Greenport food crawl: Oysters, ramen and small-town cooking

Early on a Sunday evening, Gail Storm and Eileen O’Leary were enjoying oysters on the half shell and the signature crab-stuffed deviled eggs at Noah’s capacious U-shaped bar. Since 2010, Noah Schwartz’s spare but warm, mostly seafood restaurant in Greenport has become a tourist destination as well as a local watering hole.

O’Leary, from Plainview, had set out that morning to pick up Storm in Aquebogue. Then the two headed east. "We like exploring, taking the back roads, looking at the farm animals," Storm said. "We might stop along the way — Mattituck, Cutchogue, Southold — but we always wind up in Greenport." She wryly observed that the village "is the only one that has more than one street." The two women proceeded to heap more praise: Of all the North Fork’s villages, it’s the only one on the water; it’s got the best shopping and the best restaurants.

That, in a nutshell, is why Greenport is the unofficial capital of the North Fork.

This village may be hopping in the summer, but it’s at its loveliest in the fall, when the heat abates and residents, averse to the high-season crowds, seize the chance to take back their town. Over the last two decades, Greenport has come to define itself in opposition to the tonier Hamptons. Determined to preserve the agricultural character and low-key vibe, locals generally welcome newcomers with the same priorities; they know that, without transplants, seasonal residents and weekend visitors, many businesses, especially the restaurants and wineries, couldn’t survive.

But they are wary of outside investors who may have more Hamptonian values, and it can take fledgling businesses a while to figure out how to fit comfortably into the neighborhood. The new owners of Claudio’s, for example, haven’t quite found their footing in the eight years since they bought the sprawling and historic waterfront property. The main building has been through a couple of iterations but is now an event space. The casual, fish-focused Claudio’s Waterfront still occupies one pier jutting out into Greenport Harbor; the other (formerly Crabby Jerry’s) was dubbed Saylor Beach House for 2026, offering a posher, Mediterranean alternative. Both will be closed for the winter.

Aldo’s Coffee, another landmark, has had an easier transition. Aldo Maiorana began roasting coffee in Greenport in 1987, and, in 2023, he sold what had become one of Long Island’s premier coffee shops to four friends, Taylor Klemm, Tora Matsuoka, Scott Rose and Josh Sommer. It’s Sommer, a seasoned real estate executive who spent four years as a vice president at WeWork, who manages the store. His guiding principle: Don’t mess it up.

"For the first six months," he said, "I stood at the cash register and just watched. People don’t love change, and I was determined to keep what people love: the atmosphere, the scones, the biscotti, the coffee." Coffee is the domain of roaster Rae McMahon, who studied with Maiorana to make sure that her Orient Espresso doesn’t deviate from his. "It’s about seeing and smelling," she said. The espresso is made from three distinct beans — two from Ethiopia, one from Sumatra — each of which she roasts separately, keeping her nose alert for the aroma of straw and then bread and then something darker and richer.

Along with coffee, Aldo’s now serves matcha and chai drinks and, for the first time, flavored syrups. Sommer upgraded the Wi-Fi and air-conditioning. He expanded the biscotti lineup to include lavender (local), pumpkin spice and gluten-free versions, and added sandwiches to the menu. Hours are not only more regular than during the Maiorana era, but they also extend to 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, when cocktails are served. Out back, the tidied-up garden now boasts a kids play area.

Sommer, who lives in Bellmore but is a constant presence in Greenport, observed that the village "has a fear of change ... and a fear of being stuck in the past." One disruption to the 2026 season has been the institution of new parking regulations. And so, he mustered all his new-economy tech savvy to create a parking guide that lives at Aldo’s website (aldoscoffee.com/pages/park-greenport) and is a valuable resource for anyone with a car.

On the other side of the street is the village’s most exciting new restaurant, Stereo East End, and one block east is The Frisky Oyster, which can lay claim to kicking off Greenport’s dining boom in 2002, when Dennis McDermott and chef Hank Tomashevski opened it. "We were the first restaurant not decorated with fishnets and plastic lobsters," McDermott told Newsday four years later.

