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Updated: July 28, 2009, 3:11 pm	Share    Print    Email

Just a few of the East End’s many caterers and restauranteurs that cater to the whims of your desire at parties from Remsenberg to Montauk. (From the left: Jean Mackenzie, John Kowalenko, Ted Conklin, Brent Newsom and Delaney Oser aboard Ted’s yacht, “America.” Photo by Renate Pfleiderer.

Sag Harbor - Entertaining is an art attained through no small measure of minute details and grand atmospheric intent. Those who do it well are masters of a stage play that goes off seamlessly, without hint of attention to effort or pesky stage directions. Even in the most 'casual' of endeavors - the intimate brunch for 12 by the poolside cabana, replete with blood orange juices, organic Greek yogurts, blueberries picked from the neighbor's patch and oh, a brioche or two, with a little homemade beach plum jam jarred at the perfect moment late last summer, accompanying a simple frittata of heirloom summer tomatoes, fresh basil, cippolini onions and little pillows of fresh imported burrata - takes Perle Mesta orchestration.

Serving seasonal specialties is all part of the local charms of entertaining.

On the East End, a fine consortium of caterers, personal chefs and event planners weave a provisional highway along the back roads from select farms stands to organic patches where this season's delicate crop of field greens and baby fingerlings are grown. They monitor local corn inching its way to harvest and the day's catch brought in by the few commercial fishermen left working our waters.

Ours is a bountiful place of little necks and blue claw, wild watercress and green onion, scallop beds and strawberry patches. Farmers shepherd the free-range barnyard while the baymen and women corral oyster spat and striped bass fry - all for the pleasure of that rarest of summer evenings when the gods conspire to sit at your table and dine.

Carrying on that fine tradition of entertaining with casual elegance for which The Hamptons are renowned, we celebrate the masters of their craft, bringing us first-class dining from premiere restaurants, inspired $500-plate summer galas and sunset dinner cruises aboard Ted Conklin's 75-foot motor yacht "America," to a clambake for two dockside in a hide-away of your choosing. Weathering changing venues, the latest gourmet must-haves and more than their fair share of finicky clients who request everything from the number of ice cubes in a glass to custom recipes organically grown, these maestros revive season after season to create some of the most memorable evenings of summer.

Ted Conklin - The American Hotel, Sag Harbor
As proprietor of The American Hotel on Sag Harbor's Main Street, Ted Conklin has stewarded a regional landmark of considerable merit. Dinner is timeless, intimate and finely crafted and a table for four on the porch is a coveted perch for the well-read weekender.

"The answer to the "secret to my success" is, I think, best rephrased as 'the secret to my condition,' and that is location, location, location,"' Conklin says. "Eastern Long Island, Sag Harbor and Main Street - this is, in fact, the center of the universe. The fact is, things are not so different from years ago - we work hard, focus on our "brand," adapt a little when it's called for, and keep trying to improve."

The 75-foot Trumpy yacht "America" was built in 1965 for James L. Knight, Miami Herald Publisher and philanthropist, now lists Ted Conklin, owner and proprietor of The American Hotel, among its proud succession of owners who offerd select charters out of the Sag Harbor Yacht Club as part of the hotel's many ammenities. Photo by Colin M. Graham

Delaney Oser - Thyme & Again/Wild Thyme Restaurant, Southampton
"We're having a nice busy season, which we are grateful for in this economy. We got a lot of repeat business, weddings and events, and I wake up everyday and am grateful that we are busy," Oser reports.

Making an emphasis on lighter foods and sure to use local produce and what's in season, Thyme & Again will host parties as large as 400. "We specialize in comfort food with a flare - everyone goes crazy for our barbecued ribs and chicken. We also do things more elaborate like stuffed lobster out of the shell, formal seatings to corporate retreats on the beach."

Her favorite client? A woman with a high-level financial management job, a mother of four, "who appreciates everything I do and doesn't sweat the small stuff."

Jean Mackenzie - Four Seasons Cater, Southampton
"We're doing a lot of weddings, corporate meetings - conference lunches," at our new location in Southampton Village, reports Mackenzie. "We have wedding ceremonies and children's parties on our new gardens on the grounds" at the former John Duck Restaurant locale. What accounts for her growing popularity? "I have a great chef who is culinary trained, Jeremy Palmer, who is keeping up on the trends." As for recent favorites on the menu? "Whole red snapper or porterhouse steak." Custom menus feature lobster tails and filet mignon. "I collaborate with other caterers when an event is really large," Mackenzie explains. One thing remains true, "Everybody wants exactly what they want when they want it."

John A. Kowalenko - Hampton Event Management & Art Of Eating, Amagansett
Event organizer for the Ladles Of Love benefit this summer and a regular supporter of East End Food Pantry benefits, John Kowalenko and Cheryl Stair mastermind weddings, small dinner parties and large fundraisers from their headquarters at the former Honest Dinner in Amagansett. In business for 20 years and married for 23, John quips that working together "has its benefits because we definitely get to see each other."

"We have a pretty good repeat clientele - you find someone who fits with your mix and you fit with their style," he explains. "You spend a lot of time with a client, especially if it is a wedding. Before it's all said and done you meet the family and then a couple of years later you do a baptism or christening. "The latest trend in the catering world? "Green is in - though we've been shopping local and organic since we've started. Cheryl is from the North Fork so local cheeses, wines, duck, shellfish - that's one of the benefits of being out here."

Has the slowdown in the economy changed party plans? "Everyone is price sensitive right now. They don't want to give the appearance of spending foolishly" Kowalenko said.

Serving up the finest the local green markets and growers have to offer is part of staying ahead of the gourmet trends that flourish in The Hamptons.

Brent Newsom - Brent Newsom Catering, East Hampton
A familiar in the industry for over 35 years, Brent Newsom began his long culinary career when he joined forces with Bill Higgins "and opened a little thing called The Swamp. I was just going to stay the summer and we decided what we really needed was a casual restaurant" so the The Annex was built (next door) in a short three months. And the rest, as they say, is history. With the popularity of The Swamp exploding, Newsom juggled catering, photo shoots and events, which saw him through the high times of the 1980s and 1990s.

Glad to be solely focused on his catering business today, ("I've had my stint"), Newsom now operates out of Fiddler's Cove on Three Mile Harbor. "A lot of people want to open up places because they want to be in the restaurant business and then they discover how much hard work it is," he explained. In terms of service staff some of them now have grandkids. I have done weddings for the kids of people I did weddings for in 1975."

Have food trends changed dramatically? "We did a nice tarragon mayonnaise chicken salad for years for Dean and DeLuca and others for the former Barefoot Contessa - now mayonnaise isn't so popular," he jokes. "Today everything is light. You're dealing with reductions, low-cal diets." Serving dinner parties for 10 to fundraisers for 500, Newsom prefers the larger events. Basically every caterer is looking for the client who says, you've been doing it for 30 years, just do it. I've never had a client who said that."