More Hamptons business obituaries and Water Mill’s new sweet spot!

So, if you read the blog recently you know that Citarella Water Mill is gone, Saks Fifth Avenue in Southampton is gone and one of my favorites Tutto Italiano shuttered up last week with no notice leaving some residents and a dozen employees miffed and angry. Read more here: http://bit.ly/9JacMv Well now you can add Ziggy’s in Bridgehampton to the list. The restaurant which catered to families and served a pretty good burger (hello maybe they could sell the recipe to Bay Burger) is becoming something called “M&E CONTEMPORARY TAPAS”. I don’t know who is running this or doing it but let me just say, does the Hamptons really need a SECOND tapas place?! I like Copa on School St. in Bridgehampton. In fact, I ate there last night and the flat bread pizza with chicken was over the top great! I have no idea who is opening the new place M&E but once I get the dope, I’ll write asap! I don’t have anything against tapas but there are a million other cuisines out there that we could use out east. My biggest beef is a decent Mexican!

Meanwhile, NY TIMES blogger Bruce Buchel has finally opened his long awaited Southfork Kitchen on the Bridge-Sag Turnpike in Bridgehampton. According to the blogger, the first night went off without a hitch or any major catastrophes. http://nyti.ms/au74FJ Meanwhile, I heard via a friend of a friend that the food was worth the wait. No comments about the service though. Really… they didn’t mention the service. It could have been great! Who knows!?

Finally, something we do need in the Hamptons… CUPCAKES! Enough about Magnolia, Cupcake Cafe and Crumbs we now have THE WATERMILL CUPCAKE COMPANY. Run by two cousins from the city Ruth Balletta and her cousin Cindy have brought a welcome confection to the East End! Located at the Blockbuster/former Citarella/Muse shopping center in Water Mill the girls have baked up some great stuff. My personal favorite was the “red velvet” which are the real McCoy with dark coco and not just food coloring. The cakes were fresh and buttery and the brokers at my recent open house where I dispensed these cakes, gave them an A+! The Water Mill Cupcake Company is opened at 10 am til 5pm. The coffee was pretty awesome too. Great job ladies! 631-726-044 is the number!

 

Sayonara, Saks and Citarella (Water Mill)! There’s some major shake ups in the Hamptons retail world!!

Well here’s a move that kind of had me blindsided. Saks Fifth Avenue will shutter their Southampton store as of this Sunday! So, what does this mean to you and me… not much but if you think you’re going to go head over and get some Jimmy Choo’s for a song guess again. Is anything on sale then? Well not according to my sources. The gossip around town has everyone going into the spot from J. Crew to Ralph Lauren to Saunders real estate. So far nothing confirmed but for the ladies of the Hamptons, Riverhead will soon be the place to be! HA!

Now as for the other retail news which is less of a shocker, Citarella will close their Water Mill store as of this Sunday. So far, the employees don’t know if they’ll be kept and moved to other locations. They’re all waiting to hear! Meanwhile, an informed source tells me there will still be produce in the Ghost Town Shopping Mall …. a new concept organic grocery is set to move into the location soon after it’s vacated. No, it’s not a Fresh Foods or anything like that. It’s an original and a new concept. I’ll have more details soon!

Meanwhile, a little broker gossip; what Shelter Island agent is so reviled…. this person’s nick name is Count Chocula! Apparently because of an uncanny resemblence to a sugar coated breakfast icon! Pluck the eyebrows!