- 10 hours ago
Chef Tom Colicchio joins Condé Nast Traveler to explore his favorite food spots on Long Island’s North Fork. From fresh local seafood and Peconic Bay oysters to artisan cheese, Colicchio explores the producers and flavors that make this New York destination so special.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:01Okay, I almost lost the toe there.
00:04Yeah.
00:11Hi, I'm Tom Colicchio, and I'm going to be taking you to some of my favorite spots
00:14right here in one of the most beautiful places on earth, the North Fork of Long Island.
00:19This is Where the Chefs Eat.
00:27So we're here at the South Hole Fish Market.
00:29This is my absolute favorite place to buy fish.
00:32Charlie and Candace and the entire team here are just really hospitable.
00:35They also have a great restaurant as well that is absolutely just jam-packed,
00:39and so you know that their seafood turns over really quickly.
00:42Also, it's about a 20-minute drive from my house,
00:44so I have to go out of my way to get here, but it's worth the trip.
00:47Come check it out.
00:48Hey, Charlie.
00:49Hey.
00:50How you doing?
00:51Every day.
00:52Happy, happy.
00:52What's good today?
00:53Stripers, some more smaller sea bass, bluefish, fluke.
00:57Fish has been really good right now.
00:58We've been catching a lot of local stuff, as you can see here, so it's been really good.
01:01Cool.
01:02You want to get a bite to eat?
01:03Sure.
01:03Let's go.
01:08All right.
01:09So what do we have here?
01:10Blowfish.
01:10Blowfish.
01:11They're not the poisonous blowfish.
01:13No, no.
01:13Local bay blowfish.
01:15And as you see, most people, like you just grabbed,
01:18it's like a chicken wing.
01:19You hold it, bite into it.
01:21Yeah.
01:21They're so good.
01:22I like, number one, the blowfish.
01:24It's easy to eat.
01:25There's one bone down the center, but they're really sweet.
01:27Oh, yeah.
01:28And they're great fried.
01:29They're a little crispy on the outside.
01:30And it's like you can't overcook them.
01:32They're a great texture, like little tiny monkfish.
01:35Yep.
01:35But they're 10 times better than monkfish.
01:37I mean, they're by far one of my favorites.
01:39So this is my 39th summer going into the thing.
01:41My father and grandfather both were fishermen.
01:43So that's kind of where I learned how to fish.
01:45I learned basically all the guys locally that I could buy fish from.
01:49Right.
01:49Because they knew me as the pesty little kid that was always running around.
01:52The little dock rat.
01:53Yeah.
01:53Over the years, you create so many relationships with the different fishermen
01:56because certain guys go sea bass fishing.
01:59Certain guys go lobster and clonk and clam.
02:01And anybody that brings fish to us know that I'm a stickler when it comes to freshness.
02:06Oh, little po' boy, huh?
02:07Po' boy.
02:07Fried oysters.
02:08Yes.
02:09Do it for nice local oysters.
02:11Let me see.
02:12Let's attack this thing.
02:13You know what I like on this?
02:14I love coleslaw.
02:15One of my favorite things in the world.
02:17I'm going to put a little la on there too.
02:19Nice.
02:19Almost like a plum white.
02:21Exactly.
02:21Look at that.
02:22Don't need to go to New Orleans.
02:23Come right here.
02:28So what I like about this, you get obviously seafood flavor from the oyster, crunchy.
02:32And then I think the sauce is nice.
02:33It's a little spicy, but not too spicy.
02:35And then you get a lot of crispiness from the lettuce and tomato.
02:39Coleslaw.
02:40I would put the coleslaw on the sandwich.
02:42I think it's good.
02:43Because also you get a little sweet and sour from the coleslaw.
02:46There's some good vinegar, a little sweetness from the coleslaw, and also crunch from the cabbage.
02:50So good stuff.
02:53So stuffies, so what do we have here?
02:55Basically it's like a baked clam, but it has lobster, shrimp, clams, and scallops in it.
03:01Some we're known for here, so we sell a lot of them.
03:03So the first restaurant I worked in was called Evelyn's Seafood Restaurant.
03:07And it was the first place I worked.
03:08And they used to do something very similar.
03:09It was very funny though, because there was this crepe cook.
03:12And I remember when he kind of took me under his wing.
03:14He would say, here's the recipe that they gave me.
03:16I don't use these recipes.
03:18He goes, I use it my own.
03:19And he made a stuffing very similar to this.
03:21As soon as I tasted it, it brought me right back to when I was 17 years old working in
03:24the kitchen under Slim.
03:25But you know, it's like that flavor memory.
03:26Once you taste it, it brings you back to where you first tasted it, you know?
03:29Oh yeah.
03:30Yeah, it's really delicious.
03:31People would ask me, like, you know, get a lot of questions.
03:33When did you start cooking?
03:34Why do you cook?
03:35Things like that.
03:36And I started thinking about it.
03:37It goes back to fishing.
