Buoy One moving east to Summerwind Square

Buoy One, a popular seafood restaurant and market on West Main Street, is moving to Summerwind Square on the Peconic Riverfront. 

Buoy One owner Robert Pollifrone said he expects to be fully operational at the Summerwind Square location by the end of the month. Buoy One will continue to operate at its current location at 1175 W. Main St. during the transition, he said. 

“As I open the switch on one, I’m going to turn the switch off on the other,” Pollifrone said, during a phone interview Tuesday afternoon.

Buoy One will continue to sell fresh-caught fish and shellfish at the Summerwind Square location, in addition to serving meals on premises and for takeout,  Pollifrone said. 

He said he was anxious to take occupancy of the Summerwind Square space so he can begin designing what the interior layout will look like. 

“I’ve yet to feel where the fish case is going to land. I think after a couple of days of standing there, I’ll know exactly where it needs to be,” Pollifrone said.

“It’s a big layout. I do like that. It has the kind of outdoor seating area,” he said, referring to the restaurant’s roll-down doors that allow the interior to be opened to the outdoors when weather allows.  The West Main Street location has outdoor seating on a patio, which Pollifrone said has become “a big part” of the business there. “I’ll be trying to keep that feeling going,” he said. 

The larger space means more tables and seats year-round, he said. 

Pollifrone said Buoy One’s customer favorites will remain on the menu. 

“Starting out new, we’re going to put a new flare to it,” he said. “But everything that people love will still be on the menu. And then we’re going to do a deep dive into what our all-time favorites are, and keep them on the menu, and rework some other things, just to get current with people’s palates.”

The menu runs the gamut from fried fish and shellfish baskets and the summertime favorite clambake, to dishes like almond-crusted flounder, panko-stuffed oysters, pepper-seared tuna.

Pollifrone and his former partner and executive chef David Girard opened Buoy One on West Main Street in 2003. They originally opened the restaurant with the name One Fish, Two Fish. They changed the name after learning of a lawsuit brought by the owner of the rights to the “Dr. Seuss” book of the same name against another restaurant called One Fish, Two Fish, Pollifrone said.  

A friend suggested “Two Buoys,” he recalled, but he and Girard settled on the name Buoy One. 

The partners subsequently opened locations in Westhampton and Huntington. The Huntington location closed in February 2014 and the Westhampton location closed last February. 

Girard is dealing with health issues, Pollifrone said.  His influence on the menu — Girard is a classically trained French chef — will still be felt. “He likes his sauces,” such as the restaurant’s Thai glaze, a favorite with patrons.

“It’s bittersweet leaving the spot I’m at now,” its home for more than 20 years. “But it’s time, Pollifrone said. “Riverhead downtown or Main Street, actually, is about to do some great things. So I want to be there for it,” he said.  

Another attractive thing about the Summerwind Square location is its easy access from the south shore. “I have a lot of sad Westhampton customers,”  Pollifrone said. Summerwind is “right near that circle,” he said.  “It’s a quick 10-minute ride from Westhampton.”

The Summerwind Square restaurant at 40 Peconic Avenue has been operated as the River Walk Bar and Grille for the past six years. See prior story.

River Walk proprietor John Molesi announced on Facebook Dec. 22 that the restaurant will be moving to the building occupied by Bagel Lovers on Osborn Avenue, where Molesi said in the social media post he’d be sharing the space with the bagel shop and deli. River Walk will operate daily from 2:30 p.m till closing, serving dinner only, beginning in mid-month, according to the announcement. Molesi declined to be interviewed for this story.