Citarella specialty market opens in Westhampton Beach

Westhampton has always been an outlier among Hamptons towns. True, it has "Hampton" in its name, but it also lies 10 miles west of the Shinnecock Canal and 20 miles west of where Route 27 narrows to two lanes and, thus, produces the most iconic Hamptons experience — sitting in traffic.

But on Thursday, Westhampton Beach got significantly Hamptonier with the opening of Citarella, the Manhattan-based specialty market that also operates in East Hampton (2002), Bridgehampton (2009) and Southampton (2014).

Despite the chain’s steady progress westward, owner Joe Gurrera hadn’t seriously considered Westhampton Beach until the pandemic. "It used to be a summer community," he said. "Even in April and May, I’d visit friends here and it was a ghost town. Dead of winter? Forget it."

But, after COVID, he saw people spending more of their year in Westhampton and the surrounding communities of Quogue, Remsenburg and Eastport. In 2023, Citarella announced its plans to take over the site that had been The Claddagh Restaurant and Tap Room and build a market that, at 5,000 square feet, is a little smaller than its siblings to the east.

Stuffed into that 5,000 square feet are all the wares that Citarella has become known for: pristine seafood, prime dry-aged beef, fresh produce, international cheeses, artisanal bread, elegant cakes and pie, fresh and dried pasta, sweet and savory condiments from all over the world and prepared foods ranging from sushi to baked salmon to spinach pie.

Katina Mayer, of Quogue, was there on opening day and soon her cart was overflowing with flowers, pesto, salsa, cookies, bread, fruit and more. "It’s the first weekend we are entertaining," she said.

Mayer said she used to shop at Citarella in Southampton but the traffic just became too much for her. She’s also a patron of local shops such as Schmidt's Country Market in Quogue and Justin’s Chop Shop in Westhampton Beach and was at pains to say she was not abandoning them. "Citarella’s is a one-stop shop, quicker and with more options — even though it’s more expensive. When I’m entertaining, it’s just more convenient."

It’s true that much of what you’ll find at Citarella could be sourced from a combination of Schmidt's and Justin’s; Mill Road Cheese Shop, Fruit King and Sidney’s Taylor Made Cuisine in Westhampton Beach; Lighthouse Seafood in Hampton Bays. But the variety of breads, imported pasta and radicchio (Tardivo, Treviso and Castelfranco) is impossible to duplicate in the immediate area.

Guerrera himself has a great regard for the local mom-and-pops. "We used to be a mom-and-pop," he said of the 71-year-old Upper West Side fish store he took over in 1983. "Then we added meat, cheese, prepared food — and started expanding." Aside from the four East End stores, he operates Citarellas on the Upper West and East Sides, the West Village and Greenwich, Connecticut.

Lauren Pignataro and her daughter, Julie, had come to the new store from Hampton Bays, which is at the midpoint between Southampton and Westhampton Beach. Lauren was focused on the steaks and chops while Julie was more excited about "more truffle and organic products, the spicy tuna rolls" and the general "Erewhon vibe." (Erewhon is an upscale grocery chain in Los Angeles with a celebrity clientele with whom it collaborates on smoothies — Kourtney Kardashian’s Poosh Tonic, Olivia Rodrigo’s Good 4 Ur Guts).

"We usually go to Citarella’s in Southampton," Lauren said. "This is a little smaller but it seems better organized — and the traffic between here and home is much better."

Citarella, 141 Montauk Hwy., Westhampton Beach, 631-283-6600, citarella.com. Open daily from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.