Around 7 p.m. on a Thursday, just after aperitivo ended, plates of $85 veal Parmesan and $82 strip loin were delivered to a white-tableclothed table at the East Hamptons branch of Sartiano’s, a trendy Italian restaurant in SoHo frequented by celebrities like Paul McCartney, Martha Stewart, Margot Robbie and Gisele Bündchen.
But outside the hot spot, the Hedges Inn, trouble appeared to be brewing: As The Washington Post watched, East Hampton police officers circled the building four times within 30 minutes.
Just after 10 p.m., a restaurant staff member whispered, “There’s a SWAT team outside.” An exaggeration, of course, as three officers surrounded the hydrangea-filled entrance and cited Sartiano’s for two village violations for “noise,” including recorded music that could be heard “from 50 feet away,” a restaurant official told The Washington Post, but no fines were issued.
But as The Post witnessed, the music – the softest yacht rock, including America’s “You Could Do Magic” – lingered outside the building and had faded by 9:20 p.m.
“They’re trying to get him,” muttered one restaurant patron, a 45-year-old bank worker who lives nearby.
“He” is restaurateur Scott Sartiano, who sources say has been visited by health inspectors and local police almost daily since his namesake restaurant opened in mid-July.
As The Washington Post’s Jennifer Gould previously reported, local residents claim that letters were sent out by the village administration to Hedges Village residents urging them to file noise complaints by phone.
But some, including other East Hampton business owners, say it’s an all-out war and that Sartiano is being unfairly targeted by village officials, including Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, a former police chief.
“They’re keeping an eye on Scott because there are people who turn restaurants into clubs after a certain time,” a longtime East Hampton business owner told The Post. “He’s a smart businessman and a respectful person. He’s not trying to be controversial.”
For Sartiano, this summer has been anything but la dolce vita back east. In March, he began negotiations to bring Zero Bond, a private NoHo social club beloved by Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian and Mayor Eric Adams, to the historic Hedges Inn.
But the East Hampton Village Council dashed that dream in May, passing an ordinance that requires all restaurants in the village’s historic district to close by 11 p.m.
Chris Kelly, an attorney for the inn, told The Washington Post in April that the ordinance appeared to have been specifically drafted to keep the clubs out.
“Let’s be honest, Zero Bond is a nightclub…” Village President Marcos Baladron said at the May 17 village board meeting where the law was passed. East Hampton Star“If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it’s a duck. This place is no place for ducks.”
“This guy has a desire for revenge,” a source familiar with the situation previously claimed to The Post of Mayor Larsen.
In an email received on Friday, Aug. 2, Larsen told The Post that police have responded to four noise complaints since Sartiano’s opened, although a source close to the restaurant claims that “police were dispatched seven of the 10 days that it was open.”
“This property is in a residential area and there are restrictions, and we must adhere to these rules and laws out of respect for our neighbors,” Larsen said in an email.
Meanwhile, things were far from quiet Friday night at the Maidstone Hotel, a half-mile from Sartiano’s on a residential street in the historic district. Standing about 50 feet away, The Post could clearly hear a tenor belting out “That’s Amore” on the outdoor patio of LDV, an Italian restaurant opened last month by LDV Hospitality, the company behind Scarpetta in Manhattan and Gurney’s in Montauk.
Just before 10 p.m., a performer could be heard urging the applauding audience to sing “Sweet Caroline” together.
“He plays until 9:30 or 10. He doesn’t want to get in trouble with the townspeople,” the LDV host told The Post, noting that he has had no trouble with police.
Some neighbors and business owners say Sartiano’s noise goes beyond the decibel level.
“At the end of the day, they want noise control and they don’t want a party scene in East Hampton Village. The mayor was against zero bonds, but that’s what it comes down to,” the business owner said.
At a May 17 public hearing, resident Robert Burch complained about the prospect of zero bonds: “It won’t be open to the public, but it will be open to celebrities and everything that goes with that – their entourage, their cronies, their motorcades of black Suburbans and Escalades and swarms of paparazzi.”
“Mr. Sartiano [a May] “In an interview with Vanity Fair, he said his philosophy is, ‘I can do whatever I want,'” neighbor Kenneth Lipper, who spoke at the hearing, told The Post. “In reality, he is implementing his selfish philosophy of running Hedges Inn the way he wants, regardless of whether it violates laws or codes.”
Sartiano actually He said in that interview It was about the private club nature of Zero Bond.
“That’s one of the reasons celebrities love it, because these are people who are there every day and the press never sees what they’re eating or who they’re with,” Sartiano told Vanity Fair. “It’s something I’m very proud of. It reminds me of the late ’90s, when people could do whatever they wanted. And they’ll never get to do whatever they want like that again, because they’d be too nervous.”
Lipper added: “It is not hard to imagine a fire inspector or police coming to Hedges for violating the fire code, occupancy and noise regulations and established closing times that govern the historic district.”
Restaurant officials said the “fire code” reference referred to a violation Sartiano received for greenery that was quickly removed.
But locals told The Post that this isn’t just Sartiano’s problem.
“years ago [the restaurant in the Hedges Inn] “The business was formerly the James Lane Café, and neighbors objected to outdoor dining and activities,” the owner told the Post. In fact, Hedges has had to close nightly at 10 p.m. since a 1981 City Planning Commission ruling.
Some have suggested that Larsen is trying to please local residents for his own personal gain.
The mayor owns a private security company, ProTec Security, which he runs with his wife, Lisa, and has clients near the Hedges Inn. The New York Times In June.
“Maybe the neighbors who have a relationship with the mayor want to ensure there’s no noise in their neighborhood,” an East Hampton business owner told The Post.
“It wasn’t hard to spot the triangular ProTech signs growing from the lawns of many of Sartiano’s neighborhood,” the Times wrote.
“In fact, I have one client who lives near Hedges Inn, and they have never contacted me about this,” Larsen said in an email to The Washington Post.
The manager of another restaurant in East Hampton Village told the Post: He worries that police focus on Sartiano’s could impact other businesses.
“I’m a little worried. [Sartiano] “You offended someone at a village meeting? I know that kind of revenge crap happens,” the manager said.
He compared the “pettiness” of Zero Bond and Sartiano’s “Revenge” to the violations that were issued earlier this year to an East Hampton pub, the Rowdy Hall, for painting its facade black after the village’s Architectural Review Board determined the color was “inconsistent” with the colors in the historic district.
The owners appealed and won.
Several people who dined at Sartiano’s on Thursday and Friday told The Post they live nearby and are happy to see a new restaurant opening in Hedges.
“We live next door and come here. [to East Hampton] “For 20 years we heard nothing,” said a woman who gave her surname only as Theresa, who declined to give her last name.
Sartiano declined to comment on specifics, but told The Washington Post: “Despite the challenges we face every day, I remain committed to providing an incredible culinary experience to the East Hampton community at Hedges Inn.”
