Best new restaurants on Long Island in 2024

Jesse Schenker, the chef who’s been busy transforming Oyster Bay into a serious dining destination since 2018, has unveiled Gioia (pronounced "JOY-ah" and, yes, meaning "joy" in Italian), an intimate 10-table restaurant focused on his favorite region in Italy. "I love everything about Emilia-Romagna — mortadella, gnocco fritto, prosciutto, Parmigiano-Reggiano," he said. "To me, the food of this region is equal parts comfort and culinary delight." The beauty of Gioia’s menu lies in its simplicity. The starters, nearly all vegetables, include grilled cauliflower over whipped ricotta and garnished with lemon, pistachio and Parmigiano-Reggiano. The pastas are often filled, a trademark of Emilia-Romagna, and so you might find spinach ravioli with sage in brown butter or hearty cappellacci, folded like an open envelope, with squash, apple, ricotta and mosto cotto (grape syrup). But it’s the gramigna, a G-shaped pasta with spicy sausage, spinach and tomato, that seems to live on every table. Nightly specials include T-bone steak (Monday), whole grilled fish (Wednesday) and lasagna Bolognese (Sunday) accompanied by a side dish (try the addictive crispy potatoes). The simplicity of the menu also extends to price: Most dishes are under $30.

Schenker, who is formerly of Recette and The Gander, both in Manhattan, was a two-time James Beard Award semifinalist and winner of an "Iron Chef" title by the time he moved out to Long Island and partnered with Oyster Bay’s Claudia Taglich to open their first restaurant, 2 Spring, which then led to the neighboring Four (a 10-seat chef’s counter) and Gimme Burger. Gioia, Schenker explained, was always on the horizon. "Emilia-Romagna continues to be an underrepresented region in Italy as far as restaurants go. I didn’t envision another red sauce joint in Oyster Bay. I hope that people come to love this part of Italy as much as we do."

Bar Clementine may be new — it opened in February of this year — but the cozy-chic spot already feels like an Islip landmark. Soon after the doors open at 4 p.m., the long bar is full of locals working their way through wine and cocktails such as the signature libation: clementine-infused vodka with clementine and lime juices, Aperol, vanilla, egg white and a lime leaf. It goes down easier than a Creamsicle. Then come the bar snacks — crab-filled deviled eggs, smoked-salmon pizzas, mushroom arancini with truffled pecorino. Later, drinks give way to dinner.

But this is hardly an overnight success. It was four years ago that the owners of The LakeHouse in Bay Shore, Matt and Eileen Connors and Jay Gut, started thinking about a second venue, something smaller, more casual and drinks-forward. Gut, who lived in Islip for four years, believed the town would support a place that was "grown-up, sophisticated and reliable," and when the corner spot that had been Treme became available, the team made its move.

The name of the place had been Eileen’s idea, and she pursued it down to the still life painting that dominates the front of the restaurant and the citrus wallpaper that covers the back. She spent years acquiring vintage art and flatware. She agonized over the marble bar and tabletops. Would they scratch and weather? Yes, and that was just fine.

Hiring staff was not a problem, for The LakeHouse was brimming with employees ready to step up. "We are who we are because they stuck with us," Eileen said. Added Gut, "you amass so many good employees and if you don’t give them opportunities to grow, they leave." Shannon Popp, now a partner at Bar Clementine, and Tamra Wong were longtime LakeHouse staffers tasked with developing the new bar program. Bar Clementine’s kitchen is under the command of partner Andrew Castano, a 10-year LakeHouse veteran. The French-inflected menu includes starters such as duck confit, onion soup, bacon-goat-cheese tart, escargot in garlic butter and frisée lardon salad as well as mains such as skirt steak frites, sea scallops Provençal and herb-roasted chicken. Non-Gallic items include fritto misto (fried calamari, rock shrimp, artichoke and zucchini), local clams and Shamrock oysters (from Bay Shore) on the half shell, chopped Greek salad, a cheeseburger and fettuccine with Gulf shrimp and melted leeks.

