Five Reasons To Visit Long Island’s Wine Country
by Mary Beth Albright

In past decades, Long Island’s North Fork was the forgotten sister of its glamorous sibling to the south that everyone always talked about: the Hamptons, the Hamptons, the Hamptons. But in recent years, savvy travelers have discovered the north for its unspoiled shoreline, superior wineries, farms and farm-to-table restaurants, and a relieving lack of crowds that come with them. The increased interest has also come with an increased quality of chefs, inns and wines produced in the region, along with great surprises in store for anyone who hasn’t driven (or taken the jitney) the couple of hours from New York City lately. Here are five reasons to visit:
Taste vintages at Kontokosta Winery
Rarely do tasting rooms and wines equally impress. The 62-acre winery in Greenport is the farthest east on the North Fork, and boasts views of the rocky bluffs and Long Island Sound from an expansive lawn. Both reds and whites are extraordinary here, and they taste even better in the sleek tasting room — exposed steel beams, floor-to-ceiling windows and copper communal tables were designed as a modern interpretation of a 19th-century barn.
Eat at the North Fork Table & Inn
North Fork Table restaurant, whose executive chef Gerry Hayden clinched a 2014 James Beard Award finalist nod for Best Chef: Northeast, is the standard-bearer for dining in the area. With an understated, comfortable dining room as the backdrop, Hayden’s team showcases refined American dishes that focus on local ingredients, including the area’s incredible seafood. Can’t score a dinner reservation? Catch the North Fork Table lunch truck in the inn’s parking lot every Thursday through Monday afternoon.
Visit Shelter Island
A 10-minute ferry ride (with your car or without) across Peconic Bay transports you to another world, one without traffic lights but with a drug-store lunch counter. Shelter Island rests between the North and South forks. There, you’ll find the Mashomack Nature Preserve for hiking and calm public spots like Sunset Beach for relaxing. But if you must visit the Hamptons, Shelter Island’s South Ferry is the easiest way to get there — simply drive from the northern part of the island to the southern to catch the boat. And if you’re up for an adventure, take the once yearly ferry from Montauk to Martha’s Vineyard on Aug. 10, returning on Aug. 12.
Stay at the Jedediah Hawkins Inn
Located on 22 acres of farmland, the restored inn was the 1863 home of the eponymous sea captain owner. Listed on the National Registry of Historical Places, Jedediah Hawkins Inn’s five rooms and one suite boast fireplaces and works from local artists such as Rob White. Its fine-dining restaurant, headed by executive chef Craig Attwood, is complemented by a speakeasy — we’re talking secret passageways and trap doors here — where casual small plates are offered. Book the Belvedere Suite, which has a private cupola with 360-degree views of surrounding vineyards.
Shop in Greenport
The village provides pleasantly walkable boutique shopping (jewelry, pottery, custom tees) right along the water and terrific restaurants for lunch (The Cheese Emporium by Bruce & Son) and dinner (Noah’s). And since you’re all the way out in Greenport, which is almost at the fork’s end, drive to the tip and visit Orient Beach State Park to swim, watch ospreys and great blue herons, fish, hike or kayak.
http://blog.forbestravelguide.com/five-reasons-to-visit-long-islands-wine-country

Just to let you know we’re now on Instagram. Follow us @JedediahHawkins for behind the scene shots.

Summer specials at Jedediah Hawkins in Jamesport

Wednesday July 16, 2014 2:15 PM By Erica Marcus

(Credit: Randee Daddona)

July is busting out all over at Jedediah Hawkins Inn. Craig Attwood, who took over the kitchen earlier this year from Richard Kanowsky, is making good use of the Jamesport inn’s lovely grounds.

On Thursday nights, Attwood serves barbecued chicken, pork ribs, corn and cornbread starting at 5 p.m. ($28). And an old fire truck is on hand to dispense craft beer from Riverhead’s Crooked Ladder.

Fridays there’s live music on the patio. Sundays, starting at 3 p.m., Attwood serves a traditional clam bake with lobster, clams, mussels, corn and potatoes ($30). And Thursday through Sunday, the new front patio hosts a happy hour from 4 to 6 p.m.with $5 wines by the glass, spiked sorbets and nutty floats such as lemon-ginger sorbet with limoncello or raspberry sorbet with Gosling’s Black Seal rum and club soda.

What did you decide to do for the surfboard and why? I decided to concentrate the waves in to a single drop as it held my concentration in focus. It is a holographic expression of all of the sea being contained within a single drop of water. I have titled it “The Last Drop.”
How does the environment affect the work you do? My work demands uninterrupted, concentrated hours filled with natural light. Painting for 10 hours a day is possible because a dip in the sea, a walk in the garden, or a breath of the sky restores and refreshes me.
How is the Hamptons evident in your work? I create paintings that are timeless and eternal. I am inspired by that part of humanity that is beyond time and space and by the present eternal moment. The rhythm of paint syncs with the rhythm of the sea for me. I spray it, splash it, spread it onto the canvas with similar abandon to express the emotion of limitlessness expansion I perceive here on the East End. In the portraits, the glances and emotion must be timeless, as if a glance from a hundred years ago, or a hundred years from now.
How does your being deaf affect your other senses? It wasn’t until later in life that I realized that deprivation of any of one’s senses could heighten any remaining senses. I leaned more toward the visual perhaps with such acuity that not only do I lip-read, but I also take in all the body language of those around me. I appreciate emotions coming through the surfaces of everything surrounding me. They can be subtle or raging. How my subject or I feel at a given moment will influence how I paint, thus more or less delivering emotional hints to the beholder. To be surrounded by art only affords this continuation and enhancement of the subjective experience.
Read more at http://hamptons-magazine.com/lifestyle/articles/artists-surfboards-benefit-the-southampton-hospital#XbdKdIpIcJdhwHZV.99

