Dan's Papers - April 11, 2008 -

Indian Island Country Club
Indian Island Golf Course
Route 105
Riverhead
631-727-0788

In the six years that Russ Moran has been the owner and executive chef here, the place has changed beyond recognition. What used to be a relatively boring place frequented only by golfers, is now a well appointed, comfortable, welcoming set of dining rooms and bar that attracts everyone who simply comes here to enjoy their lunch or dinner. It also offers much improved surroundings for golfers to celebrate the joys or, more often, drown their sorrows as they look back on the vicissitudes of their round.

There is also a new management team this year at the Golf Club and plans are well underway to continue making significant improvements to the course, practice facilities and pro shop. The natural beauty of the course with several of the holes on the front nine offering unparalleled views along the Peconic, has always been there. Head golf professional Steve Feder has already seen a marked increase in the number of golf outings booked for this year and the combination of redesigned golf course and upgraded restaurant is certain to continue to attract. Russ is also looking forward to the erection of a new semi-permanent tent adjacent to the clubhouse, which will have the ability to host catered events such as weddings, birthday parties and golf outings up to a maximum of around 160 persons. Russ also runs an off-site catering company, Catering Adventures, that is set up to provide full service catering, including chefs and servers, for events from 30 to 200.

The evening we dined here coincided with Hamptons Restaurant Week and also it was a Thursday night, which regularly is Lobster Night, so we were able to choose from an even wider range of offerings than the regular wide range of everything from sandwiches, burgers and pasta dishes to the main menu plus appetizers and entrées.

We started by sharing a large bowl of steaming hot mussels in a white wine sauce. New head chef Jose Ramirez, who previously cooked at Claudio's, showed his expertise quickly with a wonderfully understated broth that still had a good depth of taste and just enough garlic. The PEI mussels were exceptionally plump and full of that wonderful touch of sea flavor that sometimes can be swamped by a too aggressive sauce.

Next we shared a Caesar salad. Yes, the portions here are very generous to say the least, and we still were unable to finish this bowl of crisp romaine lettuce, correctly coated with that special creamy dressing that lifts the humble greens to an enjoyable level of decadence.

For our main courses, Stella was attracted by the lobster special that came perfectly cooked and is accompanied by clams, mussels and corn as well as potato. This was a real, feast as was the dish that I chose from the Restaurant Week menu. The steak Gorgonzola was an excellent piece of sirloin, cooked correctly as requested, juicy and full of taste. This was not the pallid tasteless type of steak that you sometimes come across but a high quality cut that would have graced a specialty steak house. The Gorgonzola topping added an extra piquancy to the dish.

For dessert, we reverted to a sharing policy and really enjoyed the Swiss chocolate mousse cheesecake that was light and with lots of rich chocolate filling. Together with a good cup of espresso it brought a very pleasant and enjoyable evening, made even more so by the pleasant and efficient attentiveness of Tim, our waiter, to a close.

During the course of a regular week, Russ offers several special evenings, Lobster night on Thursday is priced at a very reasonable $19.95. Early bird specials are available from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday. There is a Sunday Brunch and Prime Rib special night on Saturday for $19.95 - reservations are strongly recommended for this. The wine list is also well priced with a very good measure of wine by the glass served for around $6. The restaurant is open seven days a week now for lunch and dinner.

Russ Moran and his team deserve a lot of credit for the work they have put into this restaurant to make it somewhere you can go to eat very affordably and even more so based on our visit, enjoy unpretentious food of very high quality. They bill themselves as, 'Riverhead's best kept secret'. So it may be, but now surely is the time to change that, because it is a secret that should be shared by all.