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It’s safe to say that Huntington has one of, if not the very best, downtowns in all of Long Island. With a bounty of restaurants, retail, nightlife and culture, it’s easy to spend an entire day there without running out of things to explore.
A good place to start is at Kerber’s Farm, just outside the village limits. It just may be the most North Fork place off the North Fork, and thus, a must-stop. Kerber’s Farm is one of the last remaining working farms in Huntington. Its lovely brick-and-mortar shop sells a wide array of provisions and goods from coffee and pies to hand-poured candles and books.
It is also the perfect place to fuel up for the day ahead. The café-style menu changes with the seasons, and while you’ll find one damn good lobster roll in the summer months, right now their daily homemade soup menu is all the rage. Grab a coffee and mouthwatering biscuit egg sandwich to start your day off right.
Park your car and stroll the village by foot for a therapeutic retail session. Huntington Village is blessed with so many great one-of-a-kind retail stores. Whether you’re shopping for a gift or just a little something for yourself, the shops are anything but limiting.
Sedoni Gallery, a rather sprawling store, offers unique jewelry, art, homewares, and more. It isn’t hard to spend an hour browsing its many curiosities. From there, cross the street and head to Long Island’s largest independent bookstore, Book Revue. Check out its staff picks list recommended by its 20 employees and visit the fiction corner of the store to view the work of the store’s Featured Artist of the Month.
Before lunch, walk south on New York Avenue and turn left at the light onto Main Street. Three stores up from the corner you’ll find Scentsational. While this little shop features great skin and body care products, it’s the custom fragrances that are the real standout. Explore literally hundreds of scents and oils ranging from musks to various categories of florals. Work with one of their perfumers to create your own custom signature scent and say goodbye to your department store perfume counter.
Make The Shed your destination for a mid-day dine. Relatively new to the Huntington Village food scene, the restaurant serves made-from-scratch American food in an airy, inviting setting. While the menu offers plenty of delicious comfort food options (hello, Gouda Fries), it’s the Shed Bowl that gets our vote. As healthy as it is beautiful this bowl contains roasted chicken, wild rice, arugula, radish, sweet potatoes, sunflower seeds, mushrooms, goat cheese and spicy honey vinaigrette. Although the restaurant doesn’t take reservations and you may have to wait, it’s well worth it, we promise.
A perfect winter’s day activity is catching a flick at Cinema Arts Centre, located less than a mile east of downtown Huntington Village. It is a true cultural destination. There is something special about this art-house theater that you’ll feel almost immediately upon entering the space. Perhaps it’s the sense of community that has developed over the 45-plus years that the cinema has been active. It is a great pick when looking to catch an international, documentary, independent or new release movie. Check its website to see what’s playing, show times and ticket info.
Next head to the Hall. We’re talking Vauxhall. This laid-back eatery is serving some killer cocktails in a cool setting. The Cold Fashioned is the perfect pre-dinner pick-me-up. Made with Redemption bourbon, house made chocolate bitters, Sail Away Nitro cold brew and simple syrup, this coffee cocktail is a go-to sipper.
Speaking of dinner, there are so many amazing restaurants in downtown Huntington Village that its hard to choose just one, but bistro Babalu is a top choice so many reasons. Now that the hard choice of picking just one restaurant is made, selecting just one entrée should be illegal — enter the tapas. Tapas style dining encourages you to try many small sharable plates allowing you to taste as much of the menu as possible. Don’t leave without ordering the Pasteles. This standout dish consists of green plantain, eddo, potato and tropical pumpkins wrapped in green banana and topped with black beans and filled with your choice of chicken, beef, pork, or yucca.
You can thank us later.
