Otherside Wine Bar opens in Glen Cove

The coolest place in Glen Cove just got even cooler: Mark Boccard, whose Southdown Coffee has occupied the eastern half of this historic saltbox since 2020, has opened Otherside Wine Bar in … well … the building’s other side.

“The name came to me first in its obvious form,” he said. “But it stuck as I started to chew the words around a bit. ‘Other side’ can also be another side of the day like a.m. / p.m. so that when we’ve had our fill of caffeine but still want to explore a vast and delicious beverage category, we can wind down with a glass of wine and scratch the same itch.”

Chef Ian Bock is an East Hampton native-Huntington resident who cooked at Manhattan restaurants. Now he’s back on Long Island and, at Otherside, is assisted by sous chef Brian Wilson, formerly of North Fork Table in Southold and Crab & Bull Provisions in Point Lookout.

The menu, which will change often, includes drinks-friendly snacks, from roasted olives with garlic and fennel pollen to well-curated charcuterie and cheese plates. Among the small plates are cold asparagus with salmon roe, slow-roasted carrots with ricotta and Calabrian chili, wild mushrooms on toast, Spanish-style grilled jumbo shrimp in garlic sauce and French fries (with or without a raclette fondue). Right now, pastas are ricotta-herb agnolotti with fava beans, peas, chanterelles, pistachio and mint and green linguine with top neck clams. “On a bun” are the house burger (with raclette and caramelized onion jam), farro-tofu-mushroom patty (with fermented seaweed slaw) and grilled chicken (with red pepper-feta spread and marinated red onion). Most small plates range from $14 to $16, pastas and sandwiches $22 to $24.

Boccard has spent the last decade immersed in coffee: Founded in Huntington in 2014, Southdown is one of the Island’s best roasters and retailers with additional shops in Glen Cove, Oyster Bay, Northport, Port Jefferson, Patchogue and Point Lookout. When it comes to wine, he observed that both beverages “involve fermentation, express terroir and varietal qualities, and rely on some human intention along the way. I’m still very much a student,” he conceded, “but felt confident enough to at least build an opening list.”

That list is composed exclusively of “natural wines,” made using traditional methods, with organic grapes and no additives. There are about 50 bottles — whites, reds, sparklers, rosés and orange wines — mostly from France and Italy but with selections from Germany, Spain, California, New Zealand and Long Island. (Three bottles are from the Roslyn-based winery, Floral Terranes.)

There are nine wines by the glass plus craft beers, ciders and nonalcoholic beer, kombucha, sparkling apple juice and more.

Otherside’s main dining room is a vaulted, wood-lined space whose 200-year-old bones have been updated with modern light fixtures, a sleek bar and tables. Diners also have access to the coffee shop lounge as well as outdoor tables.

Otherside Wine Bar, 149 Glen St., Glen Cove, otherside.wine. Open Thursday to Monday 4 to 10 p.m.