A ‘fresh slate’ for an old favorite: Pulaski Street Grille debuts at former Doc’s Tavern

Familiar faces are returning to the Riverhead restaurant scene next week.

Tom Drake, owner of the former Meetinghouse Creek Inn restaurant, will open his upscale pub-style Pulaski Street Grille on Monday in the same location that housed Doc’s Tavern for more than 50 years.

“People have asked why we didn’t name it Doc’s, or stay with the Meetinghouse Creek Inn,” Drake said. “And I just simply tell them ‘because it’s not.’ This is a fresh slate for us.”

Pulaski Street Grille will feature a pub-stlye menu and daily specials, which will include soup or salad, an entree and dessert with coffee. The restaurant will also serve thin-crust pizzas during happy hour, just like the “bar pies” Doc’s was famous for before it closed its doors about a decade ago.

Drake and his wife, Leslie, have spent months renovating the restaurant, working non-stop (except for a two-week, well-deserved Florida vacation) since the Meetinghouse closed in September.

“From floor to ceiling, we’ve redone everything,” Drake said. In 2012, another restaurant was planned for the space, but ultimately nothing came of it. “They were planning to do take-out in the side room, so we had to take out a huge exhaust fan and gas line. It was a lot of work.”

New floors and new paint may make the old space feel fresh again, but not everything is brand new in the restaurant.

“The stained glass windows, the wall sconces, those are all from the Meetinghouse. We kept quite a few things that my wife wanted to bring back with us,” Drake said.

Drake opened the Meetinghouse Creek Inn 26 years ago, just a few years after he’d married his wife. It was bittersweet saying goodbye, he said.

“That restaurant was as old as my youngest son,” Drake said.

“We have a picture of him, sitting on the pickup station in the kitchen with a chef’s hat, just a baby,” Leslie recalled, laughing. “I want to blow it up and hang it.”

Both are excited to be back in business after months off.

“We’re ready,” Leslie said. “I’m excited to get back in the kitchen and get baking again.”

Leslie will be making the strawberry shortcakes and bread pudding she was known for at the Meetinghouse. Other returning favorites to the menu include the seafood casino and fish tacos.

“We’re just taking it a little at a time,” Drake said. “We’re starting with lunch and dinner. We may do a brunch in a few months.”

Drake explained that he does not have the space to do a buffet-style brunch that the Meetinghouse Creek Inn was famous for, but pointed out that the Birchwood, just down the road, does serve brunch.

“We’re not trying to compete with anybody,” Drake said.

Leslie agreed. “It’s great being a part of a community.”

“I think the more restaurants, the better. We want to make Riverhead a food destination. It happened for Patchogue and it can happen in Riverhead,” Drake said.

“We want people to say, ‘let’s go to Riverhead’ not because their favorite restaurant is there, but because there are a lot of places to choose from. That’s what gets people to come back. That’s what we want to help build.”

The Pulaski Street Grille will be open every day for lunch and dinner beginning Monday.

Monday-Thursday
Lunch: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Dinner: 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Friday-Saturday
Lunch: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Dinner: 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Sunday
Lunch: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Dinner: 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.