FEATURES

THE LAUNDRY CREATES A SUMMER FEAST TO CELEBRATE ITS 28TH ANNIVERSARY AND ITS LOCAL PURVEYORS OF FINE FOOD

Executive Chef Andrew Engle, Tracy Bonbrest and husband Stuart Kreisler make it look easy. But maintaining consistently excellent cuisine able to capture three generations of loyal customers can only be achieved by hard work, dedication and knowing how to combine all the right ingredients. And in the case of The Laundry, that means supporting local farmers, winemakers, brewers, cheesemakers, bakers and other purveyors to represent the best of what the East End has to offer.

Bonbrest's father Billy designed the original restaurant with Norman Jaffe around an existing building—a defunct steam laundry—hence the name. He opened in 1980 as managing partner with a few principals and a group of limited partners, among them noted ICM agent Sam Cohn, who brought the late great choreographer Bob Fosse along with him. The opening night's star-studded guest list included Lauren Bacall, Roy Scheider, Liza Minelli, Sidney Lumet and Peter Stone, to name a few. Bonbrest, who was 18 at the time, still has fond memories of that exceptional evening.

Her brother Bill ran the restaurant following their father's death, but after years of living and surfing in East Hampton and Manhattan, he was lured to California, where he remains active in the restaurant business. Despite the distance, he continues to help his family maintain the integrity of the restaurant.

After they married in the early '90s, Bonbrest and Kreisler restructured The Laundry's partnership, buying out the limited partners. The goal was to preserve the East End institution the restaurant had become and to ensure that it stayed in the family. At the end of the decade, they were faced with a problem not uncommon to even the most popular restaurants—the termination of their lease. Forced to leave their well-established location, find a new space, renovate and equip it was a daunting task. The Laundry's loyal clientele supported the move and returned in force when the restaurant reopened.