Noema appears to close in Huntington
Shrimp loukoumades with shrimp tempura over sesame seaweed and sambal aioli at Noema in Huntington. Credit: Yvonne Albinowski
Long Island’s most inventive Greek eatery appears to have closed. Noema in Huntington's phone line has a recorded message stating the eatery is "temporarily closed" and general reservations on the restaurant's OpenTable page are no longer available. Owner Lisa DiPinto did not immediately respond to a call and text messages for comment.
Noema made a splash when it opened in 2023. DiPinto decorated the tri-level space with marble panels, wicker wall coverings and decorative accents that had all been imported from Greece. In the kitchen, chef Nicholas Poulmentis pushed the limits of Hellenic cuisine, turning the honeyed fried dough balls called loukoumades into shrimp balls served with sambal aioli, and replacing the ubiquitous round zucchini chips with fried zucchini batons that were stacked like Lincoln logs on a foundation not of garlicky almond-milk tzatziki. His signature black-truffle tarama involved inky, truffle-infused whipped herring roe and a white, melt-in-your-mouth powder that also, somehow, tasted of truffles.
The freestanding building at 7 Gerard St. has hosted a succession of concepts since Gerard Street Antiques Gallery closed. In 2009, Miracle Mop magnate Joy Mangano opened Porto Vivo, which lasted until 2016 when she replaced it with Jema, one of the best Long Island restaurants of this century; it closed less than two years later. (Chef Franco Sampogna and manager Bernardo Silva went on to open the Michelin-starred Frevo NYC in Greenwich Village.) Noema’s immediate predecessor was the more casual 7 Gerard, which opened in 2020 and closed two years later.
When she opened her Huntington spot, DiPinto announced a second Noema in the old Gross Jewelers building at the corner of Franklin and Stewart avenues in Garden City. Despite ongoing construction, it has not opened.
