The Hamptons dining industry on both the North and South Forks is finally growing up. Major investments by hoteliers and Manhattan-based investors have created restaurants that won’t change hands to the next hustler come spring.
When Baron’s Cove chef Matty Boudreau whipped a bunch of top Manhattan toques at Bridgehampton’s “GrillHampton” competition last July, it registered as a culinary upset — but also symbolized how the East End dining scene has come of age on the business side as well.
Boudreau’s “Salty Rinse” team victory over places like Vaucluse, Beatrice Inn and BLT Steak helped vindicate the vision of Curtis Bashaw, whose Cape Advisors developed Manhattan’s glamorous 100 Eleventh Ave. condo tower.
Bashaw spent $25 million to turn the old Baron’s Cove motel in Sag Harbor into a full-service resort two years ago.
A good, year-round American restaurant was crucial to his business plan. Rather than tap a Manhattan star to lend their name for 12 weeks, he hired long-time East End resident Boudreau, a fine chef who also grasped the logistics of running an indoor-outdoor, two-level eatery 115 miles from Times Square.
“Hamptons dining” long meant two things: 27-year East Hampton Italian institution Nick & Toni’s, and a mercurial whirl of overhyped new spots that rarely lasted more than two summers.
But the year-round viability of Baron’s Cove’s eponymous restaurant reflects increasing stability. “There are more quality operators,” said well-established Manhattan and Hamptons owner-manager Don Evans.
In addition to Bashaw’s big roll of the dice, a group led by billionaire Ron Perelman spent millions to convert the former B. Smith and Harlow’s in Sag Harbor into a huge spinoff of Manhattan’s Le Bilboquet, run by Philippe Delgrange.
Apollo Global Management co-founder Marc Rowan spent $6.3 million to buy Montauk’s 90-year old Duryea’s Lobster Deck and more to modernize its rotten infrastructure. Rowan also paid $2.7 million to buy a notoriously loud “scene” place nearby and transformed it into Arbor, a Mediterranean bistro.
In Water Mill, the owners of Manhattan’s Periyali and Il Cantinori replaced Red Stix, a club-scene “Chinese” place, with Mykonos-themed Calissa. They signed a long-term lease — unlike at spots where operators sign three-month summer deals.
The brief summer season “when the population triples,” as East End publicist Steve Haweeli put it, historically drove owners to pack customers in without respect to fine points of food or service.
Landlords scrambled to bring in big Manhattan kitchen names who paid rents of just $50 a square foot — twice the cost of two or three years earlier, according to Cushman & Wakefield, but peanuts compared to the city.
A New York bistro general manager who didn’t want to be named, said, “They’d send one poor shnook like me out for the summer to train 20 guys who were mowing lawns a week ago.”
Now, restaurants are importing trained staffs from the city for the summer.
Another big change is easier availability of better meat, fish and produce. Baron’s Cove’s Boudreau said, “Fifteen years ago, two or three meat purveyors had a hold on the market. Now, Pat LaFrieda delivers from the city six days a week.”