Sunset Club opens at Sea Cliff's Tappen Beach after town terminates previous vendor's lease

The latest restaurant to serve waterfront fare at Tappen Beach in Sea Cliff had a rush job to get ready for Memorial Day weekend.

The Sunset Club opened in the Oyster Bay Town-owned space after the previous vendor was booted in February and the new vendor got approval to run it in March. A lawsuit by the former vendor against the town also complicated the opening.

Rustan Lundstrum, owner of Bayville-based Oyster Bay Restaurant Group Inc., which won the concession, said he had “probably about two weeks to paint, get all the IT work done. Get everything ready and operational.” 

“We've been telling people just to be patient with us,” Lundstrum said. “We're still waiting on delivery of a lot of items.”

The restaurant's seafood focus is a departure from its predecessor, Blu Iguana, which had more Mexican food offerings. The new menu includes a raw bar and items like steamed mussels and lobster rolls. The bar and kitchen are open seven days a week, from noon until after dark. Patrons can order from the beach and then come pick up their food when its ready and enjoy live music on certain days. Though the beach is open to town residents only, Lundstrum said diners can get a two-hour parking pass to eat at the Sunset Club.

Lundstrum owns two other restaurants in Oyster Bay: Cooper Bluff on Oyster Bay harbor and Coach Meeting House. He started working in the restaurant business when he was 12 years old, at his father’s now shuttered restaurant which he eventually began to manage.

The name refers to the “beautiful sunsets” seen from the beach, he said, which, along with a nearby playground, are the big draw to the restaurant. 

“One of our big target audiences will be young families looking for lunch or dinner, someplace where the kids could be comfortable and play while they get to enjoy food and drink,” Lundstrum said. Customers can order from the beach by text message and pick up their food when it's ready, he said.

The Oyster Bay Town Board approved terminating the license of the previous vendor, J & T Beach Corp., which operated under the name Beach Bar at Blu Iguana, and awarded a new concession agreement to Oyster Bay Restaurant Group at its March 21 meeting. In a letter to J & T Beach, the town alleged that the company had failed to obtain insurance for the company's private property, a claim the company disputed. 

 J & T Beach sued the town in April, seeking an injunction to let it continue to operate. The company alleged in its lawsuit that its license had been improperly terminated by the town. New York State Judge Felice Muraca ruled on May 26 in favor of Oyster Bay.

“The license agreement is revocable at will, without cause,” Muraca wrote in the decision, meaning the town could revoke J & T Beach’s license for no reason.

The concessionaire's attorney, Garden City-based Robert La Reddola, said his client won’t appeal the termination but plans to sue for damages.

“Although we didn't get the injunction we expect to recover on monetary damages,” La Reddola said.

“The town will have to deal with … the consequences of an at will termination when they had a perfectly responsible vendor in place,” La Reddola said. “Why did they replace them with someone else? We did nothing wrong.”

Town spokesman Brian Nevin said in an email that the vendor had health violations and owed money to the town.

“The Court has already confirmed the Town’s right to terminate the agreement,” Nevin said. “Rather than waste money on a meritless lawsuit, the operator should clean up their act and search for new business elsewhere.”

J & T Beach’s property was removed from the restaurant and put into storage, Nevin said.