In summer, East Hampton's calendar fills up from Friday to Sunday. For the next month it runs the other way. Most of what is on offer for a year-round table falls between Monday and Thursday, often before 7 p.m., and often at the bar instead of the dining room. The weekends belong to the stage at Guild Hall. On Saturday, December 5, the two schedules meet outdoors for SantaFest, and the whole village spends the day between Herrick Park and Village Hall.
Restaurant Week Is Already Underway
The 20th anniversary of fall Long Island Restaurant Week started November 1 and runs through Sunday, November 8, according to The East Hampton Star. Participating restaurants offer a $25 two-course lunch, three-course dinners at $30, $40 or $48, or both. Each one has to offer at least three choices per course and keep the prix fixe available all night every night it is open. The exception is Saturday, when the prix fixe typically ends at 7.
On Saturdays, then, the prix fixe is for early tables only.
As of the Star's October 22 column, four East Hampton restaurants were taking part: Frankie's Fabulous Italiano, Fresno, Nick and Toni's, and The Palm. Nearby, the Bridgehampton Inn and Elaia Estiatorio in Bridgehampton, Miracle in Sag Harbor, Bistro Ete in Water Mill, and Le Charlot and Shippy's in Southampton are also in. The current participant list and many menus are at longislandrestaurantweek.com. To mark 20 years, the organizers are giving away twenty $100 gift cards to a participating restaurant of the winner's choice, with entries open through 11:59 p.m. on November 9.
The Program That Paused to Make Room
Nick & Toni's, at 136 North Main Street, opened the 13th season of its Wine Wednesday Workshops on October 21. Per 27east, the series breaks for Long Island Restaurant Week and comes back on November 11. The restaurant is taking part in both programs, and it chose not to run them in the same week.
Here is the rest of the season, each session from 5:30 to 7 p.m.:
- November 11: Daley Brennan on Chile's VIK Estate
- November 18: Lyle Railsback on global imports
- December 2: Importer Mary Taylor on European appellations
- December 9: A special guest presentation
- December 16: The holiday finale
Each session costs $45 and includes tasting sheets, crystal glassware and paired bites from the wood-fired kitchen. Attendees who stay for dinner afterward get a 20 percent friends-and-family discount that evening. The format ends at 7, early enough to flow into dinner. Seating is limited, and reservations are taken by phone at 631-324-3550 after 2 p.m., Wednesday through Monday. The 25th falls the night before Thanksgiving, and 27east's published schedule has no session that week.
A Week Built From the Bar Seat
Wine Wednesday is one night. Put the standing fall offers side by side and every night of the week has something on it, with most of the offers aimed at the bar and the early hours.
| Night | Where | What's on |
|---|---|---|
| Nightly, 5–7 p.m. | Frankie's Fabulous Italiano | Bar happy hour with half-price drinks and appetizers |
| Monday | Frankie's Fabulous Italiano | Half-price pasta |
| Tuesday–Sunday, 4–6 p.m. | Lion's Nook Bar & Grill, 10 Main Street | Happy hour at the bar and high tops |
| Wednesday | Frankie's Fabulous Italiano | Half-price appetizers |
| Wednesday, 5:30–7 p.m. | Nick & Toni's, 136 North Main Street | Wine Wednesday Workshops, from November 11 |
| Thursday | Frankie's Fabulous Italiano | Half-price Roman-style pizza |
| Thursday, 6 p.m. | Park Place Wines and Liquors | Fall wine classes, $45 |
The Star calls Frankie's specials a weekly fall schedule. Dan's Papers reports that the deals run throughout the fall.
At Lion's Nook in Parrish Mews, the happy hour menu lists martinis at $20, margaritas at $18, featured cocktails at $17, house wine at $14, draft beer at $8 and bottled beer at $6 to $7, along with small plates. Its regular schedule is Tuesday through Sunday, with the bar opening at 4 p.m. and dinner served from 5 to 10, according to 27east. The happy hour fills the gap between the bar opening and the first dinner seating.
