STEAK & SEAFOOD: Ruvo (63 Broadway, Greenlawn 631-261-7700 ruvorestaurant.com) is the place for steak and seafood during June and July. Sunday through Thursday from 4 p.m., executive chef Joe DeNicola has put together a 3-course, prix-fixe menu for $25.95 per person as follows: appetizer: choose soup of the day, heirloom tomatoes bruschetta on garlic crostini, or arborio rice balls; salad: choose North Fork greens with heirloom cherry tomatoes and shaved Pecorino or classic Caesar with ciabatta croutons, anchovies and parmesan cheese; Entrée: Surf-and-Turf (filet mignon and shrimp scampi); spice rubbed flat-iron steak with sweet and sour red onion marmalade; frutti di mare, with shrimp, clams, mussels, scallops and calamari in spicy tomato sauce over spaghetti; steamed 1-½ lb Maine lobster with corn on the cob, saffron butter and Dijon potato salad; cavatelli with sauteed shrimp, plum tomatoes, spinach and white beans in light tomato basil broth; or crabmeat-stuffed fillet of local fluke with tomato-caper sauce and semolina couscous.

RECESSION BUSTERS: are back on the menu at Northport Feed and Grain (73 Main St., Northport 631-651-2684 feedandgrainnorthport.com). The dinners change weekly, so check menus on their website, and are affordably priced. Last week’s menu included a whole lobster and mussels special at $12.95. A 3-pounder with all the trimmings was $34.95.

MOVIE NIGHT: Monday night is movie night at Prime – An American Kitchen and Bar (117 New York Ave., Huntington 631-385-1515 restaurantprime.com). Movies are shown in the outdoor theater behind the cabana bar just after sunset. This week’s flick (July 5) is the summer thriller, “Jaws.”

JULY 4 TREAT: The cupcake of the week at Reinwald’s Bakery (495 New York Ave., Huntington 631-424-4034 reinwaldsbakery.com) is a patriotic red, white and blue starburst. These dazzling confections are $1.50 apiece through July 4.

ROTARY SWITCHEROO: One of the Foodies’ favorite events of the summer has picked up and moved. The Rotary Club of Northport has traditionally held its “Wine in the Courtyard” event under the tents at the Vanderbilt Museum. This year, the blockbuster event will be held at Oheka Castle in Cold Spring Hills. Along with the new venue comes a new price, and the good news is it’s less than last year. So save the date: It’s Aug. 12, 6-10 p.m. Tickets are $95 per person; go to www.northportrotary.com and click on “Evening at Oheka” on the left. This is among the best tasting events all year with dozens of area restaurants dishing out their best alongside Long Island’s top wineries and spirits sellers.

GOT CHAR? Firing up the barbecue for the 4th of July? Bobby Hesse, executive chef at Georgica and a top-five contestant on the Fox reality show Gordon Ramsay’s “Hell’s Kitchen,” shared with Long Islander Newspapers publisher Michael Schenkler how to get that crispy steakhouse char on your burgers when using a gas grill. Start by heating the metal cooking grill as hot as you can, Hesse said. Turn up the flame, put a cast-iron griddle on one side of the cooking grill surface and close the cover. When it’s good and hot, brush the grill surface with oil and drop on your burgers. Don’t touch them until they’re ready to be flipped. Move the cast iron griddle (careful, it’s hot!) out of the way, oil that side of the grill, and flip your burgers. Put the griddle back on the side previously occupied by the burgers and finish cooking. You’ll get a burger steakhouse style with that crispy char and those nifty grill marks. Work on it, and after a little practice, you’ll be making your burgers with crisscross grill marks.

CHOPPED TO ORDER: The Foodies can’t help wonder why the chopped salad craze hasn’t quite taken hold in Huntington. No demand? Too much extra work? The good news is we learned that with a little cajoling, and a threat to tell all in a newspaper column, any fine restaurant will take a knife to their standard salad. Special thanks to Alex at Jonathan’s Ristorante (15 Wall St., Huntington 631-549-0055 jonathansristorante.com) for convincing Chef Tito it was the right thing to do. As is the case with everything from Tito’s kitchen, it was delicious!

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