MAITRE D' OPENS 2002 HAMPTONS SEASON BY THROWING OUT PRIX-FIXE PATRONS

A maitre d' at the Della Femina restaurant in East Hampton, New York, threw out two customers who insisted on the advertised prix-fixe menu.

East Hampton, NY, April 8, 2002:

The 2002 Hamptons season unofficially opened on the Friday of Easter weekend when Walter Struble, the maitre d' of the Della Femina restaurant in East Hampton, threw a couple out for insisting on the advertised prix-fixe menu.

Daniel Katz, an inventor, and Emma Katz, a ceramic artist, first ordered cocktails. When the server ruled out a prix fixe menu they asked for the manager. Without ceremony the manager, Walter Struble, ordered them out. When they refused he removed Mr. Katz's cocktail from the table and snatched Mrs. Katz's cocktail out of her hand. This persuaded them to leave.

Mr. Struble defended what he called his "suggestion" that the couple leave. Struble said he recalled Mr. Katz had "pulled similar actions" in East Hampton's Maidstone Arms restaurant five years earlier, a date Mr. Struble called "not so long ago."

"The meltdown of a maitre d' is a frightening sight," said Mr. Katz. "I'll think twice before asking for a prix fixe at a restaurant in the Hamptons again." "How could I know you're not supposed to order them?"