Restaurant Review: Page at 63 Main

What a difference a season makes! Page at 63 Main in Sag Harbor has been transformed inside and out into an open, airy space with lots of white, black and gray. The back dining room is now equally as “white tablecloth” as the front. A tasteful selection of big, moody black and white photographs from the Tulla Booth Gallery line the walls. Thankfully, the huge windows along the front still open wide for some of the best people watching on the East End.

Executive Chef Humberto Guallpa is still cranking out the savories and Pastry Chef Nathan W. Berg has joined the crack culinary team, while, from bar manager Brian Connelly, you can now enjoy signature cocktails. So we did. Well, I did. My husband had a gin martini of Bombay Sapphire, with an olive straight up, of which he approved heartily. I had “The Weekender,” composed of fresh mint, lime slices, ginger syrup, soda and cucumber vodka, St. Germaine and pineapple juice. It was sweet, but not cloying, you’d never once forget you were drinking a grown-up drink. According to my notes, I found a specialty cocktail of blood orange, Square One Organic Vodka, soda and blackberries, “very refreshing.” I must have indulged in that after the meal because my notes on the food are quite legible.

There’s a good selection of bubbly to be had from the Page 63 wine list, plus two of our favorite producers are there, Wiemer Dry Riesling from the Finger Lakes and some wines from Roman Roth’s Grapes of Roth. (Coincidentally one of our two friendly servers that night was named Roman.)

The breadbasket arrived with thick toasted squares of bread and fresh butter.

My son Teenage Boy was a vegan that week so he started with the Farmers Local Salad. He quite liked its array of veggies and its vinaigrette. For his main dish he went with the Organic Quinoa Pasta featuring organic baby carrots, English peas, beach mushrooms, zucchini and grape tomatoes. He found it “very fresh, nicely al dente,” and  its asparagus pesto “mild.” Then he slipped out because, Lord knows, when the food is gone he has better things to do than hang out with his parental units. He made a big mistake in not sticking around for dessert, though.

Husband went all seafood with the Sag Harbor Clam Chowder followed by Pan-Seared Diver Scallops. He let me sample the chowder, which was creamy, bacon-y and very potato-y. The scallops smelled so good when they came to the table, I knew I wouldn’t get to try any. Served with saffron risotto, wild mushrooms and shaved black truffle, he found the scallops “very nice,” downed with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

I can’t pass up a good beet salad, so I started with Roast Baby Beets & Satur Farms Watercress. Gold and red beets, Roquefort, endive, Pedro Ximenez shallot-mustard vinaigrette, with a light snow of freshly-ground black pepper—it all worked quite well together.

Then I had the North Sea Farm Chicken Two Ways, both “ways” accompanied by crisp-tender baby carrots, parsnips, fingerling potatoes, heirloom tomatoes and turnips. I found the meat very moist and a bit salty. I think the two ways were roasted and braised. The roasted was perfect, the other was way beyond moist and tender.

We had to try the work of this new pastry chef. The pomegranate-infused rhubarb beckoned but Husband indulged in a Key Lime Napoleon with its toasted marshmallow meringue, while I devoured the Mango Sabayon, which is served with tender, shattering cutout butterflies of crisp sweetness.

In addition to local offerings from Satur Farms and North Sea Farms, you might like to try the Montauk Pearl oysters or Little Neck Clams…

Page at 63 Main, 63 Main Street, Sag Harbor, 631-725-1810, page63main.com