Chinese food has rocketed into an era of cinematic excellence, with fantastical dining rooms and displays of tableside bravura. Deng Ji, which has two locations in Flushing, Queens, opened its largest, most extravagant outpost yet in a Levittown strip mall. The restaurant, named after its owner, Benny Deng, specializes in Crossing the Bridge rice noodles from the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan.

Also known as guoqiao mixian noodles, "Crossing the Bridge" refers to a legend about a young scholar who traveled from his village to an island to study for his exams. Although his wife would cross a bridge to serve him lunch, the student was too engrossed in his studies and let the food go cold. So his wife started carrying the ingredients in separate bowls, only combining them when he was ready to eat. The story highlights hardworking agricultural values, but today, these noodles demonstrate the flashiness of contemporary Chinese cuisine. Deng Ji presents multiple versions of the dish, displaying the ingredients on elaborate wooden trays that can spiral into the air like a staircase.

Even the more modest rice noodle dishes boast at least a dozen toppings, including spongy mushrooms, quail eggs, black fungus and chrysanthemum petals. Quicker than you’d expect, the ingredients arrive on a wooden bridge. A server delivers a black cauldron of slow-simmered pork broth, and spoons the toppings, one by one, into the bowl. The broth is mild and comforting, and every bite yields a different meat or vegetable texture. (If you like, pour black vinegar and Sichuan peppercorn oil over the top to spice it up.) When it’s cold and windy outside, this hits the spot.

Consider, too, getting a red broth soup such as Spare Ribs GuanGuan rice noodle, with its more potent broth. The dry beef chow fun, with its springy rice noodles, is light and interesting, and the cold appetizers are also satisfying.

Deng Ji pushes the boundaries of Chinese cuisine on Long Island. But Deng’s brother, Kai Chen explained, "If we just opened up another store in Flushing, the customers would be Chinese. We want people to know the real Chinese food."

There’s locally sourced and then there’s walking out the door of your kitchen to collect eggs laid that morning. That’s the position Max Mohrmann and Jonathan Shearman now find themselves in at their new café and market at 8 Hands Farm in Cutchogue. As chefs and partners in the live-fire caterer Fyr & Salt, they have always prized local North Fork produce, but now they have 24-hour access to 8 Hands heritage-breed chickens, sheep and pigs.

What all this means for you is that from Thursday to Sunday, you can visit the farm and have a meal at one of the café’s long tables or outside overlooking the pastures and beds of herbs and greens. The menu features sandwiches such as eggs with house-smoked pastrami, Gruyère and pickled onion or house-cured ham with Havarti, pickles and mustard. All sandwiches are on homemade bread. There are soft-boiled "Turkish" eggs with yogurt, fresh herbs and chili crunch; za’atar lamb meatballs with cucumber and feta salad; English-style hand pies, soups and more. End your meal with a frozen custard, made with the farm’s eggs. Pastries and cookies are supplied by North Fork Baker’s Jessica Shearman, Jonathan’s wife. The café occupies one half of the red barn; the other half is a specialty market where you can find 8 Hands’ meat and charcuterie as well as a terrific assortment of pickles, cheeses and condiments as well as beans, pastas and other dry goods made outside Cutchogue.

Tom Geppel and Carol Festa bought the 28-acre farm in 2011. Shearman had met them when he started buying their eggs for the fresh pasta at what was then Caci restaurant in Southold. He and Jessica wound up renting a house on the farm and, always an amateur charcuterer, started curing his own pancetta and guanciale for 1943 Pizza Bar in Greenport, where he was executive chef. Shearman met Mohrmann at 1943 and the two men, both from Smithtown, discovered they shared a passion for live-fire cooking. Late in 2022 they founded Fyr & Salt, which revolves around an Argentinian wood-fired grill-rotisserie and a mobile wood-fired pizza oven. Summers were busy, but catering was not a sustainable year-round business. Meanwhile, 8 Hands’ original chef, Julien Shapiro, had decamped to the Hudson Valley and the kitchen was rudderless. That’s how Fyr & Salt came to 8 Hands Farm. "It was a perfect fit," Shearman said. "We all have the same values. Working together, the café and market are as farm-to-table as it gets."

