Not In My Backyard: Montauk NIMBYs Killed the Smaller Restaurant. Now They’re Getting the Bigger One.

A hotelier tried to shrink his Italian restaurant plans to appease angry neighbors. The town rejected the compromise — so he’s reviving the larger version they hated even more.

You don’t get better local-politics drama than what’s playing out in Montauk right now.

Here’s the punchline: a group of East Hampton residents spent months rallying against a scaled-back restaurant plan, thinking they were safeguarding their town from a nightlife invasion — and, in the end, they’re going to be neighbors with an even bigger version they desperately tried to block.

Let’s set the table: Este, the Italian restaurant at the center of the scuffle, was slated to rise next to Offshore Montauk — the plush lodge run by California hotel owner Marley Dominguez. Back in December, Dominguez got Planning Board approval for a behemoth of a restaurant: three floors and over 8,000 square feet. Before long, though, a chorus of locals turned the project into an existential crisis. Whispers started flying: the project was a Trojan horse nightclub, not a mellow eatery.

The uproar got so loud that Dominguez dialed things back — swapping in plans for a more intimate, omakase-style spot using local seafood and produce, nixing bar seating, slashing second-floor capacity, cutting back on bathrooms, the whole bit.

Did that satisfy opponents? Not at all. The Planning Board shot down the scaled-back plan last week. Someone on the board told the Post that shrinking the restaurant created all sorts of headaches: the paperwork didn’t match the original approved use, and, supposedly, both versions would top out at basically the same occupancy — a difference of just 11 people.

So, compromise dead and buried, Dominguez shrugged and announced that, fine, he’s sticking with the big seafood palace that already has the green light.

How’d all this spiral in the first place? Remember April? That’s when details of the restaurant leaked to the East Hampton Press. The rumor mill went nuts, and by May, anonymous locals were pushing a petition. They argued there’s no universe in which a restaurant with under 40 seats makes money unless it’s pulling a fast one — meaning it had to be a veiled nightclub.

But, plot twist: the whole petition drive might have been less grassroots and more corporate sabotage. Maybe a business rival put things in motion to trip up Dominguez’s plans and keep the field clear for themselves. Does it matter if that’s true? Not really. The result’s the same. The residents who went all in fighting the scaled-back omakase spot now have to make peace with the three-story original plan.

Sometimes, victory is just a nice, big slab of irony, served cold.

Ty Wenzel

Ty Wenzel is an award-winning writer, designer, and marketing professional with a career spanning fashion, publishing, media, and digital innovation. A recent breast cancer survivor, she began her career as a fashion coordinator for Bloomingdale’s before serving as fashion editor at Cosmopolitan Magazine. Her work has appeared in numerous national publications, including The New York Times, and she is the author of a memoir published by St. Martin’s Press. In 2020, Wenzel co-founded James Lane Post, where she covers lifestyle, real estate, architecture, and interiors. She previously served as a writer and marketing director for The Independent. Her work in journalism, social media, and design has been recognized with multiple PCLI and NYPA awards, including best website design and best magazine. Wenzel is also the founder of the Hamptons-based social media agency TWM Hamptons Social Media, where she develops high-level branding and digital strategy for luxury clients.