The similarities of a ritzy new seafood spot on the Upper East Side to a beloved, decades-old Montauk clam shack has shellfish lovers crying foul — and lawyers sending cease-and-desist letters.
Situated on a calm stretch of Old Montauk Highway between Montauk and Amagansett, the Clam Bar in Napeague has been an icon in the Hamptons for 44 years. It’s instantly recognizable with its red exterior, trimmed in white; rectangular signage with CLAM BAR spelled out in bold, white capital letters; and the names of menu items, such as “lobster roll” painted along the roof line.
A few weeks ago, The Mark Clam Bar by Jean-Georges and Caviar Kaspia opened on the Upper East Side in the celeb-fave Mark Hotel. It has a color scheme and signage similar to the Clam Bar near Montauk, and the likeness has left some customers confused and outraged.
Liz Hopkins, a 35-year-old who works in advertising and divides her time between Montauk and NYC, was stoked to try The Mark Clam Bar and assumed it was a pop-up from one of her favorite spots out east.
“I was so excited that a Montauk brand I love was coming to New York City,” she told The Post. “I thought it was the same because of the white capital letters of Clam Bar looked just like the Napeague one.”
But when her lobster roll, lobster cobb, fries and corn came, it wasn’t what she was expecting.
“It wasn’t Clam Bar food,” said Hopkins. “The portions were small, and everything came with caviar.” Her suspicions were confirmed when she tagged a photo of her experience with the Clam Bar in Napeague and received a message back saying they weren’t affiliated with The Mark.
“I have a bad taste in my mouth,” she said. “People are seeing how well these small family-owned businesses are doing in Montauk and they are trying to rip them off.”
Kelly Piccinnini, whose family has owned Clam Bar since it opened in 1981, said Hopkins is hardly the only one confused on social media
“We had people messaging us saying how amazing it was that we were doing a pop-up and a collab,” she said. “We had to say, ‘We have nothing to do with it, we were never approached by them about using our brand likeness or anything of that matter.’”
When Ella Kahan, who runs the Tik Tok account ChewYorkCity, posted a video about, “the Hamptons inspired pop-up” at the Mark, one person commented, “Wait, this is such a bummer, I thought it was going to be like the clam bar out east.” Another wrote, “Hope that’s an official collab with the clam bar in Amagansett [sic] otherwise total rip off and sad.”
While Piccinnini acknowledged that “we aren’t the only clam bar that has the red color that exists,” she believes the situation is egregious.
She notes that Mura Construction even posted to social media about the likeness when they were building The Mark Clam Bar.
“Proud to bring the unique, infamous Clam Bar to life at the Mark Hotel,” reads a caption on an Instagram that has since been deleted but was viewed by The Post.
Piccininni was also astonished when Collier Barksdale, a freelance visual designer who worked on the project for the Mark, tagged the Clam Bar Napeague in one of her Instagram posts, writing, “Bringing coastal charm to Madison Ave! For @themarkhotelny @caviarkaspiany x @theclambar.”
On April 25, Piccininni had a lawyer send a cease-and-desist letter to The Mark.
According to Piccininni, the hotel responded on May 2. They agreed to make two small changes: taking out the white border around the exterior of the sign on top of the shack and adding the words, “By Jean-Georges” in script front in a few places around the shack structure.
(The Post has reached out to The Mark, Caviar Kaspia, Mura Construction and Barksdale for comment. A representative for Jean-Georges Vongerichten said the restaurant is owned by The Mark.)
Piccininni doesn’t think the changes are enough.
“People are still writing us … and continue to be confused,” she said, noting that she thinks the issue has limited her ambitions for her business.
“The Mark robbed us of the opportunity to create whatever it is we want to do with our brand in the future.”
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