Duryea’s in Montauk, known for its $100 Lobster Cobb salad, faces possible closure this summer due to a septic system dispute with the Town of East Hampton.
The restaurant, owned by Apollo CEO Marc Rowan, says the town is forcing it to make upgrades to its water system but then denying them the permits they need to make the changes, according to legal filings. Duryea’s (which is under the corporation Sunrise Tuthill owned by Rowan) claims the town is “interfering” in a public filing asking for a judge to intervene in the situation.
It is just the latest snafu in a legal battle over permitting that began in 2018, a few years after Rowan bought the restaurant. It is also the latest move in a string of punitive actions the town has taken against restaurants and residents, sources told NYNext.
In the last year alone, the town passed a law that caps construction of new homes at 10,000 square feet and stifled Zero Bond founder Scott Sartiano’s efforts to launch a restaurant at The Hedges Inn.
It’s slapping Sartiano with fines for everything from artificial flowers it claimed were flammable to a noisy parking lot.
In recent years the town has also gone after the East Hampton Airport to limit helicopter flights, which it claims are too noisy, as well as popular club Surf Lodge — forcing them to limit outdoor live music to two hours and conclude by 8 p.m., even on weekends.
“It makes the town in ‘Footloose’ look like Vegas,” one resident quipped.
“This is a town whose tax base is driven by second home owners and part time visitors,” another angry resident told me. “And they’re continuing to bite the hand that feeds them.”
Residents complain that local politicians, who have seen the cost of living out East surge over the last few decades as rich New Yorkers jack up the prices, have an axe to grind with wealthy inhabitants. And the fact Duryea’s is both popular with the Instagram crowd and owned by a billionaire makes it a prime target.
No matter the outcome in Montauk, lobster salad enthusiasts will be able to get their Duryea’s fix. They just may have to take a quick boat ride to the restaurant’s location on Orient Point, where sources say the town is far friendlier to business.
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