Ochi Vongerichten Is Working Through Her Summer Vacation

Vongerichten and her husband are hosting a summer-long pop-up in East Hampton. Illustration: Margalit Cutler

For Ochi Vongerichten, summer in the Hamptons is not (necessarily) about relaxing. She and her husband, Cédric, are running an East Hampton outpost that combines their Nolita restaurants, Wayan & Ma•dé, through Labor Day. But she still finds some time to surf with her kids — “I try to keep up so we can hang out,” she says — and host friends who drop by. Spending the summer out east also means Vongerichten (whose father-in-law is, yes, Jean-Georges) gets to enjoy the local seafood, and the local soft serve. 

Friday, August 2
I wake up between 7:30 and eight. The only coffee we have at home is Nespresso’s Indonesia pods, and we have oat milk. My husband and I drink this every morning. I switched to oat milk after COVID. We were living upstate, and we were splurging on butter from this farm Kriemhild. I think it’s the best butter in New York. We also ate a lot of local cheese. When we checked with our doctor, our livers were not good — too much dairy — so we switched to oat milk.

We have a house in Montauk, and my kids have been going to summer camp. Usually, in the summer, I stay with the kids while they’re at day camp, but this year is my first full-time summer job, having to run a restaurant for the whole summer.

I drink Djamu, a turmeric drink, from my friend’s company that bottles it. I used to make it myself, and now I don’t have time. I also ate some dates. I don’t want to eat too much for breakfast, and this fills me up for a couple of hours with a boost of energy. I think it’s good, better than eating pastry or eggs — I’m trying to eliminate that.

We have guests visiting. They’re only staying for only 12 hours, so, of course, we take them to Duryea. It’s so delicious, our favorite restaurant in Montauk. It’s an outdoor restaurant by the bay, and with the scene and the music, you feel like you’re in the south of France. The food is very simple. They’re very well known for lobster Cobb salad. It’s huge. People make fun of it because it’s a $98 salad, but it’s worth it, and it’s huge, so you can share it with a big group. The clambake is amazing, too. They use all local clams along with shrimp and squid. It’s delicious. We also have a glass of Champagne to say, “Cheers — welcome to Montauk.”

We are doing our Out East pop-up all summer. We started last year with two weeks at Rosie’s, and it went well, so this year, our partner asked us to do it the whole summer but in a different space. The one before was only 70 seats; this year it’s 180 seats indoors and out, and we’re serving menus from both of our restaurants, Wayan and Ma•dé. Wayan is more Indonesian, and Ma•dé is more focused on seafood and vegetables with a hint of Southeast Asia. It’s a different flavor than many of the restaurants out here — and we’ve been eating out pretty much every day to support them.

We head to the restaurant around 3 p.m. We have rice-and-chicken chili for family meal before service. It is a busy Friday. Everyone is very needy, and we’re trying to accommodate and please all the guests. I’ve told my staff, “We are an Indonesian concept, and when you go to Indonesia, everyone is very welcoming and very sincere.” We never say “no” to anyone. It’s a lot of moving pieces in our seating area. I’m always at the door with the hostess, and I check on the guests when we slow down.

When I get home, I don’t feel like eating too much, so I have some cantaloupe from Amber Waves, which is just delicious. It’s so sweet. It’s like what you find in the south of France.

Saturday, August 3
We have another guest coming today, so I spend most of my day preparing for that. I wake up, I drink my Nespresso Indonesia with oat milk, and, later, I have my Djamu and dates. My husband, the kids, and I all go surfing. They are much better than I am. I started in 2020 just to try something new. It’s difficult. When you catch the wave, you feel so good and accomplished. Being in the water with no cell phone and nobody bothering you — it feels very relaxing.

Our house is in Ditch Plain, and we’re a five-minute walk from a food truck called Ditch Witch. They serve a kimchee Reuben sandwich that is so good. I have that for lunch while waiting for my guests to arrive. I don’t want to eat too much because I know our guest, one of our business partners, wants to go to Surf Lodge for dinner.

