Southampton Inn enters restaurant business with Oso

Like the hotels of bygone days, the Southampton Inn is not only a place where visitors can lay their heads, it’s also a hub for community activities. With the intention of enhancing that identity with quality food while maintaining a community focus, the inn’s first ever full service restaurant, Oso, opened this month.

The elegant Mediterranean steak house is striving to offer a warm, family friendly atmosphere, gourmet food and—compared to more expensive steakhouses—reasonable prices. Oso has a separate entrance from the main inn, but the restaurant serves three meals a day for inn guests and residents and visitors interested only in stopping by for a bite.

The Southampton Inn’s community-oriented approach was a key priority for investment banker and owner Dede Gotthelf when she bought the property in 1998. The inn is open year-round and has long served as host to a wide array of events, including charity fund-raisers, business gatherings, weddings and funerals. “We just feel we’re part of the community,” Ms. Gotthelf said, as she prepared for opening night of the restaurant.

Once the decision was made to open a steak house on the property, Ms. Gotthelf said she wanted to make sure Oso was designed and built by local people to serve the local community as well as those who come to stay at the inn.

Oso, which is Spanish for “heavenly creature,” will stay open throughout the year, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Another draw for the locals is that the restaurant will showcase local musicians and the work of East End artists.

Year-round fine dining establishments on the East End aren’t numerous, according to Oso Executive Chef Peter Dunlop. “A lot of the better restaurants close down in that January to February period,” he said. “We decided to not only give hotel guests another option, but to give the local people an option.”

An award-winning chef, Mr. Dunlop shapes the cuisine at Oso, with menus emphasizing steaks and chops as well as fresh local seafood and organic, locally grown and in-season fruits and vegetables. His resume includes restaurants like the four-star Laurent and Café des Artistes in Manhattan and JL East and the American Hotel out east.

Mr. Dunlop created and managed the Southampton Inn’s breakfast and lunch catering business for the past year while he took a hiatus from his more high profile jobs. With the debut of Oso, he’s returning to the culinary specialties and regal presentations for which he’s known.

As for the menu at Oso, Mr. Dunlop said, “We wanted to do something fresh and clean, something new in Southampton. We’re really focusing on what’s coming out of the ground, what’s coming out of the water, what’s flying overhead that day.”

Among the melange of meat, fish, pasta and fowl entrées on the dinner menu, which typically range from $19 to $39—though some specialty items cost more—is oven roasted free range tarragon chicken for $23, grilled prime aged black angus porterhouse Fiorentina for $39 and jumbo lump blue claw crab cakes for $25.

Salads and soups, including the classic caesar and the “fresh from the farm” spring vegetable chowder range from $7 to $12. For diners on a budget, between 5:30 and 7 p.m., Oso offers a $25 three-course prix fixe menu, which includes filet mignon, pasta and fish selections and choice of soup and salad.

Mr. Dunlop’s dessert creations include classic vanilla bean crème brulée for $8, rich chocolate cake with fresh vanilla whipped cream for $9 and “Peter’s mascarpone lemon cheesecake,” priced at $9.

Lunch offerings include appetizers and salads, sandwiches and full entrées. Among the options are the Oso grilled tuna BLT with Applewood smoked bacon, wasabi aioli and beefsteak tomato for $14, and a grilled sirloin steak sandwich on a toasted baguette with basil aioli for $16.

Salad choices range from, among others, the classic Cobb with iceberg lettuce, red onion, grilled chicken, tomato, bacon and blue cheese dressing for $14 to the more regional curried chicken salad waldorf, with roasted walnuts and Granny Smith apples for $16.

The extensive breakfast menu offers reliable favorites including omelets, pancakes, waffles, home fries and fresh fruit, but it’s punctuated by some of Mr. Dunlop’s specialties. Among these is a three-egg iron skillet frittata with peppers, mushrooms, onion and montrachet, priced at $11. Also available are traditional eggs Benedict or Irish oak smoked salmon Benedict for $11, and bagel Southampton, toasted with Irish oak smoked salmon and whipped cream cheese for $14.

The atmosphere is also a key part of what is being billed as “the Oso experience” and there are several distinct areas in the 2,000-square-foot space. Diners can choose between the lounge area’s leather seats and classic wooden bar, the clean lines and richly painted walls of the dining room, or, in summer, the large outdoor seating area, where food is served al fresco and visitors can relax and take in the pastoral setting.

As a special treat for kids, the dining room has child-sized tables painted in fun colors, so the little ones can eat alongside their parents. Noting that the inn is loaded with children in the summer months, Ms. Gotthelf pointed out that there is “an entire game room across the courtyard.”