The Hamptons are a string of villages on Long Island's South Fork, from Southampton through Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor and East Hampton to Montauk at the tip. The food is farm stands, fish shacks and gourmet markets in summer, plus a short list of year-round restaurants that locals keep busy in winter. Most places open between late April and mid-May and close or slow down after October, so plan around the season.
The Hamptons at a glance
What to eat
Lobster roll; Fried clams and chowder; Lobster salad by the pound; Farm-stand pie; Diner pancakes.
When to go
Best: June–September. Also good: May and October. Hardest: January–March.
Top tables
This guide lists 2 award-winning restaurants, starting with Carissa's The Bakery and Candy Kitchen.
Where locals eat
Local favorites off the prestige lists include Candy Kitchen, Carissa's The Bakery, Round Swamp Farm and Loaves & Fishes.
Markets
Round Swamp Farm, Loaves & Fishes and Duryea's Seafood Market.
2 award-winning10 local favorites1 hot right now3 markets5 walking tour stops10 chef's picks5 sandwich shops5 romantic dinners5 breakfast spots5 new openings14 dish spots
Food walking tour: Division Street to Bay Street: an afternoon in Sag Harbor village5.0 hours on foot, 5 stops, in eating order. Add the whole tour to your trip, then give it a day.
Going with a group?Give Chef your dates and hotel and he drafts every meal. Then send the group one link: they heart what they'd go to, add their own, and see the morning each table opens.
Four East End institutions and a Sag Harbor tavern for a proper meal, then five small places where a farm market, a bakery and a 1925 luncheonette do the work. Chef Amazing's founder is a partner in Sag Harbor Tavern, and it is marked as such.
The well-known five
Nick & Toni's
East Hampton
Italian, wood oven$$$
Order: Whole fish from the wood oven, the clam pizza, house-made cavatelli
Open since 1988 and still the village's main dinner table. The wood-oven pizzas return in the off-season, Sunday to Thursday.
Best for: dinner with friends · Reserve: book ahead · Hours: Dinner nightly in season; pizza nights Sunday to Thursday in fall
Order: The burger, cooked medium rare, and the wedge salad
Billy Durney's East End sister to Red Hook Tavern, opened in 2024 in the old American Legion building on Bay Street. Reviewers praise the burger; some seafood starters get mixed notes. Chef Amazing's founder is a partner here.
New places change fast. “Provisional” means a guide or directory lists it as new but we have not confirmed the opening date. Check hours and book ahead before you go.
Memorable breakfasts in the Hamptons
Five places chosen for the food, the room, the history or the local character. In no ranked order.
Babe's
Sag Harbor
Order: Babe's classic pancakes
An eight-seat diner car that opened in April 2026 and draws lines for its pancakes.
Picks come from romantic-dinner lists on booking and review sites. Confirm dinner service, menus and availability before you book.
Food walking tour
Division Street to Bay Street: an afternoon in Sag Harbor village
A bakery, a diner counter, the hotel bar, a harbor drink and a tavern burger, all on foot.
Start 14:30 at Carissa's The Bakery, Bay Street, Sag HarborTime 5.0 hoursDistance about 1.5 kmBest days Late May to September, when every stop keeps full hours. Confirm Beacon's days (it has listed dinner Monday and Wednesday to Sunday) and book the Tavern ahead.
The Hamptons are car country, so this walk keeps to one village where you can leave the car. Sag Harbor is an old whaling port with a Main Street, a wharf and Bay Street along the water. Walking distances below are short and approximate.
Pacing: Keep the bakery and the pancakes to shared plates so there is room for the burger.
Plan B: If Babe's line is long, go straight to the American Hotel and come back to Babe's for breakfast the next morning. If the Tavern is full, Le Bilboquet is also in the village (book ahead).
Avoid: Summer Saturday nights without a booking, and January to March, when seasonal hours shrink.
Bring: A card and some cash, a light layer for the waterfront at sunset, and a reservation for dinner.
Skip it if: Skip it if you want the beach and lobster shacks; those are a drive away in Amagansett and Montauk.
Ends at: Sag Harbor Tavern, 26 Bay St, Sag Harbor.
Walking times and distances are approximate, and opening hours change: confirm before you go.
Hot right now in the Hamptons
What people are lining up for and posting about this month. Entries expire after about four months unless they are reported again.
Always a lineLast confirmed 2025
Loaves & Fishes
Sagaponack · $$$$
The thing: the lobster salad by the pound
The line: A line out the door on summer weekends
A 1980 market whose $100-a-pound lobster salad is still the Hamptons status picnic.
