New Long Island restaurants to try

The Barnyard, Farmingdale

The long-empty Grecian Grill spot in Farmingdale has found new life as The Barnyard, a Caribbean restaurant focused on the foods of the islands. Run by husband-and-wife team Don and Xiomara Romain, the menu features oxtail empanadas, accompanied by a killer jerk barbecue sauce, and akra or malanga fritters, a Haitian delicacy with a habanero kick, to start. Xiomara spices the chickens, Dom concocts addictive sauces like mango-clove. Wings come in four varieties: curry, jerk, island BBQ and hot honey. Complimentary plantain chips pop up on every table at lunchtime, when the jerk chicken cheesesteak is a way to dip a toe into the spicy dish that is offered as an entrée at dinnertime. The pillow-soft bread — made at Farmingdale’s Lakewood Bakery — is loaded with juicy, spicy chicken thighs with a light cheese sauce. 

Red Cajun and Grill, Dix Hills

This tiny new shop in Dix Hills is one of the most legit places to get a bowl of pho on Long Island. The name Red Cajun and Grill might have you thinking New Orleans, but it actually refers to the Viet-Cajun crab boil restaurants that are popular with the Vietnamese community. Viet-Cajun restaurants often pair items like spicy crawfish with noodles, utilizing both Cajun and Vietnamese flavors. Owner Suong "Annie" Pham prepares her own spice blend for the seafood boils, which are steamed in plastic bags that you rip open at the table. A pound of Cajun crawfish is stacked with potatoes, corn and sausage. Pham also serves rice plates and banh mi sandwiches stuffed with meat, mayo and pickled carrots.

Hummus Fit, Lake Grove

Since owner Liana Mavruk started working out of Holbrook’s tiny Hummus Mediterranean Grill kitchen in 2015, Hummus Fit has taken off as a fast-casual takeaway concept embraced by clean eaters. With more than 20 locations nationwide, the latest LI location has opened in the former Good Steer, Lake Grove’s once-iconic steakhouse. The building was gutted to make way for a gleaming white grab-and-go eatery with a make-your-own-salad and bowl bar for on-location dining. Choose lettuce, a wrap, or grains, a selection of toppings and proteins, douse with dressing of your choice and feel good about your lunch. An entire wall of refrigerated meals range from 400-500 calories, including a grilled chicken parm wrap, feta meatballs with orzo, steak and chicken fajitas, or the themed Steer-O-Rito with flank steak, jasmine rice, tomatoes, and chipotle poblano sauce in a soft tortilla.

Fora Cafe, Port Washington

The menu at this stylish cafe in Port Washington features an all-day breakfast section with dishes like shakshuka and cilbir, a hard-to-find egg dish that hails from Turkey. Two poached eggs are completely submerged in tangy Greek yogurt and scatters of green herbs. A bright chili oil made from Aleppo pepper swirls around the yogurt cloud, so that when smeared on the sourdough bread, every bite is creamy with a touch of spice. Co-owner Engin Koksal is from Istanbul and opened the shop with his wife, Leyla, whose family owns Krinti Mediterranean Grill in Woodbury. Try a strong cup of Turkish coffee, which is prepared in a traditional cezve in the back and served in a delicate porcelain cup.

While in Kathmandu, Glen Cove

Nepali momos, or dumplings, are back on Long Island: While In Kathmandu has opened in Glen Cove, serving Nepali staples that have been hard to come by since Everest Himalayan Cuisine closed in Bellmore two years ago. Momos here are filled with chicken, shrimp, water buffalo meat or vegetable; all are available steamed, fried or in a creamy, tomato-based broth. Nepali-style grilled skewers are served on a bed of rice that has been beaten flat and then dried to preserve it. Owner Bikash Kharel’s dishes split the difference between Nepali street foods and those of other nations, including the masala fries, masala wings, "not tacos" made with spiced chicken or jackfruit enfolded in a freshly made roti and garlic naan served with hummus. He also tries his hand at Nepali-inflected buffalo burgers and fried chicken sandwiches.