Fogo de Chão has set the tone for Brazilian steakhouses since it first came to the United States in the late ’90s, so when an independently owned all-you-can-eat rodizio grill like AG Steakhouse in Westbury comes around on the same level, it’s a revelation. AG is fronted by Long Phu, a restaurant-industry veteran who spent two decades managing Fogo de Chão steakhouses in New York City, Baltimore and, most recently, Garden City. Eventually, he broke away. "After that many years of opening different Brazilian steakhouses, I wanted to open something of my own," he said. "I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel."

AG, which stands for Assado Gaúcho, is similar to Fogo but takes things a step further by ramping up the tableside fanfare. Bar carts roam the room, offering freshly shaken caipirinhas to order. You could make a plentiful meal from the "market table" alone, as it brims with cheeses, high-end cold cuts, Brazilian salads, fresh vegetables and hearts of palm as well as hearty dishes such as feijoada, a rich, smoky black bean stew. (And, if you can handle it, snap up a couple of those fiery malagueta peppers to set your brain straight.) But save room, because AG goes hog wild with the meat selection.

The bacon-wrapped steak, while not one of the higher-end cuts like the rib eye, is perfectly cooked to medium-rare and corseted with savory, salty pork. A Brazilian beef cut, the fraldinha (bottom sirloin), has the succulence of a roasted short rib. In addition, there are pork sausages, pork chops, lamb chops, lamb sirloin and juicy chicken legs. All of this is interspersed with offerings of fried bananas, fried yuca, mashed potatoes, caramelized pineapple (the best) and gluten-free cheese bread. The dessert menu is oversize but not imperative. Because at the end of the day, AG offers so much bang for your buck, it’s hard to imagine leaving more satisfied — or more full.

"Would you like a caviar bump?" whispered restaurateur Steven Squitiro, a dashing figure who extended a tin of kaluga caviar. It was opening week at The James in Babylon, and the pearly, army-green beads, from a sustainably raised type of sturgeon, were soon piled onto a fisted hand, in the space between the thumb and the wrist. After an herbaceous sip of vodka infused with dill and fennel, you lick the $28 amuse-bouche off your hand. Imagine the attention this ritual elicits from fellow diners.

This level of swank sets a standard for what’s in store at The James, which opened after a complete overhaul of the venerable Babylon Carriage House restaurant that closed in 2023, after nearly 20 years in the heart of the village. It’s the second act in less than two years from Squitiro and partner Andrew Affa, who opened Arlo Kitchen and Bar in Northport in 2022 with an artful mix of fine dining and a bit of theater — tableside Tomahawk carvings, flaming baked Alaska, an upstairs piano bar and magnificent Art Deco flourishes. The James delivers similar flair with a sweeping entry staircase, a massive brasserie-style bar, head-turning artwork, teetering seafood towers and iconic throwback dishes (lobster Thermidor, beef Wellington), although the space feels like Arlo’s sassier, sexier little sister. The kitchen, helmed by Arlo’s Walter Huezos, features raw bar offerings, fresh pastas such as paccheri with short-rib ragù and fusilli with mushrooms, plus wild-caught seafood, dry-aged steaks and a beautifully cooked duck breast. If you feel like being unfussy, though, the bar is a great place to settle in for a burger and a martini.

And about that bump: "We were playing around with caviar app specials," Squitiro explained. "We first saw ‘the bump’ in Manhattan, and thought it was a great way to introduce caviar to guests." And how.

This restaurant evokes something out of "Alice in Wonderland" with its storefront signage in the shape of a cup of cascading flowers. Welcome to Sayville’s newest all-day spot serving the beloved weekend meal of champions. This brick-and-mortar endeavor of Bay Shore resident Michelle Panciarello, owner of the popular Eat Me, Drink Me catering trucks, has been three years in the making and is a trippy homage to the Wonderland theme of her trucks.

