At the northern edge of East Hampton Village, where North Main Street bends gently past century-old elms and shingled cottages, a warm amber glow spills through the windows of 99 North Main Street each evening. This is East Hampton Grill, and for more than fourteen years it has held an unusual position in the Hamptons dining landscape — the year-round anchor in a village built on seasonal spectacle. While summer pop-ups bloom and wither along Montauk Highway, and celebrity-backed restaurants chase their first Zagat mention before quietly folding by October, East Hampton Grill has done something far more difficult: it has become permanent. That kind of permanence, as anyone who has run a restaurant for a quarter century can attest, is not an accident. It is an architecture of discipline, ingredient sourcing, and a founder’s obsessive attention to every surface the diner’s hand will touch. Peter from the Heritage Diner understands this architecture intimately — twenty-five years behind the line and at the register in Mount Sinai teaches you to recognize it the moment you step through a door. East Hampton Grill radiates that discipline from its bolted-to-the-floor tables to the individual spotlight above each booth.
The Lineage of 99 North Main Street
The story of East Hampton Grill cannot be separated from the history embedded in its address. In 1993, the legendary advertising executive Jerry Della Femina — the Brooklyn-born provocateur widely credited as an inspiration for Mad Men — purchased the building at 99 North Main Street with builder Ben Krupinski, the so-called “builder to the stars” who had constructed homes for Billy Joel and Martha Stewart (Patch, 2011). Della Femina’s restaurant, which bore his name, became an instant Hamptons institution. The New York Times declared it a hit upon opening; famed restaurateur Drew Nieporent, who helped launch the concept alongside Chef Kevin Penner, later recalled in his 2025 memoir I’m Not Trying to Be Difficult that the restaurant became the place to see and be seen within its very first summer (Southforker, 2025). Chef Michael Rozzi, a third-generation East Ender who shucked oysters and explored local waters before picking up a knife, eventually became the culinary anchor of Della Femina’s for the better part of sixteen years (Mill House Inn, 2020).
When Della Femina shuttered in 2011 — the owner publicly citing tax policy as his reason for departing the Hamptons — the Hillstone Restaurant Group acquired the building and the 20,000-square-foot site through New York City-based brokerage New Street Realty Advisors (The Real Deal, 2011). East Hampton Grill opened its doors Memorial Day Weekend of that same year, transforming the light, airy decor of Della Femina’s into something darker, warmer, and distinctly un-Hamptons.
George Biel and the Hillstone Philosophy
To understand East Hampton Grill is to understand the singular mind of George Biel. A Texan who opened the first Houston’s restaurant in Nashville in 1977, Biel recognized a void in the American dining landscape — a place of high energy serving steaks, burgers, and entrée salads with a level of precision and consistency that casual dining had never attempted (Hillstone.com, 2025). From that single Nashville location, Biel built what is now the Hillstone Restaurant Group: a privately held, family-owned collection of approximately forty-four restaurants operating under fifteen different names across eleven states, with roughly 4,500 employees and estimated annual revenues of $179 million (OysterLink, 2025). The deliberate pace of expansion — no franchising, no rapid-growth model, no outside investors since Biel became sole owner — mirrors the philosophy Peter brings to Marcellino NY’s bespoke English bridle leather briefcases: growth must never outpace the craftsman’s ability to maintain standards.
In 2016, Bon Appétit named Hillstone “America’s Favorite Restaurant,” with deputy editor Andrew Knowlton writing what became one of the most widely read restaurant profiles of the decade. Knowlton compared Biel’s approach to Ralph Lauren’s impact on American fashion — approachable, reliable, nostalgic, yet forward-thinking (Bon Appétit, 2016). Celebrity chef David Chang declared that the Hillstone French Dip sandwich “haunts” him; Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer openly admires the operation; and Samin Nosrat, James Beard Award-winning author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, has praised the group publicly (Chowhound, 2025). Taylor Swift has been spotted at both the chain’s Santa Monica location and at East Hampton Grill itself. Shaquille O’Neal counts himself among the devoted. And yet Biel remains one of the most reclusive figures in American hospitality, rarely granting interviews and running his company with the kind of quiet intensity that makes industry observers describe him with near-reverence (Restaurant Business, 2024).
The Room: Arts and Crafts Meets Hamptons Intimacy
Walking into East Hampton Grill, the first thing you notice is what is absent: the beachy whites, the reclaimed driftwood, the nautical rope accents that define nearly every other restaurant east of Riverhead. The Hillstone team replaced Della Femina’s bright, open aesthetic with dark wood paneling, an Arts and Crafts-inspired warmth, and striking artwork that creates what the New York Times once described as a look that feels “warm to some, un-Hamptons to others” (Best Weekends, 2018). A stunning floral bouquet anchors the dining room entrance. Room dividers fitted with shelves holding books, baskets, and pottery break the space into intimate nooks. An open kitchen provides the subtle theater of watching professionals work with silent coordination.
Every table is designed so that each seat feels like the VIP table — a Hillstone hallmark. The tables are bolted to the floor to eliminate wobble, a detail so small it borders on the philosophical. This is the kind of obsessive craftsmanship Peter recognizes from his own workshop at Marcellino NY in Huntington, where he hand-saddle-stitches English bridle leather with the understanding that the unseen details — the hidden stitch, the burnished edge, the perfectly aligned keeper — define the difference between an object and an heirloom. At East Hampton Grill, that same logic applies to a dining room where no server carries more than three tables at once, every booth is designed for privacy, and hot hand towels arrive upon request. Napkins feature buttonholes so they can be fastened to a shirt like a bib — a small, peculiar touch that speaks volumes about a company that thinks harder about the dining experience than most restaurants think about their menus.
