Business

Slim — but delicious — pickings for Easter dinner out

BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO | Becky Smith at her Shelter Island Florist shop stands ready to fill your Easter order and to help you prepare for spring plantings.
BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO |
Becky Smith at her Shelter Island Florist shop stands ready to fill your Easter order and to help you prepare for spring plantings.

Perhaps a furious and prolonged winter has taken its toll on Shelter Island restaurant owners. Just a few of them are planning to open for Easter dinner. But enough will be operating to give you choices if you want to avoid staying home and doing the cooking yourself.

Various caterers are providing takeout food, so even if you don’t go out, you still don’t have to do the cooking.

Ram’s Head Inn will be reopening Friday after a long winter break. Co-owner Linda Eklund promises chef Joe Smith will be back in the kitchen with his “fantastic” menus. On Easter Sunday, the restaurant will operate from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., offering a full menu during those hours. But those who want a brunch menu can order between 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.

The Chequit, also owned by Ms. Eklund and her husband James, isn’t quite ready for its seasonal debut, she said.

Guests staying at the Ram’s Head will be greeted with a free drink on Friday evening and the Inn will pick up your ferry ticket home on Sunday. If you elect to stay for Sunday brunch, the Inn will extend your check-out time.

At Sweet Tomato’s, Jimi Rando will be serving up a prix fixe three course meal with sittings at 1 and 3:30 p.m. for $45 per person. He’ll also be offering his a la carte menu. The three-course meal includes a choice of Caesar salad or shrimp corn chowder; a choice of lamb chops, New York strip steak and grilled shrimp or brick oven roasted chicken. Desserts include tiramisu, sabayon parfait with mixed berries or a chocolate espresso tart.

Clark’s Fish House will be serving between 5:30 and 9 p.m. Easter Sunday with its regular menu, along with chef Tom Ritzler’s “delicious specials,” Shelley Clark-Rohde promised. “He is extremely talented,” she said.

Kyle plans to open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Give her a call to check her menu, though she assumes you’re likely already familiar with her offerings.

While 18 Bay won’t be open on Easter Sunday, there will be service on Saturday beginning at 6 p.m. Chefs Elizabeth Ronzetti and Adam Kopels pride themselves on using fresh local foods to create their unique dishes.

La Maison Blanche won’t be serving Easter dinner, but on Friday and Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m., owner John Sieni and chef Alex Von Salad are inviting bar customers to come in and taste test food that will be appearing on the menu when the restaurant is in full swing. Customers will have to pay for their drinks, but the eats will be on the house, Mr. Von Salad said.

At Commander Cody’s the restaurant will be open Sunday and Amanda will be cooking.

Among those restaurants that won’t be open are SALT, Fairway North at the Shelter Island Country Club, Maria’s and the Dory.

Don’t want to go out to eat, but don’t want to cook for your family and friends either? Schmidt’s stands ready to feed everyone Easter Sunday, offering a choice for brunch of Monte Cristo sandwiches, waffles, pancakes and omelettes and a lunch or dinner menu of prime rib, roast turkey, grilled salmon and lobster rolls. Schmidt’s will be open from 6 a.m. through 3 p.m. Sunday.

Reddings is also ready to cater your menu for Easter. You’ll have to call Marie Eiffel for her specialties.

Cornucopia has a full line of hand crafted chocolate bunnies, marshmallow eggs, jelly beans and plush animals. Mary Lou Eichhorn opens the shop daily between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Shelter Island Heights Pharmacy also has a wide selection of candy and plush toys. And don’t forget the greeting cards available at both stores for those who just don’t appreciate the online versions.

Easter isn’t a big holiday for flowers, according to Becky Smith at Shelter Island Florist. But she provides flowers for many of the Island’s churches for Easter Sunday and said it’s also a good weekend for gardeners to begin planting spring flowers.