A group with a strong local following is making a go at it with Spring Close Restaurant (341 Pantigo Road, East Hampton.) The place has been utterly transformed since former tenant the Laundry said goodbye for good last year.
Floors have been stripped down to their original hardwood, sleek fireplaces have been redone in stone, and banquettes have been removed allowing for light spillage that makes the space an ideal lunch spot.
Colin Keillor, the man behind the Spring Close vision, spent the past decade as a bartender with a law degree before striking out on his own. He was the frontman at an English pub in East Hampton called Nichol's that is wildly popular among locals and minor celebrities like Sir Paul McCartney. After he and most of the staff walked out on a new owner there last fall, Keillor set out to find investors and a place to call his own—and Spring Close was born.
The menu is simple and unpretentious, offering a range of classic pub fare, salads, steaks, and sliders— strikingly similar to Mr. Keillor's last establishment, and not surprising considering a former chef at Nichol's, Jairo Fernandez, jumped ship to work with head chef Mike Lomasney at Spring Close.
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