Long Island East End Excursion

Stop #1: Lewin's Farm Stand

Lewin's (812 Sound Ave, Wading River) is a great place to buy local Long Island fruits and vegetables. Most of the locally grown produce tastes like different species than those at the supermarket, especially the corn, tomatoes, strawberries, and peaches. Plus, the prices are cheaper than at the supermarket. In addition, they have "pick your own" strawberries, peaches, lettuce, etc., depending on the month you go.




Stop #2: Davis' Peach Farm

Davis' Peach Farm used to be located in Rocky Point, until a few years ago when it was bulldozed down for a monstrous housing development eyesore to be put up. Recently, however, I discovered that this little peach farm still exists. It's now located on Hulse Landing Road in Wading River (off Sound Avenue, you can just continue east on Sound Avenue after Lewin's and you'll see signs at the intersection with Hulse Landing). These peaches are totally amazing. They are so sweet and delicious. They also have over 70 different varieties of peaches at this farm, such as yellow cling, white, donut; 50 varieties of plums, 20 varieties of nectarines, and 10 varieties of apples. At Davis' they also have "pick your own" like at Lewin's. If you're interested in baking with the fruit, buy the "seconds" (ripened). They're great for pies and peach crisp!





Stop #3: Briermere Farms

You probably saying "another farm to visit? What's the big deal?" Well, Briermere (Sound Avenue, Riverhead) certainly isn't one you want to pass up. This place is famous for it's homeade fruit pies and other baked goods, such as cakes and muffins. The fruit pies are the best I've ever had, especially in the summertime when they are made with local fruit. Some of my favorite types are peach-raspberry, plain peach, and strawberry rhubarb. The blueberry muffins are out of this world: the best I have ever tasted, for sure, and not too sweet.





Stop #4: Riverhead Seafood Market and Restaurant

If you want fresh fish for a reasonable price, come to this place (Route 25 in Riverhead). You can get fresh clams on the half shell, a bucket of mussels, pasta with seafood, and baskets of fried fish. The place is nice- you can even sit outside.







Stop #5: Snowflake Ice Cream Shop

In my opinion, Snowflake is the best ice cream shop on Long Island. You can get sundaes with local fruit- they are so good that you won't be able to eat a sundae anywhere else ever again.
They have soft serve and hard ice cream. In addition, they have an entire section devoted to fat-free ice cream.
They have all types- soft, hard, flying saucers, etc., that are all fat-free. If you're hungry before you have your ice cream and don't feel like going to the Seafood Market across the street, you can go to Funcho's, right next to Snowflake. It's a Mexican place, that's pretty decent and cheap, although not quite as good as Green Cactus in Stony Brook. In any case, Funcho's has a pretty extensive menu.








Stop #6: The Big Duck

If anyone's ever heard of Flanders, New York, they've surely heard of the Big Duck. In fact, Flanders is officially "home of the big duck," as the sign says. I'm guessing it's probably one of the only things to see there. In any case, it's an interesting one to see! Traveling down Route 24 (Flanders Road) with nothing to see for a while, you are suddenly shocked by the sight of this 20-ft. tall, 30-ft. long concrete Peking Duck right on the road. Yes, you can go inside the Duck: there is a shop there with Big Duck paraphernalia.







Stop Here: the Wineries

In case you didn't know, Long Island is becoming more and more famous for it's wine. There are dozens of wineries on the east end, many of which I will discuss in a later posting; here I'll just give you an overview.
Most of these wineries are open for tasting (most of the time, free tastings). You should start at Pindar, which, to my knowledge, has the largest tasting room and most extensive menu. Most of the wine tastings here are free- as few of the more expensive types require a small charge. But, you can go in there and try about 20 wines and even ask for seconds. Another nice place is Palmer, where you can sit out on their porch in the back and enjoy the beautiful scenery of grapes.