Gurney’s Star Island Is the Newest Luxury Resort Out East
Gurney’s has expanded to Star Island, opening its third resort in what was formerly known for many decades as the Montauk Yacht Club. The new property, which soft opened a few weeks ago but really gears up starting Memorial Day weekend, shares resources with nearby Gurney’s Montauk — a shuttle will run guests between the two resorts, providing shared access to Star Island’s Pool Club and Montauk’s spa and private Beach Club — and seaplane and yacht service can transport guests over to Gurney’s Newport, just a short trip away.
Set on 35 acres, Gurney’s Star Island is home to the largest marina in the Hamptons, with room for large yachts to dock (if that’s your thing). The renovation taps into the advantage of the resort’s surroundings, adding more glass to open up water views, while a neutral color palette throughout the property underscores the nautical.
Related stories
Chiara Ferragni Partners With Lancôme for Makeup Capsule Collection
New Sustainable Outerwear Brand Fuses Fashion, Performance
Maus Frères Names Romain Guinier CEO of The Kooples
Hamptons native and longtime resident Jeremy Blutstein, most recently of Almond in Bridgehampton, is heading up the F&B operations at the property, including banquet catering, in-room service, and three dining areas. Opening this weekend, the resort’s flagship restaurant, Showfish, is an elevated take on sustainable dining.
“We spent some time thinking about how many seafood places have disappeared in Montauk and the fact that the supply of fish is one of the best in the world, it’s just counterintuitive,” says Gurney’s owner George Filopoulos.
Tapping into lifelong relationships with many of the farmers on the East End and local fishermen, Blutstein will create his menus using only local produce and meat.
“With the local farms and Montauk being the biggest-producing seaports on the East Coast, [this] lends itself to being a chef’s dream to cook out here,” says Blutstein. “We’re cooking sustainably, we’re using organic farming, we’re contributing back to the community we live in by using local purveyors. I could very easily call a big-box produce company and have all my stuff show up in the back of a box truck at 6 a.m. But instead I call about 15 people at the end of service, and they show up in their cars with vegetables covered in dirt, and fish that were in the water hours previously, and sand between their toes.”
The menu will be dictated by what’s available, instead of following conventional menu expectations. “There’s menu planning, and then there’s cooking seasonally. What you have to allow for when you cook like this is you have to be able to move laterally and not just north and south. We’re not serving corn and tomatoes until its corn and tomatoes season,” he says.
Right now, that means dishes using carrots and radishes, stinging nettles and braising greens like kale and collards. In fact, it was a hot and cold carrot salad with tahini and smoked feta that won over the property’s owners and showed them what a truly sustainable restaurant could be.
“Everything we’re doing here has a story behind it, from my eggs to my honey to my dairy to the cheese,” adds Blutstein. “Everything that’s on this menu minus citrus from the bar and celery is from a 20-mile radius.”
More From the Eye:
Butterfly Takes Off at Sixty Soho
The Newest Places to Eat This Summer in the Hamptons
Working Out What to Do in the Hamptons This Summer?
Launch Gallery: Gurney's Star Island Opens Out East
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
