Bayville: Changes at 18 Bay
Bayville's 18 Bay offers a chocolate cupcake that Newsday food critics chose as a top pick among restaurant desserts on Long Island. (Oct. 9, 2009) Credit: Craig Ruttle, 2009
18 Bay was closed this summer “for renovations,” according to the restaurant’s answering-machine message. Disconcerting news for fans of Adam Kopels’ and Elizabeth Ronzetti’s market-driven cooking, especially since “closed for renovations” is often code for “just plain closed.”
But Elizabeth Ronzetti assured me yesterday that 18 Bay will indeed be reopening, albeit in a different form. She and Kopels continue to cook at the restaurant, though most of the meals they produce are for catering clients, either on or off the premises. Beginning in October, they plan to open to the public two nights a week for market-to-table dinners whose menus will be non-negotiable and based on the chefs’ whims and whatever looks best in the market that morning. In other words, you show up; Kopels and Ronzetti serve you the best meal they can.
Over the summer, the two worked as private chefs and found that they loved the freedom of coming up with one new menu every day. “That’s where we shine,” Ronzetti said.
18 Bay is at 18A Bayville Ave., Bayville, 516-628-0124.
The supernal chocolate cupcake at 18 Bay
