The Johnides family opened Old Stove Pub in an 1820 farmhouse on Sagaponack Main Street in 1969, under the motto “when you’re fed up with the chic, come to the Greek.” It pulled in JFK Jr. and Billy Joel. On and off-season, it belonged to the people who live there.
Max Chodorow has the keys now, and the East End is bracing accordingly. His first venture, Jean’s, opened on Lafayette Street in 2023 and became shorthand for downtown nightlife at its most maximal: Rihanna and A$AP’s Met Gala party, Busta Rhymes, Amanda Lepore, the occasional SNL afterparty. The Sagaponack restaurant, Jean’s Beach at Old Stove Pub, is targeting Memorial Day 2027, with a handful of events at the end of August to show people the property.
We sat down with the restaurateur to discuss the spirit behind the menus, his dock-to-table approach, and what he owes an establishment this beloved and old.
Old Stove Pub carries a lot of history. What drew you to that space?
I used to go there with my father as a kid. It always felt like this kind of magical outlier in the landscape. I find Sagaponack to be so magical. It’s one of the few places out there that’s really resisted a lot of the modern development. It’s extremely pastoral, so beautiful, and so central. We’ve been offered to do many things farther east, where there is a really peak summer season. What’s more interesting to us is being part of the fabric of a real community.
You grew up out there?
My parents were in Water Mill for a long time. I did some of the social scene, but for me it was about the beauty of the preserved nature and how tranquil it can be out there. I wanted to be in a setting that felt like that, instead of the seasonal, turn-and-burn, intense settings.
How does Jean’s Beach relate to Jean’s in New York City?
It’s another point in the universe. It’s not a mirror, it’s not a duplicate. It’s its own thing. What we’re building is a dining and hospitality philosophy. Even in Jean’s New York you can see that dynamic existence. It operates at so many ends of the spectrum. How many places do fashion week events, then throw a dinner on a farm, then host The New Yorker, then host Rihanna and A$AP’s Met Gala party? We can exist in so many different spaces in so many different ways, and there’s a common thread running through all of it.
Jean’s sources most of its ingredients from your farm in Pennsylvania. Will this model be mirrored out East?
The property is pretty ample, and we do intend to put a little plot in to grow some things we really want to have. But another reason we were so drawn to it is that it’s nestled in a prime farm community. We’ve connected with a lot of people out there who I think will work on a commission basis: we’ll ask you to grow these things, and we’ll give you some money upfront to do so. We’ve connected with a lot of fishermen, too. We want special relationships with these people, where when they bring something to land, they call us. We want to be as tied to the locality as possible.
I used to spend a lot of time out there investigating seafood. I’d go fishing, talk to people, learn what was there and not often noticed, or there and underutilized. The menu is going to be all about really fresh, local, protein-focused stuff, and really, really great vegetables. It’s a nice way to eat. It’s what we all want.
You’re a restaurateur who can actually farm.
It’s been really great talking to the farmers out there, because at this point it’s sort of a side job, but I’m a very competent farmer. I built the whole place in Pennsylvania from the ground up. I hired and trained every person, sourced every piece of equipment, designed all the systems. A friend put me on a text chain with a farmer recently from Sagaponack, and we ended up talking about broccoli for 50 minutes. They understand that I know what their challenges are, what they can do and what they can’t. I’ve worked in farm-to-table places where it was a chef on one side and a farmer on the other, and the two never really understood each other’s problems. The classic example is the chef wants something so specific that it’s not worth it for the farmer to grow. Someone needs to be in the middle saying, well, how about this instead?
You’ve been firm about not running this as a seasonal pop-up, can you tell us more about the reasons why?
One of the first questions we get is, “Will you be open year-round?” So much of the thinking behind the property is that it allows us to. It’s expansive, but the restaurant itself is very tight. Seventy-five to eighty-five seats with a very cute little bar. It’s not a sprawling place. And it’s situated so centrally between Water Mill, Bridgehampton, East Hampton, Wainscott. Anyone can get there, especially in the off-season.
As costs have gone up, everyone has been playing defense all the time. A lot of people experience the Hamptons as people who have lived there a long time and feel shut out by the summer whipsaw. That’s something we want to solve. Being in people’s lives when it isn’t maximally beneficial for us financially is a long-term service, and the places we admire do that: TownLine, Sant Ambroeus, Il Buco al Mare, the American Hotel. Is it the perfect financial picture? Probably not the same as a 400-cover night in the summer. But in hospitality you get it back. You get it back in affection, in memories. We’re in the memory business. We hope to have a full bar nine months of the year, and a bar where someone can steal away for a drink by the fireplace the other three.
What’s the timeline?
We’re working on doing a couple of things for the end of August, just to show people the place and have something we can all be excited about. It’s TBD, and we’ll announce soon. Really, what we want to focus on is the Memorial Day opening of 2027. That’s the target. That’s the one you want to hit out here.
What’s surprised you most about the process so far?
I expected as much, but still: people’s interest in a space they’ve all lived with in so many different ways, out of pure curiosity, or affection, or memory. This is a property that’s so interwoven with the community. I’ve been surprised by the power of it. We’re also pleased by how receptive the community has been, to understand what we’re doing, not prejudge us, and to come speak to us. What you fear about the Hamptons as a New York operator is that people are going to give you problems and tell you “no, no, no.” Instead people have been very sincere about what they want for their community. They don’t want the place to become a large members’ club, and they know we don’t want that either. Every building authority, the local town officials, the people who live nearby, all said, “How can we help?” Mindy at the Sagaponack General Store, Christine from TownLine: “Let us know if you need anything.” It’s really nice to be part of something. We care a ton, and we’re definitely trying our best to show it.
Anything else in the works?
We have a property across the street from Jean’s that we’re getting together now. It’ll be another extension of what we do with a restaurant, and something a bit more theatrical. We hope to have an announcement in the next couple of months on a chef. We’re just starting to get it underway. We don’t do this to stay still (laughs).
