LT Burger Comes to Westhampton Beach

There’s a new player in the Westhampton Beach restaurant scene — well, maybe not new for some East Enders: LT Burger has opened a new location, serving up milkshakes and its classic selection of burgers, out of a prime Main Street storefront.

LT Burger opened in Sag Harbor in 2010 and has been a staple for teens, tourists and townies alike. The restaurant’s name is a derivative of the owner’s initials: Laurent Tourondel. Mr. Tourondel, a celebrated chef, operates 15 restaurants worldwide, spanning locations from Hong Kong to Miami — including Sag Harbor’s LT Burger and Sag Pizza, which replaced the more relaxed Conca D’Oro pizza place in 2018.

“The concept worked very well in Sag Harbor, so I think the demand was here,” Mr. Tourondel said. The restaurant’s location, he said, was offered to him by the landlord; it’s a newly constructed building.

LT Burger’s landing in Westhampton Beach comes after the village poured millions of dollars into infrastructure improvements on Main Street, increasing the draw — and capacity — for businesses, including restaurants. An $11.2 million reconstruction project, completed in 2020, gutted the street, bringing new sidewalks, lighting and landscaping to downtown, and buried utility lines.

The village also completed a sewer project along Main Street this year, increasing the capacity for restaurants and other developments on the street.

“We went to see the place and I really liked the village, the way they re-did, like the renovation in the streets, and the sidewalks,” Mr. Tourondel said of his decision to choose the new location in Westhampton Beach. “It was an amazing renovation.”

The Westhampton Beach location of LT Burger is slightly smaller than its Sag Harbor counterpart, but otherwise, Mr. Tourondel said most else is the same — he even brought back the first chef from the Sag Harbor location to help open the new Westhampton Beach eatery.

The menu at the new location draws from the menu in Sag Harbor — the monstrous, “Death by Oreo” shake; “Route 27” burger with Mecox cheddar; and “Dirty Chicken” burger are all present.

But Mr. Tourondel said he did have to shrink the menu, at least temporarily, for one reason that has proved pinching for the East End restaurant industry over the past two years: Staffing.

“I opened with a smaller menu because of some [difficulties] with finding the staff,” he said. Seldom experiencing difficulties in supply-chain dynamics for his food or service items, all of the opening hiccups “[came] down to the shortage of staff.”

And while he was able to find staff in locals, he said hiring for the new restaurant is “not easy.”

In 2020, East End restaurants bore the brunt of a Trump administration ban on temporary work visas, forcing some restaurants to close on certain days of the week. In 2021, staffing woes in the service industry have proliferated nationwide as potential workers watched the pandemic at first retreat with trepidation, and then resurge with the COVID delta variant. In August, the U.S. economy added just 235,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department, a subpar tally after 1.1 million jobs were added in July.

On opening day, Mr. Tourondel said he was busing tables and cooking himself to make up for the lost staff. Likewise, the restaurant is only open four days a week due to staffing shortages, he said.

Mr. Tourondel also said he would have preferred to open earlier in the summer, at the start of the tourism season, but constriction delays hampered the process — the restaurant opened in mid-August.

In spite of all the challenges of opening a restaurant amid the pandemic, Mr. Tourondel said he believes guests are happy with the service and product.

“We had people coming back — and coming back and back again,” he said. “A lot of local[s] came in, which is always a good thing.”

Mary Brennan, a yoga instructor in Westhampton who visited the location in its opening weeks, praised the restaurant.

“I was there early last week and I can’t tell you how many people came up to check it out,” she said. “Westhampton has done a beautiful job in redoing the town … LT [Burger] will fit perfectly in.”

Likewise, Westhampton Beach Mayor Maria Moore welcomed the new restaurant's landing on Main Street after the infrastructure improvements.

"We are thrilled to welcome LT Burger to our Village, pleased that Chef Tourondel chose to join in the momentum of new businesses building on the foundation of our newly reconstructed Main Street," Ms. Moore wrote in a statement. "Westhampton Beach now has more delicious dining venues than ever before for our residents and visitors to choose from."

The Sag Harbor LT Burger was Mr. Tourondel’s first venture after a split with Jimmy Haber, the CEO of BLT restaurant group.

In 2011, after a court battle, Mr. Tourondel won back the rights to use the name BLT, which represents his name: Bistro Laurent Tourondel. Mr. Tourondel operates BLT Burger and BLT Steak in Hong Kong, BLT Burger in San Juan and BLT Burger in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mr. Haber runs a number of BLT-named restaurants as well.

LT Burger in Westhampton Beach will remain open throughout the year, Mr. Tourondel said. It’s located at 115 Main Street in Westhampton Beach.