They’re back — and better than ever. Chefs Adam Kopels and Elizabeth Ronzetti will officially open the doors of the latest incarnation of their renowned restaurant 18 Bay this Saturday, Oct. 25; but this time, the keys are their own.
The culinary couple purchased the former Dimon Estate, a restaurant and sometime wedding-catering venue, in September, working through the necessary steps with the Town of Riverhead to officially open their much-missed, farm-and-forage-to-table restaurant in the historic Jamesport space at 370 Manor Lane.
This first weekend will have a slightly tapered seating capacity, but the menu will be in full bloom. In the past, 18 Bay’s other locations (Bayville and Shelter Island) were hemmed in by spaces that had both limited kitchen workspace and smaller seating capacity. Here, there’s room to roam in the kitchen, affording them the opportunity for the first time to offer both their notable four-course, daily changing menu (a quadrant of starters, a fresh pasta course, a main dish and dessert) and, new to 18 Bay, an a la carte menu as well.
The main dining room seats 60, with room for an extra 20 upstairs for the overflow of busy nights.
But the ever-popping, inspiring freshness of their dishes will remain at the heart of what comes from the kitchen here.
“I think the philosophy of what we’re cooking is it’s what’s here. If it’s swimming here we make it, if it’s growing here we cook it,” says Ronzetti. “I think that’s important.”
The chefs, finalists for the coveted James Beard award, have been busy testing dishes and bringing on stellar staff, including maitre d’ and beverage manager Chris Cardone, a Diagio Bartender of the Year, as well as former Halyard executive chef Nathan Hitchcock.
A preview of opening dishes (although expect that they can and will joyously morph with the swing of seasonal ingredients) shows that Ronzetti and Kopels are still committed to their rooted tenets.
On the a la carte menu, the Farm and Field Salad is a crunchy melange of grilled Trevisano radicchio and fennel, watermelon radishes, roasted tomatoes and heart of escarole in a vinaigrette made from Champagne vinegar, thyme, Dijon mustard, shallots and honey, and if you hit a night when the freshly made pasta is of the spinach fettuccine ilk, with guanciale, butter warmed oysters, toasty-crunchy breadcrumbs and a hit of heat from spicy red pepper, count yourself fortunate.
And the tasting menu? As always, that remains a surprise each night, but this weekend you’re likely to find the opening antipasti tasting to feature fried blowfish with chili-mint sauce, fluke crudo with Wickham’s Fruit Farm razor apples (a sweet-tart deep, golden-hued variety), grilled quail with beach plums plucked by Kopels, and some form of grilled vegetable yet to reveal itself fresh from the fields.
For the foreseeable future, 18 Bay will be open Thursday, 5 – 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 – 10 p.m.; Sunday, 4 – 9 p.m. and Monday, 5 to 10 p.m. Reservations can be made by calling 631-809-3542 or on Resy.
