Wild Feast Cafe, closed last summer, resurfaces in Rockville Centre

As we roll into a new decade, there are bound to be people and places we leave behind. The Wild Feast Cafe, the eclectic Long Beach restaurant that closed last summer, will not be one of them.

The next iteration of Wild Feast has reopened on North Village Avenue, still co-owned by sister-and-brother team Mirijana and Valentino Ujkic, as well as a few other family members. The lunch-to-dinner spot has an ambience somewhere between luncheonette, tea room and bistro, with an L-shaped eat in counter, a smattering of dark-wood tables, wainscoting and Victorian wallpaper. 

The owners are of Montenegrin descent and fuse Mediterranean vibrancy (channeled by ample vegetables, greens and fruit) with Mexican, Italian, American and Korean inflections. Many dishes are marked vegan and/or gluten-free. A shaved Brussels sprouts salad with croutons ($14) shares the menu with a bowl of soba ($15) with pickled root vegetables, kimchi and a poached egg. While one friend sips a beef-bone marrow soup ($11.95) that takes two days to prepare (and is based on a family recipe) another can eat crab and mango dumplings ($15) and another, pan-fried hake with grass-fed butter and roasted carrots ($24.95), Burgers and sandwiches round out the menu, as does a lengthy list of specials such as endive and halloumi salad in a pomegranate dressing, shown above.

Wild Feast started as a food-hall concessionaire at Rockaway Park's Riis Park Beach Bazaar. The Ujkics, whose family moved from Montenegro to Mattituck when they were children, set up a permanent brick-and-mortar spot in Long Beach in 2016; two years later, they opened Copper & Clay, a taqueria also on West Park Avenue. Copper & Clay also closed, but the RVC iteration of Wild Feast reprises six of those tacos, such as tuna, sirloin, wild shrimp and squash.

Coffee and hot and iced teas, such as rosewater hibiscus tea, underpin the drinks menu.

The Wild Feast Cafe, 88 N. Village Ave., Rockville Centre. 516-665-2124. thewildfeastcafe.com