Great South Bay Brewery, Ronkonkoma

Great South Bay Brewery is the first restaurant to open at the new Station Yards multiuse development in Ronkonkoma. Executive chef Chris Palmer honed the menu to popular pub fare — burgers, wings — but you’ll still find the crab Rangoon egg roll as well as another egg roll that contains a whole stick of gooey mozzarella from the brewery's other locations. The two paninis on GSB’s menu are warm sandwiches whose fillings are tucked into freshly baked pizza dough — the grilled chicken, with fresh mozzarella, romaine and Caesar dressing, and the Mulberry Street with chicken cutlet, mortadella, burrata and vodka sauce. Of the 24 taps at the bar, 20 spout GSB brews; the remaining four feature other local brands such as Sand City, DUBCO and Riverhead Ciderhouse.

Rincon Criollo, New Hyde Park

This legendary Cuban restaurant has been wowing customers in Queens since 1976. Last year, the Acosta family decided to close their storied Queens eatery and reopen in New Hyde Park, their second on Long Island after Huntington Station. The menu includes many of the classic Cuban dishes that founder Rudesindo Acosta served since the '50s in Cuba, like the roast pork dish lechon asado, the ground beef stew picadillo and the slow-cooked shredded beef dish ropa vieja. 

Los Panas Venezuelan Food, East Rockaway

The small counter service spot in East Rockaway is putting out some of the finest Venezuelan street food around. Arepas are made fresh daily, and the kitchen stuffs the crispy corn cakes with so much filling that you have to pull some away before you can bite in. Customize your own with black beans and sweet plantains, but don't skip the famous shredded chicken and avocado arepa that goes by the name reina pepiada or the empanadas. The kitchen also makes a mean cachapa, a sweet corn cake stuffed with gooey fresh cheese.

Trini Street Food, Valley Stream

This Trinidadian food truck parked outside the Green Acres Mall makes up for its utilitarian location by serving intensely flavorful dishes like spicy corn soup and curry chicken with roti. The truck is owned by Long Island resident Tiffani Sahai, who grew up at her father's restaurant Trini Delight in South Richmond Hill, Queens. Trinidadian food draws from a diverse tapestry of influences, including India, West Africa and Latin America so many of the dishes are vegetarian, the most popular being the doubles. Similar to an overstuffed taco, doubles are so named because it takes two fried bara flatbreads to hold the mixture of curried chickpeas and sweet chutneys on top. 

Lucas II Dominican Spot, Oceanside

Father-and-son team Hipolito and Francisco Rosario follow up their first Dominican takeout deli, Lucas, in Baldwin, with a larger space in Oceanside that doubles as a nightclub on the weekends. Hipolito's menu is large and almost diner-like, with multiple varieties of each meat. There's grilled chicken, garlic chicken, rotisserie chicken and Francese chicken. There's skirt steak, pepper steak, breaded steak and steak with onions. The last page of the menu is more obviously Caribbean, with classic dishes like stewed goat and stewed hen, as well as a section of mofongos made from mashed plantain.

Mamá Rosa Mexican, Great Neck

Puebla-native Carlos Axilote, who worked his way up from a dishwasher to operate two El Coyote restaurants, named his new Mexican restaurant in Great Neck after his mother, who developed many of the recipes, including the scratchmade mole Poblano, with chunks of juicy chicken thigh in a rich chocolaty sauce. The menu has Mexican American classics as well as crowd-pleasers like an appetizer platter with hot wings and nachos and dishes unique to Central Mexico, such as the mixiote Poblano with slow-braised pork shank braised in a parchment paper wrapper. Drinks include the pepino mezcal cocktail, a cold and limey drink with fresh cucumber and just a hint of smoky mezcal.

