#stephen-starr

#stephen-starr

But for restaurateur Stephen Starr, this stretch of wooden planks is more than a backdrop for a family summer vacation. It's where he learned how to do business. Starr worked three summers as a teenager in one of the boardwalk shops, thrusting anything he could - T-shirts, trinkets - into tourists' clamoring hands. "I learned everything about business from being on that boardwalk," he said. "You saw the best and the worst of people, the best and worst of yourself. And we worked 14 hours a day, six days a week."

The long-awaited reopening of what's now Stephen Starr's Babbo is one of the hottest reservations in town, a caldron of buzz for more reasons than one. Starr hired Mark Ladner, Mario Batali's former right hand, who started at sibling spot Lupa (that Starr also purchased) and rose the ranks to lead the kitchen at what became the Michelin-starred Del Posto. But Babbo also has ghosts to contend with: Batali exited the company in 2017 after a sexual harassment scandal. Now, outside its soon-to-open doors, Scabby the Union Rat and protestors hold "BOYCOTT BABBO" signs.

"These elevated touches will add to the experience on board and improve expectations for what to expect on Amtrak and Acela First Class," Amtrak said in a statement.