Bullfish Grill
298 West Main St.
631-563-9400
www.bullfishli.com
Restaurants come and go at this roadhouse. This one keeps prices down to earth (around $20 per dinner entrée on average), while emphasizing the fashionable trend toward natural and locally sourced ingredients whenever possible. Fresh fish is offered grilled, sautéed or blackened with a host of sauces and compound butters. Lunch is a steal with Grilled Salmon and BBQ Tuna for the price of a burger elsewhere in town. A trio of Baja Fish Tacos sounds good to me, as does the Bullfish Reuben made with mahi mahi. Apps at lunch, like a big bowl of Mussels Marinara, Steamers or Popcorn Calamari are easy to share.
Downtown Burger
At Five Points Café
1 Main St.
631-567-5655
www.fivepointscafe.com
This handsome building, built to fit into Sayville’s quaint downtown, has a decent-sized bar and big windows overlooking the center of town. Perky waitresses with “Best Buns in Town” emblazoned on their T-shirts rotate among 10 tables. Burgers are the main event, with sandwiches, salads and soups rounding out the menu. The classic burger I sampled enters the local burger sweepstakes at the 10-buck level, with a bacon cheeseburger only a buck more. The menu claims all burgers are cooked medium and I specifically order mine that way. Out comes a hefty patty, well done and dry through and through. No wonder it took 15 minutes. My waitress dutifully passes by inquiring if all is OK and agrees, “Yeah, it’s not pink at all.” But I’m not ready to write them off yet, since they’ve been open no more than a week. I blame myself for dining during the probationary period but I blame them for pre-fab fries from a bag. I think we’ve come to expect fresh-cut, fried potatoes from places with the word “burger” somewhere in the their name. I drown my sorrows with a Blue Point Toasted Lager on draft.
Bistro 25
45 Foster Ave.
631-589-7775
www.bistro25li.com
Another promising post-recession spot with nothing priced over $20 except the wine. This is accessible French with many crowd-pleasing dishes in a comfortable room with subdued lighting. Quiche Lorraine and Mussels Meuniere mingle with a Shrimp Po-Boy and Paella, and all are available at lunch and dinner. Mouthwatering daily specials like Chicken Pot Pie or Beef Bourgoinne are added attractions. There are raw bar selections with Littlenecks and oysters available by the piece. The “25” in their name stands for 25 bottles of wine at $25 per.
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