The building at 218 Main St. has always been special to Greenport denizens.
Its previous incarnation, D’Latte Café, was beloved for its lovely, casual atmosphere, good coffee, friendly staff and tasty treats. Following D’Latte’s February 2024 closure, Ryan Hardy and Alexander Perros, who own the recently renovated Silver Sands Motel & Beach Bungalows, have opened Pip’s Café & Provisions in D’Latte’s former space. The new café, which has barely been open three weeks, feels both refreshingly new and warmly familiar.
“I don’t think [a café] was something we were looking for, to be honest,” says co-owner Alexander Perros, who admits he was a fan of the former D’Latte. “We know what it meant to visitors, but also people that work [in the village] for lunch every single day. But I’ve always fantasized about owning a coffee shop. Coffee’s a ritual and something Ryan and I love…I still have the romantic idea of pulling a coffee for somebody early in the morning.”
Ryan Hardy, Perros’ business partner, was a fan of D’Latte, as well. Both Hardy and Perros had moved to the North Fork with their families in recent years, and saw the new opportunity as a way to put down more roots.
“When this opportunity came up, Alex and I looked at each other like, ‘this is interesting!’” says Hardy. “I liked the idea of buying a building and creating longevity in the community.”
The café has been lightly renovated from its previous business, with some modern wood accents, but much has stayed the same, including the high-quality equipment behind the counter.
Pip’s Café & Provisions offers coffee, baked goods, soups, sandwiches, as well as meats, cheeses and other items like olive oil and gourmet Italian foods. Most of the baked goods and treats are house-made — on any given day, the Pip’s counter will be stacked with breakfast sandwiches on house-made buns, croissants with house-made jams, chocolate croissants, cookies, biscuits and more, all made on-premises. For lunch, sandwiches include roast chicken, porchetta and other meats and vegetables.
Some of the provisions at Pip’s. (Photo credit: Lee Meyer)
“I’m a sucker for a chocolate croissant,” Hardy says.
Hardy, who is heading up the menu, has been sourcing fruits and vegetables from local farm stands. While not everything is sourced on the North Fork, Hardy and Perros have taken a curated approach to each product. Pip’s serves Counter Culture Coffee, a small-batch, organic producer from North Carolina.
Customers have been responding well to being able to buy items like fresh baguettes and balls of soft mozzarella right in the village.
“There’s lots of good places to eat in town, but it’s hard to find places where you can grab and go,” says Hardy. “We’re listening to what the community wants and responding with our version of that.”
One item they’re working on adding to the ever-evolving menu is the popular cranberry muffin from D’Latte after getting multiple requests.
As for the name, Pip’s doesn’t actually refer to anyone or anything in particular.
“Truthfully? It’s totally made up,” Hardy says with a laugh. “We wanted something fun. It’s meant to be a little irreverent, folksy, quirky and you remember it.”
Since Pip’s has opened, they’ve had a warm reception from customers eager to try the latest café in Greenport. One important group of customers that have enthusiastically returned are the D’Latte morning men, a group of local guys who were known to congregate at D’Latte each day and shoot the breeze.
“One of the most-asked questions I get is, ‘Do the guys still come in the morning?’” Hardy says.
The answer is a resounding yes, and Hardy and Perros have even set up a table up front where the group has been sitting each morning, signaling their ritualistic endorsement of the new spot.
Hardy and Perros hope the offerings at Pip’s will appeal to both full-time residents and weekend and summer folks, as they plan to remain open all year long.
“Sometimes you don’t feel like going out to dinner or cooking at home,” says Perros. “You just want to pick up something to go — a nice roast chicken, a couple of sides and take it home to have a simple, clean meal. We’re not going to be everything to everybody — it should be narrow in scope — but whatever it is we do, we do well.”
Pip’s Café & Provisions is open Wednesday–Sunday, 7 a.m.–3 p.m.
