VUE Long Island

BY KRISTIN ACCORSI Aer decades spent building one of New York City's most revered culinary careers, Chef Laurent Tourondel is enjoying a different pace in Sag Harbor. As Executive Chef and Partner in the BLT (Bistro Laurent Tourondel) Restaurant Group, Chef Laurent oversees multiple restaurants across New York City, Miami, and Sag Harbor, but is currently enjoying the room to breathe that he finds on the East End. Since putting down roots in the Hamptons in 2010, Chef Laurent has turned his attention to creative endeavors, quiet mornings, and time spent by the ocean. "I worked constantly in New York," he shares. "Late nights, early mornings, I was always doing something. ere's more time to relax in the Hamptons. Aer 6pm, I go to the beach, take a chair, sit down, and it's beautiful." Chef Laurent's days in Sag Harbor follow a very different rhythm from days in New York, echoing a calming pattern that can only be found beside the sea. "I wake up very early in the morning, I paint, and then aer that, which is my peaceful time, like my therapy for me, I cook," says Chef. Aer preparing breakfast for his wife and son, Chef Laurent goes food shopping, though admittedly, his grocery store trips might look a little different than most. "e shopping is a bit crazy for me," he laughs, detailing ingredients acquired from neighborhood bakeries, local farm stands, and seafood markets. "I buy local, fantastic scallops every Saturday and aer that, there is a little farm where I buy vegetables, seasonal stuff during the summer. ere's a table with a few things, I put the money in the box, it comes directly from the ground. It's like being in the country, in front of the water," he describes life in the Hamptons. V U E H A M P TO N S . C O M 5 3

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