Hey, welcome to film festival week! If there’s one thing that defines the Hamptons for me, it’s throngs of people in dirty denim and black leather with very complicated hairdos milling about on the sidewalk hoping that someone will notice them. Or was that L.A.?
We in the restaurant business love you moviegoers. We love that you don’t eat appetizers, or eat only appetizers. We love that you drink very complicated cocktails, many of which don’t have any alcohol in them. We love that while you are bicoastal, wear $500 blue jeans and are “friendly” with some of the most famous and wealthy people in the country, you actually don’t have any money, so you don’t go out to dinner and you don’t tip well when you do.
Ok, so now that you’ve had your side order of insults tossed in sarcasm and burnt to a crisp, here’s the entrée: You, too, Mr. Struggling Screenwriter/Actor/Filmmaker/Artsy Film Geek, can afford to hang out in the Hamptons this weekend and still get your hair cut for the sixth time this year at Laicale when you get back.
Take some tips from those of us who live and work around here and you can eat and drink like your well-heeled friends this weekend and laugh at them next week because you couldn’t find time to make it over to Nick and Toni’s. Be forewarned, though, the following will not tip you off to any of the really cool locals-only spots because, frankly, you don’t give a damn about locals and they don’t want you hanging around trying to sound important. Actually, that’s not true. I’m going to direct you to one spot so locals-only everyone will turn and look at you when you walk in—which is what you’re after, right?
Ok, so, first of all, it may be the increasingly Hamptons-wide Hamptons International Film Festival, but it’s still primarily an East Hampton event. That’s where most of the good parties are and where you’ll be kicking around in between the events in other hamlets. So you gotta eat. Do yourself and all the other sheep a favor and stay out of Starbucks. Walk up Newtown Lane from the movie theater and grab a cup and a delicious pastry at the Golden Pear. The pastry and coffee will hold you over while you wait, an hour or so, for a table at Babette’s, where you can have some of the most bizarrely delicious concoctions of food and beverage you’ll ever encounter, all of it fresh, all of it natural and much of it organic. If it’s chilly, sit outside anyway, pull the thrift-store cashmere up over your neck and have a frozen fruit smoothie.
Since many of you film types are into the natural foods thing, I’ll stick to the theme. Babette’s is open for dinner, and is great, but you’ll want to bounce around. Leather and denim will stand out in the Living Room of the Maidstone Arms, but pretty much anything goes this weekend and the slow-food theme is presented in its finest form by chef James Carpenter.
Up the road, at Rugosa, the fresh and the local are in Dolby Surround Sound on the chef’s tasting menu, derived exclusively from locally produced or captured goods. If you pop up to Southampton for a screening or a lecture, hit Annie’s Organic Cafe for great soups on the patio at lunchtime and then the Plaza Café for everything seafood in preparations that Eric Ripert himself has drooled over.
If such food-oriented things aren’t your greatest concern in dining out, the see and be-seen crowd will be at Red Bar and Nick and Toni’s all week. The people who are actually important enough that they don’t want to be seen, or approached, will be at Roberts or Mirko’s in Water Mill. If you’re on the go, bouncing from screening to panel, stop in at Townline BBQ on the highway in Sagaponack for Texas barbecue—Russell Simmons and Reverend Run (of Run DMC, Mr. Simmons’s brother) are fixtures on Saturday afternoons.
For the more convivial, the bar scene at Bridgehampton’s Bobby Van’s and World Pie can’t be beat (until the Talkhouse gets going at midnight). When you get hungry—if pizza or giant steaks aren’t your thing—scoot around the corner to the new Copa, for fantastic tapas and more cocktails.
If you catch one of the cool offerings at Bay Street Theatre or venture to a non-festival film at the Sag Harbor movie theater, roll the credits of Italian food and super-cozy atmosphere at Il Capuccino. Earlier in the day, the Dockside on Bay Street is the place for al fresco dining with fantastic fare and then join the fun crowd to watch the sunset through the huge glass windows looking out onto the harbor at Sag Harbor’s laid-back surfer-themed La Superica (have a “Perfect Margarita”).
Wherever you are, enjoy. This weekend in the Hamptons is like one long date night: a movie and dinner, and a movie, and a movie, and a movie.
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