Vongerichten and her husband are hosting a pop-up in East Hampton throughout the summer.
Image: Margalit Cutler
For Ochi Vongerichten, summer in the Hamptons isn’t necessarily about relaxing. She and her husband, Cédric, run an East Hampton location that houses their Nolita restaurants Wayan & Ma•dé through Labor Day. But she still finds time to surf with her kids—”I try to keep up so we can hang out,” she says—and host friends who come over. Spending summer out east also means Vongerichten (whose father-in-law is, yes, Jean-Georges) enjoying the local seafood and soft serve ice cream.
Friday, August 2
I wake up between 7:30 and 8 a.m. The only coffee we have at home is Nespresso Indonesia capsules, and we have oat milk. My husband and I drink that every morning. After COVID, I switched to oat milk. We lived in the upstate and treated ourselves to butter from this farm Kriemhild. I think it’s the best butter in all of New York. We also ate a lot of local cheese. When we went to see our doctor, it turned out our liver was not OK – too much dairy – so we switched to oat milk.
We have a house in Montauk and my kids went to summer camp. I usually stay with the kids during the summer while they’re at day camp, but this year is my first full-time summer job where I have to run a restaurant all summer long.
I drink Djamu, a turmeric drink, from my friend’s company that bottles it. I used to make it myself, but now I don’t have time. I also ate some dates. I don’t want to eat too much for breakfast, and this fills me up for a few hours and gives me an energy boost. I find it good, better than eating pastries or eggs – I try to avoid those.
We have guests visiting. They only stay for 12 hours, so of course we take them to Duryea. It’s so delicious, our favorite restaurant in Montauk. It’s an open-air restaurant on the bay, and with the scene and the music, you feel like you’re in the south of France. The food is very simple. They are very well known for their lobster cobb salad. It’s huge. People make fun of it because the salad is $98, but it’s worth it, and it’s huge, so you can share it with a big group. The clam dinner is also incredible. They use all local clams, as well as shrimp and squid. It’s delicious. We also have a glass of champagne to say, “Cheers – welcome to Montauk.”
We do our Out East pop-up all summer long. We started with two weeks at Rosie’s last year and it went well, so this year our partner asked us to do it all summer long but in a different location. The previous one only had 70 seats; this year it’s 180 seats inside and outside and we serve menus from our two restaurants, Wayan and Ma•dé. Wayan is more Indonesian and Ma•dé focuses more on seafood and vegetables with a hint of Southeast Asia. It has a different taste than many of the restaurants here – and we’ve been eating out practically every day to support them.
We go to the restaurant around 3pm. Before service, we have rice and chicken chili as a family meal. It’s a busy Friday. Everyone is very demanding and we try to accommodate and please all guests. I told my staff, “We are an Indonesian concept and when you come to Indonesia, everyone is very warm and sincere.” We never say “no” to anyone. There are a lot of moving parts in our seating area. I’m always at the door with the hostess, checking on guests when we slow down.
When I get home, I have no appetite, so I eat a cantaloupe from Amber Waves, which is just delicious. It’s so sweet. Just like you find in the South of France.
Saturday, August 3
Another guest is coming today, so I spend most of my day preparing for it. I wake up, drink my Nespresso Indonesia with oat milk, and later eat my djamu and dates. My husband, kids and I all go surfing. They are much better than me. I started surfing in 2020 just to try something new. It’s difficult. When you catch the wave, you feel so good and successful. Being in the water, without a cell phone and without anyone bothering you – it’s very relaxing.
Our house is in Ditch Plain and we are a five minute walk from a food truck called Ditch Witch. They have a super delicious kimchi Reuben sandwich. I eat that for lunch while I wait for my guests. I don’t want to eat too much because I know our guest, one of our business partners, wants to go to the Surf Lodge for dinner.
When we get there, we order snacks but don’t really eat. The kids stay home because it’s too chaotic there on a Saturday to bring them. I order a reposado tequila on the rocks. They’re known for their chicken fingers and fries. We take that and I eat lobster pasta – delicious. My other friend happens to be there at the same time, so we’re all celebrating her birthday together. I take a slice of Round Swamp’s birthday cake. It tastes like a birthday cake muffin.
