A Conversation with Colin Ambrose

The Sag Harbor Express

June 23, 2015 — Article from the Sag Harbor Express

By Mara Certic

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Colin Ambrose is the chef at Estia’s Little Kitchen and spoke about an upcoming art auction he is hosting at the small restaurant and vegetable garden on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike.

So how did Sunday’s event come about?

 It’s an event designed to raise funds for the Seedlings Project, which was the brain child of Alice Waters probably more than 10 years ago now. The idea behind it is that, for a lot of families, children go home to empty houses after school. Probably around that time, Project Most started as an after-school group at the Springs School. Joe Realmudo, the chef at Nick and Toni’s, I know had a lot to do with this.

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BEACHOUSE LIFE | Chef’s Tales | #2

WE HAVE A KEEPER!

The Highway Restaurant and Bar

by Colin Ambrose
Executive Chef, Estia’s Little Kitchen for Beachouse Media

There’s a new team in the old room at the VFW hall on 27 East in Georgica. Just beyond the Tank in the parking lot at 290 Montauk Highway sits a restaurant that seems to have had a hot potato lease for twenty years. I’ve stopped in for a bite at all of them – from the Italian red sauce joint to the Mexican fiesta and the temple of American contemporary cuisine. Each had a solid idea; some had good execution. But, today’s tenant has found the right combination of solid comfort food, appropriate decor and warm, inviting hospitality that has turned me into a regular. At last, we have a keeper!

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A Lot of Activity

Article from New York Social Diary – Monday, April 13, 2015

This past weekend Duane Hampton went out to Southampton to check up on her house now that the weather is warming and soon doors and windows will be opened to let in the fresh air. She told me she was going to an exhibition of artist Barbara Thomas at the restaurant “Estia” (“the essence of all good things” in Greek) between Bridgehampton and Sag Harbor. I asked her to take some pictures to show our readers who will be out that way in the next week or two, and she happily complied:

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A Casual Venue for Contemporary Art

Over the years, Colin Ambrose, the restaurateur, has developed relationships with hundreds of artists, many of whom are regulars at Little Estia

East Hampton Star Article | By Mark Segal |

 

 

Colin Ambrose, above, the owner and chef of Estia’s Little Kitchen in Sag Harbor, has a longstanding relationship with the region’s artists. Barbara Thomas, below, will exhibit paintings of vegetables from her garden, including a variety of carrots, at the restaurant during April and May.

Photos Morgan McGivern and Gary Mamay

Slow food, sustainable agriculture, organic farming, and farm-to-table are terms that are so ubiquitous in the ever-expanding culinary world that hardly a restaurant opens today that doesn’t tout its use of locally sourced organic ingredients.

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Watch: Sag Harbor Chef Debuts First Video in Documentary Series

The local chef worked with local chefs and farmers to create the video.

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BEACHOUSE LIFE | Chef’s Tales

COOKING-UP AN ICON

The North Fork Table & Inn

by Chef Colin Ambrose
Go to the original article on Beachouse Hamptons website

As an owner myself, I know that restaurants, like our most cherished relationships, are a labor of love. To succeed, they require more work and dedication than most anyone can imagine. Of the chef, the demand is nothing less than an intrinsic passion and understanding of food. From the management, service is the top priority. Now, just for fun, add-in operating your establishment on Long Island’s East End, home to the most demanding and discerning palettes anywhere! The North Fork Table & Inn, consistently ranked with New York’s top dining venues, is proof-positive that  these attributes can – and do exist – everyday. If you enjoy destination dining, a reservation at this iconic institution should be on your near term bucket list.

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Carrot Tasting Goes to the Root of the Vegetable

The Sag Harbor Express

Standing in his restaurant kitchen garden on the Sag Harbor-Bridgehampton Turnpike in September of 2013, restaurateur and chef Colin Ambrose crunched down a newly harvested carrot fresh from the soil. It looked great—bright orange, long and tapered—but the flavor wasn’t there. Mr. Ambrose, who has been at the forefront of the local, fresh food movement on the East End since his days at the helm of the original Estia in Amagansett in the 1990s, hatched a plan then and there to gather together local farmers, gardeners and chefs in a growing experiment aimed at identifying keys to successfully cultivating different carrot varieties.

And the results were delicious.
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Estia’s Root Tasting

Estia’s Little Kitchen presented the first in a series of root tastings on November 12, 2014. Last summer, Colin Ambrose decided he wanted to explore the carrot with his friends, all chefs. Each chef and farmer provided a control and choice seed that was either raw or steamed. Chefs then presented the guests with a delicious dish that incorporated carrots into it. Guests learned about communications that take place between the chefs and farmers in order to meet supply and demand. Read Full Article »

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They Care About Carrots

A “carrot-palooza” conceived by Colin Ambrose took place last week at Estia’s Little Kitchen in Sag Harbor, where farmers and gardeners took their produce and chefs experimented with the outcome. Laura Donnelly

carrot-tasting

Colin Ambrose conceived of the event, a yearly root tasting, last summer

By Laura Donnelly |

Lights! Carrots! Action! It was Colin’s Carrot-Palooza at Estia’s Little Kitchen last week, as splashy a media event as you can expect for a Wednesday . . . in November . . . for a vegetable. There were local rock star chefs and their Daucus carotas, served raw, steamed, and in various dishes. The carrots, that is. Read Full Article »

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Project Most

Project MOST is committed to East Hampton’s children and building on the strengths of our children with a range of academic support, enrichment activities, physical exercise, and positive social development everyday in the critical hours after school. The philosophy of Project MOST is to nurture the entire child and to teach the joy of learning for learning’s sake. Read Full Article »

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