Hamptons restaurateur, chef clash over male strippers, $9K pasta machines
A Southampton restaurateur’s plans to bring a Michelin-starred chef to the upscale beach town has been put on ice due to bitter feuding over $9,000 for pasta machines and a boisterous party involving male strippers, Side Dish has learned.
Terrance Brennan, the chef, who oversaw the Memorial Day weekend launch of the swanky Blu Mar restaurant on Main Street, has walked off the job after clashing with owner Zach Erdem, sources said.
The mismatched pair, who only started working together in April, clashed from the start over everything from Brennan’s spending to Erdem’s nightclub next door, the sources said.
“Terrance was running the place like it was Per Se, ordering things like $9,000 pasta machines and $100 plates, and Zach was having a heart attack,” one source said. “It was a classic case of two egos clashing. They were both acting stupid.”
Brennan, who made his name with the now-shuttered Picholine in Manhattan, denies spending $9,000 for pasta makers, saying he never pulled the trigger on one of two machines.
“I ended up cutting out the pasta roller so the bill was $5,600 for one pasta-making machine,” Brennan told Side Dish.
Brennan said the real problem was Erdem and his noisy nightclub, which was so loud it penetrated the elegant atmosphere at the Mediterranean-style eatery.
Brennan recalled one bachelorette-style party that was so loud some of the restaurant’s older clientele were found nearly choking on their $95 line-caught wild fish flown in fresh from the Mediterranean as the pumped-up ladies next door oohed and aahed over male strippers.
“The nightclub is supposed to open at midnight, but they started early for private parties, and the customers complained about the noise, music and profanity,” Brennan said.
Erdem “wanted a fine-dining restaurant, but he didn’t know what it would take to get one,” Brennan fumed.
Brennan also claimed that Erdem was not paying purveyors, which Erdem, who owns the popular 75 Main down the street, denies.
Erdem also says the problem with the male strippers never happened, because the nightclub only opens at 11 p.m. after the kitchen has closed for the night.
“The chef is old-school,” Erdem said. “He doesn’t get it. People want to come to a good restaurant, have a great meal, and then go next door to the club. They don’t want to drive or take Ubers. He cares about his name but I have to pay the rent and the staff.”
Erdem complained that Brennan’s name wasn’t enough to draw people to the restaurant and that he put far more money into the restaurant than he was getting out of it.
“I spent so much money. No one hires that kind of chef in the Hamptons,” Erdem said. “Terrance is trying to save himself. I paid for his name but he didn’t bring anything to the table. All the expensive stuff he ordered, he couldn’t sell.”
see also
Inside the culinary black market for wealthy, elite Americans
Foie gras may soon be illegal in New York City,…
Blu Mar’s Memorial Day opening was also plagued by the restaurant’s failure to get a liquor license in time, which resulted in around half of the staff quitting because liquor draws the guests — and the tips.
Blu Mar, Paola’s and TBar did not have liquor licenses by the Memorial Day weekend, as the Post previously reported.
This was Brennan’s first restaurant in the Hamptons.
“I would come back,” said Brennan of his short stint there. He suspended services on June 4 and returned June 10 before walking off again June 14, he said.
He said he expects to be paid in full for the summer — a notion Erdem rejected.
Blu Mar will continue to operate with the same chefs who worked under Brennan, but the menu will change, Erdem said.
We hear… that L’Avenue at Saks, the midtown outpost of the iconic Parisian restaurant on Avenue Montaigne, now has outdoor space: a terrace for cocktails and light fare. Think cocktails like a Jasmine Gimlet and small bites such as shrimp dim sum and duck foie gras.
The seasonal space is accessed through Le Chalet, the ski chalet cocktail lounge
Click Here: Arsenal FC Jerseys
