Long Island Restaurants

Q East

Chef Robert Hesse, a 29-year old Quogue native, makes his hometown restaurant the season's first summer-hot destination -- a star turn for Hesse, a stellar meal for you. Q East's cool, sleek dining room warms up with Hesse's whimsical, polished New American cuisine.

ORDER THIS

Hesse's combo of mega-shrimp and dewy lump crabmeat tops the shellfish cocktails at most steak houses. Just as jazzy: lush tuna tartare in curling Asiago cheese cups; tails-up tempura shrimp with a Thai-style peanut sauce; and a ragout of shellfish in mascarpone-chive sauce that's richer than the neighborhood. Maytag blue cheese and walnuts boost frisée salad; Gorgonzola and candied pecans, the mesclun.

Veer Italian with molto-molto pappardelle Bolognese or red-sauced rigatoni tossed with ground sausage and whole clams. Then, catch potato-wrapped sea bass floating on a red-wine reduction; a superior surf-and-turf of Moroccan-spiced tenderloin and sweet-spicy shrimp curry; juicy rack of lamb with a balsamic glaze; or a stuffed lobster that's packed with buttery scallops and crabmeat and ornamented with plump shrimp to rival the centerpiece.

Mandatory on the side -- baked three-cheese macaroni; truffled shoestring fries; Gorgonzola-chive mashed potatoes. Conclude with a mandorle truffle, which is what happens when a Good Humor toasted almond bar gets intimately involved with a deluxe chocolate-chip and Amaretto tartufo. Competition: mango-and-wild strawberry shortcake and a 21- layer "gâteau de crepe," mischievously playing with the taste of crème brûlée. For two or more, "Q's Kitchen Sink" stylishly improves on Jahn's, sparklers included, smiles inevitable.

DON'T BOTHER

Full-bodied onion soup can wait for fall; panko-crusted artichoke hearts, longer; and seared ahi tuna seems a little sleepy in this company, even with a white truffle-cranberry-ginger glaze.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Summer '08 already is a winner.

Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti

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