Improvisation and the Combi Oven

Craig Attwood is cooking with both at Jedediah Hawkins

Author: Long Island Pulse | Published: Thursday, June 26, 2014

Most folks don’t stay at a B&B for a rack of lamb. It’s more about a crackling fireplace, a cozy reading nook or a pastoral setting. A decent scone is simply a bonus. Jedediah Hawkins Inn in Jamesport is the exception. For years guests have come from Manhattan and beyond, while locals book their special occasions in advance, all for a multi-course meal at the Inn. Many don’t bother to stay the night, the food is just that good.It’s 3pm on a Tuesday and a customer saunters in to request an unusually late lunch. For the restaurant’s newest executive chef Craig Attwood, there’s absolutely no problem whipping up a meal during off-hours, even if the kitchen’s closed. In fact, he admits he prefers a special request or a fussy eater. “When someone comes in and wants something special or says ‘Hey, can you make this?’ I like that. It pisses some people off, but I like it,” he said.

He’s even gone as far as making a zabaglione for a customer at a former restaurant who had a serious hankering for the Italian dessert. And then there’s the regular who comes in to Jedediah for a special all-foie gras menu. Attwood gets a kick out of catering to the fellow who has an affinity for eight courses of Hudson Valley foie gras. “Sometimes it’s only three courses, sometimes more. It depends on how he’s feeling.” No matter the mood, he’ll often end it with a dessert, such as cherries or a brioche—generously laced with fatty goose liver, naturally.

Attwood said that lately he’s big on cooking with a “combi oven: a technique using combination steam and heat, slow cooking at a low temperature,” particularly for his famous garlic, thyme and coriander seed lamb dish (that comes with a side of fresh garbanzo beans and pea shoots). There’s also his seared Montauk skate, served with toasty basmati rice, dotted with raisins, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and a miso butter. The dish came to fruition when the chef inherited 10 pounds of miso after taking over the restaurant and, to him, the basmati and miso butter created the perfect marriage of flavors—especially when served with the local fish.

Like many of the area’s restaurants, Attwood is taking full advantage of Long Island’s farm and seafood bounty and he’s excited to build a relationship with the people who will supply his food. “This is the fun part,” he said. “I wake up in the morning and see what came in. If the boats aren’t going out and they don’t have monkfish, and the guys have something else, I’ll change my menu based on that.” Attwood generally meets with his sous chef and begins to wax about what might go well with, say, the local farmer’s fresh shitake, and they’ll put it with that fish, even though it’s not a monk. “Sweating your ass off and being on your feet wears on you, but the exciting part is when you get to work and sit down and write down your dishes with stuff like that local fish—that’s what I love the most.”

– See more at: http://www.lipulse.com/dining-nightlife/article/improvisation-and-the-combi-oven#sthash.j64o92K1.dpuf

We’re pleased to announce an exhibit of Charles Wildbank’s paintings in the Barn Gallery at Jedediah Hawkins Inn.

Opening Reception is on July 4.

Open to the public

TripAdvisor certificate of excellence 2014

For the third year in a row, Jedediah Hawkins Inn has been awarded TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence. The prestigious award honors hospitality excellence and is given to hotels that consistently receive outstanding traveler reviews.  President of  TripAdvisor for Business said “the Certificate of Excellence gives top performing establishments around the world the recognition they deserve, based on feedback from those that matter most–their customers.”

We are very grateful to our wonderful guests, who take the time to write reviews, and to our amazing team, who deserve this accolade.

Still Moom

Nature’s Call: A Return to Silence – May 24 – June 29th, 2014
PHOTOGRAPHS BY PETER AZRAK

Jedediah Hawkins Inn is pleased to announce the opening of a photography exhibit by NewYork photographer Peter Azrak. The show Nature’s Call: A Return to Silence, invites us to pause and rest in Nature’s Silence. Living in a world demanding our attention through numerous distractions, Nature reminds us to return to a place within where Silence abounds. Experiencing Nature’s beauty, we feel the attraction toward things Divine, the Spirit alive in that one moment in time.Peter refers to his images as Abstracts from Nature. His photographs have been shown in NewYork and Arizona. New York City shows have included the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Preston Bailey Studio and The HealthCare Chaplaincy. In Arizona he displayed his work at es Posible Gallery and The Golden Door Spa in Scottsdale. He is a psychotherapist in privatepractice in New York where he emphasizes the integration of spirituality with mental health. He resides in lower Manhattan with his wife Anne Rhodes.

FT article on North Fork

By Oliver Griffin
Long Island’s Top 10 Brunches and Late Breakfasts You Should Try
Long Island is the home of Gatsby, Don Vito Corleone and, as it turns out, an array of fantastic brunch options. Brunch – a meeting of the best parts of both breakfast and lunch – is considered wholly American. Often involving eggs typical dishes can be savoury or sweet, and sometimes both. Indeed, brunch is perhaps the only official meal-time where meat with a side of jam or syrup is socially acceptable (although it is always delicious). For those who find themselves in Long Island and stuck for mid-morning dining ideas, here is a list of the top ten brunches on the country’s most populous island.
Jedediah Hawkins Inn

Found on Long Island’s north fork, Jedediah Hawkins Inn is surrounded by more than 20 acres of gardens and farmland. The breakfast at the Inn starts early, but this is a small price to pay for what is ultimately a wonderful brunch. New takes on traditional dishes, including the indulgent amaretto French toast with bacon and maple syrup, and duck wings with yoghurt raita, sit proudly on the menu. The building itself is a site of historical interest for the local area. It was built by Captain Jedediah Hawkins in 1863, in popular Italian style. Despite falling into disrepair (and allegedly being haunted), the house was renovated into the restaurant and hotel it is today.