Eating the L.I.E.: Top I-495 Chow En Route to the Hamptons

Maybe you think most of Long Island along the L.I.E. is just a wasteland of Bennigans, Applebees, TGIFridays, Wendys and McDonalds. But how wrong you’d be. Sort of. Every desert has its oases -- also its scantily clad chicken-wing hawkers. So you can pull over for a bite, or floor it until you hit the Starbucks in Manorville the way you usually do. Here are a few places worth a stopover on the drive out east up 495.

What, you’re stopping already? On the ass-(aka LIC-)end of the Queensborough Bridge, Sage American serves up organic eats and sandwiches, and it's just a three-block detour on the way to 495. Try it. When else would you find yourself in Queens?

A short drive off the big road and up 25A, you’ll hit the LI outpost of the granddaddy of NYC steakhouses, Peter Luger. It might not have the famous ovens of the original, but, hey, it’s on the way.

Those who know stop at Kitchen Kabaret (just about 20 yards up Glen Cove Road off exit 39) on the drive or out—or find themselves facing the fixin’s bar at a Mobile.

With so many Italians strewn about the Island, you have to take their recommendations on decent Tuscan food. So get your ass to Stresa already.

Sure, you would not set foot in Benihana in Manhattan, but out here, there are no rules. Or taste. Think of it as your chance for local culture.

Stop at Bryant & Cooper in Roslyn and pick up a couple of steaks at their in-house butcher shop for grilling when you get to the beach.

When in Albertson, stop for a refreshing treat at Baci Gelato to keep your sugar rush (if that’s what it is) going.

Maybe you drove right by Peter Luger, not realizing a craving for dry-aged beef was about to hit. Lucky for you there’s Maxwell & Dunne’s in Plainville.

Driving with the top down on the way to cupcakeland might put you in the mind for some 1950s kitsch and pretty decent quick (or absurdly over-size) burger. Make a pit stop at LI’s branch of Cheeburger Cheeburger.

A bit out of the way normally, but right up Route 25 off the L.I.E., Chinese veggie-Mecca Green Melody in Jericho is a haven among the steakhouses if you’re not a carnivore.