Great South Bay Brewery opens at Station Yards, Ronkonkoma

Great South Bay Brewery is the first restaurant to open at the new Station Yards multiuse development in Ronkonkoma. The huge tasting room-eatery debuted Oct. 11 with 8,400 square feet and a 355-seat capacity.

This is the second huge opening for Great South Bay this year. In April, the Bay Shore-based company transformed the long-vacant First Bank of Lindenhurst into its first non-brewery-adjacent venue.

The Ronkonkoma location has a more straightforward layout than the old bank, whose dining/drinking areas sprawl over three levels. Here, there’s one gigantic room with a gigantic bar, and a smaller room that can also function as a private space.

"We had to fit ourselves into the bank," said Brian Davis, whose family owns Great South Bay. "In Ronkonkoma, we were handed a blank slate." He said that Ronkonkoma was more conducive to large parties and even to activities like cornhole that are usually played outdoors.

GSB’s kitchen has been honing the menu, thanks to six months of "data" gathered from Lindenhurst. According to Davis, "we had a pretty big menu but 16 items comprised 90% of food sales. People were coming here for pub fare — smash burgers, pizza, wings."

Executive chef Chris Palmer 86-ed some of his more fanciful dishes such as Mexican street-corn fries and white-clam ramen. But you’ll still find crab Rangoon egg roll as well as another egg roll that contains a whole stick of gooey mozzarella.

The two panini on GSB’s menu  are actually warm sandwiches whose fillings are tucked into freshly baked pizza dough. Choose between the grilled chicken (with fresh mozzarella, romaine and Caesar dressing) and the Mulberry Street (chicken cutlet, mortadella, burrata, vodka sauce).

Of the 24 taps at the bar, 20 spout GSB brews; the remaining four feature other local brands such as Sand City, DUBCO and Riverhead Ciderhouse. As a craft brewery, Davis said, GSB also is committed to small-batch New York State spirits in addition to stocking national brands.

Great South Bay Brewery, 1 Hawkins Ave., Ronkonkoma, 631-392-8472, gsbronkonkoma.com. Open Monday noon to 9 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday noon to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to midnight, Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.