American Beech- Greenport, Long Island, NY

Walking up to American Beech, you immediately get a sense of the fantastically energetic atmosphere. The outdoor bar was buzzing with drinking customers, and the nearby pizza bar was filled with a multitude of families and delicious looking pies. Past the courtyard is the main restaurant, where we were seated at a cozy, cushioned bench by a friendly waiter and a staff dressed in bright green Hawaiian shirts.
To start, the whole menu looked amazing, so it was difficult to decide on what to order. We settled on two appetizers. The first was the duck wings, which was marinated in a delicious tamarind glaze, resting on a bed of passionfruit sauce and creme fraiche. The wings were extremely crispy, the duck almost confit, and had a light spice despite being surrounded by an overall sweet flavor. The next appetizer was the grilled octopus. The octopus was extremely tender, and came with a nice mix of cold pickles and Sriracha on a bed of pureed eggplant, making each bite a blend of hot, cold, sweet, and spicy. My mom and dad sopped up all the remaining eggplant with warm bread.
My entree was the shrimp curry bowl, which came with basmati rice, roasted cauliflower, chickpeas, swiss chard, and a basil-coconut curry. All of the components seamlessly came together to form a plethora of herb and sweet complex flavor; however, it could've used a bit more salt to bring the shrimp and rice out. My dad had the skirt steak, served on a bed of mashed plantains and daikon slaw. The meat was cooked perfectly and just charred on the surface, and the sweet plantains complemented the savoriness of the steak nicely. My mom ordered the seared scallops, which sat on a potato croquette with swiss chard. The scallops were perfectly seared and sweet, and the croquettes were crispy on the outside but tender on the inside, and not greasy at all.
Everything about American Beech was welcoming; the atmosphere, service, and food were all stellar, and I'm looking forward to returning and trying the rest of the menu. 5 pineapples. Till next summer!

-tdg