🐝 Pie Season

End the Hotel Moratorium, New Hangout Spot, Lemon Crunch + Honey Vanilla

Thomas Loncar
September 12, 2025

Together With

Good Morning, North Fork! This is North Fork Buzz, the newsletter equivalent of peeling a clementine in one piece.

In today’s North Fork Buzz:

End the Hotel Moratorium
New Hangout Spot
Lemon Crunch + Honey Vanilla

Ready, Set, Go!

The Lowdown

Unlock the Rooms 🏨

The North Fork Chamber of Commerce just dropped a spicy letter on the Southold Town Board’s desk, asking them to end the year-long freeze on new hotels.

The Town Board first hit pause back in June 2024, then doubled down in May, extending the moratorium another 12 months while they worked on zoning updates. The Chamber says enough is enough, the promised plan to streamline hotel approvals still hasn’t materialized, and local businesses are paying the price.

The Chamber’s Take:
• Hotel shortages are driving a boom in illegal Airbnbs, many uninspected and unpermitted.
• Legal, safe hotels would feed customers to local restaurants, shops, and wineries.
• The North Fork needs to embrace business growth, or risk losing its local community altogether.

Southold says the pause is about smart planning and limiting hotel size. ($)

Get the full story 👉 Suffolk Times

Game On 🎲

Southold just got a new hangout spot that’s all about fun, games, and yes… SkeeBall.

Meet The Loft, the brand-new board game lounge perched above Rowan Craft Boutique in Feather Hill Village. Opening night is tonight (Friday, September 12 at 6 PM.) $15 gets you three hours of play and pizza. (Or BYO snacks if you’re picky. We don’t judge.)

Inside you’ll find cozy couches, a SkeeBall machine, and what might be the biggest Monopoly collection on the East End. Classic or modern, competitive or cooperative, there’s a table waiting for you.

The Loft is also booking birthdays, team nights, and private events, because cake and board games belong together.

Get the full story 👉 Petite North Fork

Photo of the Week

📸 submitted by Nicole Loncar

Tag @NorthForkBuzz or email us at [email protected] to get your photos in The Buzz!

Foodie Friday 🍽

With a fruit and veggie obsessed toddler, we end up at Country View Farm Stand several times a week. Every visit we eye (and smell) the gorgeous homemade pies, but rarely have a reason to grab one… until this week when we decided “research” was reason enough.

When we asked the staff for their favorite, they didn’t hesitate. They gave us the inside scoop (pun very much intended) on which pie is the must-try, and the perfect ice cream pairing to take it over the top.

Grandma’s Lemon Crunch Pie + Honey Vanilla Ice Cream 🍋🍯

We’ve had plenty of pies from Country View Farm over the years, usually sticking to the classics like apple, peach, or blueberry. Grandma’s Lemon Crunch? We’ll admit, we’ve always walked right past it. So when the Country View crew told us this was the pie to try, we were skeptical… until they added that everyone who tries it comes back for another. Challenge accepted.

And since pie without ice cream is basically a crime, we asked for the perfect pairing. Their answer? Honey Vanilla, made with their own honey. Clearly a no-brainer.

Let’s break it down:

The Pie
Think lemon meringue…minus the meringue. The crust is buttery, flaky, and stands tall when sliced (no soggy bottoms here). The lemon filling is where this pie shows off bright, silky, and lemony but not too tart. And that crunchy topping? It’s the texture twist that takes each bite from “yum” to “I need a little more.”

The Ice Cream
This is vanilla ice cream with a passport stamp from the beehive. It’s smooth, creamy, and kissed with just enough honey to whisper sweetness without overpowering the vanilla. It’s mellow, floral, and made to sit on top of pie.

The Pairing
This combo just makes sense. The tart lemon wakes up your taste buds, and the honey vanilla swoops in to smooth things out. The buttery crunch from the crust and you’ve got a forkful that’s the definition of balance.

Late summer weekends were made for this. Grab a pie, cut a slice, add a scoop, and soak up what might be the very best time of year on the North Fork.

What’s your favorite pie + ice cream combo?

Email us at [email protected] and let us know!

Nothing in this section is sponsored. They’re just fun things you need to know. I’ll always let you know when something is sponsored

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THANKS!

Thanks for reading the North Fork Buzz today. Like what you read? Send it to someone who loves pie.

Tom Loncar- Publisher
Nicole Loncar- Editor + Partnerships