Opening Soon…

These East End Restaurants are Opening Soon for the Summer

Hot sand. Cool ocean. Long days that sunset into perfect nights. Summer, at long last, has arrived. Every May, the East End is busy with restaurant openings—some seasonal and established, others brand-new—the signifier that the season is back in full swing. From Montauk to Sag Harbor, here are some of our notable openings for the 2025 season. 

In Sag Harbor, The Beacon opens for its 27th season this May. Perched overlooking the water—and imbued with a long deck and tall windows that provide among the best sunset views on the East End—this de rigueur summer spot will once again lean into local produce and fish, with dishes like the summer watermelon salad with arugula and mint; the blackened local fish over broccoli rabe and a potato purée; and sesame-crusted tuna with Napa cabbage-jicama slaw and soba noodles. This is a restaurant (and a view) that absolutely never gets old. 

Montauk will welcome two dining concepts this summer, both at Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa. The first, gigi’s montauk, will be the property’s flagship restaurant, highlighting coastal cuisine within a refreshed space. Local ingredients will define the menu, and a renovation of the dining space will add to this destination restaurant that overlooks the ocean in the desirable Hither Hills area of Montauk. The flagship restaurant will define the property’s dining program, with produce and seafood sourced from Montauk and eastern Long Island, and a coastal motif that blends in with the open-air charm of the ocean. 

The Dune Café, a place where guests of the hotel can grab light fare in the mornings (as well as superlative coffee), will transform, in the evenings, to a raw bar and cocktail lounge. The space, once Tillie’s—a casual dining venue that drew a substantive lunch crowd—is redefining itself as one of the restaurants that visitors to Montauk must visit this summer season. Initially launched in February as a pilot program for hotel guests only, the café will broaden its reach, establishing itself as a destination all its own. 

On Thursday, May 22, Sean MacPherson’s see-and-be-seen spot in Montauk, The Crow’s Nest, returns for its 16th season. The summer-only restaurant has gone through a few changes this year, with updates to the menu that include a Mecox Bay Dairy cheese plate, served with local honeycomb, dark chocolate, and raspberries; an appetizer of lobster salad, with truffled herbs, toasted bread, and burnt lemon; a salade Niçoise, featuring Montauk yellowfin tuna, potatoes, haricots vert, and a tapenade soubise; and shrimp kebabs, marinated in parsley, rosemary, lemon, and urfa biber. 

Bostwick’s on the Harbor, in East Hampton, is also back for another season. With a raw bar that includes local littlenecks, oysters, and tuna, and a never ending view of Three Mile Harbor, this restaurant should appear on everyone’s “before Labor Day” dining checklist. North Fork steamer clams, served with drawn butter, are an essential order, as is the broiled Montauk fluke, served beneath an herb-panko crust and accompanied by lemongrass-scented rice, asparagus, and a beurre blanc.