Robby Beaver came aboard as the chef in 2008; two years later, he and his wife, Shannon, bought the place. The idiosyncratic design — walls covered with red blossom-printed linen; huge, hydrangea-like light fixtures — has proved timeless, and Beaver’s menu is the most refined in town. The Oysters Friskafella (Peconic Golds rendered even more delicious through their association with garlic, spinach, chipotle and Parmesan) have become a local legend. Ditto the pan-roasted duck breast with its cherry-Port reduction that oozes temptingly into garlic polenta. There’s no better dessert in town than Beaver’s deep, dark pecan pie, served with a salted caramel ice cream that leans into the bittersweet.

Cliff Cornell, of Southold, is a regular at the bar here, which he calls Greenport’s "most sophisticated." But what draws him back is consistency, and not just in the food. "Behind the bar, in the dining room — I want to know the people, that they are all happy, all doing their jobs. I don’t want a new team every year. I need the old team to be here."

Across the street is yet another chef-owned spot, Ellen’s on Front, founded in 2019 by siblings Andrew and Jennie Werts. "If you are eating here," Andrew said, "Jennie is going to be cooking your food." During the summer, Ellen’s is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. Offseason (between Labor Day and the end of the school year), it’s closed on Thursdays. "We love the weekenders, we love people who come for the first time," he continued. "But we are for the people who live here. Last year, on Tumbleweed Tuesday [the day after Labor Day], the tables were full of people we hadn’t seen all summer."

The restaurant takes its name from the Werts’ mother, Ellen, whose Sweet 16 oil portrait hangs over the bar; her silhouette, with its distinctive flip hairstyle, is a leitmotif in the restaurant’s dainty-chic interior. Jennie Werts’ menu also has that whimsical touch, with a salad of pea leaves, watermelon radish, grilled corn and avocado that gets its crunch from toasted red quinoa. The fork-tender calamari here is done Rhode Island style, dredged in cornmeal and served with cherry peppers (along with fried Thai basil and lemon-parsley aioli). And tiny, candy-sweet bay scallops star in a scallop roll that comes with fantastic fries (as does the beer-battered fish-and-chips). 

Home cooks will be pleased to know that across the street and down Bootleg Alley is Joe Francis, of Mojo Studio, a skilled and reliable knife sharpener who can usually turn knives around the same day (he’s closed on Wednesdays). From Mojo, head south through the alley to reach the harbor. There still might be one or more sumptuous yachts bobbing at its dock. The shore-hugging walkway — which ends at the Shelter Island Ferry terminal and LIRR station — takes in Port Waterfront Bar & Grill (with its lovely, umbrella-ed patio), Mitchell Park (with its vintage carousel and public restrooms), the Old Bait Shop (shuck your own bivalves) and the Claudio’s complex.

Just a few steps inland from Claudio’s is one of Greenport’s family-friendliest fixtures: Marc LaMaina’s Lucharitos, which got its start in 2012 in a small storefront that took over the neighboring space three years later. Starting in 2017, LaMaina embarked on a westward campaign, conquering Aquebogue, Center Moriches and Melville. The interior here relies heavily on luchadores, the extravagantly outfitted Mexican wrestlers who are the inspiration for the chain’s name, and the menu offers a kid-approved variety of Mexican and Tex-Mex crowd-pleasers.

From Lucharitos, you can see the village’s oldest business, Preston’s Chandlery, supplying sailors since the 1880s, and an adjacent annex caters to nautical knickknack buffs and, upstairs, photography fans. The chandlery abuts what everyone calls Preston’s wharf, which is dominated by a weathered red building that was, from 2004 to 2016, the site of the late Rosa Ross’ beloved Scrimshaw restaurant. It was succeeded by Barba Bianca, Fortino’s Tavern and, since 2024, The Shipyard, which serves a simple, Mediterranean-inflected menu that makes good use of local shellfish and vegetables.

It was in the kitchen of Scrimshaw that Gustavo Acero, from Colombia, got his culinary start in the United States. His extended family stayed in Greenport — his parents own the Simply Beautiful Boutique; his aunt owned Di Angela Leather Goods — while he left Long Island to pursue a career in graphic design. But the village stayed in his heart, and he has thrilled to its progress. "Like life, the town has had its ups and downs," he mused. "But it has grown exponentially, mostly in a good way." In 2023, Acero and his wife, Yuri, returned to open Encanto Crepes & Cafe, a tiny shop that could barely contain its menu. When his aunt retired last year, they took over her much-larger corner property, swapping out the hats and handbags for crepemakers and coffee machines.

