It’s a sunny, carefree Tuesday afternoon in the Hamptons, and Il Buco al Mare is filling up for lunch. The crowd is rather surprising given that the restaurant opened only in early June, but then the arrival of a seafood-focused Italian spot from a group as esteemed as this means that word travels fast.
Soon, dishes from the kitchen are whirring by: an ancient-grain focaccia beautifully adorned with squash blossoms; burrata with cherries and pistachio pesto; roasted clams with grilled bread; seared octopus with smoked paprika and olive oil. It all looks delicious, artful, perfect for a Mediterranean-style lunch (or dinner) a few blocks from some of the best beaches in the world.
Il Buco al Mare brings creative seafood dishes, several focaccia variations, and more to the Hamptons. Photo: Noe DeWitt
The latest effort from restaurateur and aesthete Donna Lennard and chef Justin Smillie, with chef de cuisine Eugenio Plaja, Il Buco al Mare is exactly the restaurant that the Hamptons needed. The menu includes on-trend tinned fish, whole fish, chicken and steak platters for the seafood-averse, and seasonal touches that depend on the farms that dot the parts of eastern Long Island that aren’t famous beaches or multi-million dollar estates.
The restaurant space is also spot-on for these environs (and for these times), practically open-air in that the entry, one wall on the lengthy space, and the back, which opens onto the patio, all consist of sliding glass doors.
The décor, all light, warm woods, and marble, is sophisticated and Mediterranean in feel, as you might expect from Lennard, who has also opened a branch of her Il Buco Vita lifestyle shop next door to al Mare. Along with Italian ceramics and tableware, the new Vita features unique pieces by local artists and designers, and a front counter serving coffee, house-made pastries, and pantry products such as extra virgin olive oil and tinned fish.
From left: Chef de cuisine Eugenio Plaja, executive chef Justin Smillie, and owner Donna Lennard of Il Buco al Mare in the Hamptons. Photo: Noe DeWitt
Lennard’s a longtime Hamptons denizen, but this is her first restaurant and shop in the area, after a Montauk pop-up at Mostrador Marram last summer. Al Mare serves as a sort of sister restaurant to Bottega Il Buco, now open in Ibiza.
Back in Amagansett, Plaja visits a table to check in on diners, answering questions about the source of the ancient grains in the focaccia (triticum durum flour from Sicily), the strawberries in the crostata (from Harry’s Berries in California), and the clams (harvested locally and “fresh off the back of the truck,” according to Plaja).
The ingredients, like everything at al Mare, come together nicely, contributing to the laid-back sophistication that’s become the standard at Il Buco, whether on Bond Street in Manhattan, here in the Hamptons, or off in Ibiza.
If the Hamptons are on your summer schedule and this all sounds up your alley, make plans immediately. As noted, in these parts, word travels fast, and as such, Il Buco al Mare has become one of the hottest reservations on the South Fork.