Since launching as a neighborhood store in 2012, East Hampton Sandwich Co. has spawned a following across Texas with six locations that transport diners from the Lone Star state to Long Island, New York’s South Fork. Crafted by local firm Studio 11 Design, the gourmet sandwich company’s most recent outpost in Southlake evokes the franchise’s signature nautical spirit, reimagining a shopping center space as a warm, seaside beach house.
“The space was designed to be welcoming and comfortable for all patrons, from the polished traveler on a lunch break and the men in work boots that surround the area to the family going out to dinner and friends heading out for a happy hour,” explains Alison Schulze, senior interior design manager for Studio 11 Design.
The preppy Hamptons aesthetic is channeled via a nautical color palette. Vibrant red barstools line the oyster-white counter, while taupe banquettes are fixed against gentle blue shiplap walls in the dining room. Locally sourced antique rowing oars and playful artwork, ranging from framed vintage maps and New Yorker magazine covers to tongue-in-cheek prints of lobsters diving into boiling pots, lines the walls. Warm natural wood accounts for a large part of the material palette, adorning the face of the counter, tabletops, and even the iron chairs in the dining room.
Floor-to-ceiling windows adorn three walls, flooding the interior with natural light to balance the light from the suspended pendants, enchased in wood and bent to resemble the bow of a ship. A dropped ceiling, added to accommodate the pendants, ultimately softens the acoustics created by the stained concrete slab floors and lofty exposed ceilings. “Simple flooring, tables, and chairs provide a clean foreground,” explains Schulze, so the restaurant “can remain the emphasis of the space.”