If you’re wondering why a Colombian couple would open a crepe shop, it turns out that one of that country’s most popular chains is Crepes & Waffles. "Yes, the actual name is in English," Gustavo said. "And it was always a joke in the Colombian community here, ‘When is Crepes & Waffles going to open in the U.S.?’ ” Between the sweet and the savory, the Aceros prepare more than 40 different crepes; bestsellers include the breakfast-forward Sun Galette (sunny-side-up egg with Gouda, cherry tomatoes and spinach) and the taco-inspired Chipotle Chicken (with tortilla strips, Monterey Jack, sour cream and chipotle sauce). There are also arepas (griddled filled corn patties) and Colombian hot dogs, with their over-the-top toppings that may include onions, mozzarella, pineapple, chipotle sauce and crumbled potato chips.

Of course, any self-respecting Colombian establishment is going to go hard on the coffee. Encanto gets its exclusively Colombian beans from Hampton Coffee and makes an impossibly smooth brew by using a4-foot-tall Japanese cold-drip tower. It takes 13 to 16 hours for the filtered water in the top vessel to drip through the grounds — one drop every 1½ seconds — into the waiting carafe.

If Greenport has a beaten path, Little Creek Oyster Farm & Market is off it. After 10 years in an unheated shack at the end of Bootleg Alley (now the Old Bait Shop), Long Island’s hardest-to-find shuck-your-own-bivalve joint hit the big time. In 2024, Ian Wile, his wife, Rosalie Rung, and Travis Zurawski moved Little Creek to a proper building with expanded indoor dining, a real bar and kitchen, and heat and air-conditioning.

On any given day, they’ll be shucking a variety of local oysters and it’s a great opportunity to discern the subtleties — how briny or sweet, how dense or viscous — that give each one its distinct "merroir." You’re in luck if embarazada oysters ("pregnant" with hamachi sashimi, ponzu, hot sauce and tobiko, or flying fish roe) are on the menu; all the crudos and aguachiles are terrific. And don’t overlook the pressed French-onion grilled cheese on a baguette or the Canary Islands — style salt-boiled potatoes.

Hungry early birds who arrive in Greenport before lunch can take advantage of one of Long Island’s best breakfast-brunch spots, Bruce & Son, a contemporary cafe with deep local roots. Bruce’s Cheese Emporium opened in 1974, selling cheese, coffee and other gourmet items. When founder Bruce Bollman’s son, Scott, came aboard in 2013, it became more of an eatery and, in 2017, Scott, the chef, and his wife, Kassata, completed its transition into Bruce & Son, serving breakfast and lunch. The ambience and the menu combine farm-to-table hominess and global sophistication. Every element of the egg sandwich has been thought out, for instance, from the right-sized brioche and gently folded omelet to the house-sugared bacon and zingy Dijonnaise. And the corn waffle, with its vanilla mascarpone, macerated cherries and basil-maple syrup, comes perilously (and deliciously) close to dessert. The menu lists more drinks than eats, and they range from the Vietnamese egg coffee (a fizzy-foamy espresso concoction that’s a play on a Brooklyn egg cream — i.e., no egg) to a madre lassi (mezcal, mango, oat milk).

Lunch, dinner, drinks, year-in, year-out, every day but Wednesday: That’s the drill at First and South. There’s no other spot in Greenport that has the broad appeal of Sarah Phillips Loth’s rollicking restaurant that, since 2012, has occupied this corner of First and South streets.

"Kitchen-driven" would be a more apt descriptor than "chef-driven" for the culinary philosophy here. Loth, a trained chef and experienced manager, got her first taste of the North Fork at Jedediah Hawkins Inn in Jamesport in 2011. When she opened in Greenport a year later, "Our first chef was Taylor Knapp, who had been sous chef at Jedediah Hawkins," she said. (Knapp went on to found PawPaw, a North Fork pop-up dinner series, as well as Peconic Escargot.) "But now, our approach is more of a group effort. Mynor Ortega and Wayne Senterfitt are our main cooks," she continued. "My partner, Dan Domingo, expedites. Ashley Rempe, our lead server, makes all the desserts."

