harbor market

RECON FROM HARBOR MARKET AND THE BEST OF OVERPRICED HAMPTONS!

The New Harbor Market!

Hi all, just remember Hamptons Chatter is not a daily, a weekly or any other type of regular anything.  I also refuse to take any sort of literary Metamucil!   I only speak when I feel inspired to speak, when the muses have touched me or when something around town really pisses me off.    So guess what? The muses haven’t touched me but I am a little…. wait no negativity here either.   I need to breathe.   Hmm.   OK now for the not angry edition of Hamptons Chatter or as Curbed.com editors have been known to call this “HC.”    I can live with that… HC!

Well, I finally had the chance to go the new Harbor Market and Kitchen in Sag Harbor to see if all the fuss and arguing was worth it.  Well, here I am to tell you it was much ado about nothing!   The place looks fantastic, beautiful barn doors, cedar shingles and the whole exterior of the place is totally in keeping in with the neighborhood aesthetic.     The food by the way, is also pretty good especially the pizzas but only order when you’re not in a hurry.   As for the much feared industrial sounds coming from the roof and the awful unattractive roof…. well it’s pretty damn quiet and its way more attractive than that house on 114 that looks like it’s being built for the Munsters or the hideous colors radiating from Yummilicious!   Not that I don’t love Yummilicious.

I don’t know the owners of the market but I can tell you they’ve had their hands full battling to open the market… remember this is the same street where panties were twisted over a huge pair of legs…. but there efforts have paid off.    The interior is beautiful and the sandwiches, salads and the macaroni and cheese are pretty good too!    So go, check it out and decide for yourself…. and decide if the world really changed that much on Henry Street!?

But you know different things find different things offensive.     What do I find offensive??????   Some of the prices we are forced to pay here around town in the Hamptons!  Here is my brief list of some of the worst offenders.  Now remember, I don’t mind paying big bucks for the guacamole at Round Swamp Farm because it’s amazing.   What I do resent is mediocre products at premium prices. But remember, this is not an angry blog.  I’m staying positive.   So here are some of the most positively overpriced items I can think of on the East End…. 2015 Edition!

No supersizing here – Sanscerre that is Sen-sationally expensive!!

Sen Restaurant – This Sag Harbor establishment is always packed and I get it.   The food is good but a dinner for two with a few glasses of wine and some sushi shouldn’t cost nearly $300 bucks!    Well, part of it might have been the very stingy pours of Sancerre wine, I’m convinced that I the owner or manager was inspecting before going to the waiting tables.  REALLY? It’s a $14 dollar glass of wine… you’re not going to lose money if they give some lucky diner an extra ouce!    It will be a long time before I go to Sen again, instead I’ll head to Zokkon in East Hampton which is a fraction of the cost and just as good.   It’s also never packed there…. but it should be… great food and friendly prices!

Any Taxi in the Hamptons – I recently went from the Hampton Jitney to BMW in Southampton.   How far was that?  What 300 yards?!  It cost me nearly $20 dollars because it was a flat rate. Apparently that is for all cabs across the board… or so I’m told   Now before you all go saying I’m lazy and should have walked, I had a ton of luggage.   But really… $20?!  I could have taken a cab from the Upper East Side to Midtown for less.   But hey, it’s the Hamptons where some take the motto “if you have to ask the price then you shouldn’t be here!”

Babette’s East Hampton –  How much would you pay for a Western Omelette?     How about $18.95 at this Village eatery.   There really isn’t much to say here… I mean it’s an omelette!    Instead of getting eggs here, how about getting the same dish at Princess Diner for $9.95.   By the way, what’s with the .95 cents, is it some sort of weird egg law or tax?   For crying out loud people, say what it is for real;  $10 and $19.

East Hampton and Southampton Parking Tickets – Go to the beach without a permit or park on one of the lanes and you’re going to get slapped with a $150 parking ticket.   Yup, that’s like getting two California Rolls and a glass of wine at a certain restaurant!  By the way, don’t try messing with any of the brownies – the kids that write the tickets… nothing to do with Tate’s or Round Swamp Brownies…. wait I’m hungry!   OH, don’t mess with the kids writing tickets in any of the villages, they may be taking their SAT’s in the fall but these kids do not fool around!

Well, I’m back to pure happy thoughts now!    So I’m done writing.

 

 

 

A WEEKEND WITH THE DUKE & ALEC… STACKS OF CONTROVERSY IN SAG…. BADLY BEHAVING BEAGLES!

Curious what to do this weekend in the Hamptons?  Well here are a few suggestions to keep yourself from going totally nuts with cabin fever!

One easy thing you might want to consider is going to see a good movie.    So what’s playing in down this weekend?  Let’s take a look.

Wait, I don’t know a single one of these movies!  FULL TIME?  Is that a porn flick?    Where is “Jupiter Ascending” or at the very least “March of the Penguins”….. which I think is still playing here!  Oh wait, “Managers” isn’t that the direct to video movie with Dane Cook?   Well if none of these titles appeal to you Pilgrim, maybe you’d want to go see John Wayne in “The Searchers” at Guild Hall.  Alec Baldwin is hosting another in the Hampton’s Film Festival’s Winter Series with a special screening of the John Ford Classic.   For more information you can try clicking here!     Personally, I’m still waiting for them to host a screening of director Jack Smight’s masterpiece “Airport 75.”    It’s an epic story which analyzes man’s inhumanity to man in the metaphor of a 747 without a pilot!    Helen Reddy’s tour de force performance as Sister Ruth and Charlton Heston’s romantic chemistry with George Kennedy… it’s no wonder why this epic is considered a classic!

Stacks and stacks of controversy!  The new Harbor Market!

Meanwhile, if you want something with a little more drama you can go online and read all about how some residents of Sag Harbor trying to stop the opening of a new market!   The Harbor Market and kitchen is to be located at the site of the old Espresso!    Apparently neighbors are fuming over an upgrade in the ventilation system and what is being perceived as a potential new noise maker!   Now Espresso has been there for years and some are criticizing local residents for trying to have things their way…. after the fact.  Meanwhile opponents are saying it’s just a bit too industrial for a residential neighborhood.      Now we all know it’s hard enough with all the regulations out here for small businesses to survive.    So, I’m not getting into the fray here but I do think sometimes those who live in illegal glass houses should be careful before throwing stones!

Busted! Bella trying to hide her butts!

Finally, longer days can’t come fast enough for me… when is daylight savings time anyway?  But while I’m wishing for warmer longer days, I am going to share a little something that makes spying on my dogs Bella and Russell in the backyard at night a little easier.    They’re called NightIze and they sell for about  $6 on Amazon . It’s as simple as a a clip on a collar and squeeze on the light to use.   Do they work?   Well let’s just put it this way, I’m finding a lot less strange dogs hanging around ….and no more cigarette butts and beer bottles from my two trouble makers going outside.

I hate when my dogs smell like tobacco!

p.s.   I don’t have an editor on this blog, I’m just happy I’m getting it done.    I’ll fix it over the course of the next few days but lighten up folks… I have another job!