More effective than bribing the maitre d’
The man pictured above, “Eddy”, was our fishing guide for a few days this week and Thursday night we invited Ed and his wife Paula to join us for a farewell dinner at Harvest, reputed to be Montauk’s best restaurant. Great idea but when we arrived we learned that there was an hour-and-a-half wait for an outside table and inside? Forget it. We turned away, wondering whether Tony’s Pancake House was open for dinner, when Paula spotted the restaurant’s hostess and hailed her. She explained our party of five’s dilemma, the hostess disappeared inside for a minute and returned to announce in a loud voice for the benefit of the soon-to-be disappointed diners ahead of us, “I found your reservation – it was filed under ‘Eddy’.” Sure.
Okay, I felt a little guilty brushing past the hoi polloi clustered at the entrance but Eddy and Paula are regulars all year ’round (inside they were greeted by every worker, from bus boy to waiters) and heck, I’ve always wondered what it was like to have the velvet rope opened for my dining party. Turns out, it’s just grand. Food was excellent, by the way and, compared to Greenwich, a relative bargain.