Late night eats at Holtsville's Bread & Butter Bistro
This is the black pepper Gouda gratin burger at the new Bread & Butter Bistro in Holtsville. (April, 2013) Credit: Newsday Joan Reminick
Weekends are a 24-hour affair at the new Bread & Butter Bistro in Holtsville. The pub-style eatery, attached to the Ramada Plaza Long Island hotel, serves round the clock both Friday and Saturday.
British-born Piers Stringer, who is also executive chef at the Emporium in Patchogue, has scaled down his ambitious opening menu. Gone are the steak and biscuits and chicken potpie, replaced by more commonplace items such as salmon with teriyaki glaze ($14.95) and pasta and vegetables with marinara or garlic and oil ($11.95).
Having experienced Stringer’s excellent house-baked bread at Emporium, I was chagrined to find the bread in my basket rather stale. “We make our bread fresh every day,” the waitress said when she first set it on the table. All I could wonder was whether she had given me yesterday’s.
But a bowl of chicken vegetable soup was very good, loaded with colorful vegetables. And an apple-braised pulled pork taco had lovely flavor. Best of all was the deeply smoky, juicy black pepper-crusted burger capped with a gratin of smoked Gouda. Big plus: the bun-to-burger ratio was perfect. A shame the accompanying fries were the battered previously frozen variety.
For dessert: zeppole with vanilla ice cream, both house-made, both first-rate ($5.95).
Bread & Butter Bistro is at 1730 North Ocean Ave., Holtsville, 631-438-0477, Breadandbutterli.com