Sunday, August 4
I wake up, drink my Nespresso coffee and we spend the morning relaxing. My friend, whose birthday it is, is still in town, so Cédric cooks for everyone. He makes lobster with corn, which is so sweet this time of year. He cooks the lobster and makes bouillabaisse, a kind of soup soup, with the shells before adding gochujang. I add more sambal – sambal terasi, which my friend Beliza makes. I always buy her sambal. The terasi is the sambal with shrimp paste and onions.
At 2:30 p.m. I go to Montauket with my friend Putri for a drink. She is pregnant, so she drinks a mocktail. My favorite drink is tequila on the rocks. After the drink, she wants soft serve ice cream. We go to John’s Drive-In. It’s beautiful there, an old school drive-in. I get vanilla with chocolate brittle.
For dinner, Cédric makes fried chicken and rice with sambal bawang, which my friend Beliza also makes. Fried chicken and rice is very good at home, you can eat it with your hands. Everything tastes so much better when you eat with your hands.
Monday, August 5
I wake up and drink my cappuccino. It’s a rainy day, so we’re mostly relaxing at home. The kids don’t have camp this week, so we go back to the Ditch Witch food truck for lunch. I eat a poke bowl with tuna.
I’m eating a lot of fish and seafood at the moment because next week I’m going to Argentina where I’ll be eating a lot of meat. Chicken is the only meat I eat because I know I’ll be stuffing myself with beef in Argentina. This is our first time there – our son has been invited to a soccer camp there – and we plan to eat steak every day for lunch and dinner.
Mondays are admin work, so Cédric and I look at our budget, food costs, orders, everything. It’s a lot of paperwork and we don’t offer any service. Instead, Cédric says, “Oh, I don’t feel like cooking,” so we all go to the Crow’s Nest for dinner. It’s near our house and very nice, a beautiful view in Montauk. We all share a ricotta and honey appetizer with bread. Then I eat lobster pasta, which is so good here.
Tuesday, August 6
I have my cappuccino and djamu in the morning and relax before service. We are very lucky; we can enjoy the day before we go to work because in the morning we can surf, have a nice lunch and spend time with the kids in the afternoon – or the kids can come to work with us. It’s very productive. Then in the evening you have something to look forward to: working and seeing guests. It’s very pleasant and the feedback from guests has been very, very positive. We try to make everyone feel welcome. Sometimes the restaurants in the Hamptons can be very intense and not welcoming, so we want to change that. Everyone is in vacation mode and we want to welcome them with open arms.
For lunch on the way to work, we have sandwiches from Carissa Bakery. This fills me up, so I don’t eat family food. After work, Cédric says, “We don’t have anything at home and we’re going into town tomorrow, so what should we do?” We go to Il Buco al Mare and share everything: octopus, mussels, pizza, I have a spritz, which isn’t one of my usual drinks, but I want something fizzy. It’s so hot, so I like how bubbly and sweet it is, especially after running around to get served.
It’s funny because Cédric only goes shopping when he wants to cook something for lunch or dinner. In the morning, after he’s done surfing, he goes to Gosman’s Market and then just buys everything for that day. Everything is so good here. We eat a lot of flounder, sea bass and scallops, all simply prepared – nothing complicated.
Wednesday, August 7
I wake up, drink my cappuccino, eat djamu and eat dates, and then we drive back to the city. It’s the first time I’ve been back here in a month. Only Cédric drives back and forth. We manage the journey in three hours. It could take four or five hours, but we choose a good time to leave.
My pregnant friend Putri is also in town and wanted to go to Din Tai Fung. I got a table and met her there after work around 8:30. The restaurant is so big – 450 seats! Oh my God!
I order the lychee mojito, soup dumplings, spicy wontons and noodles. I always order the green beans when we eat at Din Tai Fung in Asia and they taste just as good here. The best is the chocolate dumplings with milk cream for dipping. It’s worth paying extra for the milk cream. This is my new obsession. I want to go back there just for the chocolate dumplings with this dip.
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