Prepare for a wait, as there are only four tables and some window bar seating — 12 to 15 seats at any given time — but you will be happy you invested your time. Whether it’s the countertop blueberry pop tarts that taste like summer or the whimsical oversize chocolate Ring Dings, most everything at Brunch is made in-house or sourced locally; coffee is from Hampton Coffee Company. The miniature pancakes are as light as air, the tender hoe cakes (corn cakes) are smothered in housemade grape syrup and the breakfast sandwiches on warm, crumbly biscuits showcase local free-range eggs and housemade sausage with fennel pollen that Panciarello imports from Italy. Bread is made daily for the toast that accompanies the plate called "A Smattering," which is loaded with eggs, bacon and corn cakes. Don’t miss the Funeral Potatoes, an au gratin indulgence topped with cornflakes and baked in cast iron. "I’ve always cooked, always baked," explained Panciarello. "Everyone was always telling me how good it was, and since I’m not really great at working for other people, the trucks felt right to me." First one Eat Me, Drink Me truck more than a decade ago, then two, then three — all of which are still on the road — preceded Brunch. "After the trucks were featured in Newsday, we blew up," she added.

Louie & Ernie’s Pizza has been a staple in the Bronx since 1959 and is considered not only one of New York City’s most venerable pizzerias, but one of its best, with a simple menu and a killer slice of sausage pie. The old-school feeling of that legendary spot is also present at Tori T’s Pizzeria in Malverne, as owner Victoria Tiso is the daughter of John Tiso, who purchased Louie & Ernie’s with his brother Cosimo in 1987. Her father’s retirement in January of this year put her at a crossroads. Rather than take over the iconic Bronx pizzeria, she came to Long Island, bringing a friendly, no-nonsense vibe as she oversees a small staff of pizzamakers and chats with regulars. "I was in the shadow of my dad. Being there, obviously I loved it, it was part of the family, but I always wanted to do something on my own," she said.

Tiso was particularly interested in Detroit-style deep-dish pizza, which is gaining popularity in New York City and across the United States. To learn, she spent two months working under World Pizza Champion John Gristina, whose Pizza Fenice is "right now the top pizza place in Westchester County," she said.

Squares of classic Detroit Red feature a focaccia-like dough capped by a fiercely brown crust. It’s great, but the main draw here may still be a classic New York pie — supple, paper-thin and beautifully greasy in the most nostalgic way. Tori T’s famed sausage pie lives up to expectations, too, with supremely flavorful nubs of crumbly sausage from the supplier S & D in the Bronx. The tomato sauce is slightly sweet, and the cheese is melty. Another can’t-miss item is the fried cheese calzone, which has a texture much like an Italian zeppola and is loosely stuffed with fresh ricotta and mozzarella. Straight out of the oven, the crust is fluffy and light — irresistible with the fresh dairy flavor from the cow’s-milk cheeses. It’s perfect.

When The State Room opened in 2023 in Patchogue, in a small space on the second floor of what was once the BrickHouse Brewery, its refined small plates and craft cocktails won a spot that year on Newsday’s list of Top 100 restaurants. Now, on the main floor, the same team — chef Francis Derby and beverage director Bert Weigand — has opened Shands General, which Derby hopes will become "the kind of bustling community restaurant where you can go two or three times a week, or for a special occasion."

BrickHouse, a groundbreaking establishment that had heralded the village’s hospitality boom, underwent a transformation as Derby and his partners divided the downstairs into three areas. A sunny café boasts floor-to-ceiling windows opening onto the street, while the lounge behind it has a 20-seat bar and three booths, each seating 6 to 10 people. Tucked away beyond velvet curtains is the main dining room, a hushed space with carpeted floors and coffered ceilings.

As at the State Room, Derby’s menu relies on local ingredients, many of them from the Brookhaven hamlet farms H.O.G. and Early Girl. But, he said, "Downstairs, the platings are simpler and more approachable." Starters, for instance, might include clams or oysters on the half shell, tahini Caesar salad, "chop cheese" tartine, Long Island duck wings and steamed mussels with white wine, kimchi butter and focaccia. Among the housemade pastas are rigatoni Bolognese and linguine with clams and sea beans. Mains include "pork shoulder steak frites," fried chicken with seasonal pickles, broiled cod with Long Island grits, filet au poivre and the Shands burger, topped with Taleggio and onion jam and served on a milk-bread bun. Desserts such as buttermilk panna cotta and a triple-chocolate cake are comparably accomplished.

