F OOD & W I N E
Brad Stewart Surf Lodge’s Super Chef By Inna DeSilva
I
f you ever wondered how the uber-trendy Surf Lodge manages to feed a thousand people a day — and out of a tiny kitchen to boot — the answer is its chef de cuisine, Brad Stewart. The tall and handsome Australian chef is helming the busy kitchen for a third year. When we sit down on a gray Monday afternoon, he has just finished a very busy lunch and is looking forward to his day off. We speak about his love of Southeast Asian cooking and the fact that he has been in and out of kitchens all over the world since the tender age of fifteen. His first gig in the restaurant business began in his native New South Wales, Australia, at the Cypress Lakes Golf Resort. Since Brad comes from a big blue-collar family, his passion for cooking made him a bit of the family’s black sheep. With his mother’s encouragement he spent three years apprenticing in various kitchens and attending a culinary school part time. By 18, he was already working at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney. By 2009, he was in the United States working for the Ritz Carlton in Washington, D.C. His next couple of years took him from working at NoHo’s Public restaurant to Saxon + Parole.
In 2014, he took a break from the Hamptons and moved to Phucket, Thailand, to work at Cape Panwa Regent. He fell in love with the spices and flavors of Thai cooking. He returned last summer to work again at Surf Lodge and made sure the menu reflected Montauk’s easy access to the best seafood on the East Coast and his passion for Asian flavors. Surf Lodge goes through so much seafood, it’s is the largest client of Gosman’s Wholesale Fish Market. The restaurant’s seafood dishes are legendary, but its grilled lobster is the best I have ever had anywhere, and that includes Maine and the Caribbean. Run, don’t walk, to Surf Lodge and eat what might be the best dish in the Hamptons. Don’t miss the amazing cherry sorbet for dessert. It’s a revelation. As I bid Brad farewell, I ask him what he has planned for his day off. Besides catching up on sleep, he golfs. He plans to learn surfing next year. An Australian who does not surf ? Now I’ve heard everything. thesurflodge.com