A Foodie’s Gift Guide to the East End

Spend your Shopping Dollars Locally this Holiday Season

Take advantage of the Thanksgiving break by indulging in some holiday shopping the local way. The East End has everything you need when it comes to shopping for those extra-special food lovers in your life. We’ve rounded up four of our favorite specialty stores, from Amagansett to Southampton. Shop local this year and spread the holiday cheer on the South Fork. 

In Sag Harbor, Carissa’s Bakery, the 1,600 square-foot space located at 3 Bay Street, is a new spot for food-centric shoppers to take care of some of their holiday shopping. Homemade jams, private-label coffee, olive oil, and pickled rye crisps are all on display at the recently opened space, which is the provenance of Carissa Waechter and Lori Chemla. The bakery’s trio of seasonal jams is the perfect gift for any East Ender; it includes the bakery’s beach plum, fig preserve, and pear butter for $60. Also available is the morning set, gift package of a seasonal jam, granola, and custom blend of coffee. 

At Il Buco Vita, in Amagansett, a home goods store that focuses on Mediterranean wares, shoppers can find luxury table goods for every food obsessive in their lives. The Montegranaro line of Splatterware tableware, for instance, is a bespoke addition to any home; any piece from the collection is a work of art. These handmade terra cotta dishes, serving platters, and other vessels are dishwasher-safe and are produced in an unmistakable shade of forest green. Buy a pitcher for your design-savvy friend or family member, or offer up the gift of food-related art to your best food friend with the store’s Antonello Radi ceramic radish sculpture. A blush Carrara marble mortar and pestle set from Pietrasanta is the ultimate boutique cooking tool for cooks in the know. 

Southampton’s Hen of the Woods Market, a gourmet market that also offers prepared foods, is the place to go for the giftees on your list who prefer something a little outside-of-the-box. At this unique outpost, find items like Moon Man Kaya Jam, which comes in Southeast Asian flavors like purple ube (a type of yam) and green pandan (a tropical plant native to Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Madagascar that is known for its grassy, coconut flavor). The store also carries Korean-sourced red pepper flakes and umami-dried mushroom seasoning from Collected Foods, authentic Portuguese stoneware, and 50-year aged balsamic vinegar from Bonini. 

For something sweet, head directly to Tate’s Bake Shop, in Southampton. Whether you’re in need of the bakery’s famously crisp chocolate chip cookies or a customizable gift basket for the holidays, this bakery has it all — and more. The store sells branded ceramic cookie jars, which go well with any manner of sweet treats available at the bakery, as well as deluxe gift baskets and towers in a number of sizes. Pies, cakes, and tea loaves are perfect for holiday gifting, and the pumpkin breads are ideal for holiday morning snacking. They also sell Tate’s scented candles, a specialty blend of granola, and other treats that are only available in-store, like cupcakes and custom cakes (to order a cake in advance, call for a full list of flavors).