Top Chef hunk Sam Talbot has a job at last. The season-two runner-up, who floated around for a couple of years, has signed on to run the kitchen at Surf Lodge—the dive-y Lakeside Inn from Jamie Mullholland, Robert McKinley, and Jayma Cardosa of Cain and GoldBar, and partner Steven Kamali.
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"Not Recommended" Average Reader Rating on a Scale of 10
The hostess seemed more interested in playing "Hamptons" than making people feel welcome. Try the the bar tender's signature Montauk Storm cocktails on the great outdoor deck while you wait. We waited for over 2hrs for a table after being told it would be only a few minutes. Ten minutes after ordering, our waiter came back to the table to tell us that the kitchen ran out of both items that we ordered--they told him a few hours ago, but he forgot. He also forgot an entire entree that we ordered, when we asked about it, his response was, "you didn't order that, but I can get you one." The hostess came over at one point and reminded us that we "waited really long" for our table. As for the food: Radicchio Salad--zero magic, barely the sum of its parts; Scallop App--cooked well, tasty, pickled watermelon was a perfect complement; Fish & Chips--an embarrassment, soft fish soft fries, all stuck together in a soggy mess. The loaded Burger complete with fried egg sounded interesting, but we didn't order it. Not sure it would have shown up even if we had.