Hamptons Raclette Brings Swiss Tradition to the South Fork

If you’re making a beeline down the slopes of the Matterhorn, dodging flurries of snow and fragments of continental shelf, down below lie the snow-capped roofs of Zermatt. The ripped-from-a-Christmas-movie village, in the Swiss Canton of Valais, is famed for skiing and après skiing alike. In Zermatt, a quick search à la Google Maps for “raclette” returns a litany of results. On those brumal winter days, the dish offers a relief from the cold — frozen fingers and chapped lips meet the homely warm flavors — for Swiss locals and tourists alike.

Raclette is as endemic to the Valais Canton as a $1 slice to New Yorkers; as a bacon-egg-and-cheese to Long Islanders; as white linen shirts to Sag Harbor in July. Raclette was born out of the Swiss region. In the United States, outside of the occasional ski town, the dish is hard to come by.

On a Saturday afternoon in February, a light flurry accumulated on windshields and streetlights on Sag Harbor’s Main Street. At that point, it was one of Sag Harbor’s only accumulating (a stretch, to say the least) snowfalls that winter. Trucks hastily spread sand and salt mixtures, as an otherwise quiet town emptied out. Tucked behind Main Street, the windows of Kidd Squid Brewing Company glowed in humidified hues of orange. Inside the brewery — still in its first year of operation — Robin Mueller stood behind the counter, setting up his raclette station.

Far from Switzerland’s après activities, Mueller’s business, Hamptons Raclette, aims to bring the tradition home. He spent the bulk of his childhood in Switzerland and grew up on the dish.

“I’m trying to make raclette cool,” he said while trading tasks preparing his station. “In Switzerland, it didn’t even seem that special or unique to me.”

The name, raclette, refers to both the dish and its main ingredient: cheese. Specifically, a semihard cheese with ideal melting and aromatic qualities so that, when heated, the cheese perfectly slips off the wheel. Raclette traditionally tops an assortment of boiled potatoes. Mueller, on the day we happened to stop by, picked up his potatoes from Marilee’s Farmstand in Sagaponack. He boiled them in a “secret” recipe (salt and vinegar to prevent them from falling apart), he said.

At 1 p.m., when we arrived, the brewery, a bright modern space — think, beer meets Baked by Melissa — was empty. Mueller was starting early that day. Typically, he runs his Kidd Squid pop-up from 3 to 6 p.m. on Saturdays. He said the crowds have been great. But in arriving early, eclipsing his setup process, Mueller’s joy in the craft was on display — no patrons or evening rush yet; as the snowfall outside and his cheese warmed, Mueller gleamed with amusement.

Mueller first started Hamptons Raclette in 2021, during the coronavirus pandemic. He would deliver raclette kits to homes on the East End.

“Delivering and promoting the kits was really fun for a while, but I was missing being in contact with my guests to convey my passion for raclette and enjoy the satisfaction they get from watching their portion being scraped right off a wheel of cheese,” he said.

As the pandemic’s worst subsided, Mueller looked to expand his business. Kidd Squid, which opened in Sag Harbor in July 2022, provided the perfect opportunity to cross promote. He gained exposure, and the brewery gained foot traffic, Mueller said.

After the first test run of the Saturday Raclette station, Rory McEvoy, co-owner of Kidd Squid, said it was a “no brainer” to keep Mueller coming back.

“[The owners] were talking about how we can’t really do food, it would be great if we had a food partner,” McEvoy said. “I didn’t really know Robin. He contacted us, and said he was just setting up this Hamptons Raclette, and he was wondering if we’d be interested.”

At Kidd Squid, Mueller offers more than the traditional potatoes to go along with the raclette cheese. Pretzels — fresh from an air fryer — small pickles, and pickled onions all can be found at his station.

“The biggest surprise was when we discovered how well the cheese goes with pretzels. It has easily become our best-selling item,” he said.

By 1:30 p.m., the first customers to the brewery have their interest piqued by the aromas of the cheese. Mueller turned up the heat on his raclette melter — the cheese started to smoke, offering brown peaks and surfacing waves of thick bubbles. The surface of the cheese wheel began to turn golden brown:

“You don’t want it to go too black — it tastes like garbage,” Mueller said while keenly watching the cheese boil.

Using a knife, he scraped a layer of the liquefied cheese onto a small plate, evenly coating a mix of potatoes and pickles. The plate must be served quickly— once hardened, the cheese loses its luscious quality, the dish loses its appeal. When consumed quickly, the raclette serves up tangy flavors of addition: salty and savory hints above the moist and filling bite of potato. When paired with one of Kidd Squid’s beers, the flavors magnify.

And this is just Mueller’s side job: He works full-time as a cinematographer in New York City, specializing in reality and food television — his work on shows for the Food Network helped inspire the Hamptons Raclette brand. Accordingly, he has big dreams for Hamptons Raclette. This summer, he plans to operate a late-night catering service for private events. And one day, he hopes to find a food truck.

“[It’s] the perfect late night snack food at any wedding, bar mitzvah, or birthday party at 11 p.m. when you’re hungry,” he said. “Because [in] Switzerland, raclette is eaten all year round.” 

Sag Harbor has a new watering hole. Just off the beaten path of Main Street, Kidd Squid on Spring Street is serving up its own craft beers just in time for summer.

The brewery sits adjacent to the Sag Harbor Garden Center in the old Long Island Rail Road freight depot building. Come summer, Kidd Squid will have an outdoor seating area — we spotted outdoor heaters and picnic tables on our most recent visit as well.

Co-owner Rory McEvoy said he hopes to make the brewery the perfect location for anyone (over age 21) to enjoy one of their beers.

“It’s more like a predinner, or a pre-going-out kind of thing,” McEvoy said of the brewery. “And then during the day after the beach, you know, picking up beer for parties.”

He teased live music offerings, including some of which have already started on Saturdays.

The interior of the brewery is painted in pinks and pastel blues, a jazzy contemporary setting with cozy seating.

With the addition of raclette this winter and spring, McEvoy offered a few of his beers for the perfect pairing: the Snowy Owl (a winter warmer) and the Lunar Pils (a Pilsner). McEvoy also noted a beer from a partnership between Kidd Squid and Grindstone Coffee & Donuts on Main Street: A Smores Doughnut Dessert Golden Stout.