Via Cuma, Valley Stream

Chef-owner Luca Schiano Di Cola of pizzeria Via Cuma is bringing "contemporary Italian" to Valley Stream with an imported Izzo oven and artisanal dough maintained with Italian-style sourdough. There are almost a dozen varieties of 12-inch pizzas, from the simple Margherita, to more elaborate specimens such as the Capricciosa, a Margherita gussied up with ham, olives, artichokes and mushrooms, and the Patate, Porchetta e Provola, a white pie topped with cubes of roast potatoes and pork. Beyond pizza, there's eggplant Parmesan, braciole and a selection of specialties from the Campania region.

Talina, Babylon

Fresh pasta is the star at Talina, a new restaurant in Babylon Village focused on the flavors of Romagna, the southeastern portion of Emilia-Romagna on Italy's Adriatic coast. Choose from strozzapreti, a long, lean pasta, rolled and twisted by hand and served with sausage ragu and arugula or speck, spinach and cream; potato gnocchi, doused with Taleggio cheese, arugula and radicchio; hand-stuffed spinach ravioli that shines bright red covered in a chunky, flavorful Pomodoro sauce and more. There's also grilled meat boards, a changing roster of nightly specials and cocktails.

The Granola Bar, Woodbury

The Granola Bar is elevating daytime meals to a higher standard in a swank space that feels more like a sexy downtown Manhattan bar than an all-day brunch bar. The health-conscious, modern comfort food menu includes all-day breakfast, parfaits, loaded salads, hearty sandwiches and an equally robust cocktail menu. The Woodbury shop closes by 4 p.m. daily, an intentional play to support the chic space's catering business in the evenings.

Plado Tasting Bar, Glen Cove

It's been a long culinary journey for German Rizzo from his native Italy to Glen Cove. Along the way Rizzo developed a global repertoire that is reflected in the name that he and his wife-partner Kristen O’Donnell chose for their venture: Plado Tasting Bar. The menu offers a few big-ticket meat items (Angus beef sirloin, Berkshire pork chop, bone-in rib-eye) but, otherwise, it is composed of small plates dominated by vegetables. There's also meat-based small plates, seafood and pasta. 

Dolce Bella, Oceanside

Dolce Bella got its start as a gelato cart serving weddings and other special occasions, and that's reflected in the line of gelato they source from a vendor. The big draw here are the flavored cannoli, really tasty and not too sugary. Flavors include Nutella, dulce de leche, rainbow cookie and birthday cake, rubbed with different cookies and sprinkles. The shop also serves ices.

Crave, Woodmere

Jerusalem-style smash burgers? People who have made the trip to Israel may have remember Crave, a popular burger vendor inside the Mahaneh Yehudah Market in Jerusalem. The restaurant owners of Crave in Woodmere were craving that experience again, so they opened a location on Long Island, on where the selection feels standard: burgers, Reubens, nachos and chicken tenders, all kosher.

Smash House, Cedarhurst

This Miami Beach export is dripping in '80s neon graffiti art. Together with the warehouse-style counter area and the loudspeaker ordering system, a trip to Smash House feels like eating at the snack bar at a roller rink ... but with better chicken strips. Owned by Cendarhurst residents, Smash House opened in August in the former home of Wok Tov, a kosher Chinese takeout spot. The menu riffs on the smash burger and chicken sandwich, along with decadences such as a "burger salad" and dirty fries topped with brisket.

NoFo Pot Pies, Mattituck

Located smack-dab in the middle of Long Island’s pumpkin trail, this shipshape shop is seasonally landscaped with gourds, corn stalks and rusting hydrangeas. Inside, the focus is on that most autumnal of dishes: pot pies. The shop sells up to 10 varieties (depending on the season) of small 6-inch pies, from traditional chicken, beef and shepherd’s pie to more out-there lobster-shrimp-scallop, jambalaya and chicken Marsala; large 10-inch pies come in chicken, beef and turkey.