The Menu: Scratch-Made American Standards Elevated to Doctrine
East Hampton Grill’s menu is deliberately compact and relentlessly well-curated. The kitchen, led by Culinary Manager Jordan Herbst under the oversight of General Manager Jessica Molitor, takes obvious pride in preparing everything from scratch daily. The restaurant buys its fish whole and hand-fillets in-house to ensure peak freshness — a commitment that transforms a simple grilled catch into something with genuine provenance. The rosemary buttermilk biscuits, described by multiple reviewers as “heavenly,” arrive warm with Hamptons honey and set the tone for an evening of serious American cooking executed without pretension.
Among the signatures: the EHG Cheeseburger, made with house-ground chuck and brisket, served on bread baked in-house that same morning. The USDA Prime center-cut filet. Barbecue ribs that arrive in generous slabs with a smoky-sweet sauce that has earned a near-cultish following. The grilled California artichokes, sourced from heirloom plants in Castroville, California, and available only when seasonality permits — a commitment to ingredient integrity that refuses to compromise for the sake of menu consistency. The spinach and artichoke dip, a dish the Hillstone organization essentially introduced to American casual dining from a Chicago Houston’s location decades ago, remains the single most imitated recipe in the company’s history, with copycat versions proliferating across TikTok and food blogs (Chowhound, 2025). The sushi-grade tuna tartare, hand-chopped with avocado and a deviled egg, bridges East Coast comfort with a precision more commonly associated with dedicated omakase counters.
The wine program features a carefully curated selection that includes local Long Island expressions alongside exceptional bottles for special occasions. And in a detail that astonishes even seasoned restaurant professionals, Hillstone locations — including East Hampton Grill — are BYOB-friendly with no corkage fee, a policy that VinePair confirmed in a 2021 investigation and declared virtually unheard of at this level of dining (VinePair, 2021).
Year-Round in a Seasonal World
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about East Hampton Grill is its commitment to twelve-month operation in a market where the vast majority of restaurants close their doors after Labor Day. As Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop noted in a 2024 feature, this year-round presence has made it a community staple rather than a seasonal tourist destination. The restaurant’s consistency during the quieter months — when East Hampton Village returns to its year-round residents and the frenetic energy of summer gives way to a more intimate pace — has earned a loyalty that seasonal operations simply cannot replicate. Multiple reviewers on Tripadvisor (4.2 stars, ranked among East Hampton’s top restaurants), Yelp (352 reviews), and Google (4.3 stars, 475 reviews) describe the experience of returning again and again, sometimes weekly, with the certainty that the standards will hold.
In the summer, reservations become essential, the bar transforms into a buzzing social scene, and the dining room fills with a mix of Manhattan weekenders, Hamptons regulars, and the occasional celebrity who can rely on Hillstone’s design philosophy to provide genuine privacy even in a packed house. Social Life Magazine, in a comprehensive 2025 guide to East Hampton dining, categorized it as an “American Grill, Art Collection, Year-Round” experience with a price point of approximately $60–$90 per person, calling it the embodiment of “the corporate consistency that discerning diners secretly appreciate” (Social Life Magazine, 2025). There is, of course, nothing secret about it. The consistency is the entire point — it is why twenty-five years of griddle work at the Heritage Diner has taught Peter to respect any operation that can deliver the same plate, the same warmth, the same invisible excellence, night after night, year after year.
Visiting East Hampton Grill
East Hampton Grill is located at 99 North Main Street in the heart of East Hampton Village, directly on the route that connects the village center to the springs and farms of the North Shore. Reservations are available one month in advance through Resy and are highly recommended, particularly during summer weekends. The restaurant prefers to host intimate parties of two; larger parties should inquire in advance about availability.
Address: 99 North Main Street, East Hampton, NY 11937
Phone: (631) 329-6666
Website: easthamptongrill.com
Instagram: @easthamptongrill
Reservations: Available via Resy or by phone
Hours: Monday–Thursday: 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM Friday–Saturday: 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM Sunday: 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Cuisine: New American, Steakhouse, Seafood, Sushi
Price Range: $$$ (approximately $60–$90 per person)
Ratings: Google 4.3 ★ (475 reviews) · TripAdvisor 4.2 ★ (309 reviews) · Yelp (352 reviews)
Parent Company: Hillstone Restaurant Group
General Manager: Jessica Molitor
Culinary Manager: Jordan Herbst
Gift Cards: Available at easthamptongrill.com
Takeout: Available via the restaurant’s Take Home menu
The Weight of Getting It Right
The Hamptons have always attracted operators who chase the flash — the celebrity chef partnership, the Instagram-ready dining room, the seasonal concept designed to extract maximum revenue from Memorial Day through Labor Day before vanishing like sea foam. East Hampton Grill represents the opposite impulse. It is the product of a man who started with a single restaurant in Nashville nearly fifty years ago and grew by refusing to compromise, refusing to franchise, and refusing to let a single table wobble. The building at 99 North Main Street has now housed two of the most respected dining operations in East Hampton’s history — first Della Femina’s nearly two-decade reign as the see-and-be-seen institution of the South Fork, and now East Hampton Grill’s quieter, more disciplined tenure as the restaurant that simply refuses to have an off night.
For Peter — a man who has spent twenty-five years understanding that the soul of a restaurant lives not in its menu but in its daily commitment to invisible excellence, who hand-stitches briefcases at Marcellino NY with the belief that objects built for a century outperform objects built for a season, and who is preparing alongside his wife Paola, a broker, to launch Maison Pawli as a boutique real estate venture on Long Island’s North Shore in 2026 — East Hampton Grill confirms a conviction earned across three vocations: the establishments that endure are the ones that treat consistency not as a limitation but as the highest form of craft. East Hampton Grill has earned its permanence the only way it can be earned — one perfectly executed evening at a time.
