Ah, the Hamptons. Love it or hate it, plenty of New Yorkers end up here at least once during the summer and I'm very lucky and grateful to have a friend who has a place out in East Hampton. Normally, we are very laid back and grill and stay in but we like to go out at least one night we're there. This time since Marc was coming from the bus stop, we chose a restaurant that was close enough for him to walk over.
Surprisingly, the restaurant was pretty empty for a Friday night and the clientele that was there was more on the older/family side than the wild and crazy stereotypical Hamptons crowd - which was totally fine with me. The menu here is full on American - so your classic fish dishes, roasted chicken, burger and filet mignon type dishes. We split the lobster mac and cheese ($13) for the table as well as the shishito peppers ($11) while Julie and I split the buffala mozzarella ($19) appetizer and for my main meal, I got the special red snapper of the day.
I didn't really go into this restaurant with high hopes - I kind of thought it would be your typical overpriced Hamptons restaurant and while on one hand it is expensive, the food was surprisingly good too. The mozzarella was delicious - there were quite a few chunks of it and it was served with prosciutto, cantaloupe, basil, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Very basic, clean dish but tasty as well. I didn't actually get to try the peppers but the rest of the table seemed to like it. The lobster mac and cheese was - well, how can lobster mac and cheese be bad? Not surprisingly there wasn't an overwhelming amount of lobster but at least everyone was able to get some bite of lobster. On to the red snapper. This was quite possibly the biggest and most elegant filet I have ever seen. It was served beautifully with the skin on and it was enough food for two people. I had a really hard time finishing it but it was flakey, well cooked and tender to the touch. They also had a whole branzino fish that Marc got that was stuffed with fennel and lemon that looked fantastic. Virginia and John got the scallops and they also looked well prepared. Everyone who got some kind of seafood dish looked very happy with their meal. Of course, we all saved room for dessert and we got the warm dark chocolate bread pudding ($11) and the caramel creme ($11). Both were out of this world. The bread pudding was sweet but not too sweet and soft on the inside. But the perfect combination was a spoonful of the caramel creme mixed with the bread pudding. Yum!
Overall, it was a great meal with great friends. It was just a bit too expensive for what it was and honestly, I did find the crowd and decor to be a little bit lacking but in general it didn't matter too much because I enjoyed the company I was with. Race Lane is an nice reprise from the uber trendy places in the Hamptons crawling with annoying drunk 20 somethings but I still have love for the simpler places like Bostwick's when I'm in town. Total bill: $102/pp with tax, tip and drinks
Photo Credit: Yelp
No comments:
Post a Comment