New openings and hot takes from Aquebogue to Greenport
This summer, grab a table at one of the hottest new North Fork restaurants. This year has been one of the openings: from Aquebogue to Greenport, restaurateurs are expanding their culinary vision, and diners are here for it. Whether you’re in the mood for subtle Asian flavors, Greek cuisine, or a nod to the seafood of the American South, the North Fork is the place to be.
Zach Erdem, best known for 75 Main in Southampton, has signed a 20-year lease on two restaurant properties in Greenport, and has also recently purchased a 10-room hotel on Main Street, called ZEY. And although Café 75, which serves three meals a day — an American-style breakfast, lunch, and dinner — is already commanding crowds, it’s ZErdem, his Greek-inflected dinner restaurant that is shaping up to be one of the Fork’s most talked about restaurants of the season. Staffed with a Turkish pastry chef and featuring compelling dishes like octopus kebabs, zucchini chips, homemade seafood pasta, and oven-roasted sour leeks, this is the place to be in Greenport, which Erdem has recently referred to as “the future Hamptons.”
The Jamesport Manor, in Jamesport, has reopened as the Dimon Estate, with Chef Chris Kar at the helm. The estate’s gardens and orchards offer guests an oasis for dining, and dishes like a seasonal vegetable risotto — invoking the glory of the market — a local Long Island duck breast marinated in soy and served with an orange-miso-tamari sauce, and togarashi-spiced tuna with a grilled cabbage and kimchi slaw and a Sriracha mayo make for an invigorating dining experience.
Close by, in Aquebogue, restaurateur Matt LaMaina has expanded his purview (he’s responsible for the Lucharitos brand) with Good Juju’s BBQ and Seafood Shack, a petite spot that feels like an ode to the crab shacks that line the Mississippi River. The smoked crab dip, an appetizer, features jumbo lump crab meat in a creamy dip with a toasted baguette. (Don’t skip it.) Equally noteworthy: the peel-and-eat shrimp and Maryland-style jumbo lump crab cake.
But the pièce de résistance? Dungeness and snow crab are sold by the half pound and pound, served with corn-on-the-cob, red potatoes, cherry tomatoes, and a choice of lemon-pepper, Cajun blend seasoning, jerk sauce, garlic butter, or Juju sauce. Get your crab with the signature barbecue: sliced brisket, pulled chicken, smoked ribs, and pulled pork, all of which come with a choice of Carolina vinegar, mustard, or Mema’s barbecue sauce.
In New Suffolk, Minnow at the Galley Ho has broken new ground. It’s the first sustainable seafood restaurant to arrive on the North Fork, and it takes the mission seriously, down to the tableware (silverware has been thrifted). All of the fish at Minnow is line- and trap-caught, and oysters come from “our neighbors at Peeko,” right in New Suffolk. Some of the sustainable dishes include wild fennel porgy ceviche with tangerine essence, red onion, cilantro, and lime; crispy tile fish almondine with a preserved lemon tartare sauce; and house-smoked bluefish pâté with grilled sourdough.
