Dark Horse Coffee & Kitchen opens in Port Jefferson

In Port Jefferson, Dark Horse Coffee & Kitchen is upping its game. The first location opened in 2023 along the Sunrise Highway service road in Sayville. Its 3-month-old sibling takes over a roomy, freestanding building, dwarfing the original location.

The menus are the same — a full line of coffees and teas plus oats and bowls, wraps, salads, sandwiches and pastries that take customers from breakfast through lunch and afternoon snacks. Avocado toasts ($11 to $15) are big business here, from the DH classic (avocado, arugula, tomatoes, pickled onions, everything seasoning and microgreens) to the burrata (pesto, spring greens and balsamic glaze) to the egg salad-maple bacon (self explanatory, garnished with paprika and fresh dill).

The Port Jefferson shop boasts two big dining areas plus a tranquil green back room furnished with sofas and arm chairs. Many customers, however, congregate in the front room where, behind the counter but in front of the open kitchen, there is a huge table where orders get their finishing touches.

"The table is a bridge between a home kitchen and a commercial one," noted partner André du Chaussée. "We want to provide full transparency to our guests."

Du Chaussée is a philosophical guy who does not believe in coincidences, only fate. He had a career in hospitality (general manager at Toast in Bay Shore, server at Caffe Amici in Selden, among other spots) before he hooked up with another Amici alum, Tim O’Leary, to open Dark Horse in Sayville.

The name came to him while staying at a B&B in upstate Beacon. First, he came across a stunning dark horse on the grounds. Then, he recalled, "in the room, I found a copy of ‘The Practice of Groundedness,’ by Brad Stulberg that had a whole section on ‘the dark horse.’ " According to Stulberg, "dark horses focus on accomplishing the things that matter most to them, and they don’t compare themselves to others or to conventional definitions of success."

This resonated with du Chaussée, who believes in both the coffee and the food he serves but said that "what sets us apart is our focus on community."

Port Jefferson was another twist of fate. He and O’Leary had been thinking about a second location when du Chaussée and his wife were having dinner in the village and ran into an old customer from his Amici days. "My wife told him I own a coffee shop in Sayville and he said he has a space here, a former deli, that he took down to the studs and is looking for a tenant. Was I interested?"

In Port Jefferson, the two partners took on a third: Terri Novak, an experienced operator who had been culinary director at Braun’s Kitchen in Cutchogue and at Rooted Hospitality, which owns several restaurants.

Du Chaussée is looking forward to establishing the shop as a daytime standard in a town with "a lot of nighttime spots."

Dark Horse Coffee & Kitchen, 156 W. Broadway, Port Jefferson, 631-256-6983, darkhorsecoffeekitchen.com. Open Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.