Forget the power lunch. In the Hamptons, power-brokering is an all-day affair.
Titans of industry, A-Listers and up-and-comers mix-and-mingle from sun up to sun down and into the wee hours — at humble breakfast haunts, unassuming beaches and buzzy restaurants owned by billionaires with more interest in relevance than revenue.
Here is NYNext‘s guide to the Hamptons power circuit, from morning to night.
Carissa’s the Bakery
221 Pantigo Road, East Hampton; 68 Newtown Lane, East Hampton; 3 Bay Street, Sag Harbor
Spotted: Mickey Drexler, Justin Bieber, Katie Couric, Stanley Tucci, Ina Garten
The vibe, from someone who knows: “Carissa’s feels like a shrine to the beautiful and aspirational life that so many of its customers already have. The Italian marble that graces its Sag Harbor location costs more than most coffee shops could hope to make in a year.”
A James Beard Award winner, Carissa’s draws a connected crowd to its three locations. Well-heeled Hamptonians queue up for perfect croissants, hearty Slavic-style black fennel bread and the famed beet-and-kimchi reuben.
Sure, you might have to wait a half hour, but you never know who you’ll see.
CarissasTheBakery.com
Estia’s Little Kitchen
1615 Sag Harbor Turnpike, Sag Harbor
Spotted: Drew Barrymore, Mariska Hargitay, Blackstone’s Jon Gray, Justin Timberlake’s lawyer Eddie Burke Jr.
The vibe, from someone who knows: “Estia’s unassuming exterior belies the net worth of those eating inside.”
This cantina off the turnpike has a low key vibe — paper napkins, reasonable-for-the-Hamptons prices — but it’s a favorite among East End power brokers and celebs with a taste for simple, farm-to-table Mexican fare.
Be there when the front door unlocks at 9 a.m. or prepare to make yourself comfy in the “holding” garden, where restaurateur Colin Ambrose grows much of the produce used in dishes like his famed huevos rancheros.
Estias.com
Equinox Hamptons
204 Butter Lane, Bridgehampton
Spotted: Alex Rodriguez, Jennifer Lopez, Ty Jerome, Braxton Berrios
The vibe, from someone who knows: “The simplest gym you’ll ever be caught working out next to an NFL quarterback in.”
Nicknamed “The Lodge,” this seasonal pop-up in an old potato barn trades city steel for reclaimed wood and artificial black turf.
Visit the Atrium for signature classes such as Stacked, and the Courtyard for strength training on beautiful, high-end machines.
After your workout, grab a Bonberi juice from the café bar and recover with a cold plunge and a stop at one of the Therabody stations.
EquinoxHamptons.com
Shou Sugi Ban House
337 Montauk Highway, Water Mill
Spotted: Stella McCartney, skincare guru Dr. Barbara Sturm, Kate Hudson
The vibe, from someone who knows: “If Jaclyn, Kate and Laurie from ‘The White Lotus’ had known about Shui Suig, they likely could’ve skipped Thailand altogether.”
At this serene, five-acre wellness resort and day spa, guests rise with the sun for guided breath-work and end the day with seasonal broths prepared by the on-site culinary team.
The hours between are filled with lymphatic drainage, sound baths, colon hydrotherapy, reishi mushroom facials, Tok Sen massages, Shamanic healing sessions and crystal journeys.
As one insider put it to NYNext, it’s one of the few places “you can discuss unpasteurized milk — or your preferred form of colostrum — without getting a strange look.”
Sunset Beach
35 Shore Road, Shelter Island Heights
Spotted: Karlie Kloss, Jon Hamm, Liev Schreiber
The vibe, from someone who knows: “It is the closest thing you can get to a European-feeling beach club out East. The yellow-striped umbrellas and outdoor games truly make you feel like you landed in the French Riviera — hence its nickname, PMS or ‘Poor Man’s St. Tropez.’”
On any given weekend, dozens of yachts moor outside André Balazs’ stylish beachfront hotel and restaurant, with tenders ferrying owners and guests to shore.
“The whole experience is about arriving by boat,” one frequent diner told NYNext.
Once on land, guests disperse to a beachside “sandbox” designed for larger crowds, a covered middle deck or a top sun deck that functions as a sort of a private club for friends of Balazs.
When the sun goes down, the west-facing beach is an ideal venue for sunset Instagram pics. The party continues into the wee hours, with both the kitchen and dance floor staying open late on especially busy nights.
SunsetBeach.com
Gibson Beach
239 Gibson Lane, Sagaponack
Spotted: Jimmy Fallon, Matthew Broderick, Neil Patrick Harris
The vibe, from someone who knows: “The epitome of quiet luxury.”
