Runaways Restaurant & Bar took over the downtown address of Oyster Pond. It's about as east as you'll find a good meal on Long Island. Actually, a very good meal to salute summer's finale. The place has been brightened up and de-kitsched. Don't be put off by the ads for "Wing-Ding Tuesdays" or "Margarita Madness Thursdays." Just enjoy the roasted red pepper bisque, the meaty panko-crusted crab cake with sweet corn, a homey and first-class Southern-style "BBQ" fried chicken that's crisp and paired with garlic-mashed potatoes, or the poppy seed-crusted tuna, pan-seared and rosy, flanked by white-bean risotto and sweet-sour onions. There's also a three-course, fixed-price "sunset dinner" from 4 to 6:30 p.m. for $21.95. Runaways is at 4 S. Elmwood Ave.; 631-668-2258.
--Peter M. Gianotti
Aerial photograph of Monauk Point and Montauk Lighthouse / Globexplorer