Best restaurants in Point Lookout: Critic's picks

How can something so centrally located feel so off the beaten track? That’s the question you’ll ask as you discover Point Lookout.

Thanks to the Loop Parkway, this walkable hamlet is less than 30 minutes’ drive from Mineola or Massapequa, no more than half that from Merrick. Originally a seasonal bungalow community, it’s now a densely packed grid with a population that expands seasonally as second-home owners return for the summer. But even when you add in day trippers, much of the town’s appeal is that it doesn’t feel touristy. That’s due, at least partially, to the lack of either a public parking lot or a public beach. (Solve this problem thusly: Point Lookout Beach — technically in Lido Beach just south of the Loop’s terminus — has plenty of parking and sand. Town of Hempstead residents pay a $10 entrance fee, it’s $50 for everyone else. It's a short walk to town.)

But you needn’t spend a whole day here and, on weekdays, it’s not even hard to find a parking spot along the main drag. In fact, Point Lookout is the perfect destination for that Thursday evening when you want to knock off work a little early, or even that Monday morning when you want to play hooky until after lunch.

The town has two centers of commercial gravity: The blocks of Lido Boulevard between Parkside Road Drive and Inwood Avenue are a picture-perfect Main Street. Because there’s so little traffic — and because the speed limit of 15 mph is strictly enforced — it’s actually pleasant to dine on the street; every eatery sets up tables on the wide sidewalk.

For breakfast al fresco, head to The Food Mill (40 Lido Blvd., 516-992-8888, foodmillny.com) which, in 2018, took over Point Lookout’s venerable (est. 1930!) Merola’s market. Owners Shannon Mulholland and Richard Zampella still devote about half the space to groceries; the other half is a cafe that offers prepared foods, baked goods, lunch and breakfast all day. Mulholland’s repertoire is based largely on that of her grandmother, who lived on a Wisconsin farm “cooking and baking for an army” — that is, her husband and nine children. Mulholland still makes her grandmother's breakfast strata (bread pudding with eggs, ham and Cheddar), her spinach pie (actually a savory strudel) as well as muffins and cupcakes, old-fashioned layer cakes devoid of fondant, and homey cookies such as oatmeal-rasin, chocolate chip and pecan shortbread.

Your other good bet for breakfast is Jo Jo Apples (85 Lido Blvd., 516-432-6494, jojoapples.com), which has the soul of a diner inside the body of a small-town cafe. In addition to scores of eggs, omelets, sandwiches, wraps, burgers, salads and dinner entrees, the restaurant publishes a monthly calendar of dinner specials so that you will never be in danger of missing out on brisket, herb-stuffed pork, sole amandine, roast duck or pan-seared rib-eye.

For lunch, get to The Point (70 Lido Blvd., 516-442-2402, thepointlongisland.com) which reopened in May after a thorough renovation and rebranding. The location had been a tavern for decades but when Mo Cassara and his wife, News12 anchor Elisa DiStefano, had a vision to rebalance the mix when they bought it in 2015. “It used to be a bar with 21 taps and a service kitchen,” Cassara said. “Now it’s a family restaurant with 6 taps — five local beers plus Guinness.” The restaurant is deceptively large, and there are two spaces, an open-air dining room out back and a private room around the side, that are perfect for parties.

The menu still includes old favorites such as baked clams and the Southwest-inflected Santa Fe chicken salad as well as beer-adjacent burgers and the beloved steak tidbits (slices of strip steak on garlic toast, blanketed with mozzarella). But you’ll also find a towering salad of sesame rice noodles with julienned cabbage and carrots and cilantro, flanked by pan-seared ahi tuna and sliced avocado, plus tacos filled with pulled pork or coconut shrimp. There’s only one pasta on The Point’s menu, Primavera, but Cassara and DiStefano fulfill more Italian American culinary needs two blocks away at their other spot, Mo'nelisa (28 Lido Blvd., 516-432-0000, monelisapizza.com) which features a full lineup of pizza, pasta, Parms and more.

No Point Lookout kitchen packs more culinary firepower than the one at Crab & Bull Provisions (101 Lido Blvd., 516-350-8079, crabandbullprovisions.com). In the little cottage that was, until last year, Salt Air Cafe, Brian Wilson has taken up residence. Well known in the Washington, D.C. area, Wilson came north in 2019 and earned 3½ stars from Newsday at Southold's North Fork Table. The restaurant was sold shortly thereafter and he decided to throw in his lot with pasta. Crab & Bull was initially conceived as a purveyor of freshly made ravioli and coordinating sauces, and, from Thursday to Monday, you can see the chef in flour-dusted action at the shop. But Wilson is also selling soups and salads and is slowly rolling out a lunch menu whose parameters are largely determined by whim and inspiration. Outdoor dining is coming soon.

It’s only been eight years but J.A. Heneghan’s Tavern (57 Lido Blvd., 516-544-277, heneghanstavern.com) seems like it’s been in Point Lookout for decades. Certainly the Heneghan family has a big footprint here. The restaurant is owned by three sons of the eponymous John Anthony: Jack, Kevin and James, all retired Wall Streeters who started moving to Point Lookout in the 1990s. Jack's wife, Karen, and two of their daughters work at the restaurant. Kevin’s son, Luke Heneghan, is a partner at Bright Eye Beer Company, down the street in Long Beach, and there are always a few of his brews on tap.