Park Place Wines and Liquors started its fall class series on a Thursday in October at 6 p.m. Tickets are $45 and nonrefundable, per The East Hampton Star. The next class in the series was Spain After Dark, on the Thursday after the Star's October 22 column. Upcoming dates are available from the shop.
Amagansett adds one more option. Lobster Roll's Amagansett location has a drink special for each night of the week. Mondays bring $6 Montauk Brewing drafts and $12 selected wines by the glass. Thursdays bring Whispering Angel rosé at $12. Sundays bring $10 bellinis and mimosas, as listed in the Star's September 24 column.
The Weekends Belong to Guild Hall
With the restaurant deals concentrated midweek, Guild Hall's November program fills the Friday and Saturday nights.
- Saturday, November 7, 7–8:30 p.m.: Silkroad Up Close, with Kaoru Watanabe, Kinan Azmeh and Maeve Gilchrist.
- Friday, November 13, 7–9:30 p.m.: National Theatre Live: Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
- November 20–22: South Fork Performing Arts presents The Drowsy Chaperone. The Friday performance runs from 7 to 10 p.m., with more performances on Saturday the 21st and Sunday the 22nd.
The Silkroad evening falls on the last Saturday of Restaurant Week. Since the prix fixe typically ends at 7 on Saturdays, the early prix fixe and the 7 p.m. curtain fit the same evening.
Two Civic Dates in the Middle of the Month
The civic calendar also lands on weekdays. On Thursday, November 12, at 4 p.m., the Greater East Hampton Chamber of Commerce hosts a "Meet with the Mayor" conversation with Village Mayor Jerry Larsen at The Baker House, 18 Main Street. Details are on the Chamber's events calendar. On Monday, November 23, the East Hampton Library's Winter Coat Drive begins, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., per the library's adult events calendar.
Black Friday Starts the Countdown
The Deck the Windows holiday window decorating contest begins on Black Friday, November 27, and runs through December 5. Every shop on Main Street, Newtown Lane and Park Place is entered automatically, according to the East Hampton Village Foundation. All seven members of the Design Review Board judge the windows, and anyone can vote by scanning the QR code on the front door of a favorite shop. That gives the village a reason to walk the commercial streets in the evening for nine days straight. The winners are announced at the tree lighting.
Saturday, December 5: SantaFest
After a month of midweek programming, the village holds one full Saturday of free events, almost all of them within a short walk of each other. The East Hampton Village Foundation notes that every person involved is a volunteer.
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 10 a.m.–3 p.m. | Holiday Market, with free gift wrapping by the Ladies Village Improvement Society, a gingerbread house competition and hot cider | Village Hall, 86 Main Street |
| 11 a.m. | Santa arrives by helicopter | Herrick Park, 67 Newtown Lane |
| Noon | Santa Parade, escorted by the East Hampton Village Police Department | Main Street and Newtown Lane |
| 1–4 p.m. | Santa's Workshop, with free professional photos; lines start forming at noon | Millstone Park, 61 Main Street |
| 1–4 p.m. | Candyland | Sam's Restaurant, 36 Newtown Lane |
| 1–4 p.m. | Meet Mrs. Claus | LVIS, 95 Main Street |
| 2 p.m. | Free screening of Elf, first come, first served | East Hampton Middle School, 76 Newtown Lane |
| 5 p.m. | Tree lighting and window contest winners | Herrick Park, 67 Newtown Lane |
The Foundation says Michael Variale of East End Entertainment will DJ the helicopter arrival for a crowd of nearly 3,000 children. Elf tickets are free and handed out at the box office in front of the Middle School. At 5, Mayor Larsen and a special guest light the 40-foot holiday tree on Newtown Lane, across from the Middle School, and announce the window contest winners. The Wednesday after SantaFest is December 9, the night of Nick & Toni's guest presentation.
The off-season is a fine time for an unhurried conversation, whether over coffee, after a Wine Wednesday class, or on a walk past the windows on Newtown Lane. When you're ready, Nicole Tunick and the team are here to Request a Private Hamptons Consultation on your own corner of East Hampton.
