Summertime in Montauk

Jul 23, 2012 By Smith & Ratliff in Food, Travel 3 Comments Tags: beaches, lobster rolls, long island, momofuku, montauk, summer, tacos

On Saturday we took a day trip across Long Island to Montauk to eat lobster rolls, relax on the beach and stroll around the village.

We got our rental car as early as we could stand and, after fighting a bit of traffic on the Long Island Expressway, made it out of Manhattan and Queens towards Long Island.

Our first stop was La Fondita in Amagansett, where we paused for some lunch. La Fondita features traditional Mexican cooking, with obviously amazing fish tacos; it’s a must-visit nearly every time we go to Montauk. After getting full on tacos and micheladas, we finished the drive into town.

Our first order of business was to stock up cookies for beach lounging from the new Momofuku Milk Bar stand, adjacent to Cynthia Rowley’s cute surf-shack boutique. Armed with a box of six cookies, we hit the beach and proceeded to do absolutely nothing for the next couple of hours.

The highlight of our day was dinner at Duryea’s Lobster Deck. Not so much a restaurant as it is a fish market, Duryea’s has just a few tables where they serve the day’s catch (and of course, lobsters). Duryea’s is one the biggest seafood wholesalers in the New York area, and their restaurant—situated right on the docks—is something of a cult favorite. With a no-frills menu of fish and shellfish, cash-only and BYOB, Duryea’s is simple perfection—watching the sun set over the water while cracking open a freshly steamed lobster and sipping wine from a paper cup.

As we finished eating up our lobster roll and broiled flounder, we could hardly believe it was time to head back to the city. For the rest of the summer, every time we see one of their wholesale trucks driving through the city, we’ll immediately be transported back to those docks.

- Ryan and Laura

Savoring Summer’s Last Waves

Sep 4, 2011 By Smith & Ratliff in Food, Living, Travel 1 Comment Tags: beach, lobster roll, long island, montauk, picnic, summer

With summer’s days growing shorter, our wanderlust has increased tenfold.

We’re planning a trip to Portland, Maine, at the end of this month, but we were still eager to make one last escape from the city this Labor Day weekend and spend a day sunning and splashing in the sand and the surf.

Our friend Olivia is in town again, so rather than making a multi-day trip, we rented a car for the day and headed east toward Montauk.

Despite a rocky start—a portion of the Montauk Highway was completely closed, delaying us by more than an hour—we safely made it to the tip of Long Island, where we beelined to Clam Bar, a veritable shack serving up some of the freshest seafood you can imagine, all under the cover of lemon-striped beach umbrellas.

We gorged on lobster rolls, buttery steamed corn on the cob, and fresh clams on their half-shells. The rolls were piled high with huge chunks of lobster meat, and luckily for us, not much else.

It was the perfect meal to remind us that we had officially left the New York City limits and were now entering another world entirely.

After stuffing our bellies with lobster, we loaded back into the car for the short drive to the beach.

It was an unseasonably warm day and the beach wasn’t yet overtaken with throngs of fellow New Yorkers, so we unpacked our gear and settled in.

After a couple of hours of relentless waves and sprays of sand, we were feeling a bit peckish again, but luckily we had come prepared with our Boxsal picnic box, fully stocked with perfect beach food.

We had brought along an heirloom tomato salad, pasta with neon eggplant, summer squash, pancetta and goat cheese and a baguette.

But our main star of the show was bottled: a 2009 Freeman Vineyard “Ryo-Fu” Chardonnay, served in sturdy, plastic (but still classy!) Govino stemless wine glasses. The wine had a robust, oaky character with lots of complexity. It was perfect for beach-side sipping.

Finally, the afternoon began to draw to a close. We were in need of a caffeine boost before the late drive home, so we popped into the cleverly-named Coffee Tauk for one last pick me up.

We’re sad to see summer come to an end, but I think we’re both secretly looking forward to breaking out our sweater collections, breathing crisp fall air and stepping on crunchy colorful leaves.

Until next year, Montauk.

- Ryan and Laura

Photo by Olivia Divecchia.

Laura is wearing Rodarte’s Love Hate sweatshirt from Opening Ceremony. Ryan is wearing GANT Rugger.

A Century to Montauk

Aug 19, 2011 By Smith & Ratliff in Living, Travel 6 Comments Tags: bikes, long island, montauk, summer

So far, this summer has been fantastic.

It’s been filled with beaches, ice cream, parks, and picnics. However, I had one summer goal still remaining.

This past Tuesday I finally decided to make the 100-mile trip across Long Island to Montauk, the very Eastern tip of the island, by bike.

I had originally planned to go last summer, but too many other things got in the way. Determined to not let the opportunity slip away again, I set a firm date and booked a room through Airbnb to make sure I followed through.

I woke up at 6 a.m. and biked from our home in the West Village over to Penn Station, where I took the Long Island Railroad out of the city to Babylon, where my journey began.

There couldn’t have been a better day weather-wise for the trip—a refreshing 70 degrees and overcast, with a light drizzle at the very beginning of my ride. For once, procrastination paid off, as I successfully avoided the 100 degree temperatures that had plagued us just a few weeks ago.

I rode along the Montauk Highway the entire length of the ride, making only quick stops here and there to either snap a photo or eat one of the few protein bars I had packed with me.

I sailed along the first 15 miles of highway before stopping at the Long Island Maritime Museum in West Sayville, home to classic sea vessels, oyster harvesting artifacts and other nautical treasures. The museum also has its own dock with historic ships to tour.

After refilling my water bottle, I got back on the Montauk Highway and set out towards Moriches, the gateway to the Hamptons.

As I passed into the Hamptons, the overcast morning suddenly opened up to a beautiful and clear sunny afternoon which provided gorgeous lighting for the backdrop of lush countryside, vineyards, and bodies of water.

I stopped briefly in Southampton’s downtown district to stretch my legs and admire the shops and houses.

Continuing on through Bridgehampton and East Hampton, about 70 miles into the ride, my knees started to feel the strain. I had just eaten the last of my protein bars and emptied my water bottle.

I was nearly at the location of my Airbnb reservation, so I thought about how badly I had wanted to do the ride—how I had waited over a year to finally go for it—and pushed onward.

After getting a bit lost in the winding roads of East Hampton, I pulled into the driveway of Sue and her husband Tim, my gracious hosts for the night. They immediately offered me water and a snack, which I devoured. After catching my breath and washing up a bit, I set out to finish my journey.

As I followed the highway out to The End, I was absolutely exhausted. The relatively flat route through the island was a bit deceitful, because once you get closer to Montauk, the hills begin. Each successively steeper hill made me want to get off the bike and walk up but, in order to say I had pushed myself as far as I could go, I shut off the pain and peddled onward.

The reward for pressing to the top of the last hill was the thrill of getting to coast all the way down into the village of Montauk, knowing I had finally accomplished my goal.

First and foremost, I parked my bike along the beach and dove into the ocean. I was excruciatingly tired, yet perfectly content.

I walked around the town for a bit and grabbed a much-needed iced coffee from Coffee Tauk, then rode the last 5 miles out to the old lighthouse.

After finally reaching the end of the island, I sat atop a hill overlooking nothing but the ocean and reflected on everything that has happened to me since I first thought of making the trip. It has been full of ups and downs—like life often is—but the ride was most definitely worth it.

- Ryan

P.S. A special thanks go out to Sue and Tim, who provided a great home and really took fantastic care of me, much more than a hotel would have (at a fraction of the price, too). Also, special thanks to Laura, who was stuck in a midtown Manhattan office while I was getting a nasty sunburn at the ocean.