Wine and Spirits Travel

I was able to spend a lot of time on the east end of Long Island this summer, reminiscing about my childhood and checking out places new and old. Most of the trips involved overnight stays, but there was one where my friend Gail accompanied me for a marathon day of eating and drinking through Montauk and the Hamptons. The first stop of the day was in Amagansett, at the Clam Bar . Since I can’t eat seafood I was forced to watch while Gail checked out the best of this infamous stop. Everything here comes in fresh from the docks every day and it looks amazing. She started with the Local Sea Scallops, a ceviche with a lemon-lime marinade she enjoyed. Next was the dish that made them famous – the Lobster Salad Roll. Gail agreed it was worth the hype, as was the Spicy Crab & Sweet Corn and the New England Clam Chowder, before she demonstrated how to eat steamers (see video above). I was getting hungry watching the food, but there was plenty for me at Montauk’s Navy Be

New York appears to have been on the receiving end of some of the worst weather this year and my friend Lynn and I felt some of that on day two in the Hamptons, but it didn’t put a damper on the spirits we needed to sample.   We met Andrea from the Hamptons Visitors Council at the Golden Pear in East Hampton. It was one of four locations for this bakery/deli/coffee shop which seemed to have quite the selection.  I settled on a blueberry scone and we talked a bit about the Hamptons, which encompass quite an area that includes towns such as East Quogue, Hampton Bay and Sag Harbor. As she said, each hamlet has its own personality and it’s one of the few areas in the world where celebrities often mingle with locals because they consider themselves locals here. Lynn and I drove around a bit before our lunch at Indian Wells Tavern in Amagansett. I have to admit that I thought it was just a local pub, but I was very impressed with the food and drink selection. We star