18 Bay to take over former Dimon Estate in Jamesport

18 Bay is about to be back, and bigger than ever.

Three years ago, Adam Kopels and Elizabeth Ronzetti closed their celebrated Shelter Island restaurant and took on a consulting gig that entailed a lot of management but very little cooking. Now they are poised to take over the former Dimon Estate in Jamesport. The chef-owner-spouses hope to open in October.

First in Bayville (2005-10) and then on Shelter Island (2011-22), 18 Bay racked up laurels — Newsday’s Top 100 list, semifinalists for the James Beard Award — that rested on their commitment to double-handedly doing all their own shopping and cooking. The eatery was literally farm-to-table: Leaving home on the North Fork in the morning, they would swing by farms and Southold Fish Market on their way to the ferry in Greenport. Once they reached the restaurant, they would work companionably in the kitchen, with Kopels butchering fish and meat and prepping vegetables, Ronzetti rolling out and filling the day’s homemade pasta.

"We’ve always been the ones on the line," Kopels said. "We never even had a real sous chef."

After 17 years, the couple needed a break. But three years of supervising and hiring made them realize how much they missed getting their hands dirty. Looking for a property on the North Fork, they came upon the historic Jamesport property that had operated for decades as The Jamesport Manor Inn, and, from 2022 until last year, as The Dimon Estate.

So much for "back." Now,  for the "bigger than ever."

The first iteration of 18 Bay (at 18A Bay Ave. in Bayville) had 16 seats. On Shelter Island they could seat about 45 inside (plus more on the porch). In Jamesport, their office is the size of their first kitchen. There are 80 seats inside, a separate bar, a second floor (as yet unspoken for), and the stately property sprawls over almost 4 acres, encompassing a patio, orchard, herb garden and vegetable garden that, at 6,000 square feet, is more of a small farm. (A full-time gardener was part of the deal.)

As at their two previous locations, they’ll offer a four-course, fixed-price, Italian-accented tasting menu ($145) that changes weekly according to the season and comprises a quartet of antipasti, a homemade pasta, an entree (your choice of fish or meat) and one of Ronzetti’s simple desserts, many of which skew more American than Italian, whether a true shortcake — biscuits smothered in fresh fruit — or a fat slab of Bundt cake.

But, with a much bigger venue, Kopels said, "we want to accommodate a much broader crowd." For the first time, 18 Bay will add an a la carte menu with five starters, three pastas and five mains. "We’ll be offering some 18 Bay classics and some dishes — chicken under a brick, a hand-cut steak — that don’t make sense on a tasting menu," Ronzetti added.

Partly because four courses took a while to consume and partly because most guests had to take a ferry to get there, 18 Bay meals demanded a certain level of commitment. Now that they are on the mainland, Kopels said, "We want to be like an old-style tavern where you can come any day for a drink, or for a plate of pasta and a glass of wine."

About that drink, they have brought aboard Chris Cardone, an award-winning mixologist and four-time national "flair bartending" finalist who recently worked at i Sodi in Manhattan.

Kopels and Ronzetti said they will pick up relationships with Latham and I&Me farms in Orient, Wesnofske in Southold, Sang Lee in Peconic, Wickham’s in Cutchogue and other growers they’ve missed. Eventually, though, they may need to buy less produce since they are now in a position to grow their own. They plan to start this fall with Italian chicories (radicchio di Treviso, lollo rosso, puntarelle) that are hard to find at local farms.

Their apples are starting to come in, and Ronzetti has already made a crostata with her own peaches. "I really missed cooking," she said.