Well, summer’s over. The weekend crowds are thinned. The Europeans are gone. Billion-dollar bailout or not, the economy is looking shakier than ever and the impacts of uncertainty are already hard to miss in the restaurant business.
The summer was undeniably a good one, for restaurants anyway. Despite the stumbling real estate market and sky-high gas prices, reservation books were full and people seemed to be spending freely. But all good things must come to an end and come to an end they have.
A few years ago it seemed like summer didn’t even end on Labor Day. The crowds and traffic during the week in September were almost as bad as they had been in August. But the last couple of years have been a different story. Great summer weather started early in the year (two Memorial Day weekends at the beach in a row must be a record) and it seems like everyone is getting their fill during the traditional season.
This is great for those of us who remember fondly Tumbleweed Tuesdays and cherish the peace and quiet of the off-season. But it’s bad news for restaurant owners and employees who have come to rely on the shoulder seasons to bolster summer earnings in order to make it through the quiet of winter. The pinch is already setting in with what looks to be a long winter looming on the horizon, but maybe there is a silver lining to all of this.
What I’d like to see, as both someone who relies on a busy restaurant for income and someone who likes to eat out in the winter, is a restaurant that comes up with a new kind of enticement to get butts in the seats this winter. The standard prix fixe dinner that has become the “deal” of the off-season has gotten cold and needs a refire.
Far too many chefs see the prix fixe menu as a chore, a necessary evil for downtime that drives up their food costs and attracts only food fools who don’t know chervil from parsley. They don’t put the effort into keeping the choices fresh or putting them on the plate with the same gusto they do a $40 sirloin.
Some places own the prix fixe and do a great job. Della Femina is still on top of that game. Bamboo is pretty good too, and Pleasant Ave. Café. Too many others are just chicken, salmon and another fish—and boring renditions at that.
It would be nice to see some chefs re-invent the prix fixe or think outside the box a bit in finding the kind of deals that will draw frugal locals to their restaurants and give us a little something to be excited about. There are always going to be cheapo customers who take advantage (just water, more bread, “we don’t want to rush”) but the rest of us will have a better time and end up spending more money on drinks if we feel like we’re really getting a good deal. So here’s some ideas.
A few years ago the 1770 House in East Hampton did a two-course prix fixe for a few dollars less than the three course meal. This was a treat for those who aren’t all that into dessert anyway and it cut down on the amount of lingering by early tables. I can’t imagine why they stopped doing that; it was the best idea anyone has had since the first bargain prix fixe.
The Plaza Café’s free appetizer idea is a good one too. Order the entrée you want and any appetizer is free. It’s hard not to know you’re getting a good deal when part of your dinner is free and it eliminates the issue of being forced to order something you don’t necessarily want just to get the bargain.
Also, whatever happened to 2-for-1 night? Barristers and the Drivers Seat are about the only places that still employ this one-time mainstay of the off-season dinner circuit in resort towns. I don’t know enough about the economics of it to say it’s a good idea for restaurants, but it seems that the key to making money is to get folks in the restaurant, break even on the food you offer them and put some money in your pocket if they have a couple drinks.
I also like the dinner-and-a-show that the American Hotel does with Bay Street and Nick and Toni’s did with the local movie theaters, and a couple of restaurants used to do with Hampton Theatre Company productions in Quogue. And while I’m making restaurant owners shake their heads (or fists), why don’t I remind you all of the best deal in dinner on the entire East End: Fellingham’s weekly “steak night,” where you can get an outstanding Catena’s sirloin for $10 in Southampton Village. Cittanuova in East Hampton has done a similar kind of thing for about $20.
I’m just thinking out loud here, but necessity is the mother of invention and if this winter materializes into a hard one I’m sure we’ll see some desperate restaurateurs find creative solutions (other than closing their doors).
Then, of course, some will just close their doors. Some already have. Wei Fun, the ultra modern Chinese turned Pan-Asian place in East Hampton has closed its doors for good. No official word on whether the big space is on the auction block yet (sale price, $2.3 million?) but I’d much prefer to see Benny Krupinski’s seasoned crew get to work on a new concept for next year.
I hear the builder to the stars is laying off crew left and right, so he might not be so eager to dump a bunch more money into a new restaurant when he’s already got three that are actually making money.
Alison Becker Hurt is on the move again, too, though not for lack of customers. After just a few months in the Maidstone Arms building Alison has been sent packing again because the old inn has reportedly been sold, again. We’ll see if the sale holds up this time.
Since Ralph Lauren pulled out of his deal to buy the old Blue Parrot, word is the owners are stuck with the gutted building and are looking for a new tenant, and may be forced to try to reverse their exit and open the biz again themselves. It would be great to see a good restaurant take over that spot. Here’s to hoping.
I’ll have the salmon.
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