Atithi, Bethpage

This fast-casual spot is serving elaborate Indian street snacks and vegetarian dishes from a nondescript perch in Bethpage. There are New Delhi-style snacks called chaatpati chaat, which consist of various crackers and puffed wheat doughs filled with bright, flavorful sauces. There are vegetarian dinner roll sandwiches from Mumbai, wraps stuffed with cheese or potatoes known as kathi rolls, Indo-Chinese food, biryani rice dishes and sizzling platters of mock meats that look like tandoori chicken.

Feta, Bellmore

Opened in the former Zorn's space in Bellmore, this create-your-own concept spot involves choosing a rice, bulgur or veggie base and loading it up with greens, spreads (tzatziki, harissa, feta, garlic or red pepper hummus, baba ganoush) and protein (grilled chicken, mildly spicy harissa honey chicken, lamb meatballs, steak, salmon, potatoes or falafel). Finish it off with a selection of Mediterranean toppers including stuffed grape leaves, Kalamata olives, sliced pickles, barrel-aged feta or crispy pita strips. The space is massive, so there should never be a run on indoor seating, but there are also shaded picnic tables for al fresco dining. 

Mangia E Bevi, Massapequa Park

This sprawling Italian spot is looking fresh as new nearly a year after the previous eatery, Il Vizio Park, was closed by the health department. Its new owners redid the interior of the building and installed a 400-bottle wine cellar. They're aiming for an upscale experience similar to restaurants they frequent in Miami. The menu includes imported fresh pastas and meat dishes and pizza-style flatbreads. On weekends the music gets louder and the lounge area has more of a nightclub vibe.

Aura Coastal Mediterranean, Island Park

Two childhood friends bring this lively Mediterranean seafood concept to Island Park, replacing Pearl. Fish is flown in daily from Europe, but there's also local-ish halibut from the East Coast, paired here with clams and bits of smoked chorizo in an oily tomato sauce. Pastas like the squid ink linguine hit high marks with an array of plump seafoods (clams, shrimp, calamari) and crunchy panko bread crumbs.

Peri-Peri Guys, Long Beach

This order-at-the-counter spot is one of the only places in New York serving peri peri chicken. The menu, the same as its Hicksville location, features flame-grilled chicken on flatbread with customizable levels of sauce, including mango lime and lemon herb, and organic halal chicken, plus housemade piri-piri sauces ranging from mild to "very hot." There's also chicken sandwiches, wraps, cheeseburgers and a small selection of milkshakes. 

Oak & Vine, Glen Cove

Rehan Alam owns five restaurants in Manhattan, but had long dreamed of one closer to his home on Long Island. His new spot features a semiprivate area off the main room for communal dining or small parties. Another room, completely separate, accommodates up to 40 people. Beyond the bar in the main dining room, a narrow space with a grand piano can be curtained off or, on Fridays and Saturdays, serve as a live music venue. The menu has an air of contemporary comfort: grilled octopus with preserved-lemon butter, braised pork belly with butter beans and carrot purée, double-battered fried chicken with black-garlic barbecue sauce, Basque-style chicken breast with potatoes and mushrooms, vegan and vegetarian selections, plus a few steaks. Its pastas are divided between those imported from Italy and those made in house.

Cluckman's, Sag Harbor

When deciding on a name for his 14th eatery, Sag Harbor restaurateur Michael Gluckman settled on a pun: Cluckman’s, a self-described "Shake Shack for the Hamptons." The menu is an intentional alternative to the upscale restaurants in the area and includes chicken sandwiches and fingers, smashburgers, ice cream milkshakes, housemade French fries and onion rings, and salads.

