(Bloomberg) -- The Hamptons summer season is looking as busy as ever. Open houses for new listings have been packed, and the rental market is robust, so don’t expect Long Island Expressway traffic to subside anytime soon. Meanwhile, it’s still business as usual at East Hampton Town Airport, despite efforts to restrict small plane traffic, and Blade still promises to get you there from Manhattan via helicopter in under an hour.

As Memorial Day looms, visitors are already plotting their dining and nightlife reservations. One positive trend for locals and tourists who are looking outside the traditional summer window: Many of the new South Fork restaurants won’t just be seasonal engagements. Places like the buzzy bakery Carissa’s in East Hampton have shown they can stay busy even after the beach crowds depart, and a handful of soon-to-debut options will serve the local community year-round. 

Billy Durney, chef and owner of Brooklyn’s celebrated Hometown BBQ, is one of the operators who’ll be feeding diners year-round when his Sag Harbor Tavern opens. He took over last summer’s short-lived Sag Harbor Kitchen to debut an extension of his popular throwback spot Red Hook Tavern, with his famed dry-aged cheeseburger in tow. Meanwhile, Joe Isidori, founder of Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beers—the chain known for its oversized novelty candy-encrusted ice cream shakes—will launch an outpost of his Arthur & Sons in Bridgehampton. And in May the Montauk Yacht Club emerges from its multimillion-dollar renovation with an expansive new waterside restaurant, Ocean Club Montauk. 

The summer dining calendar will also be graced with pop-ups from notable New York chefs. Cedric Vongerichten, son of famed French chef Jean-Georges, is bringing his big-flavor Indonesian restaurants Wayan and Ma•dé to the home of Buttero, a cute little cottage by the East Hampton train station. And farther east in Montauk, the French incubator concept Fulgurances will host a series of dinners led by chefs such as Mads Refslund of the thrilling new Ilis.

Read on for the top South Fork restaurants and drinks-fueled spots you need to know before summer officially starts.

Restaurants and Nightlife

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sag Harbor Tavern (@sagharbortavern)

Sag Harbor Tavern, Sag HarborSag Harbor will be home to the Hamptons most talked-about burger when Durney opens an outpost of his classic American spot Red Hook Tavern, complete with its signature, luscious American-cheese-topped patty and its deep vintage wine collection. The tavern, at 26 Bay St. in the former American Legion building, will have 40 seats inside and around 60 outside. There will be an expanded seafood selection, with new raw dishes and wood-fired cooking such as a grilled branzino. To start, the tavern will offer around 150 wines, ranging from bottles from the tiny, women-run Inconnu in California to Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, a revered Burgundy. 

For decor, Durney says the restaurant will look similar to the Red Hook original, with a turn-of-the-century aesthetic, 1920s-era lighting and floral wallpaper that pays tribute to his grandmother Veronica Sullivan. (As a nurse during World War II, she was honored at the American Legion Hall in Brooklyn, the borough where Durney grew up.)Slated to open: Mid to late May 

Village Bistro, East Hampton In more Hampton burger news: A raclette cheeseburger will be featured on the menu at the unfussy French restaurant Village Bistro. It’s taking over the longstanding, cozy East Hampton Village space that previously housed Rowdy Hall, which relocated to Amagansett last November. New owners, real estate developer Adam Potter and local hospitality firm NSN Hospitality, are giving the place a bistro look characterized by a taupe, teal and salmon color scheme and anchoring the space with a 12-seat copper bar. Also on the menu: classics like duck confit salad and poached pear.Slated to open: May 10

Arthur & Sons, BridgehamptonIsidori is bringing his 1990s-era West Village Italian-American red sauce joint Arthur & Sons Out East. The place, at 203 Bridgehampton Sag Harbor Tpk., will have a 70-seat dining room, a patio and spacious 15-seat bar—and, says Isidori, an “old school-new school vibe.” In Bridgehampton, he’ll lean into seasonality and serve plates like lobster pomodoro over the tube-shaped pasta paccheri as well as a burrata Caprese salad with local tomatoes.

The menu will also include staples such as Isidori’s mom’s beef and Italian sausage meatballs with ricotta. The space features wall-to-ceiling honeyed wood paneling, along with red, green and yellow Tiffany lights and Rat Pack era art, giving the place a rustic feel. Grab a patio seat and try a pasta alongside a limoncello spritz.Slated to open: May 23

Il Pellicano and Bijoux, SouthamptonNightlife impresario Kyky Conille (founder of the Meatpacking District’s now shuttered Provocateur) is taking the party to the former Blu Mar space at 136 Main St. in Southampton, expanding his Il Pellicano and Bijoux—the Little Italy Italian restaurant and 1920s Paris-inspired lounge opened in January—with a year-round restaurant and club. Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito is designing the new Italian seafood-forward menu, which will be served in a clean space defined by forest green banquettes and gold accents. The menu will range from ubiquitous seafood towers to garlic and white-wine-braised shrimp and spring vegetable pasta. 

