As Southold Social’s new culinary director, Tom Schaudel’s main goal is to facilitate fun.
With a great sense of humor, a side-hustle as a musician and a nearly perfect track record of owning successful establishments in his over 50 years in the culinary business, the odds of entertainment are in Schaudel’s favor.
“At the end of the day, I’ve been at this since 1968 and I’ve seen a lot of the ups and downs and changes in the business,” says Schaudel. “The business has changed so much in the last 10 years that I almost don’t even recognize it, but the one thing that hasn’t changed is that people want fun.”
On the North Fork, Schaudel is part owner of aMano, A Lure and By Hand Catering, but also has ventures up island.
His business partner, Adam Lovett, has been involved with Southold Social since it opened in 2022. Chef François Payard was at the helm at the start and left in 2024. Now, Schaudel will be joining head chef Brian Dancel and sous chef Alec Delise.
“I don’t want to minimize what their input is in there and what their efforts are, but I’m just looking to change the vibe a little,” says Schaudel. “When I hear the word ‘social,’ I think of conviviality and shared plates and fun — an upbeat sort of restaurant.”
With the current menu as a base for the reimagined restaurant, Schaudel plans to add crab beignets, flat bread and improved raw bar options like towers and crudo.
He will keep the fresh approach — the same thing that drew him to the North Fork in the first place.
“It was fun to be around the fish and the farms,” says Schaudel, of when he moved from East Hampton to Jamesport. “It’s like Disneyland for chefs.”
He will continue with his other roles across the Island, keeping the pace he picked up in 1983 when he opened his first of nearly 20 restaurants, Panama Hatties in Huntington.
When he’s not in the kitchen, Schaudel’s likely scoping out other eateries; “I haven’t eaten at home since 1972,” Schaudel says, or he’s gigging with one of his bands at Clovis Point, Hidden Harbor Restaurant & Bar, Teddy’s Bully Bar or another Long Island establishment.
“I’m in the twilight of a mediocre musical career,” says Schaudel. “I’ve been playing guitar, not very well, for a long time.”
Schaudel’s fervor for his work — whether that’s on stage or more often in a chef’s coat — is inevitable.
“It’s a passion and a prison all at the same time,” says Schaudel. “I love it to death and sometimes it drives me crazy, but you always learn something and I have a lot of knowledge in that rolodex or that notes app or whatever they have now. I think it’s just a massive experience thing that I bring; there’s no magic bullet. You kind of just do what you think is right and pray for the result.”
