East Hampton’s great white whale of a restaurant—whatever that means—Moby’s just opened for their eighth season on Wednesday. After a fire last month the Italian and wood-fired pizza joint, and market, has returned to its circa 1880 home at 341 Pantigo Road between East Hampton and Amagansett. Apparently they took my advice (see my previous blog) and are operating primarily out of their backyard tents (which are really awesome). They have good food to-go and outdoor and patio dining with a toasty fire that I just love, as well as bottled cocktails and wine. Check them out for dinner Wednesday–Sunday. It’s fun and worth the visit.
One, apparently, is no longer the loneliest number, at least not in East Hampton! I recently received an email asking for coverage of “one,” a new retail concept opening this weekend at, you guessed it, ONE Main Street.
This is no one-of-the-mill store. Located in the building, formerly occupied by Elie Tahari, one was conceived as “an open-ended space for brand, artist, designer and artisan pop-ups” under a single curated umbrella. The 5,000-square-foot marketplace is spread out across two floors (and 2,000-square-foot basement with VIP salon) and features more than 70 fashion, design and jewelry brands, various home goods, contemporary art, indie magazines, art books and other treasures from around the world. As the name suggests, one is basically a one-stop shop for chic Hamptonites, especially anyone who might be in the process of dressing up a new home or looking for a fab summer wardrobe, complete with sparkly accessories.
And along with what sounds like a satisfying experience for even the most prolific spender, one is planning a variety of special events, including artist talks, book signings, trunk shows and capsule collections throughout the summer. It’s all about the bringing back the joy and pleasure of IRL shopping in the age of Amazon and online retailers. And let’s face it—after the last year of forced virtual commerce, we could all use some time browsing and buying physical items in person at a brick-and-mortar location.
In another strike against the average Joe, the Banana Republic store in Bridgehampton Commons has packed up and split. While I don’t really buy my clothes at Kmart (OK, I bought a few Land’s End sweaters there) nor do I shop Bergdorf Goodman (OK I bought a few things there too), B.R. was one of the rare quality middle of the road shops out here in the Hamptons. When I tried calling the company for a response, the woman on the phone couldn’t tell me why they left town but she did tell me she could save me 10% on my next purchase if I opened a Banana Republic credit card.