Highlands Team to Open Byron at the Surf Lodge Friday

Now that The Surf Lodge in Montauk has new owners, they are launching a new restaurant with the owners of Village favorites Highlands and Whitehall, and they're putting an Aussie chef at the helm. Byron at The Surf Lodge opens May 25.

Byron Bay, in New South Wales, Australia is the ultimate surfer town with miles of pristine beaches. Funnily enough it doesn’t have many great restaurants, but Chris Rendell, a chef who hails from Melbourne and ran the show at the recently shuttered Mary Queen of Scots, says he’s bringing a menu inspired by Byron’s simplistic lifestyle with an emphasis on the farm to table movement, to Montauk.

"It’s based on Australia’s simple approach to its style of cuisine: simple, clean, fresh, local and organic market driven with a focus on fresh seafood and a soft whisper of Asian influences," says Rendell. Before Mary Queen of Scots, he worked at Public and Double Crown. In Australia, he worked with star chef Neil Perry, and in London at Christine Manfield’s Paramount.

Byron will have casual dining with seating for 65 outside, and 60 inside. The menu, below, features salt and pepper squid with lime and tomato chili jam (that’s jelly); black pepper crusted chilled tuna with a red onion-Worcestershire dressing; and grilled catch of the day served with lemon, herb oil, garlic rosemary potatoes and a baby gem salad. The restaurant is already on OpenTable but diners will have to call 631-668-1562 for reservations for now.

— Julie Earle-Levine
· All Coverage of The Surf Lodge [Curbed Hamptons]
· Byron [Official Site]