement.

Paying tribute to Islip’s maritime history, menu items include a raw bar and “shellfish towers,” along with local fluke, and yes, selections for those whose preference include poultry and meat.

The venue itself is meaningful to the Lessing family, said Mark Lessing, executive vice president of restaurants of Lessing’s Hospitality Group.

“Islip is also home for our family since many of us were born and raised here for generations, so it’s important for us to create a special experience for locals and visitors, offering the best in hospitality and adding to the fabric of our historic town,” Lessing said.

It helps too, to incorporate innovation into a restaurant’s offerings. Take Hunter Restaurant, which features French-Mediterranean fusion, in East Norwich. The restaurant is welcoming summer with a newly expanded outdoor dining patio, and Chef Hunter Wells has added seasonal dishes with several items sourced locally from Old Brookville-based Young’s Farm, a certified organic, family-run farm founded in 1893 and managed by the fourth and fifth generation family members. At Hunter Restaurant, ingredients such as ramps, cherry tomatoes and rhubarb are from Young’s Farm, and Wells also incorporates fresh mint from his personal garden.

“I love the change of seasons as it inspires me to create new and exciting dishes with fresh produce,” Wells said. “I like to showcase the fresh ingredients in my dishes so that diners are getting a true taste of the season.”

Still, competition is tough, and 47% of operators are expecting that competition to be more rigorous than in 2022, according to the 2023 National Restaurant Association industry report.

Which is why hospitality goes a long way, experts say.

“You’ve got to give it the best effort to make the customer happy,” said David Burke, the celebrity chef, on the “In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn” podcast.

Saying hello and good-bye at the door, and making patrons feel welcome, are key ingredients, said Burke, whose Red Salt Room and King Bar are part of The Golden City Hotel. “Without the right mentoring in the front of the house, you tend to get away from that,” Burke said. What should be communicated, he added, are fundamentals that include, “we really appreciate your eating with us.”

The staff was welcoming at The Dimon Estate on a recent Sunday evening, with its relaxed vibe. Children played on the vast lawn, and Kar’s menu paid homage to the East End, including dishes with Long Island Duck and wines from the nearby vineyards.

The menu also weaves in the ship-building history of the estate. The “Sea Witch Pad Thai,” for example, is a nod to the former shipyard’s fast clipper ship known as the “Sea Witch,” a mono-hauled vessel that traveled to China during the height of the tea trade. The estate’s history is featured on the website of the restored and refurbished restaurant.

That kind of narrative will remain prominent at The Dimon Estate.

Kar said the restaurant will continue its “focus on the storied history on Long Island’s North Fork.”

Now, “just like the cutting-edge design of the clipper ships,” he said, “our mission is to showcase elevated, exquisite food that will also bring people back to the roots of what makes the area special.”

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