Sandbar review: Celebrated Long Island chef Guy Reuge delivers excellence in Cold Spring Harbor

When Long Island’s most celebrated chef adds a new address, plan to visit. Guy Reuge delivers Sandbar.

Reuge made Mirabelle a destination for decades in St. James and at Stony Brook’s Three Village Inn. He created the menu and is executive chef here. Chef de cuisine Eric Werner expertly oversees the day-to-day festivities at the latest Lessing’s restaurant.

Sandbar opens where Wyland’s Country Kitchen served lunch and nostalgia starting in 1963. Bedlam Street and Charlotte’s Bistro followed. But Sandbar truly signals transition, in design and cuisine.

It’s among the county’s best-looking dining rooms, sleek and polished, with an affection for local history. A vibrant photo of the Cold Spring Harbor sandbar by Chuck Baker vies with harbor paintings, antique half-hull ship models, artfully exposed beams and handsome woodwork.

The chefs’ contributions are even more attractive, mixing local seafood, American favorites and more. That starts with savory clam chowder of Long Island shellfish given a New England accent. A major shellfish tower rises three tiers. Crabcake with sauce rémoulade: excellent. Likewise, chickpea fries, a construct of edible logs, slightly crunchy outside, nearly creamy within, with Sriracha aioli.

A charcuterie board sports superior paté and rillettes, cured meats, cornichons, julienned daikon, pickled onions and a dollop of grainy mustard. The four-member American cheese tray, though more modest, is good, too.

Duck tacos get a boost from daikon, jalapeños and hoisin sauce. Reuge, whose two-course seared duck breast and confit of leg star at Mirabelle, here presents a kindred, delectably tender bird with Alsatian-style cabbage and bacon, plus snappy apricot sauce. Roasted chicken breast, with a corn-and-chanterelle ragoût, politely satisfies. Even the irony-free, outlier chicken Parmesan with spaghetti comes through. The cheeseburger, with bacon-onion marmalade, could convert a vegan.

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Seaside, try plump, perfectly seared sea scallops, buttery and nutty, atop butternut-squash risotto, with pepitas and sage. Consider the thickly cut, grilled swordfish with an autumnal spin on ratatouille and lemon aioli. The open-faced lobster-and-scallop potpie unveils richly, but it’s a bit underseasoned. White anchovies enliven Caesar salad.

Desserts are mandatory, led by Reuge’s trademark almond-ginger tart; toasted pound cake with coffee ice cream; the brownie sundae; and “warm cookies and milk,” a chocolate-chip number in its own little skillet, paired with a tasty vanilla milkshake chaser.

Today, all currents lead to this Sandbar.