Crazes move fast. “Just spotted” means one report so far, and most entries rest on a single source: confirm hours and expect a wait.
The the Hamptons food map
Every place in this guide, pinned. Tap a pin to see what to order, then add it to your trip.
Open the full The Hamptons food map: every place on our lists too (pizza, ice cream, romantic, where locals and the famous eat, cooking classes), searchable by dish.
· 12 of 17 dish places are pinned; the rest appear in the lists below. Pins are placed by address or name and can be a little off; always confirm in your maps app.
Plan my days in the Hamptons
Tell us what you like and we will line up the places on this page into a day-by-day plan. Only places from this guide, never anything else.
What to eat in the Hamptons, and where
Each dish comes with the places that do it best. Tap Add to my trip on the ones you want, or find them on the map above.
Lobster roll
Cold lobster salad on a grilled roll, eaten at a seasonal shack or on a dock
The top 2 restaurants in the Hamptons, per James Beard 2025 + East End press 2025-2026.
More award winners
Carissa's The Bakery
East Hampton · Bakery · Chef Carissa Waechter · $$
James Beard Award semifinalist, Outstanding Bakery (2025)
Long Island's only James Beard semifinalist in 2025. It started as bread sold at farmers markets and now has two East Hampton shops and one on Bay Street in Sag Harbor.
Candy Kitchen
Bridgehampton · Luncheonette and ice cream · $
National Register of Historic Places (2023)
A luncheonette open since 1925 that still makes its own ice cream and takes cash only.
The lobster shacks and farm markets open between late April and mid-May (Lunch on April 24, Duryea's in mid-May, Round Swamp Farm in May, Camp Rubirosa on May 15 in 2026) and run into early fall. September has warm water and easier tables than July and August. Winter is quiet and many seasonal places are closed.
In season
Lobster rolls at seasonal shacksMay–OctLunch in Amagansett opened April 24, 2026; Duryea's in Montauk opens in mid-May.
Farm-stand pies and summer produceJun–SepRound Swamp Farm opens for summer in May; its blueberry crumb pie is the one guides name.
Thanksgiving pies and to-go dinnersNovLoaves & Fishes, Round Swamp, Golden Pear and Harbor Market take holiday orders; order a week or more ahead.
Food events
Hamptons Restaurant Week (spring)AprPrix-fixe deals as the 2026 season opened; check Dan's Papers for the next dates.
James Beard Foundation Chefs & ChampagneJulHeld in past years on a July evening at Wolffer Estate in Sagaponack. No 2026 or 2027 date in our sources.
Hamptons Restaurant Week (fall)OctFall prix-fixe run reported by Dan's Papers in October 2026; 2027 dates not announced.
Closures to plan around
Candy Kitchen in Bridgehampton is cash only.
Loaves & Fishes was listed as closed Monday and Tuesday; check before going.
Duryea's in Montauk is walk-in only and seasonal, opening mid-May.
Lunch (The Lobster Roll) opens late April, Thursday to Monday until mid-June, then daily.
Camp Rubirosa in East Hampton is open only in summer, from May 15 in 2026.
Babe's in Sag Harbor is walk-in only by day; dinner is booked on Resy.
From published guides and tourism boards. Months are our mapping of how guides describe the seasons; 2027 event dates are expected, not confirmed. Prices come from single sources of varying age, so treat them as a rough guide. Compare cities by month
The best of The Hamptons, by category
The top pick in each, then every place on its own page with what to get and a map.
Locally loved places that are not on the big prestige lists.
classic
Candy Kitchen
Bridgehampton · $
Order: Eggs and pancakes at the counter, or a scoop of the house-made ice cream
Open since May 1925 on Montauk Highway, cash only, with ice cream still made in house. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.
East Hampton (Newtown Lane and Pantigo Road) and Sag Harbor (Bay Street) · $$
Order: A loaf of the European-style bread and a pastry; pies in the fall
Founded in 2017 by baker Carissa Waechter, who started selling bread at farmers markets. It was a 2025 James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Bakery.
A family farm market open for the summer each May. Guides single out the blueberry crumb pie, and Crain's Currency reported the packaged lobster salad at $89 a pound.
Awards come from the guides named on each listing (James Beard 2025 + East End press 2025-2026). Researched November 7, 2026. Restaurants change; confirm hours, reservations and current stars before you go. Some addresses, phone numbers and websites come from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), so call ahead to confirm. Local favorites are editorial picks, not rankings.
