Olde City Public House replaces Brownstone Brewing Co. in Ronkonkoma
French onion soup at Olde City Public House in Ronkonkoma. Credit: Newsday / Corin Hirsch
A busy Ronkonkoma tavern has changed hands and names, but is holding tight to its beer-and-burger identity.
Olde City Public House opened in mid-December in the Ronkonkoma building where Brownstone Brewing Company operated since 2012.
“They were more of an active bar that served food, while we are more of a restaurant with a bar,” said Jim McGuckin, the new owner of the Portion Road pub.
What remains the same: Ample flat-screen televisions, plus 20 taps hooked to beers and ciders from Budweiser and Samuel Adams to Angry Orchard and Brooklyn Brewery.
Chef Manuel Lopez plates five different versions of hot French dip sandwiches ($14 to 16) — or cheese-topped roast beef on rolls that seem ripe for #cheesepull Instagram posts; each is served with fries and a side of au jus for dipping.
The rest of the menu is focused on pub standards such as wings ($12), burgers ($13 to $14), steaks ($25 to $32) and slow-cooked ribs ($16 to $28), with a sprinkling of Mexican-inflected bites like a black-bean and beef-stuffed burrito ($16 for a half rack). A few of the outliers from the former Brownstone menu, such as banana-pepper bites and spiked milkshakes, have gone the way of warmer weather — no more, at least for now.
A cocktail menu is coming in January.
Olde City Public House is open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner, and closed on Mondays.
200 Portion Rd., Ronkonkoma. 631-588-1135, oldcitypublichouse.com.
