Tackle Box Takes Over Little Red Space

The Tackle Box restaurant, which opened July 29, is hoping to "hook" new customers in Southampton Village with its seafood dishes.

The new restaurant has moved into the space most recently occupied by Little Red and apropos of its name, The Tackle Box is outfitted with 1940s and 1950s boat motors, a taxidermy of a marlin caught off Montauk by Captain Lester in 1972, colorful surfboards and more ocean-themed decor.

The restaurant also has an enclosed patio with seating available in the lounge area—picnic benches and swings that hang from the ceiling. More outboard motors, collected by Tackle Box owner Michael Gluckman, are displayed on the green faux hedges that make up the patio walls.

“‘The Tackle Box’ is a nice, casual name,” Mr. Gluckman said. “It says that it’s a seafood-oriented restaurant.”

The restaurant offers many seafood dishes, including $28 lobster rolls, $18 jumbo lump crab and $17 Montauk IPA fish and chips. Those who don't go for the fish also have choices including salads, a $16 burger or a $24 grilled chicken paillard.

“We hope to bring some casual dining, family-friendly dining to the village, where we find most restaurants are upscale and high priced,” Mr. Gluckman said, adding, “[The Tackle Box has] classic seafood, eastern Long Island fare that you find in other villages and we don’t think they have it in Southampton.”

The bar will offer many signature cocktails, including a vodka drink called “Lila’s Lemonade,” which turns purple because of its butterfly pea flower tea ingredient, and a gin cocktail called the “Cucumber Kook,” flavored with fresh cucumber and elderflower.

Mr. Gluckman is a veteran of the restaurant industry on the East End. Among his former restaurants are The Boathouse, The Service Station and Bamboo in East Hampton. He had been looking to open a restaurant in Southampton Village, having The Tackle Box concept in mind. He said that after Little Red had “run out of steam,” the lease for the space became available to him.

“Little Red had been a local favorite for a lot of local people because they enjoyed the proximity to the local park and the movie theater, tons of parking here,” Mr. Gluckman said. “It was a quaint and small restaurant that [people] would like to frequent.”

Little Red and its sister restaurant, Red Bar, closed for the season at the end of September 2018, an unusual move, as Little Red was previously open year-round. Owner Kirk Basnight had said he would reopen both restaurants in 2019, a plan that never came to fruition after Red Bar and Little Red accumulated a number of tax warrants from the State Department of Taxation and Finance for failure to remit sales and withholding taxes.

But as of July 29, The Tackle Box is open and ready for business at 76 Jobs Lane in Southampton. tackleboxsh.com. For more information, call 631-488-4240.