Roslyn: Day Boat plans to relaunch

Great news for the new year: John Durkin is planning to resurrect the Day Boat Café, the New England-style seafood “shack” that opened in Roslyn in September 2008 and burned down just four months later. The fire destroyed Day Boat’s interior and completely decimated the building next store, home of the Italian restaurant Mio.

The reborn Day Boat will be in a new structure where Mio used to be, and will afford Durkin about three times the space of the original restaurant. The menu—straight-ahead, American seafood with killer clam chowder—and the charming nautical decor will remain the same. Durkin said that he hopes to be open in June.

Meanwhile, a sign in the old Day Boat space promises a new Japanese restaurant called Yuzu. Watch here for the grand opening.

Getting off track, I asked Durkin, who is also the mayor of Roslyn, when he thinks the Roslyn viaduct will be finished. “Maybe by this time next year,” he said, “if I’m a good boy and eat my vegetables.”

John Durkin at Day Boat in Sept. 2008. Newsday photo / Ana P. Gutierrez