5 Best Places to Watch the Super Bowl in East Hampton, Montauk

This Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday. If you are not a huge Patriots fan or Eagles fan the chances are you will not be in Minnesota at the game live, but watching it somewhere. If you are not if fact hosting a Super Bowl party at home or going to a private party, here are some suggestions.

When I lived in East Hampton Town for a decade sadly I was never the owner of the home and cable TV so I needed to go watch the Super Bowl somewhere else.

My favorite spot, the #1 spot, I believe, will be Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett. They have a huge buffet and they have a movie theater size screen with the game on it with loud sound and chairs. Also there are TV sets all around the bars. Even in the back room. You can watch it semi-privately or with a bunch of real "professional" fans. When stuff happens the place erupts with a roar as if you were at the game.

When the Giants won there last Super Bowl I was at the Talkhouse and what a party followed! I am guessing Stephen Day a long time Talkhouse bartender from Philly will have his eyes on the game.

My second favorite place is the Shagwong, in Montauk Village. When I lived in Montauk this was my football viewing venue. Historic, quaint, cozy and colorful. Truthfully only half the folks watch the football games with some real full time bar dudes just there because this is their everyday clubhouse. One time I was watching a classic Payton Manning /Tom Brady game at the bar when the dude next to me just kept talking to the TV set and to me. It was famed photographer Peter Beard. Just before halftime in walked a posse of famous world class models who stood around us for the second half. It created a nice atmosphere.

The one year I lived in East Hampton Village I lived in the center of town on Barnes Lane behind the Golden Pear. My go to place was a new (its first year, actually) Italian restaurant/bar with three big screen TVs. Of course I am talking about Cittanuova on Newtown Road in the heart of East Hampton Village.

From day one, "forever" long time bartender J.J. Jensen was the best company during all sporting events, but he also throws a great Monday Night football party and my Super Bowl there was phenomenal. Every year since I thank J.J. for the way he treated me those first years I was out east. He taught me so much. Including, there are no "ticks" on the Maidstone Golf Course in the rough tall grass. Why not? because they are not "allowed!"

Now over the years in East Hampton Village loyal followers of rugby and the New York Yankees always had prime seats at Rowdy Hall, also in East Hampton Village. This may have something to do with two long time bartenders Joe Gonzalez and Dublin born Dermot Hickey. Warning: This is a small bar and the capacity is not anything like any of the other places but the atmosphere is wonderful and very "local."

My last location is for those, perhaps, women, who have very limited interest in the game but love good wine, fine gentlemen, and great atmosphere. For these fans I recommend The American Hotel in Sag Harbor. If you are going to sample wine during the game the American Hotel have one of the finest wine lists not only in the Hamptons, but on earth. Most likely longtime owner — since 1971— Ted Conklin and famed gentleman bartender Vinnie Rom — over 30 years of service — will make you feel at home surrounded by the famous red bricks some of which date back to 1846 when the American Hotel became the premier location in Sag Harbor after the Phelps Hotel was lost in the Great Sag Harbor Fire of 1845.

I can assure you watching the Super Bowl at any one of these five locations will add to the thrill of seeing something unique to only Americans, that being NFL football. The first Super Bowl between the then AFL and the established NFL was a game I watched with my dad in our den in Pelham Manor, NY on Jan 15, 1967. In fact it wasn't even called the "Super Bowl," it was called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. I was 12 years old. Watching the commercials, the half-time show and the crazy interest in the game this Sunday, only proves how times have changed.

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Photo courtesy T.J. Clemente.