Long Island restaurateur Gillis Poll appears on Apple TV's 'Your Friends & Neighbors'

Although set in the fictional wealthy Westchester hamlet of Westmont Village and mostly filmed in that county, Apple TV's "Your Friends & Neighbors" has used several Long Island locations for its second season — homes in Old Westbury and Quogue, exteriors in Southampton, according to the show's location team. In fact, one memorable scene in the season's first episode was shot in a mansion in the Brookville/Oyster Bay area, and featured a cameo from a well-known local restaurateur. (The series stars Jon Hamm as one of Westmont's residents, a fired hedge-fund manager turned cat burglar.)

Gillis Poll, 74, and his fiancee, Tricia Spurgeon, 51, can be spotted in a brief tête-à-tête at a decadent cocktail party with series co-star James Marsden, who plays uber-wealthy bachelor Owen Ashe. Poll is co-owner, with his brother George, of eight restaurants including Bryant & Cooper in Roslyn, and Toku and Cipollini in Manhasset. (A ninth will open next March in Roslyn's former Jolly Fisherman space.)  

The couple gets some brief screen time in which they shake hands and exchange a few sentences with Marsden, who points out that there are plenty of bars, with Spurgeon replying, "Wow. Thank you."

The cameo was shot about a year ago and involved 11 takes, according to Poll, who said he got the gig because he has "connections" with the production. "We were there for hours," Poll said. "It was delightful and fun, other than the fact that it took so much time." The couple left the set at 2 a.m.

Their directive was to dress for a black-tie event, and the two wore their own clothes. Poll donned a Hugo Boss tuxedo and Spurgeon wore a Ralph Lauren gown and "some fantastic jewelry." They were offered hair and makeup services, but Spurgeon said, "I did my own, though they touched up my lipstick here and there." And though it was billed as a cocktail party, and they were holding drinks, "it was water," she admitted.

While Poll and Spurgeon didn’t run into any of the major players aside from Marsden at the shoot, they were invited to a screening at The New York Historical in Manhattan last week and hobnobbed with the stars at a swanky after-party held at the borough's Metropolitan Club.

"We were all excited and reminiscing with some of the cast," Poll said.

Spurgeon added, "It was such a great time and fun to spend time learning how movies are filmed."