Vinoteka 46 closes in Huntington
The "poor man's lobster" roll, made with monkfish, at Vinoteka 46 in Huntington. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
After 12 years and three dining concepts, restaurateur Daniel Pedisich is leaving Huntington. His year-old wine bar, Vinoteka 56, has closed.
“Huntington has changed,” he said. “Twenty years ago it was considered the restaurant capital of Long Island. Now Patchogue, Bay Shore, Babylon — these towns have each stolen a bit of the spotlight.”
Pedisich, a Huntington resident, was in the wine-import business when, in 2011, he took over the two-year-old wine bar Bin 56 on New York Avenue. In 2019 he sold it and opened Konoba Craft Kitchen & Tasting Lounge, a paean to the food and wine of Pedisich’s native Croatia. A year ago, he and his partner, Bruno Oliveira, shuttered Konoba and reinvented it as Vinoteka 46, whose small plates included some Croatian dishes but also tacos, lollipop lamb chops, sesame-crusted seared tuna and pappardelle with lamb ragu.
The new concept was meant to appeal to the town’s changing dining desires but Pedisich still felt he was putting in more than he was getting back.
Before the pandemic, “my clientele was about 65% local — now it’s approaching 90%, " he said. "I am more dependent on locals and, for the most part, they are families looking for a lower price point and a style of dining that is more conducive to kids.”
Huntington also has a reputation as a “big nightlife town,” he said, “but most of that after-10 p.m. demographic is kids in their 20s. They are looking for beer, burgers, bar food — that’s just not what I do.”
Late last year, Pedisich and Oliviera opened The Olive Room Meeting Pointe, a Vinoteka 46-esque small-plates wine bar in Port Washington, which has already become a more rewarding venture than the original. “The biggest single factor is that we have a lot less competition here. There are also a lot of people who recently moved to Port from the city and they really like this concept.”
With only one restaurant to operate, Pedisich is looking forward to spending more time with his wife and school-age kids. But he also sees another hospitality business in his future — he just doesn’t know what it is yet. “You just have to move on and keep adapting.”
