The best restaurants on Long Island

Bistro: Blackbird Kitchen & Cocktails

Blackbird Kitchen & Cocktails (3026 Merrick Rd., Wantagh): Food and drink hold equal weight at this stripped-down New American bistro on a busy stretch of Merrick Road. The first thing you'll encounter inside is a bar with dozens of offbeat spirits, manned by award-winning bartender Jonathan Gonzalez. Don't pass it up -- Gonzalez renders nine riffs on the Old Fashioned, spikes drinks with Fernet Branca or house-made cordials, and is a veritable lightning storm of imagination. Self-taught chef Chris Perrotta picks up where the bar leaves off. You might spy him through the pass as he plates unfussy yet soul-pampering dishes such as roasted maitake mushrooms over farro risotto; supple pappardelle with wild-boar sauce; corn-stuffed agnolotti; or a luscious burger ground from grass-fed brisket and short-rib, then sheathed in melted Gruyère, which will rival the best you've ever had. More info: 516-654-9200, blackbirdli.com

Brisket and short rib blend burger with gruyere cheese and fries at Blackbird Kitchen & Cocktails in Wantagh.

Chinese: Spicy Home Tasty

Spicy Home Tasty (1087 Jericho Tpke., Commack): Owner Yuling Chou and her partner, chef Xian Chun Du, serve dishes from all over China (as well as some Chinese-American standards), but the focus is on the sophisticated cuisine of Sichuan Province, some of which is indeed spicy, but all of which is tasty. The menu is full of the hearty, fiery specialties from that region in China's southwest, among them: hot and spicy fish fillet, beef tendon with carrot and Chengdu-style roast chicken. Sichuan starters include pork belly with sweet chili oil, wontons in chili oil, and spicy, crispy cucumber. From the "authentic noodle" roster: dan dan noodles, crystal noodles with pork intestine and spicy beef noodle soup. More info: 631-543-8880

Beef noodle soup served at Spicy Home Tasty in Commack.

Fine dining: 18 Bay

18 Bay (23 N. Ferry Rd., Shelter Island): Seasonal and local are buzzwords of the moment whose assertions are not always easy to prove. At 18 Bay, the husband and wife team of Elizabeth Ronzetti and Adam Kopels ratify their claims by living them, making this 7-year-old Shelter Island restaurant a perennial candidate for Long Island's best, and a recent semifinalist for a prestigious James Beard Award. The accolades are the result of a dedicated routine. The duo starts each day by zigzagging across the North Fork securing the best ingredients they can find locally. Fish from local waters is often purchased when it is still in rigor mortis. Seasonal vegetables are plucked fresh from the field. Meat, dairy and fruit from sellers who have come to be trusted friends. From there, it's off to the ferry and their charming restaurant situated in a late-1800s house where summers mean lazily dining on a long veranda and putting yourself in the hands of the impeccable staff. The "Italian-inspired" tasting menu changes weekly, and at $75, is one of the best meals on Long Island with four antipasti, handmade pasta and a choice of main dish and dessert. Each week is a new adventure, and your daily menu may feature grilled lamb spiedini with mint, hand cut conchiglie pasta with Peconic Bay scallops, garlic and pepperoncini or a seafood one-two of Kopels' fresh fish crudo and a fried oyster with Ronzetti's chili mint-sauce that's so secret even she hasn't shared the recipe with her husband. More info: 631-749-0053, 18bayrestaurant.com

Grilled local striped bass with flat beans, heirloom tomato, fresh corn vinaigrette and basil, served at 18 Bay in Shelter Island.

Indian: Masalah Grill

Masalah Grill (195 Walt Whitman Rd., Huntington Station): It's easy to miss this tiny jewel box of a Pakistani-Indian restaurant that has grown to be the standard-bearer for the kind of South Asian cuisine one can now demand on Long Island. Opt for a seat instead of takeout in this no frills spot, and you'll be treated to South Indian mastery of chef-owner Farzana Sohail and chef de cuisine Francis Calaco. Aromatic rice biryanis come studded with fall-off-the-bone chicken. Tender hunks of bone-in goat arrive bobbing in creamy korma, a complex curry of coconut milk, cashews and almonds. Fragrant vegetables -- spinach, eggplant, cauliflower -- are a wonderful complement to the meat-centric menu. If there is a drawback, it's that hearty sandwich-like stuffed naans, filled ground beef, chicken or vegetables are available only during lunch. More info: 631-271-1700, masalahgrill.com

Chicken tikka Masala is served with naan and basmati rice at Masalah Grill in Huntington Station.

Italian: Caci North Fork

Caci North Fork (56125 Main Rd., Southold): When chef Marco Pellegrini opened Caci in Southold in September 2014, the North Fork got the fine Italian restaurant it deserved. The simple, rustic décor -- crisp white walls, warm wooden floors, exposed beams and bare table tops -- provide a neutral backdrop to the chef's artistry. A native of Umbria (and formerly the chef at one of Italy's most luxurious resorts), Pellegrini combines the purity of Umbrian cooking with a New American innovation that never veers off into culinary self-indulgence. He makes his own pasta, bread and gelato, grills his meats over a wood fire. The seasonal menu blends local produce with gutsy yet refined Italian cooking. Try the seafood guazzetto, a light, simmered, soupy production with monkfish, calamari, clams and mussels, and don't miss the supernal veal chop. More info: 631-765-4383, cacinorthfork.com

Grilled yellowfin tuna with Calabrian sauce and sesame seeds is served at Caci North Fork in Southold.

