TR Restaurant & Bar Now Accepting Holiday Catering Reservations Tom Rutyna Offers Creative and Classic Hamptonian Seafood Cuisine

Chef-owner Tom Rutyna of TR Restaurant & Bar (78 Foster Avenue, Hampton Bays, New York 11946 [631] 728-8700), a new seafood restaurant located just north of the Ponquogue Bridge and behind Tully’s Seafood Market in Hampton Bays, is gearing up for the 2011 holiday season and is now taking reservations for holiday parties and private events.

Set on Foster Creek, which feeds into Shinnecock Bay, this year-round creative and classic “Hamptonian” seafood restaurant utilizes the freshest, high-quality ingredients from local fishermen and purveyors.

Joanne Starkey of The New York Times rated TR Restaurant & Bar “Worth It” and declared it “a year-round, rough-and-ready spot destined to be a perennial favorite.”  Richard Scholem of Long Island Pulse and former critic for The New York Times says, “It’s worth finding” while Peter Gianotti of Newsday calls it “one of the season’s top choices to go fishin’ and get crackin’.”

Noting Rutyna’s dedication to fresh fish, Joanne Starkey of The New York Times once said he “is at least as much a fisherman as he is a fine chef.”  During his ten years as executive chef at Coast Grill in Southampton, owner Joe Luppi, who tested recipes for former New York Times’ critic Craig Claiborne and columnist Chef Pierre Franey, noted there is “very little that Rutyna doesn’t know about fish.”  His knowledge of seafood is extreme and he follows his own motto, “I know what I know.  What I don’t, I’ll learn fast.”

Aiming to set the bar in the Hamptons by which to judge seafood, agriculture and wine, Rutyna offers a seafood menu full of creative dishes and refined old age classics.  Prices range from $8 to $15 for appetizers, $24 to $35 for entrées, and $8 to $12 for desserts.  Patrons will find an array of local, fresh fish caught by local, skilled fishermen.  Appetizers include: whole Maya prawns, grilled with olive oil and lemon; tuna sashimi with wasabi, soy and ponzu; and billi bi, a mussel stew.  Entrées feature: lobsters (market price), fire roasted with olive oil, lemon and tarragon or steamed with clarified butter and lemon; BBQ shrimp, Louisiana-style with rice and black beans; and linguine with white clam sauce.

For further information, call TR Restaurant & Bar at (631) 728-8700 or “like” the restaurant on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TRrestaurantbar.