Fish - Where Fishermen See Stars

Fish – Where Fishermen See Stars

For some travelers, it’s at Exit 70, the gateway off the Long Island Expressway. For others, it’s passing Linda Scott’s enormous steel sculpture of a deer, “Stargazer,” in Manorville, or at the first glimpse of open water in Hampton Bays. But the best milestone might be the weathered blue nautical sign for the Seafood Shop in Wainscott and its promise of exuberant beach clambakes, fish fries and oysters bursting with the taste of the ocean.

For 40 years, the Seafood Shop has offered some of the freshest fish on the East End, served up from a squat storefront right beside the Montauk Highway. Steel-and-glass cases line the spare rectangular room, filled deep with whole fish on ice, fillets and shellfish. Tanks brim with live lobsters. A center island holds produce and fragrant herbs. Blue crabs from nearby Georgica Pond, brought in by Harry Lester, age 80-something, fill a plastic bin on the checkered blue-and-white tile floor.

Much of this haul still comes straight from the source. Fishermen come and go through the back door, bringing in the latest catch to be sold or packed in ice and sent to the commercial market in Hunts Point in the Bronx.

“I got porgies, bluefish and fluke, still flapping!” Charles Niggles said as he backed into the rear warehouse on a recent Sunday morning.

A different kind of local takes the front door. Colin Mather, the store’s owner, is on a first-name basis with his customers, whether Jimmy (Buffett), Richard (Gere), Martha (Stewart) or Ina (Garten).

“I’ve shopped here for years,” said Gary Wachtel, a regular visitor, explaining the appeal. “Even though the store is supposed to close at 6:30, they stay open later. The fish is fresh and local, and the people warm and accommodating.”

Mr. Mather, 43, grew up nearby but wasn’t born to his trade. “If you’d told me as a boy that I would work in the fish industry,” he said, “I’d have answered, ‘Are you nuts?’ ”

When he was 10, a flounder bone that became lodged in his throat landed him in the hospital. “It took a while for me to eat fish again,” he said.

But when Mr. Mather tried to join the Marines in 1987, he said, “they didn’t take me because of my flat feet.” That didn’t prevent him from helping out at the Seafood Shop, shucking oysters and steaming lobsters. Later, he traveled a bit but kept coming back, and he ended up working there full time. In 2000, he took over the business from John Haessler, an original co-founder.

Even as the Hamptons have changed — fewer fishing boats, more yachts — the Seafood Shop really hasn’t that much. Mr. Mather worries about sustainability now, and customers eat more of his fish raw. This year he hired an actual chef, but he might face a mutiny if he tinkers with the thick and delicious chowders.

The sports cars keep pulling up in front, the pickup trucks around back; and the Seafood Shop continues to embody the region’s salty past and its celebrity present. At few places do fishermen and film stars rub shoulders more often.

“I remember the first time Roy Scheider came in,” Mr. Mather said the other day, reminiscing about the “Jaws” leading man. “I was completely star-struck, and he saw it. So, with a twinkle in his eye, he looked straight at me and said, ‘I think I’ll have the shark today.’ ”

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