Stone Creek Inn
The tuna tartare is served at the Stone Creek Inn on 405 Montauk Highway in East Quogue, September 5, 2009. Credit: /Photo by John Griffin
Sunny and handsome, Stone Creek Inn is an essay in white and a masterful conversion of an early 1900s residence.
The place is defined, however, by the refined cooking of Christian Mir and the well-run dining room of Elaine DiGiacomo.
The food is a beguiling blend of French and Mediterranean, with new American accents.
Some of the fine appetizers are tuna tartare, surrounded by a smoked-salmon skyline; lobster salad with fennel, basil and orange; and a super, cool crabcake.
Main courses may include an herbaceous rack of lamb; seared duck breast with a fennel-honey lavender sauce; and oven-roasted monkfish in sage broth.
The berry napoleon and the creme brulee ars stellar ways to end the meal.
Tuna: Chef Christian Mir's elegant, subtle yellowfin tuna tartare is tossed with ginger, chives and soy sauce, and capped with a flourish: "wasabi caviar," or flying-fish roe, coated with what's often called Japanese horseradish. It's one of our 10 favorite tuna dishes on Long Island.