Pepalajefa wows in Sag Harbor
At Pepalajefa in Sag Harbor, elegant, crustless boccadillos (sandwiches) are sold in pairs. Here, egg salad and tuna salad. (July 28, 2013) Credit: Newsday Erica Marcus
Pepalajefa is a distinctive takeout shop / caterer that opened last summer in Sag Harbor. Owner Livia Hegner was born in Switzerland and has lived and worked all over the world. Her culinary range — ably interpreted by the shop’s operating partner-chef Marianne Farrell — makes for a fascinating, international menu.
I stopped by recently and put together an elegant light lunch comprised of crustless Spanish boccadillo sandwiches (one egg salad, one tuna, $4 for both) along with eggplant croquettes ($3) from Yotam Ottolenghi’s bestselling pan-Med cookbook “Plenty.” Among scores of other tempting dishes are carrot soup with orange and mint, chorizo-leek salad, glass noodle salad, Waldorf salad, Argentine potpie, lamb curry, Hungarian goulash, Moroccan chicken legs, Indian eggplant salad, salade Russe, Swiss meatloaf, tortilla Espanola and a comparably cosmopolitan roster of desserts. Plus fresh-pressed juices and smoothies.
The shop’s name, “Pepa la jefa” or “Pepa the boss,” is the fond nickname of a restaurant owner Hegner knows in Altea, Spain.
Pepalajefa is at 7 Main St.., Sag Harbor, 631-899-4630, pepalajefa.com.