Loth’s involvement in and commitment to her community approaches a mayoral level. She exemplifies the nonextractive approach of a business owner who is also a resident. "I want to go out in Greenport; I need Cheo and Ai [of Stereo East End] to succeed so I can eat there. I love what Josh [at Aldo’s] did with that parking app." The bigheartedness extends to the menu, which truly has something for everyone, from poke bowls to steak frites. First & South accommodates gluten avoiders by using as little of that potential trigger as possible. Most importantly, no gluten goes into the fryers so the signature First Fries can be enjoyed by anyone not allergic to potatoes. How good are they? "I have to limit myself to 12 fries a day," Loth admitted. The burgers — beef, tuna, black bean — are all suitable accompaniments to the fries, but the best use of them may be to soak up every last drop of aromatic lemongrass-saffron cream that bathes the mussels.

With the notable exception of The Frisky Oyster, almost every Greenport restaurant offers outdoor dining. But none has the panache of Stirling Square, encompassing 1943 Pizza (Greenport’s best pizzeria), Black Llama (a self-described "clandestine cocktail & oyster bar") and its flagship restaurant, American Beech. All have adjoining patios and are centered around the aptly named Tree Bar, literally built around an American beech tree.

Stirling Square, built in the late 19th century, honors the village’s Colonial name. Settled in the 1680s, the area was known, subsequently, as Winter Harbor, Stirling and Green Hill. Greenport, which residents believed better represented the village’s maritime orientation, was incorporated in 1838.

When Brent Pelton bought the property in 2014, Matt Michel was already operating 1943 Pizza and an adjoining speakeasy, Brix & Rye, which focuses on classic cocktails. The following year, Pelton, a lawyer specializing in Fair Labor Standards cases, opened American Beech, both the restaurant and a boutique hotel with 13 rooms. "Instead of litigating, I wanted to work with the community to build something," he said. "I fell in love with Greenport and wanted to create a multiuse public space that would be a social hub. I saw that tree and I could envision the bar around it."

Pelton recalled: "When we opened, we were accused of ‘Hamptonizing.’ And the truth is that it’s impossible to escape market forces — we do need to cater to that second homeowner as well as locals." But, 12 years into his stewardship, he feels confident that "he is not changing the unique character of Greenport."

American Beech chef Allen Bay is bullish on fish. His mussels are spiced with Calabrian chili, chorizo, garlic butter and Thai basil; Caribbean-inspired blackened mahi-mahi comes with black rice, mango salsa and coconut curry. You may also see a chunk of the menu devoted to a mix-and-match crudo section wherein you chose your species (tuna, salmon, daily catch) and then choose your style — Pomegranate Citrus (with pickled kumquats, jalapeño, red onion and chive oil), Ponzu (with crispy shallot, blood orange, scallion and red onion), Aguachili Amarillo (fingerling potato crisps, chili, cucumber, scallion, Aleppo pepper) or American Beech (avocado, watermelon radish, pickled grapes, chili and puffed rice).

As you make your way north on Main Street, you’ll spot Basso (an intimate Italian wine bar), Zerdem (Mediterranean fare with gracious outdoor dining from the owner of Southampton’s 75 Main), Demarchelier Bistro (the successor to the classic Upper East Side bistro that closed in 2019 after 41 years) and Clarke’s Garden & Home (indulgences for outside and in). Just before the street surrenders to grand Victorian homes is Stirling Sake.

While the North Fork punches below its weight when it comes to Asian food, Stirling Sake (motto: "Far East meets East End") is one of Long Island’s best and most singular Japanese restaurants. Owner Yuki Mori, formerly the manager of the East Village sake bar Decibel, took his act east in 2015, combining his focus on the fermented rice beverage that’s not quite wine, not quite beer. There’s also a selection of shochu, the distilled Japanese spirit.

Of course you can get sashimi and sushi here — the California roll has real crab, not kani — but the kitchen is notable for serving the kinds of savory items that you might find at a bar in Japan: small dishes such as agedashi tofu (fried cubes in a ginger-scallion broth), kara-age (fried chunks of chicken), and a number of fine ramen bowls: tonkatsu, seafood, duck or the chill-banishing Hokkaido, brimming with beef, cabbage, snow peas and pea shoots. It’s a flavorful reminder that while Greenport is busiest during the warm weather, some of its treasures can be best appreciated when the days shorten and the crowds disperse.