Another Heneghan brother, Bart, raises beef cattle in New York’s Hudson Valley with his son, John, and they send the restaurant “about a cow a month,” according to executive chef, Phil Weinstein. The family steaks grace the menu occasionally, but Weinstein always uses the ground beef in shepherd’s pie (blended with Irish sausage and peas, topped with Cheddar-chive potatoes), in rigatoni Bolognese, beef empanadas and the “Red Devon” burger (named for the cattle breed).

All of these dishes are available on Weinstein’s pub menu, served mainly in the bustling bar. There’s another menu, served in the white table-clothed dining room, that features more refined fare such as a salad of roasted beets on a bed of honey-laced mascarpone-goat cheese with candied pistachios and orange supremes, a pot of mussels steamed in either Anisette cream or beer-chorizo broth. Weinstein always has a few fish specials going, a current menu regular is grilled swordfish with fingerling potatoes, corn, black beans, summer squash and chimichurri sauce.

A town like Point Lookout should have an adorable little ice cream parlor, right? And so it does: Skipperdee’s Ice Cream (26A Lido Blvd., 516-431-5000) is owned by Lori and Chris Lawrence. Lori said that they had been customers at Skipperdee's before buying it in 2019, and the former owners of C.J.'s Coffee Shop in Rockville Centre are enjoying their new gig: Not only does the shop close for a few months during the winter, “ she said, but here “no one is in a rush, everyone just chats while they wait on line for ice cream.”  Skipperdee’s gravitates toward innovative flavors, whether from Hershey’s or Gifford's, the cult producer in Maine. Right now customers are clamoring for Key lime pie, Cappuccino Crunch (coffee ice cream with a dark chocolate spiral and almond-toffee) and Graham Central Station (with cracker swirl and chocolate-covered honeycomb candy) as well as “Oatmazing” oat-milk-based vegan ice cream.

 If Lido Blvd. is Point Lookout’s Main Street, Bayside Drive is its Riviera. All the establishments here are oriented toward the water, spilling out along Reynolds Channel. (FYI, if Lido Blvd. has limited street parking; Bayside Dr. has none. If you don’t want to pay for valet, park "in town" and walk over.)

Each of the three spots here has its own vibe. The most casual is Ted’s Fishing Station (143 Bayside Dr., 516-431-4193, tedsfishingstation.com) where you can buy fuel, bait and tackle. No boat? You can rent or charter one from Ted’s. A small food truck in the parking lot sells hand-cut fries, quesadillas and “pressed wrapinis” and hot dogs; closer to the water is the Shell Shack, a full bar that also serves chips, bar pies and freshly shucked oysters.

If Ted’s offers a soupçon of Key West, Buoy Bar (72 Bayside Dr., 516-432-3975, buoybarli.com) is more Miami Beach. Seafood assumes stylish proportions here in ceviche, lobster-stuffed tacos, blackened grilled shrimp with butternut squash risotto and grilled asparagus. The large menu also features plenty of landlubbing dishes, from a “bacon boat” served with maple syrup and ranch dressing and a pomegranate salad with candied pecans and blue cheese to twin filet “mignonettes” with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and honey-drizzled fried chicken.

The Buoy Bar is the only one of the three waterside spots that offers waiter service and non-disposable plates and flatware. The actual (and hopping) bar is inside, but it flows out onto a wide deck. Down the steps you’ll find a patio and a small beach; this is the domain of Scotty’s on the Bay (same ownership) where the counter-order menu focuses on fried tidbits (clams, poppers, chicken fingers), pizza, tacos, quesadillas, burgers and hot dogs.

No Florida allusions for Point Lookout Clam Bar (99 Bayside Dr., 516-897-4024, pointlookoutclambar.com). This place is pure Long island. When it opened in the 1970s, “The Clam Bar” referred to the super-casual takeout attached to the Point Lookout Fish Market, much of whose fish was delivered, by boat, to the dock out back (it still is). Gradually the seating expanded from a row of tables facing the street to a small deck out back and then to bigger deck and a pier jutting into the channel.

Proprietors Mike Mihale and Bruce Larson also owned the “proper” restaurant next door, Fisherman’s Catch but, last year, they gutted it and installed garage doors that could be rolled up to bring in the salty air. It’s all Clam Bar now, one seamless eatery that occupies deck and pier, beach and dining room and seats up to 400 people. There are two ordering windows — “there’s no way we could serve this number of people with waiters,” Mihale said — but you get your drinks and / or soup when you place your order, which can subdue the most savage diner.

The Clam Bar’s menu does not stray far from clam bar classics: Red or white clam chowder, clams on the half shell, fried or grilled calamari, steamers, mussels, lobster rolls, grilled swordfish and tuna, fried shrimp, clam strips, bay scallops and cod. Fried things come with French fries, grilled things come with rice, everything comes with homemade coleslaw.

Because the Clam Bar also encompasses an excellent fish market, however, all seafood is very fresh and much of it is local. If it’s not too busy, the kitchen will prepare any of the daily catches such as local trigger fish or fluke, sea scallops from Montauk. Friday through Sunday, the market is also the workplace of George Shoji, a Japanese-trained sushi chef who works not only with tuna and salmon, but with local fish as well: porgy sashimi is a favorite among the kitchen staff.

No matter what you’re eating, sunset is the time to dine here — and make sure you grab a west-facing seat. As the sun sinks beyond the Loop’s causeway, gulls winging across the horizon, you’ll never guess you’re 12 minutes from the Freeport Home Depot.