Eating is necessary for human survival, along with breathing, sleeping, and remaining still while a curious velociraptor rummages through your closet. Practice survival tactics with today’s Groupon: for $25, you get $50 worth of fine contemporary cuisine at Muse Restaurant & Aquatic Lounge in Water Mill. Muse Restaurant & Aquatic Lounge is open Thursday–Sunday after Labor Day.
Executive chef and owner Matthew Guiffrida infuses contemporary fare with an innovative spirit in Muse Restaurant & Aquatic Lounge’s menu, which has been lauded in the New York Times. Not Ya Mama’s meatballs ($12) dress up the savory spheres in four varieties: Asian-style with sweet-and-spicy chili sauce, Italian-style with pomodoro sauce and shaved parmesan, a Thanksgiving-inspired treatment with a cranberry and caramelized-vidalia-onion compote, and standard swedish. Upscale couch potatoes can surround themselves with elegance without sneaking into a king's blanket fort as they feast on The T.V. Dinner, which consists of milk-fed-veal meat loaf with grilled portobellos and homemade ketchup glaze ($26). The Breakfast 4 Supper cloaks black-pepper-and-parmesan french toast with chipotle-maple syrup, served alongside sweet-potato corned-beef hash, a poached egg, and béarnaise sauce ($24). Simply Grilled entrees give new york strip or Atlantic salmon a more minimalist treatment and an entourage of garlic-infused whipped potatoes and grilled asparagus ($29).
Muse’s gold walls shimmer beneath gilded sconces and votives, and diners observe the complex social life of sea urchins in a 100-gallon saltwater aquarium built into the bar.