Seed
LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK | MAY 2024
There is a serene beauty to the Hamptons in the shoulder seasons, before the crowds arrive and the summer sunshine reflects blue skies onto whitewashed siding. In the grayer days of spring, the bright green of new growth seems to glow against cloudy skies. It’s much easier, in that light, to remember that while Hamptons is one of America’s most iconic summer playgrounds, it is also one of the country’s great agricultural regions. Long Island is full of highly productive family-owned farms and fisheries run by passionate people committed to sharing the bounty of their home with their community.
The sixth-generation run Sagaponack Farm Distillery takes visitors back into the farming tradition of the region with rolling lawns anchored by a historic farmhouse, golden wheat shusshing in the sea breeze in the background. On a cool, cloudy spring day, we set a table on the edge of the lawn for a cozy Supper created by Fyr & Salt celebrating the bounty of Long Island agriculture, full of fantastic freshly-harvested ingredients.
While guests sipped farm-fresh cocktails on the tasting room lawn, we were staring at our phone screens, watching the forecast that kept insisting on imminent rain. The bartenders, all local surfers used to the way rainclouds tend to breakup over the Sound, assured us Supper would not be rained out. Instead, it turned out to be a colorful celebration of seasonal delights, cooked over wood fire, topped with wildflowers, and paired with wines from Rodney Strong that also seemed to glow in the moody light of the cloudy day.
When the rain finally came, we tucked safely back into the tasting room for dessert served cocktail-style. This only gave guests the opportunity to circulate beyond their immediate table-mates, finishing the evening with good conversations (and another Sagaponack cocktail) they would never have otherwise had.
WELCOME
The folks from Sagaponack Farm Distillery set the tone for the evening with a seed-to-glass celebration through two estate-made cocktails: The Farmers Daughter, made with Sagaponack Farm Distillery’s Cucumber Vodka, grapefruit juice, lime juice, chili flakes, and sweet pea; and the SFD Negroni made with Sagaponack Farm Distillery Empire Rye.
A MENU BY FYR & SALT
Chefs Jonathan Shearman and Max Mohrmann run Fyr & Salt, a wood fire catering company with a residency on 8 Hands Farm on the North Fork of Long Island. They spend their summers cooking outside, pulling everything they can from the produce and meat grown and raised on the farm. They harvested much of the produce for Supper that same morning, bringing the absolute freshest ingredients possible to the table. The abundant and beautiful meal they created was influenced by Italian dining traditions but deeply rooted in the bounty of Long Island’s farms and waters.
MENU
WELCOME
Black Sea Bass Ceviche local bass, charred corn, tomato, red onion, lime, cilantro
Wood-Roasted Oyster Peeko Oyster, herbs, butters, wine
8 Hands Beef Arrosticini chili, lemon, wine, garlic
Vegetable Puff Pastry roasted mixed vegetables, creme fraiche
Cocktails
The Farmers Daughter Sagaponack Farm Distillery Cucumber Vodka, grapefruit juice, lime juice, chili flakes, sweet pea
SFD Negroni Sagaponack Farm Distillery Empire Rye, bittersweet aperitivo, sweet vermouth, orange peel
ON THE TABLE
Mixed Sourdough NYS grass-fed butter, Fyr & Salt honey, pork rillette, country pate
AMUSE BOUCHE
Porgy Crudo fennel, chili, herbs
FIRST
Spring Green Salad local greens, green goddess, sunflower seeds, pickles, goat cheese, flowers and shoots
Wine: 2023 Davis Bynum Sauvignon Blanc, Russian River Valley
SECOND
Asparagus Risotto lemon, flowers
Wine: 2021 Rodney Strong Vineyards Chalk Hill Chardonnay, Sonoma County
MAIN
Wood-Roasted Pork Loin pork ribs, mustard green salsa verde, horseradish duchess potato
Wine: 2021 Rodney Strong Vineyards Reserve Pinot Noir, Sonoma County
DESSERT
8 Hands Egg Custard coal-roasted fruit, toasted nuts, herbs, Fyr & Salt honey, biscotti
Cocktail: 2021 Rodney Strong Vineyards Reserve Chardonnay, Sonoma County
WINE PAIRINGS
Wine pairings from Rodney Strong added a little bit of California sunshine to the rainy day. We paired 2023 Davis Bynum Sauvignon Blanc with the spring greens salad and complimented the citrus-forward, creamy risotto with 2021 Rodney Strong Vineyards Chalk Hill Chardonnay,
NIGHTCAP
The night ended with a true bit of Supper magic as the skies darkened — due to heavy rainclouds as much as the fading sun. We gave up on trying to predict the ever-changing weather and just asked the table what they wanted to do. As a collective, we decided to stay outside through the savory portion of dinner and move into the distillery for dessert, just as a pocket of rain passed overhead.
The folks from Sagaponack Farm reopened the bar for another round of cocktails, and everyone enjoyed dessert while circulating around the room. It turns out, it was a pretty perfect way to end the night (maybe even better than originally planned).
SECRET LOCATION: SAGAPONACK FARM DISTILLERY
Sagaponack Farm Distillery was founded in 1870 by Captain Josiah Foster, then passed down through six generations to its current stewards, siblings Dean and Marilee. Together, they not only grow a wide selection of seasonal vegetables (Marilee particularly specializes in heritage tomatoes), they create seed-to-table spirits from potatoes and wheat grown on the property.
Behind the historic farmhouse and its sprawling lawn, hundreds of acres of golden wheat fields stretch to the waters edge, making this magical land a perfect place for Supper.
