Former Riverhead Project site to host Sonoma Grill
Wraps at Sonoma Grill in Holtsville feature house-made pizza dough. They will be offered at the new Riverhead location, set to launch in spring 2015. Credit: Sonoma Grill
The impressive Riverhead bank building that hosted the former Riverhead Project restaurant will soon be home to an offshoot of Sonoma Grill which last year relocated from Holbrook to the Ramada Plaza in Holtsville.
Glenn Heller, co-owner of the Holtsville location, said that he and his partner Jason Maher are “licensing the Sonoma Grill name, concept and menu to another group. They will be using our technology, menu and concept to open five or six Sonoma Grills on Long Island.”
The new Riverhead restaurant, under John Cestare and Matt Demar, will have a streamlined version of the original menu featuring pizza as well as wraps fashioned of grilled house-made pizza dough. Also on the menu: shrimp scampi wrapped in bacon, steak Marsala, chicken Francese and 10-ounce burgers. Dishes will run $8 to $25, with most under $20.
The new place, situated across from the Long Island Aquarium & Exhibition Center, will have more of a bar-lounge component than in Holtsville, Demar said. There will be an outdoor deck for eating, drinking and socializing. Some nights, there will also be live music indoors. Downstairs, the room once used for safety deposit boxes will serve as a party space.
The place is aiming for a late spring opening.
