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WUNDERBAR IN MONTAUK
Zum Schneider, the East Village biergarten, has opened a sudsy branch in the former site of Oyster Pond Restaurant & Bar. Share a bench at Zum Schneider MTK, and try the Bavarian soft pretzel with mustard, sliced white radish with cheese and pickles, and the platter of weisswurst, smoked beef sausage and wiener, with potato salad and sauerkraut.
Dinnertime dishes include local bass marinated in smoked beer, roasted pork shoulder in dark-beer gravy, sauerbraten, and a platter for six or eight diners that includes grilled and boiled sausages, smoked pork chop, pork belly, plus 'kraut, roasted potatoes and three mustards.
Wash it all down with beer: wheat, dark and doppelbock, lager, Pilsener, all on tap. There are bottled beers, too.
Zum Schneider MTK (4 S. Elmwood Ave., Montauk; 631-238-5963) is open every day for lunch and dinner. -- PETER M. GIANOTTI
SWALLOW FLIES TO MONTAUK, TOO
Huntington's cozy gastro pub, Swallow, has also opened a branch in Montauk. Chef-owner James Tchinnis has made the most of the spacious waterside digs, done in a sophisticated contemporary-rustic look.
We ate on a sheltered dining deck right over Montauk Harbor. First came a yellowfin tuna "MLT" ($15) -- a multilayered tuna, mango, lettuce and tomato sandwich with wasabi mayo. Good as that was, it was beat by two soft corn tacos heaped with snow crab, mango salsa and chipotle sauce ($14). Two huge BBQ prawns with grilled pineapple and andouille sausage over creamy grits ($14) were also stars on the plate.
Swallow East (474 West Lake Dr., Montauk, 631-668-8344) serves lunch and dinner every day but Monday. -- JOAN REMINICK
MOCHIKA REPLACES EL PIO
Adios El Pio; hola Mochika. The new Peruvian moves into the Glen Cove storefront that has housed five good restaurants since 2006: La Caravana and El Misti (both Peruvian) followed by Due Pazzi and Café Aioli.
On chef Irine Carmona's moderately priced menu: causa rellena, mashed potatoes stuffed with chicken or tuna salad ($6), chaufa with beef or chicken, a South American take on Chinese fried rice ($12) and Inca-style seafood soup ($15).
Mochika Restaurant (63 Glen St., Glen Cove, 516-780-7029) is open daily from 10 a.m. to midnight. -- JOAN REMINICK
CLOSINGS
Costa de Espana in Port Jefferson has closed. The Old World Spanish restaurant opened in 1983. Smithtown's Arthur Avenue Restaurant & Bar, which opened in 2010, follows its predecessor, Union Station, into the annals of local history.