As for the name of the restaurant, the partners reached back into Patchogue’s past. The edifice, built around 1840 (and rebuilt in brick after a fire in the 1860s) was originally J.S. Havens General Store. In 1914, James Shand took over the business and his family ran it until 1990. Thus, during its 180-plus years, 67 West Main Street has been home to three long-lived businesses. That’s a track record Derby and his team want to continue. "We plan to be in business for another 30 years," he said.

Stephen Rodriguez is making the rounds during a recent evening at Casita RD, visiting every table in the small space. At this Baldwin restaurant, the menu flirts with Japanese, Italian and Mexican flavors in the context of Rodriguez’s Dominican upbringing. Rodriguez, who was born in Queens and grew up in a family of bodega owners, started leaning into Instagram food mashup trends around 2017. In Brooklyn, he was credited with inventing Dominican pizza, which features mashed green plantain as a crust topped with fried salami and fried cheese. Known as Chef Papi on Instagram, where he has close to 85,000 followers, Rodriguez impressed Massiel Medina with his vodka sauce when he catered her daughter’s 25th birthday party. The two partnered to open Casita RD in a space that was previously the kitchen of her family’s supermarket, Ideal Food Basket.

Rodriguez’s Dominican pizza is a saucy extravaganza of a dish that works better than you might think: The mashed plantain base is just firm enough to hold the toppings yet retains its soft, pliable texture. There is also Dominican sushi, pioneered by Mitsuhisa Nishio, a Japanese-Dominican chef who’s behind the sushi program at La Terraza in Lindenhurst. The two sushi rolls at RD Casita, named after Dominican Republic locales, include the Sajoma roll, with skirt steak, bacon and two cheeses stuffed inside an outer layer of sushi rice topped with sweet plantains and smothered in sauces. And Rodriguez’s sleeper seafood hit is grilled octopus with a sweet corn puree, chimichurri and eel sauce. Shrimp mofongo is another banger, the twice-fried dome of green plantain mash topped with plump shrimp drenched in Rodriguez’s untraditional Alfredo sauce.

Business has been so good that Rodriguez said they’ve already outgrown their space. But there’s something charming about this little casita. And part of that charm is because it doesn’t feel like forever, but right now.

The pandemic nearly destroyed the contemporary American buffet; who would think Asian hot pot would be the thing to save it? Take Spring Shabu-Shabu in Westbury: With little advertising, the sizable building, a former Joe’s Crab Shack, was recently packed with a constant stream of families ogling the (breathtaking) fresh noodle bar or lining up for the green tea soft-serve. What’s the draw? Maybe it’s the price: a cool $22.95 a person without any meat add-ons. But, judging by the mood of the diverse crowd, the shabu-shabu concept itself is the draw, a sign that hot pot is gaining steam beyond Asian cultures.

Managing partner Jonathan Lee, who operates the Flushing-based minichain, lives in Syosset. The former paralegal had entered the restaurant business at the behest of his South Korea — born father, who had become enamored with Japanese buffets following a trip to California. Lee had never had Japanese shabu-shabu but took to it instantly. And lately this Japanese style of eating — the name comes from the sound made when you swish thinly sliced meats around in a pot of boiling broth until cooked — is very popular in Korea, he said. "Our main-base customers tend to be Asian because they’re more familiar with the type of cuisine," he said. "But I think more and more people find it interesting because it’s something different. It’s healthy and it’s interactive."

His selections — everything from the hand-torn Korean wheat noodles called sujebi (not often seen in restaurants) to a farmers market-esque greens and a whole wall of Chinese fish cakes — are not traditional, and there are individual hot pots instead of communal ones for the cooking liquid of your choosing. The clean-flavored dashi broth made from bonito flakes and kelp is the most classic way to go, but don’t discount the dark vegetarian broth, with its strong mushroom flavor (a winner), kimchi broth or pork bone broth made spicy by a Sichuan chili paste. Spring Shabu-Shabu isn’t the only hot pot buffet in the area, but it’s the cheapest and also one of the most entertaining and delicious.