by Emily Mancini
The Lenny Bruno farmstand in Manorville is the perfect place to stock up on summer’s bounty.
Lenny Bruno Farms, Inc. has provided Long Islanders with fresh vegetables and homemade baked goods for over four generations. What started as a tiny roadside farmstand has expanded into a slightly bigger operation, including a new-and-improved farmstand, but without sacrificing that classic East End experience.
Located right off the service road of the LIE exit 69 south and from the Sunrise Highway north at Wading River road, the stand is stocked with hand-picked produce every morning.
Visitors are greeted by the heavenly smell of strawberry rhubarb and peach pies, freshly baked each day. The shelves are loaded with the season’s peak produce. For the remainder of the summer, you can find juicy beefsteak and heirloom tomatoes, plump seedless watermelon, all kinds of colorful varieties of eggplant and squash, soybeans, corn, and peppers galore.
“It’s really rewarding work,” said Dominick Bruno, owner and operator. “I love seeing people get excited about local, fresh produce.”
Lenny Bruno Farms will be supplying fresh, hand-picked corn and squash blossoms — soft, edible orange and yellow flowers that bloom at the ends of summer squash, ideal for stuffing and frying — for the Island to Table event on July 30.
Chef Bernie Menendez will be frying the blossoms tempura-style after filling them with a light, creamy herbed goat cheese mousse, topped off with a drizzle of local honey.
The Lenny Bruno farmstand is open to the public 9am to 6pm, 7 days a week, May-November.
Island to Table tickets are still available. (Last year’s event was sold out.)
Tickets are $150. Click the button below.