While twentysomething VCs, off-duty pro athletes and influencers line up to catch a wave at Montauk’s famously performative Ditch Plains, Gibson Beach is for those who prefer discretion.
The crowd skews older, richer and quieter. It’s the kind of place where the media class can sun itself without fear of bumping into anyone with a ring light.
Gibson is so exclusive, in fact, the village recently moved to wrest control from the town — setting off a public-vs-private beach access fight.
The beach is also notorious for having zero cell service (which many say is part of the appeal). Some hedge funders have been known to bring Elon Musk’s portable Starlink satellite broadband dish to enjoy fast internet and avoid dropped calls.
No website.
Duryea’s Montauk
65 Tuthill Road, Montauk
Spotted: David Solomon, Julianne Moore
The vibe, from someone who knows: “Sitting at Duryea’s with the sun and the breeze and that tomato salad and those oysters feels like a little slice of heaven.”
The restaurant best-known for its $100 Lobster Cobb salad — yes, it’s worth it — is mercifully back this season despite an ongoing dispute with the town over its septic system.
After much clamor, both the flagship outpost in Montauk and the Orient Point location are open for lunch and dinner reservations — much to the relief of both seafood enthusiasts and the restaurant’s owner, Apollo CEO Marc Rowan.
Just be careful who you run into. In the summer of 2023, David Solomon reportedly had an encounter with a junior Goldman Sachs analyst enjoying a leisurely weekday lunch. The incident supposedly led to Solomon putting the kibosh on remote work.
Duryeas.com
The Surf Lodge
183 Edgemere Street, Montauk
Spotted: Malia Obama, 50 Cent, newlyweds Jake Bongiovi and Millie Bobby Brown
The vibe, from someone who knows: “Legendary. The see-and-be-seen place in the Hamptons for more than 20 years.”
Built in 1967 as a divey surfer motel, the Lodge has become an icon of Hamptons nightlife thanks to Brazilian businesswoman Jayma Cardoso. In 2008, she reopened it as a boutique hotel, restaurant and concert venue.
The Lodge hasn’t seen a slow day since, with people regularly shelling out as much as $10,000 for a table at the club and the coveted wrist-bands that let you close to the DJ booth.
The outdoor stage that backs up against Fort Pond is the main attraction. Over the years, it’s hosted performances by Willie Nelson, John Legend, Courtney Love, Halsey, Leon Bridges and many others.
Despite the town’s efforts to rein in the good times — at present, outdoor musical performances must end by 8 p.m. — the Lodge still attracts a young, cool crowd of artists and fashionistas (and, yes, plenty of finance bros as well).
TheSurfLodge.com
Le Bilboquet
1 Long Wharf, Sag Harbor
Spotted: Gwyneth Paltrow, Kendall Jenner, Eric Schmidt, Hugh Jackman
The vibe, from someone who knows: “Bilboquet may be one of the only restaurants where every one of the half dozen maître d’s has a fancier watch than you do.”
Despite its French-leaning menu — foie gras, Dover sole, the signature Cajun chicken — Le Bilboquet is more social club than fine dining institution, which is fortunate because the quality of food today isn’t quite what it once was.
Tables turn slowly and waitstaff move even slower, but no one seems to mind. At night, the place really comes into its own when DJs such as Olivier Meiji turn up the music.
The glamor is backed by investors Ron Perelman, Eric Clapton and Steven Witkoff, who help subsidize employee’s generous salaries. The trio helped the Upper East Side mainstay reopen on East 60th Street in 2013, and then expanded the empire to Sag Harbor in 2017 and Palm Beach in 2021.
LeBilboquet.com
This story is part of NYNext, an indispensable insider insight into the innovations, moonshots and political chess moves that matter most to NYC’s power players (and those who aspire to be).
Tutto il Giorno
56 Nugent St., Southampton; 16 Main St., Sag Harbor (and Tutto Caffe: 55 Main St., East Hampton)
Spotted: Calvin Klein, Sarah Jessica Parker, Keith Richards, Caitlyn Jenner, Bridgehampton Motoring Club owner Matthew Ammirati
The vibe, from someone who knows: “It’s romantic enough to feel special but simple enough to go everyday — that is, if you don’t mind paying $40 for a bowl of spaghetti.”
Between Tutto Caffe — an Italian-style cafe and bar that opens at 8 a.m. — and the two main outposts, which open for aperitifs at 5:30 p.m., you could, conceivably, devote a whole Hamptons day to Tutto. It would be a very pleasant one.
Co-owner Gabby Karan de Felice — daughter of Donna Karan — opened the restaurant with husband Gianpaolo de Felice and friend David Mayer, designing the spaces with the soothing neutrals and stylish minimalism the Karan name is known for.
TuttoIlGiorno.com
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