This summer, Manhattan’s beloved Tusk Bar is heading east for a special seasonal residency at East Hampton’s staple restaurant, Moby’s. The collaboration, which kicked off Memorial Day Weekend and is expected to run through early October, brings a taste of New York City’s cocktail excellence to the Hamptons crowd.
Tusk Bar, recently named one of Esquire’s Best New Bars in America and celebrated for having one of the best martinis in the country, is the sister bar of Brass, both located in a historic Beaux Arts hotel in Manhattan’s NoMad neighborhood.
As Nick Hatsatouris, owner of both Tusk and Moby’s, explains, the bar was designed as “the prelude to the restaurant experience,” evoking “Parisian apartments from the 1920s” with “martinis, oysters, raw bar — that whole thing.”
When asked why he decided to bring Tusk to Moby’s specifically this summer, Hatsatouris said the answer was simple. “Moby’s I own. So, it was natural. I didn’t have to convince anyone.”
Hatsatouris, who co-founded Moby’s in 2012, said the residency is part of a broader tradition of food and beverage programming at the restaurant.
“Over the years, we’ve done… a variety of food and beverage pop-ups every year — whether it’s guest chef stuff or guest bar. We’ve done pizza collaborations… It’s fun for our guests, it’s fun for the visiting bar or restaurant or chef,” he said.
Rather than bring in an outside bar this time, Hatsatouris decided to showcase his own. “I thought, why not use my own bar from the city that has a very high standard of drink?” he shared. “It brings something to our programming [and] makes it fun for our guests at Moby’s, but also allows us to showcase what we’re doing in the city as well.”
The curated menu features a rotation of five to six cocktails, mixing Tusk favorites with new seasonal creations. Current highlights include a gin and tonic riff infused with umé, a smoked olive oil dirty martini known as the Smoke Show, and a spicy margarita variation with passionfruit called the Marigol.
As the weather warms, the team plans to adapt the menu accordingly. “You’ll see some more tropical iterations and things that just feel fun and summer.”
While Tusk’s Manhattan location is known for its intimate, moody, and “very New York City” vibe, Moby’s offers something more laid-back, but no less polished.
“The experience there is not stuffy, it’s not stiff, it’s not pretentious,” Hatsatouris said of Moby’s. “You’re in a nicely designed, nicely appointed space, but you can let your hair down a little bit as well.”
Hatsatouris hopes those who come to Moby’s experience something unique that will also help spread their business’ name.
“I want my Moby’s guests to have something they don’t normally get served… and I want people to know what we’re doing at Tusk,” he said. “It gives us an opportunity to get that brand name out there to a wider audience.”
The residency is already proving a hit. “We’re already seeing just the way that people are excited about it,” he said.
For those looking to experience some of NYC’s best cocktails without leaving the East End, the Tusk Bar at Moby’s offers just that — high-caliber drinks, thoughtful hospitality ,and a taste of the city, reimagined for summer.
