An epic staring contest between restaurateurs and landlords just went down in the Hamptons.
The landlords blinked.
Last month, at least five Manhattan restaurants signed leases in the East End during 11 days of frenzied negotiations, with landlords making big concessions for prime spaces, sources told Side Dish.
In late April, real estate owners who had charged hundreds of thousands of dollars up front for last summer’s season were forced to settle for severely discounted leases as low as $20,000 a month to make sure their spaces weren’t vacant this summer, sources said.
“Every deal is a little different, but it all happened within two weeks,” said Don Evans, who helps produce Dan’s Taste of Two Forks, an annual summer food bash in the Hamptons.
“The restaurateurs were hiring staff and working on the assumption that something would break, and it did. These are all very favorable rents,” Evans added.
One of the new eateries to negotiate a sweet lease is the Upper East Side’s TBar from Tony Fortuna and Derek Axelrod, who are slated to open a 3,000-square-foot outpost in Southampton at 268 Elm Street that will seat 95 people inside and 95 people outside.
A second Upper East Side restaurateur, Stefano Marracino, picked up 341 Pantigo Road in East Hampton. Marracino will launch Paola’s, which will focus on classic Italian dishes.
Other new places from shrewd negotiators include Ed’s Lobster Bar East, from Ed McFarland, in Sag Harbor; a fresh outpost of Stratis Morfogen and Robert (Don Pooh) Cummins’ Brooklyn Chop House; and Blu Mar, from Terrance Brennan.
WE HEAR … that Tao Downtown at 92 Ninth Ave. is now serving sushi omakase-style for less than $100. The menu offerings include an “I’ll Leave It to You” selection from executive chef Anthony Inn. The 12-seat sushi bar will offer three tiers of omakase ($69, $89 and $99) ranging from suzuki, toro, and uni to off-menu catches of the day … that actor/chef/cookbook author David Burtka is the culinary chair of the Central Park Conservancy’s annual Taste of Summer on June 5, with honorary chairs Laurie and Jay Mandelbaum; Melissa Vail and Norm Selby; and event chairs Joyce and Barry Cohen; Kristy and Jonathan Korngold; Evelyn and David McCabe; and Gillian and Sylvester Miniter …that District Local, at 72 Seventh Ave., opens this month in a 2,500-square-foot space from District Hospitality Group. Corporate chef Harrison Mosher created a Mediterranean menu executed by chef Sarah Gouse. Menu highlights include a deconstructed beet salad with dehydrated pioppino mushrooms and a short rib dish with root vegetables, strained yogurt and parsley cream.
