Open for only two months, La Plage Bistro looks and feels as if it has graced Bellport Village for years, if not decades. On a summer weeknight, the bar and dining room are almost full, with the staff greeting many customers as regulars.
Then again, the restaurant’s soul is old. Wayne Wadington opened La Plage in Wading River in 1996 and it has distinguished itself as one of the best eateries in the area. Many Wading River veterans — including the chef-owner — are working shifts at the new venture, and you’ll find a few familiar items on the bistro menu, including the signature green apple salad with blue cheese and walnuts, duck confit on risotto, mussels with basil pesto.
But whereas La Plage Originale blends French, Italian and New American styles, Bistro is pretty straight-ahead bistro. “We never had a burger in Wading River,” Wadington said, “never french fries.” The North Shore steak is a filet mignon with wild mushrooms, demi glace and potato puree; on the South Shore, it’s steak frites, with hanger steak or the “exclusive butcher cut” of the day. The pesto mussels can also be ordered with fries or pasta. The “bourbon burger” is made from a 60/40 brisket blend and is topped with juniper-smoked pork belly, truffle-Jack cheese, aioli and a bourbon jus.
Classic French dishes include escargot (with crispy phyllo, Camembert and Champagne-mustard sauce), onion soup gratinée, tarte flambée, beef tartare, leeks vinaigrette (with black-truffle-burrata crostini), beef Bourguignon, coq au vin, marinated leg of lamb with flageolet beans and local fluke meunière. There are oysters (Blue Points or Fire Island Blues) and a “grand plateau” with oysters, clams, half a lobster, shrimp and Jonah crab legs ($145). Traditional French desserts (crème brûlée, pavlova, tarte Tatin, $12 across the board) are joined by baked-to-order chocolate-chip cookies. Most starters range from $17 to $22, mains from $25 to $36.
The bar and adjacent dining room at La Plage Bistro in Bellport. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
The bones of the building’s former tenant, Bellport Brewing Company remain — wide-plank wooden floors, wainscoted walls, tin ceiling — but these elements have been transformed into a cozy-chic space, divided between the zinc-topped bar (shiny tile, retro-Deco monkey wallpaper, globe lights) and the whitewashed dining room decorated with framed gyotaku (Japanese fish prints) and furnished with banquettes and bentwood chairs. There’s also a patio in front offering additional seating.
La Plage Bistro, 14 Station Rd., Bellport, 934-451-3075. Open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, noon to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 10 p.m., Sunday 2 to 9 p.m. Closed Tuesday.
Erica Marcus, a passionate but skeptical omnivore, has been reporting and opining on the Long Island food scene since 1998.