Reel opens in East Rockaway with reality TV chef
Adam Goldgell, 47, a St. James resident and executive chef of Reel in East Rockaway, is competing on Food Network's "Restaurant Express," which airs Sundays at 9 p.m. Credit: Handout
In East Rockaway, Reel replaces The Fishery, a waterside restaurant that had been pretty much destroyed by superstorm Sandy. In April, the place reopened in limited fashion and was still called The Fishery, but recently changed both its name and sign. Under the aegis of executive chef Adam Goldgell, it is now fully functioning.
Goldgell, who was chef co-owner of the former Hog House BBQ in Huntington Station and cooked at Sugo in Long Beach and the former Panama Hatties in Huntington, is known, these days, as a contestant on Food Network’s “Restaurant Express” with Robert Irvine. The show taped over the summer and can be viewed Sunday at 9 p.m. At this point in the airing, Goldgell is one of three finalists competing to open a restaurant in Las Vegas. The outcome remains under wraps.
In a recent phone conversation, Goldgell said he was excited to be at the seasonally driven Reel, baking his own bread, smoking his own fish and making his own sausage. He said he has been putting a lot of energy into specials such as oysters four ways ($12), olive-crusted smoked scallops over braised root vegetables ($24) and mahi mahi with coconut curry sauce ($24).
On the current core menu: Lobster salad martini ($14), fresh linguine with clams ($20), beer battered English style fish and chips with hand cut fries ($17) and a seafood Cobb salad ($21). At lunch, you can get a Cajun salmon wrap ($15), fish tacos ($12) and a hot or cold lobster roll ($18).
Goldgell added that Reel has extended its Long Island Restaurant Week $27.95 prix-fixe menu through the end of this year.
Reel is at 1 Main St., East Rockaway, 516-341-7222, reelli.com.
