Amagansett

Hello sweeties!!!

So I’ve been in the Hamptons full time now for about 6 years and I’m still sane. While there are some things I don’t miss at all about NYC, the noise, the traffic and Time Warner Cable (“we’ll be there sometime between 8am and 6pm”). One thing I do miss is a good cupcake. I used to live down the street from SOUTINE bakery on W.70th and every now and then would stop by for one of their buttery creamy treats. While they were good, my favorites were always CRUMBS and CUPCAKE CAFE.

Now, I know there is a debate raging about MAGNOLIA BAKERY vs. CUPCAKE CAFE but to me it’s no contest. I prefer buttery over super sugary sweet and CUPCAKE CAFE is the winner. Now, my dilemma… there is no debate over cupcakes going on in the Hamptons there are only two choices. Citarella and Mary’s Marvelous. Yes, there are some from CRUMBS in the city available at Scoop Du Jour but only on weekends and I’m a full-time purist folks!!! But let’s not get off track here!!!

Citarella’s aren’t bad, they’re actually pretty good but they’re not in the same league as the ones from MARY’S MARVELOUS in Amagansett!!! Mary’s cupcakes are the best in town now…. this because Ina Garten shuttered the BAREFOOT CONTESSA a few years ago! But you know Mary’s hold their own. Her coconut cupcakes are my favorite and just as good as Ina’s were back in the day! Now I know Ina now sells here mixes at the grocery store but these confections are always awful! but that’s not Ina’s fault, I cant cook even with a mix!

In short Mary’s cupcakes are indeed MARVELOUS!!! So are her Scones and most everything else in the shop as well. So why am I thinking about cupcakes? Because I’m trying to cut out the carbs and cupcakes are all I can think of! Oh and my cousin Eileen’s home made sticky buns!!! Hello Jenny Craig!

Hola! Some new cuisine from South of the border!!

Ok, let’s be real here! The East Hampton Independent just published their review of the new “latin cuisine” restaurant D’Canela in Amagansett. I love the Indy as it’s affectionatly called on the east end … they’re kind of the rogue paper on the East End and they never hesitate to ruffle feathers but I’ve yet to really see a negative review on ANY restaurant. BUT I DIGRESS! Let’s get back to the issue at hand… D’CANELA.

It’s located at 195 Main St., Amagansett the home of the old Main Street Cafe. The decor as you can see from my lousy Iphone picture (but I do love my Iphone, more on that later) is sleek but a little cold. Who knew liquor bottles could ad so much warmth to the decor!? The round neon “open” sign didn’t help much either, I felt like I was dining somewhere in Asbury Park. Even though I felt south of the Jersey border instead of in Mexico, I can tell you the interior was clean and the service was prompt and friendly. I’m sure in time, they’ll get more liquor bottles, warm up the place and have a license to serve booze but in the meantime BYOB and save some dinero!!!!

So how was the food? We started with a mixed green salads and some chips and guacamole. They all got a B+. The salads were fresh and tasty as was the guacamole and the chips were crisp, thick and NOT greasy. So far… So good… they’re already about 10 steps ahead of the inedible BLUE PARROT! Now when it came time for the entrees things went downhill a bit. We weren’t exactly an adventourous crowd. Two chicken and one beef fajita and a mole chicken were the entrees. The fajitas weren’t bad… but they weren’t really good either. First off they came with melted cheese and my friends who are more health concious were NOT happy. Luckily our waitress did her best and got two new ones sans cheese asap! The beef fajita like the chicken was basically meat and onions with sides of salsa, sour and tortillas. The peppers; green, red and jalapeno were all missing. The mole chicken was the best choice. It was moist, tasty and tender (An A-).

All in all, better than Blue Parrot but far lacking anything close to the level of say Rosa’s Mexicana. But it is the Hamptons afterall and it’s January. I think D’Canela will improve in time, let’s just hope they can hang in there during this looooong and so far snowy winter!!!