Ina Garten’s Favorite Places to Shop and Eat in the Hamptons

Everyone knows that the best place to eat in the Hamptons would be at Ina Garten’s house, where we could look through her pantry for things like locally raised honey. But if you’re still waiting for your invitation to one of her famous parties — I assume the post office lost mine somewhere, like my Hogwarts letter — the next best thing to do is to shop at Ina’s favorite places.

Luckily Ina has done us all a huge favor and written up a list of some of her favorite places to shop and eat in the Hamptons.

Ina’s recommendations are always solid. Years ago my parents tore an article about “Ina Garten’s favorite places to shop and eat in Paris” out of a magazine, and they still carry those battered pages with them every time they go. They haven’t been steered wrong yet. (And my parents always bring me back souvenirs from La Dernière Goutte, the wine shop she recommended. So thanks, Ina!)

In her latest newsletter, Ina explains that “the Hamptons” is a string of historic villages on the south coast of Long Island, and she says each town has a unique character. And from the looks of Ina’s recommendations, a person could be in the Hamptons for a month and still not scratch the surface of all the wonderful places to eat and buy food there. But Ina’s list of places to visit in the Hamptons is a good start.

If I were, hypothetically, to plan a vacation around trying to bump into Ina Garten, I would make sure to spend most of the time at farmers markets in the Hamptons. She’s a huge fan of farmers markets, and her Instagram is always full of gorgeous photos of radishes, flowers, lettuces, and more. Some of her favorite farm stands include Amber Waves Farm, an organic farm in Amagansett; Pike Farms from Sagaponack; The Green Thumb from Water Mill; and Iacono Farm in East Hampton, for chickens and eggs, and they even sell ducks in the fall.

The Hamptons also has world-class specialty food shops. In fact, Ina Garten got her start in food when she bought a specialty food shop in the Hamptons called The Barefoot Contessa. Now she is the Barefoot Contessa, and she says some of her favorite places to shop for food include Cavaniaola’s Gourmet, which specializes in fine cheese; The Seafood Shop for seafood and lobster; Loaves & Fishes, which is renowned for its gourmet takeout; Milk Pail, where you can pick your own apples and pumpkins; Round Swamp Farm for homemade baked goods and prepared meals; Mary’s Marvelous, which sells wraps, sandwiches, salads, and more; and Tate’s Bake Shop for cookies and other baked goods. I’ve eaten Tate’s Bake Shop’s crunchy cookies for years, and I had no idea it was a real place.

Clearly we could go to the Hamptons and have enough beautiful ingredients to cook for ourselves the whole time. But Ina also provided a list of her favorite Hamptons restaurants, including 1770 House, The Palm, East Hampton Grill, Vine Street Cafe, Nick and Toni’s, Candy Kitchen, and Duryea’s. So if you happen to be going to the Hamptons this summer, you’re going to be well-fed.

Do you have a favorite place in the Hamptons?