This Labor Day, entertain with style with help from these NoFo favs .
It’s a tale as old as time: You want to have friends over for Labor Day Weekend, but you don’t want to end up stuck in the kitchen all day. Here’s the good news. Local restaurants on the North Fork are happy to help lighten the load. Here are a few of the best options for takeout and catering for your end-of-summer event.
Duryea’s Orient Point
Up the ante on your Labor Day party this year with a catering offering from Duryea’s Orient Point. The waterfront restaurant, known for its seafood-centric menu, can cater parties (though they also offer takeout, which is appropriate for smaller gatherings), meaning you can enjoy the restaurant’s epic lobster rolls, seafood towers, and family-style platters in the privacy of your own home. The comprehensive raw bar includes both local items — like oysters and littleneck clams — and items from afar: king and snow crab legs, jumbo shrimp, and more.
The Food Truck at The North Fork Table & Inn
Equipped with online ordering, the Food Truck at Southold’s North Fork Table & Inn — the sibling to John Fraser’s accomplished fine dining restaurant — is an excellent place to source food for an upcoming party, especially if you’re hosting a smaller get-together. Guacamole and chips, Kirby cucumbers with fermented chili and blue cheese, lobster-corn fritters with ramp aioli, deviled eggs, and a lemony dish of asparagus and shishito peppers, all make good jumping off points. You can order lobster rolls cold or hot, as well as a compelling blackened flounder sandwich, all of which scream “end of summer.”
The Frisky Oyster
Robby Beaver’s Greenport restaurant offers off-site catering, with seasonally minded menus that you can design yourself. Beaver’s regular menu changes based on the season, but expect a representation of what he does best: items like Little Ram oysters, served with a coconut mignonette, duck confit spring rolls, lobster gigli pasta with a Meyer lemon-vodka sauce, or pomegranate barbecue-braised short ribs. For more information, inquire through the restaurant’s website.
Ellen’s on Front
Also in Greenport, Ellen’s on Front, which boasts casual, local-focused cuisine, can come to your house. (They also offer both takeout and delivery.) House-smoked whipped ricotta, with local honey and black lava salt, is an excellent way to kick things off. And who can say no to fried duck wings, served with a lemon-pepper glaze and homemade chow chow? The restaurant has a host of party-friendly options, from macaroni and cheese to sweet tea-brined fried chicken. If you’re hosting a larger event, reach out to the restaurant directly for information about their catering program.
Southold Fish Market
It is the opinion of many that the lobster rolls served at the Southold Fish Market are the best on the fork. Hosting a small get-together of your nearest and dearest? Surprise them with these impressive rolls, which are teeming with sweet lobster meat. Rolls include claw and tail meat and are served Maine-style, dressed in mayonnaise and atop a split hot dog bun (with a leaf of lettuce, for requisite crunch). If you’re placing a large order, you’ll want to call in advance.
