Antipastos and such.
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When I first came back to The Bellport (about 2 weeks before the present Corona situation) and I would get a chance to come out of the kitchen and talk to people, I would ask what dishes from the days of yore they would like to see on the menu again. The most most common answer was the Antipasto.
The Antipasto plate has evolved mightily over the years, what most people think of as the original Antipasto was actually the third iteration. The first antipasto was on the menu when I started in 91, it included braised leeks and mushrooms, roasted peppers, grilled eggplant, two kinds of olives warmed under the broiler with herb oil, a couple slices of Ricotta Salata, and toasted bread served on the side.
In the summer of 92, When our off-premise catering blew up, we were doing parties in the village every weekend. The dynamic between Taylor and Patricia influenced the menu planning for these parties, and would often lead to curveballs being thrown at the kitchen. The tapenades were one of those curveballs. After one particular party, Patricia came back to the kitchen saying, "Tom Wolfe and Geraldo Rivera loved the tapenades." With that kind of celebrity endorsement, the die was cast. We decided to take the olives off the dish and put the tapenades on. That was Antipasto Mark II.
The herb cheese came from a brunch dish I stole from a vegetarian summer camp I attended and worked at over the years. (When Brunch starts up again we can put that back on, stay tuned.) When we stopped using the Ricotta Salata the herb cheese went on, creating the dish that most people remember. Mark III.
This week, we will be offering the classic era Antipasto plate: grilled eggplant, braised mushrooms, roasted red and green peppers, grilled zucchini, green and black tapenades, the herb cheese, and toast points. I can't guarantee braised leeks, because I don't know as of this writing if we can get leeks, but we'll give it the old college try.
In other business...we are making preliminary plans for how we are going to reopen when this is all over; blocking out the rooms for what we expect is 25% or 50% capacity, whatever is deemed safe.
We would like to thank everyone who has been ordering take out and buying the bread, and liberating us of our wine. Your business is keeping us busy and engaged, and allowing us to try out new dishes and bring back some old classics. Soon, we hope to see you all in the dining room again, where you belong.
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