Donohue's East opens in Westhampton Beach
Fish-and-chips at Donohue's East in Westhampton Beach. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
It’s hard to imagine a new restaurant with an older soul than Donohue’s East in Westhampton Beach. It debuted last month, but carries with it 75 years of history: The Manhattan landmark from which it descends opened in 1950, and the Long Island apple doesn’t fall very far from the Upper East Side tree.
Owner Maureen Donohue, whose father and grandfather founded Donohue’s, lives in Hampton Bays. A few years ago, she was approached by a group of local customers who loved the restaurant in the city and wanted to buy a commercial property here so she could establish a satellite.
The Post Stop Cafe (a stripling that opened in 1979 but has been shuttered since 2023) fit the bill. Donohue left the bones of the establishment intact — red tablecloths, lots of wood, a separate bar — but de-frilled it, removing the lace curtains and floral stencils on the white walls, replacing the bentwood chairs with more substantial ones.
Donohue's East is open in Westhampton Beach. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
The menu is essentially the same as the one in Manhattan and could have been written in 1950: About the trendiest things on it are a goat cheese and beet salad ($24) and broiled branzino ($39). Otherwise you’re looking at shrimp cocktail ($25), cheeseburger ($23), fish & chips ($38), broiled Boston scrod ($38), roast Maryland turkey with stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce ($35) and "Dublin broil" (sliced flank steak with brown gravy and mushrooms, $35). Double-cut pork chops, prime filet mignon and prime sirloin are all priced according to the market. Is there another restaurant on Long Island where you can order a side of peas?
Even though she opened in a village where virtually every eatery (Fauna, Flora, Salt & Loft, Daphne’s, Ivy on Main, The Patio, Seven Beach Lane) is serving a variation of farm-to-table New American cuisine with global influences, Maureen Donohue had no interest in "doing the fancy stuff. People just want to have a burger, a steak, a piece of broiled fish without the fancy sauce," she said. Earlier in the week, she noted, they'd run a special of steak au poivre. "I made sure to put the sauce on the side."
Donohue’s East, 144 Main St., Westhampton Beach, 631-288-9777, Instagram: @donohues_east. Open Tuesday 5 to 10 p.m., Wednesday to Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday 11:30 to 9 p.m. The bar is open until 11:45 Tuesday to Sunday.