At the adjacent Bijoux club, patrons will have the option to order bottle service or à la carte cocktails including a spritzy and tropical-tasting elixir with lemongrass-infused Campari, fresh strawberries and Champagne until 4 a.m. Slated to open: May 23 

Montauk Beach House Bar & Grill, Montauk When the Montauk Beach House team decided to replace last year’s pizza and tacos menu, they turned to Yanni Papagianni, director of operations, who grew up in Cyprus. The popular and perpetually packed beach bar and grill is going Greek, with options such as a lamb burger with goat’s milk feta and cumin aioli alongside other Mediterranean staples like grilled beef kebab with pita and a pickled fennel and fresh-dill-accented Greek salad. The kitchen—which is open from breakfast through dinner—is overseen by Molyvos alum Andres Zeron. Menu items will be served on the property’s lawn along with produce-infused drinks from Nikola Jablanovic, formerly of the Surf Lodge—try the Melon Picante, made with ghost pepper tequila and watermelon juice.Slated to open: May 16

Ocean Club Montauk at Montauk Yacht Club, MontaukProper Hospitality—the developers behind chic West Coast hotels like Proper Santa Monica—makes its East Coast debut with a revamp of the Montauk Yacht Club, which opened in 1928 as a private social club. The property’s multimillion dollar facelift includes a 4,500-square-foot restaurant, Ocean Club Montauk, that’s an extension of chef Jarad McCarroll’s Caribbean-based upscale American spot, Ocean Club St Barths. The vast space has wraparound water views with three dining rooms with around 220 seats, both indoors and out. On the menu: red snapper tartare, for $48, as well as market-priced, five-hour charcoal and wood roasted beef accented with smoked beetroot ketchup.

Prime seats include the U-shaped, six-seat chef’s table, where McCarroll preps his dishes in front of guests. To drink, there’s Italian rosato or the Sunset Sour, the bar team’s take on a negroni with Campari, gin, sweet vermouth, passionfruit and egg white.Slated to open: Early June

Pop-Ups

 Wayan + Ma•dé x Buttero, East Hampton

As a follow-up to last summer’s two-week residency in Amagansett, husband-and-wife team Cedric and Ochi Vongerichten are staging a full-scale takeover in East Hampton, just a few minutes walk from the train station. They’re bringing their Nolita Indonesian restaurants Wayan and Ma•dé to Buttero from May 24 through Sept. 2. The best seats will be those on the patio, where guests can sample a gin-spiked Calamansi Fizz alongside local heirloom tomatoes with samba oelek vinaigrette, ginger turmeric-dressed fluke sashimi as well as Wayan’s signature wavy wheat noodles with lobster in a creamy black-pepper-flecked sauce. 

Fulgurances, Montauk

Fulgurances, in collaboration with sustainable seafood wholesaler Dock to Dish, is branching out to Montauk. The Parisian chef incubator, that runs the Laundromat space in Brooklyn, has taken over an outdoor space at Inlet Seafood Restaurant with four dinners planned from July 1 to Aug. 26. The lineup includes Nicholas Tamburo (Claud), Victoria Blamey (Blanca), Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson (Frenchette), and Mads Refslund (Ilis). Each chef will highlight the area’s stellar local seafood, cooked over open-fire. The $250 to $280 six-course meals will include a wine pairing. Fulgurances will announce the specific dates on social media during the first week of May. 

Rosewood Mayakoba at Topping Rose House, Bridgehampton

Zapote Bar, the drinking spot inside the luxe hotel Rosewood Mayakoba in Riviera Maya, Mexico, that ranked No. 11 on the World’s 50 Best Bars North America list, will pop up on July 12-13 at boutique hotel Topping Rose House. Joshua Monaghan, bar director at Zapote, is planning to serve cocktails off his newly launched “Call of the Wild” menu inspired by the Yucatan Peninsula’s Mayan heritage and landscape. Alongside drinks like Mono (a mix of tequila, sour orange liquor, kiwi, guava, green apple and dehydrated lime bitters), guests can sample some of the property’s signature plates including sweet-and-spicy catch-of-the-day ceviche with jicama and orange as well as melty Oaxaca cheese shrimp tacos with habanero mayo. 

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.