Kyuramen, Huntington

One of Long Island's most innovative ramen shops, Kyuramen is known for its futuristic restaurant design that includes wooden booths stacked on top of each other like a honeycomb. Ramen, available in 10 varieties, delves into regional styles like Kyushu in the south and the capital, Tokyo. Kyuramen prepares an 18-hour bone broth and uses a multiday process of cooking and freezing its chashu pork to produce a fatty exterior with a solid center. But the most interesting thing on the menu might not be ramen at all. It's omurice, a Japanese omelet dish with a unique preparation technique that has made it a cult favorite.

Honolulu Hawaiian BBQ & Poke Bar, East Meadow

This new spot serves a style of Hawaiian cuisine called the plate lunch, a hearty comfort dish. Similar to a Japanese bento box, the Hawaiian plate lunch is a sampler platter of sorts, with a barbecued meat alongside a dome of white rice, and creamy macaroni salad. Honolulu Hawaiian BBQ has other familiar Hawaiian dishes on the menu like the iconic breakfast plate loco moco, an over-the-top comfort food that consists of hamburger patties smothered in gravy and topped with fried eggs on a bed of white rice. There's also a straightforward take on Spam musubi, the Hawaiian alternative to sushi that features a slab of the canned ham on a mound of rice in a seaweed wrapper. Because this is a Honolulu spot, there is also a hard-to-find noodle dish called saimin, popular in the noodle shops of the Hawaiian capital city.

Bango, Hauppauge

With its bright, clean, tropical vibe, and selection of health-conscious options, Bango in Hauppauge is the first franchise location of the Bango brand, which has dropped the "bowls" from its name since expanding its menu. If you’re craving something sweet, go for their cold bowls featuring bases of acai, pitaya (or dragon fruit), or spinach, and smoothies. Add to that, salad bowls, poke bowls that are made with marinated sushi-grade salmon or tuna, and grain bowls. There are handheld panini-like flatbreads for those averse to bowls, as well as various steel-cut oatmeal options for breakfast. 

JBBQ Wok & Dumpling, Commack

What was JBBQ & Shabu Shabu has reopened as JBBQ Wok & Dumpling, ditching the barbecue and hot pot for Chinese fare. Soup dumplings and dim sum take top billing, with more than a dozen varieties including crab soup dumplings and chicken feet. The rest of the menu is greatest hits of the wok, with Thai and Japanese classics alongside dishes like beef with black pepper sauce and pineapple fried rice served in a pineapple.

Iavarone Bros., Garden City

Perhaps best known for its prepared food and catering services, this Iavarone is a wonderland of Italian classics from lasagna to chicken cutlets to sautéed broccoli rabe to eggplant Parm. There are cases of roasted vegetables, crab cakes, meatballs, chicken wings, mozzarella sticks and every type of macaroni you can imagine. The eponymous Iavarone Bros. Villa di Pasta line includes sauces, as well as fresh pastas. New for Garden City is an imported brick oven for making pinsas, or Roman-style flatbread pizzas. Its newest market joins locations in New Hyde Park, Wantagh, Woodbury and Maspeth, Queens, as well as restaurants in New Hyde Park and Plainview. The store also offers outdoor seating for take-away along buzzy Seventh Street. 

Seven Beach Lane, Westhampton Beach

The imposing Victorian structure at 7 Beach Lane in Westhampton Beach had operated as the Grassmere Inn from 1990 until it closed in 2020. Now, new owner Corey Gluckstal has redone it in a grand style, adding dining to the mix for the first time. On the seafood front: tuna carpaccio with charred-lemon aioli, dayboat fluke with Key lime gel and Fresno chilies; pan-roasted fluke with summer squash and a squid-ink tuile. Land-based dishes include a selection of Mecox Dairy cheeses with housemade crackers, Caesar salad with baby romaine, pan-roasted chicken with smashed and fried potatoes, Wagyu strip steak with pommes purée and roasted marrow.

