Cantina Bay debuts in Copiague with a Latin-inspired menu, live music and more

Bruni Mojica, 48, of Ronkonkoma, experienced a mini-miracle on a recent Saturday in Copiague’s Tanner Park when she and some friends turned up to listen to live music by the bay. The Puerto Rico native sat down at a picnic table, ordered some food and was miraculously transported to the boardwalk of her hometown on the island, Guánica.

“It’s just like home,” she says.

It wasn’t just the palm trees and bay breeze and singer Gissel Garcia belting out old Spanish standards and current Latino pop hits that had Mojica and her friends jumping out of their seats to clap and sing along. Mojica’s friend, Yahaira Cordero, 42, of Mastic Beach, explains: “The best thing is the food,” she says. “We just had tostones (fried plantains) and chicharrones (crispy pork belly) and they were perfect.”

Tanner Park has long offered live music on the patio overlooking the Great South Bay during the summer, including live Latin music on Thursdays and Saturdays from 6 to 9:30 p.m. But those nights have traditionally been quieter than the wildly popular Tuesday Latin Dance nights at its sister property, Katch Venetian Shores, just east in Lindenhurst. The owner-operators want to change that.

INTRODUCING LATIN CUISINE AND CULTURE

“This is our sixth year running the venue in Tanner,” says co-owner of Cantina Bay and Katch, Katchlin Janawski. “We saw the Latin crowd that was going there, saw that there were not a lot of Spanish restaurants on the water, and we decided to go for it.”

So over the last few months, Sully’s Wharf was rebranded as Cantina Bay, got a facelift with a more modern, bigger bar, more indoor and outdoor seating, Latin decor, scheduled more nights with Latin music, and, perhaps most importantly, partnered with the Ecuadorian owners of Tiesto’s Restaurant in Patchogue to upgrade the menu from fried beach hut fare to Latino favorites worth traveling for.

So now, in addition to the tostones and chicharróns that transported Mojica and Cordero back to Puerto Rico, there will be homemade tacos, empanadas and guacamole, plus Ecuadorian specialties like ceviche, with shrimp, fresh lime juice, tomato and onion.

“Nothing is premade,” says Jessica Marin, who with her father, Luis Marin, and sister, Ivonne Castro, opened Tiesto’s in 2021. They are now working together on Cantina Bay.

“Our goal is not to have a regular concession stand where everything is fried,” adds Castro. “Everything here is fresh, everything is made that day; even the drinks are made with fresh purees.”

That drink menu is a big draw. There are beers like the Presidentes from the Dominican Republic, cooling Mojica and Cordero’s vocal chords, and margaritas mixed with in-house infused fruit syrups and purees, including guava and passionfruit, and rimmed with Mexican Tajin spice. The mocktails like virgin mojitos and pina coladas get the same hand-crafted treatment.

Marin and Castro say bringing their South American flavors to their North American audience is something they've always dreamed of doing.

“I want people who were raised in another country to feel like they are home and to have that feeling like it’s always New Year’s Eve," says Marin.

FEELINGS OF HOME

The idea that everyone feels at home at Cantina Bay is shared by longtime regulars. Martin Jackson, 55, and Kim Durant, 55, of Amityville, were soaking up the atmosphere, cuddled up at their own table.

“There’s good music, it’s a nice day; it’s a beautiful outing,” says Jackson.

Durant adds, “We’ve been coming here for years. My dad used to crab here.”

It is certainly a multigenerational vibe. Kids run on the beach, eat ice cream and groove to the music. Copiague residents Danexy Ferrera, 25, and her husband Pedro Rodríguez, 36, came down with their two kids aged 10 months and 6 years old. “It’s fun, and it relaxes your mind,” Ferrera says. ”It’s a healthy environment.”

Daysi Sanchez, 77, is originally from the Dominican Republic but now lives in Central Islip. She came down to meet her granddaughter and her great-grandchildren, who are two and five years old and in and out of everyone’s laps. “We always come here,” she says. “We sit and watch the sea. We like the breeze. I like the ambience; it’s cozy and it’s for all ages. It brings me memories of the coast in the Dominican Republic.”

No one place can be all things to all people, but Cantina Bay comes close: a tropical vacation for the locals and a magical trip back home for those who came here from somewhere else.

Cantina Bay at Tanner Park, 400 Baylawn Ave., Copiague; cantinabayli.com.