Long Island Restaurants

The Laundry

Relocated and revived, one of the Hamptons' best-known names is rapidly becoming this summer's white-hot spot.

Dressed in summer shades, on neatly manicured grounds, the sprawling space that once was the address of The Farmhouse and Spring Close House almost sparkles in the twilight.

There's more room here than at The Laundry's original Race Lane location. That's very practical. The eatery is packed to overflowing with contented diners remembering the old and reveling in the new.

Chef Andrew Engle has moved in with ease, preparing very good food. You still can get the Laundry Hamburger with Laundry Fries and the sticky toffee date cake. But there's much more.

Engle's flavorful, unfussy meal might begin with an artfully composed salad of roasted organic beets, ribbons of fennel and goat cheese. They gingerly spur the appetite. So do the meaty, barbecued baby back ribs with coleslaw.

Sample the plump, shellfish-sweet crabcake, finished with a chipotle-pepper vinaigrette and avocado salsa. Or increase the portion and have this as a spirited main course. Steamed mussels, accented with garlic, white wine and parsley, arrive in a citrusy broth ready for dipping bread. Laundry chowder, with tender clams, owes more to Manhattan than New England and works on its own.

Engle excels with a grilled, aged sirloin steak. Thick, juicy, festooned with roasted cipollini onions and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, it's one of the best cuts of beef on the East End.

The in-house competition comes from that reliably flavorful burger and fries; sauteed calf's liver with caramelized onions, bacon and garlic mashed potatoes; and tender, roasted Iacono Farm chicken, which has the garlicky spuds for company.

Seaside, Engle prepares a fine, snowy, lightly crusted roasted halibut; and moist diver sea scallops, each tall as a dozen-plus poker chips, upping the ante with creamy polenta, crisp capers and lemon confit.

Airy gnocchi in a shellfish rag.out, completed with chanterelles and snap peas, also are recommended. But a side order of macaroni and cheese, with penne artfully at attention, is a bit overcooked.

Allow time for the housemade, simple, playful desserts. Why resist the root beer float? Or the delectable bittersweet chocolate pudding?

And the strawberry-rhubarb crisp, hotter than August, is soothing, too, with a scoop of ice cream. Likewise, the ring of caramelized pineapple with coconut sherbet. A wedge of tall, lemon-chiffon cheesecake; or a cookie plate, with some toasted Marcona almond ice cream, will put you in the right mood, too.

As always, bring lots of quarters.

Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti, 7/30/06.

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