El Chalet Salvadoran, Mastic Beach

El Chalet, a strip mall deli in Mastic Beach, specializes in tortas from El Salvador. It's owned by cousins who serve the tortas from their childhood in El Salvador. The Hula Hula is the iconic torta on the menu here, a maximalist sandwich hearty enough to put you out of commission for awhile. It features a toasted hoagie roll stuffed with strips of ground beef patties, deli ham, avocado, salty Salvadoran white cheese, lettuce, mayonnaise and ketchup. The queso Salvadoreño has a fresh grassy flavor to it that adds some funk to the meaty mix. El Chalet also serves five other sandwiches.

Quiero Tacos, Mineola

If you’re a purist when it comes to Mexican food, the new Quiero Tacos is for you. The cozy space serves tacos in platters of three. Varieties are common to Mexico and include pollo, chorizo, lengua — or tongue — al pastor, carnitas, fish and birria. But it would serve you to move past the tacos and opt for some other traditional selections including sopes, or open-faced mini tortillas, pinchos, or skewers, burritos, tortas, quesadillas, fajitas, bowls, nachos and larger format plates including al pastor "trompitos" (pork and pineapple skewers) and carne asada.

Tony’s Tacos, Garden City

When Tony’s Tacos opened in Floral Park in 2020, defining itself as an "Italian cantina," diners might have been skeptical. Fast-forward four years: Italian-fusion tacos have found an audience. Now, a 4,000-square-foot storefront in Garden City with indoor and outdoor dining complete with a dedicated tequila bar, makes four. The menu boasts more than 40 tacos made with chicken, pork, shrimp, fish and vegetables. Combinations include chicken Milanese (fried chicken cutlet, queso, burrata, arugula, pico, pesto and balsamic glaze), Italo-Americano (shredded tender beef, pico, breadcrumbs oreganata, shredded cheese, sour cream) and the Italian riff on birria tacos -- smoked mozzarella, Angus beef, quattro formaggi and pomodoro sauces, plus cilantro.

Zuzu, Farmingdale

The crew from Croxley's opened Zuzu, a pizzeria with a retro-glam-bistro design that doesn’t feel like any other place in town. The soaring space comprises a U-shaped bar, a roomy dining room plus two rooms that can handle overflow or private parties. The vibe is rock and roll, with '70s classics on the playlist and portraits of rockers on the walls. In addition to pizza, Zuzu has fried mozzarella, Italian nachos (housemade potato chips topped with melted Gorgonzola, burrata Caprese, clams oreganata. Pastas include paccheri alla vodka or with "Sunday sauce," cavatelli with sausage, spaghetti carbonara and penne chicken Milanese (with mozzarella and tomatoes). Mains include eggplant and chicken Parm, salmon with mushroom risotto and Chianti-marinated skirt steak with truffle-Parmesan shoestring fries. You can get cannoli, tiramisu or cheesecake for dessert, but the star meal-ender is soft-serve ice cream that can be topped with sprinkles, nuts, candy, hot fudge or caramel.

Moo Burger, Syosset

Island Park residents know that a cow statue atop a building painted in a telltale black-and-white pattern signals one thing: Moo Burger. Now, Syosset eaters can join in on the fun with the opening of the burger restaurant’s second spot. The Syosset menu mimics Island Park, as does the décor of the cozy space. Aside from burgers, the menu is packed with comfort classics: chicken sandwiches, BLTs, grilled cheese, mozzarella sticks, mac and cheese bites, chili and shakes.

Felicia, Long Beach

Long Beach has a sultry new bistro in its lineup — Felicia, named after first-time restaurant owner Felicia Nicholas, has been buzzing since it opened in July. The scene gets even livelier on weekends, when you really need a reservation to get in. Potted palm trees sit at the front, recalling the location's previous days as El Malecon de Cuba. The Miami nightclub vibe heightens in the moody corridor of the dining room. The menu is dominated by salads, boards and small plates from Asia and the Mediterranean/North Africa (orecchiette with peas, whole shrimp and lobster meat; crispy Brussels sprouts; short rib and more).