PAGE B4 T he Sag Harbo r Ex pr ess JUNE 20, 2013

THE MARKET

BUSINESS BRIEFS Straw berries

Topping Rose House owners Bill Campbell and Simon Critchell with Southamp­ton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Hoist and Roger Ferris, the architect who worked on Topping Rose House at a celebration announcing the opening of the new hotel.T o p p in g R o s e : N o t Ju s t a R e s t a u r a n t

Since last year, South Fork residents have become familiar with the restaurant at the Top­ping Rose House. However, last week, owners Bill Campbell and Simon Critchell unveiled the hotel at the Topping Rose House with a ribbon cutting ceremony at the 22-room property.

The evening included a tree­planting ceremony, where a Japanese maple was planted along the entrance walkway, mirroring an existing Japanese maple on the other side. This act symbolized Campbell and Critchell’s intent with Topping Rose House — marrying historic elements with a modern per­spective.

Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres from the restaurant, operated by acclaimed chef Tom Colic- chio and chef de cuisine Ty Kotz, were served. Pradeep Ra­man, the general manager of Topping Rose House, hosted the ceremony. Guests were given tours of the property before

leaving with rosemary popcorn highlighting herbs from the on­site farm, freshly baked choco­late chip cookies and products from East Hampton spa Naturo- pathica.

Open year-round, the prop­erty includes the main house, four modern cottages, a res­taurant, wellness facilities, a one-acre farm, a restored barn and a contemporary studio for events. The studio overlooks a heated outdoor pool and affords views of the crabapple orchard beyond.

At the restaurant, Colicchio and Kotz’s menu focuses on the seasonal ingredients from the property’s farm, in addition to goods from local farmers, ranchers and day-boat fisher­men. The restaurant is open daily serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and brunch.

For more information, to view a menu or make a reser­vation, visit www.toppingrose- house.com.

K o m b u c h a 8t S a u e r k r a u t : F e r m e n t a t io n W o r k s h o p

Join health coach Nadia Er­nestus (www.hamptonshealth- coach.com) for a fermentation workshop next Sunday, June 30 at 4 p.m. at the Hayground

School on Mitchell Lane in Bridgehampton.

Probiotic-rich fermented foods have been shown in some studies to improve over­all health. Ernestus will guide students through a lesson about the benefits of probiotics before

students learn how to make pro­biotic-rich foods in the comfort of their own home. Admission is $25 and will include all in­struction as well as a Kombucha starter.

For more information, call 379-7714.

Two T w i n L o bster s fo r $ 2 9Madison & Main on Main

Street in Sag Harbor (www. m adisonandm ainrestaurant. com) now offers patrons two twin lobsters for $29, every Sun­day through Thursday from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

For more information, or to make a reservation, call Madi­son & Main at 725-MAIN (6246). Madison & Main serves lunch and dinner seven days a week starting at 11:30 a.m.

T as te B u d s S u m m e r C o o k in g C a m p s fo r K id s

Does you child know who Thomas Keller, Eric Ripert or Ferran Adria are? Or do they ex­cel at the art of mud pies. Then Taste Buds Kitchen’s Kids Sum­mer Cooking camps may be the

right fit for your child this summer.

Located at the Art Farm in •Bridgehamp­ton, Taste Buds is offering a series of five- day hands-on

cooking classes for eight weeks starting June 24 and running through August 16.

The five-day courses will in­clude Iron Chef Camp, Food Network Favorites Camp, Bak­ing 101 Camp, Chocolate Lovers Camp, Around the World Camp,A Taste of NYC Camp, Cooking Science Camp and Cupcakes and Cookies Camp.

Each five-day session is $495 and will run from 9 a.m. to noon, with early drop off available. The courses are designed for children ages four to eight, with those 10 and older able to sign on as a cou nselor-i n-tra i n i ng.

For more information, visit ww w.tastebud kitchen.com.

DISH

Strawberry Season Brings Tasty Creation

■ dish born out of the comradery found at the Hayground Schools’ Farmers’ Market, the

Strawberry Harvest Pizza was the brainchild of Foody’s chef Bryan Futerman. Futerman

harnessed the Hayground School’s wood burn­

ing oven and a little help from his farmers’ market friends

to create the sweet, seasonal treat. He said on Monday he

plans to recreate the pizza at the Hayground Schools’ Farm­

ers’ Market this Friday, from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

“I was inspired by the strawberries,” said Futerman.

The pizza was created by mixing the mascarpone with

fresh ricotta cheese a» the base of the pizza, which was

then topped with local, sliced strawberries and baked in

the oven. Futerman drizzled balsamic vinegar from vendor Arlotta Food Studio and topped the

dish with fresh mint ice cream supplied by Joe & Liza’s Ice Cream.

“The pizza was almost like a cone once you folded it in half,” said Futerman. “It went like

crazy. Everyone likes ice cream on pizza.”

Crop Challenged by Weather

Strawberries at Hank's Farmstand in Southampton. Weather has been an issue for farmers selling June's most prized crop.

BY ELLEN F R A N K M A N

U r r - lh i s last rain was just a bit too I much,” said Bette Lacina, who

-X. farms a small plot of land in Sag Harbor with her partner Dale Haubrich called Under the Willow. “I think it’s start­ing to do the crop in.”

Last Thursday’s storm dumped over an inch of rain across the East End of Long Is­land, putting the month of June on track to become the wettest on record. Accord­ing to the National Weather Service, a total of more than eight inches of precipitation have already been recorded, and that num­ber is quickly approaching the June 2003 record of 10.8 inches.

