Long Island Restaurants

East Hampton Point

The main course at East Hampton Point is sunset on the water.

There are only a few restaurants in the Hamptons that offer such a pretty perch. Three Mile Harbor at twilight makes you want to hold onto summer. And, if you don't have a perfect view, there are mirrors to reflect the boats languidly going by, as if carrying the season with them.

This veteran restaurant excels in its current life under chef Matthew Ross, whose stylish new American cooking suits the site, the season and the appetite. Accordingly, the joint is packed in the dining areas indoor and alfresco, and at the bar.

You can settle in and enjoy an excellent crab-and-rock shrimp cake, loosely packed and meaty, set atop mashed avocado, encircled by a drizzle of lemongrass sauce.

Or consider the crisp oysters, topped with a dab of variation on sauce remoulade, enriched with a dollop of domestic caviar.

Continue the refreshing route with a good salad of watermelon, frisee, hearts of palm and feta cheese; or the fine combination of golden beets, very young arugula, fennel shavings, oranges and Maytag blue cheese.

Ross and company send out an expertly steamed, sweet Montauk lobster, which weighs in at three pounds, $25 per. It's one of the East End's best -- and should be. The lobster arrives with a plate of roasted fingerling potatoes and another of sauteed corn. Seaside, the competition comes from roasted Maine halibut, finished with fennel, olives and new potatoes tinted with saffron.

A sliced breast of Long Island duck, while medium-rare as ordered, is on the chewy side. But the confit-and-potato hash nearly rescues it. The dry-aged strip steak and roasted Murray Farms chicken are the bird's big rivals.

Conclude with a delectable lemon-lime tart crowned with a swirl of toasty meringue; or warm chocolate cake with mint ice cream. The strawberry shortcake comes across like a Hamptonian amusement: a cake no larger than a cookie, capped with nubbins of berry and strawberry-basil ice cream, a spoonful of whipped cream on the side. For purists: coconut sorbet.

Sunset today is 7:30 p.m.

Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti, 8/29/07.

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