03:38So when I was about six or seven, I would go fishing with my grandfather.
03:41He had a small little boat in Barnegut Bay.
03:43But I look back on those days, and it wasn't so much even what we caught.
03:46Because we always cooked everything very simply.
03:48During these meals, because we had so much, it wasn't just the immediate family.
03:52It was, like, uncles, aunts, friends.
03:54And it was like a table of, like, 20, 30 people.
03:56And I think this whole idea of, like, cooking, how it brings people around the table,
04:00looking back on it, I think that's why I started cooking.
04:02So if I were one for fishing, I wouldn't be a chef.
04:04Yeah.
04:05Yeah.
04:05Here's to the fish.
04:13Okay, so we're here at Pico Oysters.
04:15We're going to go visit Peter Stein, the oyster farmer.
04:17I've been coming to this place for about 10 years now.
04:19These are my absolute favorite oysters.
04:21Let's go check it out.
04:23How you doing?
04:24How are you?
04:24How's it going?
04:25Nice to see you.
04:25You too.
04:26First, I want to go check out the oysters.
04:27That's what I want to do.
04:28So we just harvested.
04:29We'll chat about farming later.
04:30Yeah, cool.
04:35You want to shuck an oyster?
04:36Yes, why not?
04:37All right.
04:37Let me grab one for you.
04:38Give me a knife.
04:39Shuck away, man.
04:45Oh, really brownie.
04:47Yeah.
04:47They finished nice and sweet.
04:49Yeah.
04:49Really nice.
04:49Yeah, good.
04:50I like this knife, too.
04:50Yeah.
04:51That was gifted to me, and it's become my favorite.
04:54That's a good one.
04:54Okay, now you have it.
04:55It's yours.
04:55Don't walk away with that.
04:56No, I'm not going to walk away.
04:57No.
04:57I'm going to take some oysters, but that's it.
05:07Okay, I almost lost the toe there.
05:10Yeah.
05:11We got the deck of the boat filled with totes like this.
05:14Usually, we do them like half full, so they're not too heavy to move.
05:17And we can harvest like 45,000 oysters in an hour.
05:20Nice.
05:21We're going to sit down and eat some oysters.
05:22That's what I want to do.
05:23Absolutely.
05:23I mean, I like visiting with you, but I'm really here to eat oysters.
05:29Okay, so we have cocktail sauce, mignonette, and then this.
05:33This is, I've never seen this on oysters before.
05:34So, this is cranberry horseradish, and it is like sweet and horseradishy.
05:41Right.
05:42All delicious.
05:43And local, right?
05:44It's Holly's Good Farm.
05:45Very nice.
05:45Yep.
05:46My personal favorite is just some lemon.
05:49Yeah.
05:49I mean, I don't think that...
05:51That's good, though.
05:52It's really good, isn't it?
05:53That's really good, yeah.
05:54I don't think that it gets better than just like a couple of drops of lemon juice.
05:57I'm with you.
05:57Yeah.
05:58And an oyster.
06:00I mean, that's summer right there.
06:02What makes the North Fork so conducive to growing oysters?
06:05For oyster farming, what makes the North Fork super special is like looking at this nautical
06:10chart.
06:11We have this huge bay.
06:12Right.
06:13That is...
06:13Conic Bay.
06:14Yeah, Conic Bay.
06:15That is largely protected, but you have huge amounts of water flowing through.
06:19A lot of flow, too.
06:20Yeah.
06:20What that means is that these oysters are getting enormous amounts of water flow.
06:24And I think the flavor profile of the oysters here in Conic Bay are...
06:28You got a nice briny punch up front.
06:30I think they finish very clean, very crisp.
06:33And when I came out here again, knowing just from fishing, I didn't expect to be so rich
06:36in like culinary traditions and farming and oyster farming and duck farming and like wine
06:43making.
06:44All summer long, I eat out of my garden.
06:46Yeah.
06:46I eat local fish, local oysters, and drink local wine.
06:49Yeah.
06:50And I'm happy as hell doing it.
06:51There are really good restaurants out here, but there's a food culture that's very different.
06:55And it's rooted in the earth, which is kind of neat.
07:00We're here on Love Lane in downtown Mattatuck.
07:03There's a couple food options here.
07:04There's the Roanoke Tasting Room.
07:06We have the North Fork Donut Company, Love Lane Market, our Italian market butcher shop.
07:10But we're going to go talk to my friend Michael here at the Village Tea Shop.
07:13Come on inside.
07:19Hey, Michael.
07:20Tom, how's it going?
07:21Good.
07:21How are you?
07:21Good to see you.
07:22You too.
07:22Very well, thank you.
07:23Very well.
07:23The case looks really full today.
07:25So let me take some of this off your hands.
07:27What's good today?
07:28This is brebby roos.
07:29Brebby roos.
07:30The redheaded sheep.
07:32It's sheep's milk from France.
07:34Very young.
