Deliciously Dorie’s Opens in Westhampton Beach
There’s a healthy newcomer in Westhampton Beach, arriving just in time to cheer people as the waning warm days mean that they need it most.
Serving freshly made juices, smoothies and organics, Deliciously Dorie’s Joyful Juice opened over Labor Day weekend with great fanfare.
“There is such a need for organic foods, people are hungry for it,” owner and raw chef Dorie Lake says. Lake creates everything on the menu, from the salad dressings to the nut milk, from scratch. “Everything is outrageous, everything is delicious. I’m turning people onto the raw, organic lifestyle.”
The café, which offers options to take out or eat-in, serves breakfast and lunch. Lake lists the Banana Chia Pudding as her favorite option in her “Organics to-go” case, which features organic and seasonal salads and seasonal wraps. “It tastes like liquid banana bread!” she says of the pudding.
“I also press my own nut milk,” she adds, noting that the Cashew Matcha Tea Milk is her favorite selection on the café’s “Joyful Mornings” menu. The homemade cashew milk is made with vanilla and matcha tea. And on the smoothie menu, Lake would recommend the Bana Maca Buzz, which is made with frozen banana, coconut meat, almond milk, bee pollen, honey, maca, cinnamon and vanilla. “Maca is a super food and adds a butterscotch-y flavor,”she says.
Lake came to the East End foodie scene after a 20-year stint on Wall Street. “I’m a nonstop person in everything I do,” she says, noting that her work as a bond trader and life in the city was highly stressful. “I was married, and my husband died at the World Trade Center,” she says. A widow with a young son, Lake had come out to the East End a few times, but after the 9/11 tragedy, her son didn’t want to go back to New York. “[The East End] was so far removed, it was like a different world out here,” she says. The duo moved to Westhampton permanently when her son was in the third grade.
Lake continued to work in finance, interfacing with small businesses Out East. But when her son went off to college, she was looking to make a transition. Dealing with the stress of 9/11 and a new life Out East, Lake started to feel sick, and she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. “I basically have this chronic arthritis, and it pretty much came from stress. They put me on conventional medications, which didn’t really help,” she recalls. Lake started talking to people about holistic options, and she ended up starting her own vegetable and herb garden—and changing her diet. “I basically cured myself,” she says. “I’m not on any medication anymore.”
The experience inspired Lake to go back to school to become a raw chef. “The closer a food is to raw, the most enzymes and nutrients it has,” she says.
Operating Deliciously Dorie’s as a raw chef is time-consuming, as food is cooked in a dehydrator instead of an oven. That process can sometimes take 24-36 hours, she explains. “But I would never cut a corner for health,” she says.
Patrons are noticing, as Lake has been overwhelmed with the support from the local community, and she plans on staying open Wednesday through Monday, year-round. Plans for partnerships with radio stations, arts organizations and healthy-minded businesses are in the works. “I want Deliciously Dorie’s to be a community destination,” says Lake. “I want to figure out ways to bring people together in a healthy and communal way.”
Visit Deliciously Dorie’s Joyful Juice at 77 Main Street, Westhampton Beach. Call 631-684-9900 or visit deliciouslydories.com.