Last lobster rolls of summer — one classic cold lobster salad, one with hot garlic butter, at the Lobster Roll in Amagansett

Dropped into The Crow’s Nest on the eve of Hurricane Earl and got seated right away — a nice change of pace indeed. It was dark and just a little drafty, in a fun weathering-the-storm way. 

This was our second wildly successful attempt at fish tacos this summer. There  isn’t much to it. Just a hot grill, a big piece of locally caught mahi mahi, homemade guac and, for kicks, grilled honey-glazed pineapple. Bonus points for black bean salad, lime crema and thinly sliced radishes. Pop open a Corona and hello last-days-of-summer bliss.

The guidos/ettes may have chicken cutlet night, but us beach bums have hot dog night. And nobody’s excluded.

Sardine salad w/semolina raisin bread from Amy’s

Backyard bliss at a housewarming party in Clinton Hill. What a nice weekend it was.

I know seedless watermelons are a mutation of sorts, but they make assembling this salad about 50 times easier. I went to town with my melon baller and mezzaluna and made it happen. I subbed in ricotta salata for feta, because it has the saltiness without the tang of feta that I sometimes find overwhelming. I added a dash of cayenne and lime to make up for it. 

When I see okra, corn and tomatoes shining brightly at the market, my internal cookbook immediately turns to its Frogmore Stew page. Don’t worry — no froggies are involved: it’s a Lowcountry boil named after the Frogmore hamlet on St. Helena Island in South Carolina. You flavor the broth with spent corn cobs and shrimp shells, as well as thyme, bay leaf and chili pepper by simmering it for a half-hour or so and straining it. That’s how I learned anyway. Here is another way of doing it. I also hear you can add a 40 of malt liquor — maybe next time.

Since I make an inordinate amount of corn salads, I justified the purchase of a corn zipper: a single-use gadget that strips the kernels from the cob ever so slightly better than a knife can. 

As your broth is simmering, saute some spicy sausage, onions, carrots, celery until they’re fragrant. Add chopped potatoes, corn, tomatoes and okra. Then toss in the shrimp for a couple of minutes, and voila, you are in boil business. And it yields a ton, so leftovers are a definite.

It’s nice to have Chiles & Chocolate Oaxacan Kitchen nearby, though we don’t go nearly as often as we should. They serve three types of mole, but I can’t seem to not order the superrich mole negra (made from dried chiles, chocolate, sesame seeds, plantain & tomato base with over a dozen other spices & ingredients, according to their menu). You can get it atop other dishes if you don’t want to get a big cauldron of mole chicken or what have you. I got it on chicken quesadillas, which is kinda sinful-amazing. The guac is great too (hard to mess up) but I remain too chicken to try it topped with Chapolines (fried grasshoppers). Maybe next time. The Ensalada De Nopal (cactus salad) and Ceviche Hualtulco (cold shrimp salad) were OK but next time we’ll stick to the fish tacos, which were out of this world when we ordered them last.