07:34It is pasteurized.
07:35And it is covered in annatto dust just for looks, not for flavor.
07:42Taste that.
07:42See what you think.
07:46Beautiful, right?
07:47Yeah.
07:48Very floral.
07:49Very floral.
07:50That's a stinking fish.
07:51That's one of my favorites.
07:51It is dunked into a bath of pear brandy.
07:54Okay.
07:55It's cow's milk.
07:56It is pasteurized, but pungent, yes.
07:59Off-putting, no.
07:59It's just really expressive.
08:01Well, you know, the pungent cheese, the smell is pungent.
08:03The taste is usually pretty mild.
08:04You got to get over the smell and it's good.
08:06Yes, yes.
08:06For your wife, for Lori, she asked about Robiolo.
08:09We've got Gufante Robiolo tree milks.
08:11This is goat, sheep, and cow.
08:12All right.
08:13So let's go sit down and taste some cheese.
08:14Yes, sir.
08:15Right.
08:15With pleasure.
08:22Oh, look at that.
08:24Wow.
08:24This is so delicious and beautiful.
08:28Bon appétit monsieur.
08:29Cheers.
08:30Good seeing you as always.
08:32Okay.
08:33What do we have?
08:33What's the slam attack here?
08:34I would say try the local catapanno first.
08:38As you can see, it's bright, clean, slightly lemony.
08:42There's definitely that goat's milk zipped to it.
08:45Yeah, but that's how it's supposed to taste.
08:47This is our classic jambon beurre sandwich, the Parisienne.
08:51Take a little taste of this because it's so simple, but it's so good.
08:53Yeah, it's my favorite.
08:54Yeah.
08:55No cheese is required.
08:56It's churned French salted butter sea salt from Ysigny, and they're wonderful.
09:00French ham is from a French company that's actually based in Pennsylvania.
09:04Trois petits cochons, the three little pigs, you know them.
09:05And the baguettes we get from New York City, par-baked, frozen, and we finish them here.
09:10And we sell tons of these.
09:12Simple, direct, to the point.
09:14Could be lunch, could be dinner.
09:15Try the truffle brie before we go into the stronger ones.
09:17That's our showpiece.
09:18Here's the story about our truffle brie.
09:21The genesis of our truffle brie is that we, for years and years, we're buying this from
09:27Maison de la Truffe in Paris, who would ship into Elizabeth, New Jersey,
09:31but they didn't have a distributor for it at the time.
09:33So I would drive into Elizabeth, New Jersey, pick up my wheels of this and drive back.
09:37I thought to myself one day, I said, can we not make this ourselves?
09:41We take our fromage daffinois and we take a wire, open it neatly, like this.
09:46In an aluminum bowl, mixing bowl, we put mascarapone.
09:50We get great peregrine black truffles into it, truffle salt, truffle butter, truffle salt,
09:56truffle oil, and a few of the little things we can't mention, and then whip it at high speeds.
10:02Tartine, as they say, close it up and on top, more butter and more truffle, seal it up and off
10:06it goes.
10:07And then, I would say, you've got to taste the Stinking Bishop.
10:10Yeah, that's the one I want.
10:11This is so hard for us to find.
10:13This is definitely one that should be saved next to last.
10:18That's delicious.
10:19That is an overload of flavors.
10:21I don't even know where to start.
10:22Layer upon layer, earth, smoke, meat, umami, keeps coming.
10:31I think you saw right there what makes the North Fork so special.
10:34Whether you're a producer or selling food,
10:36this is a small community.
10:37Everybody really takes care of each other.
10:39The service and hospitality is amazing.
10:41Part of why I love the North Fork.
10:43Let's go home now.
10:49This is the garden.
10:52You know, when we came out here, when we first moved out here and renovated the place,
10:55this was just a bunch of grass back here.
10:57And it was kind of neglected because it was the back of the house.
11:00But this was also the perfect place because it gets the most sun.
11:03There's a bunch of arugula.
11:04There's some lettuces in here.
11:05There's some kale going down the center.
11:07There's some carrots even mixed in here.
11:08Some beets.
11:09Sugar snap peas.
11:10These are all blackberries.
11:12Garlic chives.
11:13Eight plants.
11:13Some turnips.
11:15Strawberries in the next box.
11:16So I need to plant a lot more strawberries.
11:17This is like my happy place.
11:19Especially if I get out here in the morning at 6 a.m.
11:22And I have nothing to do.
11:23I'm not in a rush.
11:24It kind of sets the day.
11:25Um, I also, there's something about digging in the dirt.
11:28And how it kind of relaxes me.
11:30I just love it out here.
11:36So thanks for joining me today here on the North Fork.
11:38One of my favorite places in the world.
11:40And I think you know why now.
11:41We have some amazing producers out here.
11:43So if you find yourself out here, check some of these growers out.
11:46They'll be really helpful and you'll see why the North Fork is so special.
11:50The North Fork is so special.
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