The Refuge to succeed Four Food Studio in Melville
The Refuge Food & Spirits, under construction on Aug. 20, 2014, is moving into the Melville space that used to be Four Food Studio & Cocktail Salon. Credit: Newsday / Erica Marcus
The construction has been going on for months, but the sign has now gone up to announce the successor to Melville’s sprawling Four Food Studio & Cocktail Salon. The new restaurant’s name is The Refuge Food & Spirits. Plans for the menu include a blend of Italian and Latin comfort foods.
“We wanted to serve food that was accessible, immediately understandable. The Latin guys kept talking about the food that their grandmothers make, the Italian guys talked about the food that their grandmothers make and a spirit began to evolve,” said managing partner Jay Grossman.
Grossman said he hoped to open The Refuge in October.
The menu is still a work in progress but there will be a wood-burning oven used both for pizza and empanadas. The kitchen will be run by Antonio Guillen, who had been the executive chef at Four and who, since March, has been working at K Pacho in New Hyde Park.
Like Four, which closed in March, The Refuge is a collaboration between Grossman and Ray Sidhom, who owns the building at the intersection of Broadhollow and Baylis roads. The Refuge’s director of operations is Tony Greco, a 40-year hospitality veteran who ran the storied Long Island nightclubs Uncle Sam’s in Levittown and Malibu in Lido Beach.
Four opened in 2005. With its ambitious New American menu, Space Age decor and hopping bar scene it, along with Blackstone Steakhouse, kicked off the Route 110 corridor restaurant revival that now includes Jewel (2011), Trento (2013) and Nisen One Ten (2014).
