The original owner of the Blue Parrot Lee Bieler has informed me that the present ownership of the Blue Parrot, which includes Jon Bon Jovi, Ron Perlman and Renee Zellweger seem to have had enough of the East Hampton restaurant business and are entertaining the idea of putting the Parrot up for sale, after owning it for two years.
A long-time East End favorite for the Tex-Mex loving crowd, the Blue Parrot received its name in 1989 when Bieler, a Montauk/Hawaii dual citizen, was at his winter home in Hawaii. Bieler frequented a Mexican restaurant there called The Blue Parrot (but in Spanish). A light went off in his head. The rest is East Hampton folklore.
Woody Harrelson, Mercedes Ruehl, Cynthia Nixon, Alec Baldwin, Christie Brinkley, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joel and former Dolphins football great Nick Buoniconti and Regis Philbin all use to stop in at least once a year to sample the margarita mix.
In fact, Bieler sold Bill Murray a poster from the restaurant’s bathroom and had a truly great night partying with Cheryl Tiegs. In his words, “when Cheryl Tiegs was Cheryl Tiegs.” In the last two years the Parrot had visits from Paul McCartney and a surprise mini Jon Bon Jovi concert, at which he quipped to the crowd, “You don’t get this at Nick & Toni’s.”
Tucked away off the East Hampton Village parking lot, The Blue Parrot was not easily found by the general public. But once discovered, this quirky, laid-back Tex-Mex bar and restaurant that came on the scene 22 years ago became a favorite watering hole for locals, summer renters and celebrities alike. It was a place to let your hair down.
The late author James Brady, while sipping a Pacifico, the beer of choice at the Parrot, said to me, “It’s just a place off the Main Street where you feel like you’re right off the beach. That’s what I put in my books, it has a pulse.” Perhaps, no longer.