Sushi: Nagashima Japanese Restaurant

Nagashima Japanese Restaurant (12A-1 Jericho Tpke., Jericho): Of the hundreds of sushi outlets on Long Island, there probably are fewer than a dozen that are owned by Japanese people and stick to Japanese cooking. Nagashima owner and sushi chef Makoto Kobayashi emigrated from Japan more than 30 years ago to work as a tempura chef at a New York City Japanese restaurant, and opened Nagashima in 1990. Sit at his sushi bar to learn about the provenance of the fish here, or such things as the difference in taste between summer fluke and winter fluke. There are no bells and whistles (or orchids, or banana leaves) for either sushi or chirashi -- just impeccably fresh, immaculately sliced fish on properly seasoned rice. Kobayashi grates fresh wasabi, expounds on the finer points of sake, and tries to convey to customers the great culinary tradition that he was trained in. More info: 516-338-0022, nagashimali.com 

Chef Makoto Kobayashi's sashimi moriawase includes lobster, sweet shrimp, Argentine tuna, Norwegian salmon, yellow tail, Spanish mackerel, squid and snapper at Nagashima Japanese Restaurant in Jericho.

Latin: Café Buenos Aires

Café Buenos Aires (23 Wall St., Huntington): When Hugo Garcia opened his singular Huntington restaurant in 2007, his goal was to introduce Long Island to the cuisine of his native Argentina, from seafood ceviche and plump, golden empanadas to parrillada mixta (mixed, grilled meats). In the ensuing decade, he's also made Café Buenos Aires one of the Island's most dependable spots for classic tapas (tuna-stuffed piquillo peppers, shrimp in garlic sauce, serrano ham with manchego cheese) as well as Spanish and Latin American specialties such as paella and tacos. The spacious restaurant takes in a dining room, bar and, in season, tables outside on Wall Street. As the night progresses, watch out for impromptu tangos. More info: 631-603-3600, cafebuenosaires.net 

A lobster salad with claw and tail meat, avocado, hearts of palm, corn, tomato and green scallion, served at Cafe Buenos Aires in Huntington.

Mediterranean: Turkuaz Mediterranean Gourmet

Turkuaz Mediterranean Gourmet (493 Hempstead Tpke., West Hempstead): Among Long Island's many fine Turkish eateries, Turkuaz Mediterranean Gourmet stands out. The restaurant is nothing more than six tables in the front of a workaday Turkish grocery, but chef-owner Ufuk Cetinkaya's cooking evinces a refinement and soulfulness that are absent in many multimillion-dollar establishments. Everything here sings: eggplant in various guises (the perfect excuse to consume piece after piece of warm homemade bread); lahmacun, thin-crusted pizzas strewed with seasoned lamb, then folded over and served with a pile of sumac-dusted onions; sizzling kebabs, particularly the majestic Iskender: roasted lamb heaped onto toasted bread, then slathered with drippings and tomato sauce and finished with a side of yogurt. More info: 516-280-2973, turkuazmediterraneangourmet.com 

Kunefe, a sweet pastry coated in syrup, topped with crushed pistachios and filled with cheese, is one of the dessert options at Turkuaz Mediterranean Gourmet in West Hempstead.

Seafood: Kyma

Kyma (1446 Old Norther Blvd., Roslyn): Kyma is a Greek classic. Awash in sky-blue and white, with artwork evoking the Aegean and a mood of perpetual summer, it has enough style to satisfy anyone still deciding between Santorini and Mykonos. Bright, airy, and transporting, you'll feel closer to a high-end island resort than the Roslyn viaduct. Accordingly, you may enjoy the familiar, full-flavored stars of Greek cuisine. But what elevates Kyma is the daily catch of pristine seafood, simply and perfectly prepared. Best are the whole fish, sold by the pound, displayed on ice, waiting to be expertly grilled. Look for fagri, a Mediterranean pink snapper, sweet and meaty; the fuller-flavored tsipoura, or royal dorado; mild black sea bass; Florida pompano; and the more familiar red snapper and branzino. They're rivaled by sweet langoustines, giant tiger shrimp, and marinated and skewered swordfish. From the sea, begin with oysters and clams, lump crab and shrimp cocktails; or grilled octopus. Give in to saganaki and spanakopita. Nibble on zucchini and eggplant chips. And the moussaka and grilled sirloin steak are as fine as the fish. For dessert: baklava, Greek yogurt. More info: 516-621-3700, kyma-roslyn.com

Grilled langoustines at Kyma in Roslyn.

Steak house: Rothmann’s Steakhouse

Rothmann's Steakhouse (6319 Northern Blvd., East Norwich): Rothmann's Steakhouse is both rare and well-done. Its history goes back to 1907, when it was run by Charles and Franziska Rothmann. And Theodore Roosevelt ate here. Over the years, it has been Rothmann's, Chas. Rothmann's, and for a while, starting on the 1970s, composer-musician Burt Bacharach's restaurant at the East Norwich Inn. The dining room was a celebrity magnet. But in its latest life, the stars are in the kitchen and on the plate. Executive chef Mark Serrantino brings you a classic steakhouse with contemporary style. And on Thursday nights, Rothmann's delivers as a very lively social scene. The bar overflows. Stellar dishes include the 24-ounce bone-in rib steak; the porterhouse for two, three, or four; "limited reserve" steaks, including a wagyu tomahawk rib steak for two, and a Japanese Kobe strip steak; and a Kobe burger. Alternatives for those not carnivorously inclined are the lobster and the house sushi. They're supplemented with excellent sauces, au poivre to Bearnaise, and side dishes, creamed spinach to roasted fingerling potatoes. Top starters range from grilled octopus and Kung Pao calamari to crab cakes and raw bar favorites. Of course, there's New York-style cheesecake for dessert. More info: 516-922-2500, rothmannssteakhouse.com 

A sushi and sashimi platter from Rothmann's Steakhouse in East Norwich.