
Seafood restaurant The Tauk at Trail’s End to replace Montauk’s oldest eatery

Trail's End restaurant in Montauk is becoming The Tauk at Trail's End. Credit: Ian J. Stark
Trail’s End, said to be Montauk’s oldest restaurant, is expected to open in about a month, with a new name and under new ownership.
“We’re shooting for Memorial Day weekend,” said owner Michael Nasti. Nasti, a businessman who has vacationed in Montauk since 1993, added that he eventually wants the new spot, called The Tauk at Trail’s End, to be a year-round restaurant. His investments include sand-and-gravel mining.
The South Euclid Avenue spot, near the downtown traffic circle, was sold in November for $2.15 million.
Nasti said a full renovation will take place before the 2017 season, if permits are approved. An outdoor patio for diners is planned.
Lunch and dinner menus are being developed by chef Steven Paluba of Atlantic Terrace Motel in Montauk. Nasti expects prices to be generally in the $20 to $30 range for main courses, with some higher. The Tauk will be “American-style, with lots of seafood, steaks, chops” plus pastas.
Paluba has been featured on the reality TV series, “Hell’s Kitchen,” said sales agent Dylan Eckardt of Nest Seekers International. Paluba is a partner in the restaurant.
Staples at the departed, 56-seat Trail’s End included lobster bisque, raw clams, and roast duck. Eckardt, a Montauk native, said that while the restaurant is new, it will strive to keep the local spirit of “what it was.”
Nasti said: “We are trying to give this a similar feel . . . to make it comfortable to locals” as well as seasonal visitors.
The major part of the renovation would be undertaken for the 2017 season. Anna Cappelen of Curious Yellow Design in Manhattan is working on it.
Trail’s End, which had been owned and operated by the Rottach family for more than three decades, dated to 1927 at a location on Fort Pond Bay. Upended in the devastating 1938 hurricane, the restaurant subsequently relocated to the current downtown site, long opposite the movie house, which is gone, too.