The South Fork’s strawberry crops, which peak in June and thrive in full sun, are paying the price for the wet weather.

“The strawberries were really good the first few pickings we had,” said Lacina. “But I don’t know how good they will be after this last rain.”

“Strawberries can be difficult to grow to begin with, especially prganically,” said Ian Calder-Piedmonte of Balsam Farms. “And it’s been a very humid year in gen­eral.”

Ideal growing conditions for strawber­ries are generally sunny skies, with tem­peratures around 70 degrees and about an inch of rain a week. According to Calder- Piedmonte, the cool spring the East End has had is not what’s to blame for this sea­son’s difficult strawberry crop.

“The cold doesn’t really bother them, but the weather has been all over the place this year with a lot of extremes, really hot and then really cold,” said Calder-Piedmon­te who farms several fields spread between Amagansett and Sagaponack. “The worst problem is no doubt the rain.”

Though not Certified Organic, Balsam Farms grows the majority of its produce using organic methods. No fungicide or herbicide is used to ward off the nasty ef­fects of persistent rain.

“A wet strawberry is a lot more suscep­tible to problems like mold,” said Calder-

Piedmonte, who explained that timing and sorting have become imperatives in this particularly wet season.

“Long Island berries can be tart to begin with, and the point at which you harvest is very important,” said Calder-Piedmonte. “If you wait until they are at their best taste, sometimes you lose some of them to rot.”

“Last year was hot, so the crop came in early,” said Calder-Piedmonte. “Picking and sorting has been more important this year for sure.”

Hank Kraszewski of Hank’s Farmstand has been growing strawberries in South­ampton for 29 years. Though he’s not dis­appointed with the quality of this season’s crop, the poor weather has kept customers from coming to pick their own berries on the four acres of strawberry fields he culti­vates annually.

“The strawberries are gorgeous,” said Kraszewski. “For us, the problem is that we haven’t been very busy yet. Last weekend we did okay when the sun was out, but when it’s cloudy not as many folks come to pick.”

Kraszewski says that he partially owes the high quality of this year’s crop to new varieties of strawberry plants that have managed to do well. Kraszewski also con-

ellen frankm an photo trols rot and other problems with recom­mendations from the Cornell Cooperative Extension who inspect the crop.

“A lot of times there are issues of blight with this much rain,” said Kraszewski. “But we do use a fungicide and it hasn’t been a problem. And we’ve still cut down on a lot of what we use on the plants.”

As all farmers must sometimes do, the South Fork’s strawberry farmers are find­ing ways to keep the crop above water. Bal­sam Farms is churning out strawberry jam, particularly as the shelf life of the berries diminishes with the increased rainfall.

And Balsam farmer Ian Calder-Piedmon­te thinks things could be worse.

“Considering how much rain we’ve got­ten, we’ve had an okay crop,” he said. “The strawberries can become a little watery in taste with all the rain, but our berries are still tasting really good. It’s not all bad.”

Kraszewski agrees that despite the weather the strawberry plants themselves are flourishing.

“It’s really amazing how many ber­ries one plant can produce,” he said. “The plants are big and lush and they are just laden with berries. And they’ve been really sweet.”

REAL ESTATE TRANSFERSB U YER S ag H a r b o r

SELLER PRICE A DD RESS

Miller, R Mar, K 725,000 3036 Noyack RdCrawford, Z & 0 Schiavoni, F & G 540,000 394 Main StDodds, JB r id g e h a m p to n

Witty, C 615,000 3016 8i 3012 Noyack Rd

Watson, T Hedges, E 649,000 89 School StBjornen.J&CornettaJ Carter,H byExrs etal 1,100,000 134 Hildreth LnBBMG27 Realty LLC Jedco LLC 1,210,000 2123 Montauk HwyTuff, A HDE Properties Inc 425,000* 71 Sunrise Avelliff.A AmsterdamDevelopment 375,000* 31 Sunrise AveCordes Family Trust N o y a c /N o r th S ea

Elliston.L & Goren.R 890,000* 223 Norris Ln

Steindler, F Wilcox, R 1,035,000 13 Deer Ridge Trail159 Great Hill Road Pagura, G & 1 400,000* 159 Great Hill RdHarrington, C Pagura, G 700,000 147 Great Hill RdTantillo, J & J N o r th w e s t

Miller, P & N 450,000 264 Magee St

Diaz, P & J Breslin, L 1,315,925 6 Beechwood CtTamang.S 8i Yonton.T JLT Group 550,000 9 Valley StWinn.P & Gronewold.S E a s t H a m p to n V illa g e

Gollomp, A 377,000 2 Oyster Shores Rd

Gardner, D & L Beers, C 5,750,000 148 Georgica Rd43 Middle Lane LLC Sadroff, D 6,700,000 43 Middle Ln85 Mill Hill LLC Toews, D 1,300,000 85 Mill Hill LnLieber, A OBE Holdings, Inc 4,355,000 20 Two Mile Hollow RdPleasant Lane LLC E a s t H a m p to n So.

Stanis, G 905,000 20 Pleasant Ln

Arshad, I & N W a te r M i l l

Selene RMOFII Reo 300,000 124 Oak View Hwy

Eisenberg, S & V Fuller Jr, L 1,565,000 106 Osprey WayStern, D S h e lte r Is la n d

Gannon, J 3,225,000 61 Water Mill Towd Rd

McCann, E& L Amster, L 1,750,000 Source: Suffolk Research Service, Inc., Hampton

12 Westmoreland Dr Bays, NY 11946 * - Vacant Land

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