Birdie Bar opens in Northport

It’s hard to believe that Birdie Bar is less than a week old, so established does this new Northport restaurant feel. This is the second venue from the Selvaggio family, owners of Robke’s Italian restaurant, just a few blocks west on Fort Salonga Road, and it appears to be on track to be just as buzzy as its older sibling. Partner Louis Selvaggio Jr. said “the whole first month was booked on Open Table within seven minutes.”

But the two establishments are very different. Birdie Bar takes reservations and credit cards and has a menu that falls squarely into New American bar and grill territory. The bi-level space (bar-lounge downstairs, 50-seat dining room upstairs) is decorated in a timeless, clubby fashion, with white tablecloths, plush banquettes, and dark wood paneling. Most walls are covered with a profusion of framed photos of sports figures and celebrities — the kind of collection that speaks to decades of accretion but, here, was accomplished from the get-go.

Under the direction of Antonio Guillen, formerly of H2O in Smithtown, the kitchen puts out classics like oysters on the half shell, jumbo-lump crabcake, wedge salad, French dip sandwich, roast chicken, barbecued ribs with apple slaw, filet mignon and bone-in rib-eye with truffle butter and onion rings.

Further off the beaten path: A salad made with greens grown hydroponically by Cubic Acre Farms in Setauket is filled out with watermelon radish and a charred-onion vinaigrette; the Birdie Burger is topped lavishly with bacon, lettuce, Gruyere, a fried egg and “688” sauce (mayo, mustard and ketchup with cornichons and citrus); blackened halibut sits atop an orzo salad with grilled onions, bacon and asparagus. Most starters range between $18 and $23; most mains between $28 and $40.

For baked goods, Birdie Bar turned to Huntington’s Duck Island Bakery for the bread basket containing an epi (the branched baguette that mimics the shape of a stalk of wheat) and a fougasse (Provençal herb flatbread). For dessert, there are big slabs of layer cake brought in from Buttercooky Bakery.

Robke’s is a Selvaggio family affair, with Louis Selvaggio Sr. in the kitchen and Louis Selvaggio Jr. presiding over the dining room. Birdie Bar is owned by Selvaggio Jr. and his sister, Mia. It takes over the old Seven Quarts Tavern, which closed in 2021.

Birdie Bar is at 688 Fort Salonga Rd., Northport;
open 5 to 10 p.m. Sundays to Thursdays, to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 631-686-3713, birdiebarnpt.com