Decker’s Bar and Grill closes in Sag Harbor after one month

Hamptons restaurants usually have a short season, but Decker’s Bar and Grill’s was shorter than most. It opened on Sag Harbor’s Long Wharf on July 8 and closed on Tuesday, Aug. 2.

Decker’s was the successor to the wharf’s last tenant, Harlow East, whose owners, Harlow East LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May.

Richard Decker, a local restaurateur and the owner of Sag Harbor fitness club Studio 89, was approached by the owners of Harlow East and asked if he could come up with a new concept for the space. “They came to me three weeks before July 4,” Decker said, “and I said yes.” Over the next few weeks he replaced the dining room’s linens with vinyl tablecloths, decorated the bar with surfboards, and created a moderately priced menu of family fare and seafood classics.

The restaurant reopened as Decker’s Bar and Grill, but despite the change in management, name and tone, it was still owned by Harlow East LLC.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows the debtor (in this case, Harlow East LLC) to operate — which is why Decker’s was permitted to open — but according to records from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court (Eastern District of New York), on Aug. 2 the case was converted from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7, which requires immediate liquidation of all business assets. Decker’s was summarily closed, its 25 employees dismissed.

Before Harlow East, Sag Harbor’s Long Wharf was the longtime home of B. Smith’s. No word yet on who might take over the space in the future.