When we get there, we order snacks, not really eating. The kids stay home because it’s too chaotic there on a Saturday to bring them. I order a reposado tequila on the rocks. They’re well known for their chicken fingers with fries. We get that and I eat lobster pasta — delicious. My other friend happens to also be there at the same time, so we all celebrate her birthday together. I get a bite of the birthday cake from Round Swamp. It tastes like a birthday-cake muffin.

Sunday, August 4
I wake up and have my Nespresso, and we spend the morning relaxing. My friend who’s having a birthday is still in town, so Cédric cooks for everyone. He makes lobster and corn, which is so sweet this time of the year. He boils the lobster and uses the shells to make bouillabaisse, like a bisque, before adding gochujang to it. I add more sambal — sambal terasi that my friend Beliza makes. I always buy her sambal. The terasi is the sambal with shrimp paste and onion.

At 2:30, I go to Montauket with my friend Putri for drinks. She’s pregnant, so she has a mocktail. My go-to drink is tequila on the rocks. After the drink, she wants soft serve. We go to John’s Drive-In. It’s beautiful there, an old-school drive-in. I get vanilla with chocolate crunch.

For dinner, Cédric makes roast chicken and rice with sambal bawang that’s also made by my friend Beliza. It’s good when you eat roast chicken with rice at home; you can eat it with your hands. Everything tastes so much better when you eat with your hands.

Monday, August 5
I wake up and have my cappuccino. It’s a rainy day, so we mostly just relax around the house. The kids don’t have camp this week, so we go to the Ditch Witch food truck again for lunch. I have a tuna poke bowl.

I am eating a lot of seafood right now because next week I am going to Argentina to eat a lot of meat. Chicken is the only meat that I’m eating because I know I’m going to be gorging on beef in Argentina. It’s our first time going — our son got invited to a soccer camp there — and we plan to eat steak for lunch and dinner every day.

Mondays are for admin work, so Cédric and I look at our budget, food costs, ordering, everything. It’s a lot of paperwork, and we don’t do service. Instead, Cédric is like, “Oh, I don’t feel like cooking,” so we all go to the Crow’s Nest for dinner. It’s near our home, and it’s very nice, a beautiful scene in Montauk. We all share a ricotta and honey appetizer served with the bread. Then I have lobster pasta, which is so good here.

Tuesday, August 6
I have my cappuccino and Djamu in the morning and relax before service. We are very lucky; we can enjoy the day before going to work because in the morning we can surf, we can have a nice lunch, and we can spend time with the kids in the afternoon — or the kids can come to work with us. It’s very productive. Then you have something to look forward to in the evening, working and seeing guests. It’s very pleasing, and the feedback from the guests has been very, very positive. We try to make everyone feel welcome. Sometimes, the restaurants in the Hamptons can be very intense and not welcoming, so we want to change that. Everyone is in vacation mode, and we want to accept them with open arms.

Lunch, on our way to work, is sandwiches from Carissa Bakery. It fills me up, so I don’t eat family meal. After work, Cédric is like, “We have nothing at home, and then we’re going to the city tomorrow, so what should we do?” We go to il Buco al Mare and share everything: Octopus, clams, pizza, I have a spritz, which is not one of my usual drinks, but I want something fizzy. It is so hot, so I like how bubbly and sweet it is, especially after running around for service.

It’s funny because Cédric only goes grocery shopping if he wants to cook something for lunch or dinner. In the morning, after he finishes surfing, he goes to Gosman’s Market and then just buys everything for that day. Everything is so good here. We eat a lot of fluke and sea bass and scallops, all cooked simply — nothing complicated.

Wednesday, August 7
I wake up and have my cappuccino and Djamu and dates, and then we head back to the city. It’s my first time back in a month. Only Cédric goes back and forth. We make the drive in three hours. It can take four or five, but we pick a good time to go.

My pregnant friend, Putri, is in the city, too, and she wanted to go to Din Tai Fung. I got a table, and I met her there after work finished, around 8:30. The restaurant is so big — 450 seats! Oh my God!

I order the lychee mojito, soup dumplings, spicy wonton, and noodles. I always order the string beans when we eat at Din Tai Fung in Asia, and they taste the same here. The best is the chocolate dumplings with milk cream for dipping. It’s worth paying extra for the milk cream. This is my new obsession. I want to go back there just for the chocolate dumplings with this dip.