The Restaurants of Old Northern Boulevard Are Helping Rebuild Its Oldest Building

The weatherboard siding on the Roslyn Grist Mill is finished. Anyone driving down Old Northern Boulevard can see the building's exterior looking the way it did at the start of the 18th century, for the first time in more than 50 years. The shutters and doors still have to go on. The Roslyn Landmark Society plans a media day in mid-October and hasn't announced the date yet.

The mill sits at 1347 Old Northern Boulevard. Several of the doors around it have changed hands this year, some more than once. Restaurants come and go on this boulevard while the mill has stood since the colonial era. This September, the restaurants started helping to pay for the mill.

A tasting night with a preservation budget behind it

The first Taste of Roslyn took place on Sept. 24 at Haute Durvo on Lumber Road. The Roslyn Landmark Society and the Roslyn Chamber of Commerce put it on together, and Rallye Motor Company presented it. The evening sold out, with about 300 guests. The money raised goes to the Landmark Society's restoration work at the Grist Mill and the Van Nostrand-Starkins House.

The tasting stations read like a roll call of the village's restaurants. Okaru, Hendrick's Tavern, Griffin, Mim's, 388, Sweet Harbor Coffee, Ilios Frozen Yogurt, Gino's Pizza and Trattoria Diane all poured or plated, and so did Alto Enoteca, Delicacies and Felice. Guests could also look over a collection of classic automobiles. Jordan Fensterman, co-president of the Landmark Society, said the car collection was "really a special thing to include in the event."

Two of the names on that list had only just opened. Griffin had been serving dinner since early May. Ilios had only "recently opened" when the Long Island Press wrote about it on Sept. 1. Both helped raise money for a building that went up between 1715 and 1741.

The boulevard, by street number

Here is what changed on the strip this year, listed in order of address.

1. 1347, Roslyn Grist Mill. On April 25, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman handed the Landmark Society the second and final $1 million of the county's $2 million capital commitment, at a ceremony at the mill. The timber frame has since been rehabilitated, the south wall rebuilt and a cedar shingle roof put back on. New windows and siding came next.
2. 1355, Ilios Froyo. Yolo Yogurt & Desserts closed here on April 12. Its replacement serves frozen yogurt the way Sophia Quintero ate it growing up in Cyprus. She and her husband Andrew opened the shop together. "It wasn't like a new trendy concept or anything," Andrew Quintero told the Long Island Press. "It was something that instead of ice cream, you would just go get frozen yogurt."
3. 1363, still empty. More on this one below.
4. 1380, Mythos Kitchen. This is the first Long Island location of Mythos, a Greek restaurant in Flushing that has been open for 26 years. It took over the old Shish Kebab Grill space, one storefront away from PopUp Bagels. Jimmy Theodoropoulos runs it. His mother Athina bakes the bread at 6 a.m. every day and drives it over herself. The lunch prix fixe is $25, and a steam table keeps prepared dishes ready for takeout. Mythos Kitchen is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
5. 1512, Griffin Kitchen & Bar. Chef Pasquale Abatiello and his partners opened in early May, in the shopping center that also holds Kotobuki and Besito. Abatiello cooks there every day with Frances Cappi, who has worked at ABC Kitchen and Ceriello's Fine Foods. Entrees run $25 to $44. The steaks go up to a 22-ounce bone-in rib-eye at $69. Dinner service starts at 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Two of these openings are Greek, and so is the theme at Ilios. Newsday describes Roslyn as "long a testing ground for city restaurant expansion," and Mythos fits that description. Griffin goes the other way. Abatiello is a Long Island native who built his career in local kitchens and decided to open his first restaurant as an owner close to home.

The corner that keeps starting over

Turnover on the boulevard is nothing new, and 1363 is the clearest example. The Long Island Wave has tracked who occupied it over the past several years.

The newest lead points to a familiar name. A company called Vendome Hospitality Group Roslyn LLC was formed in late April and is registered to the address. The Wave connects it to brothers Michael and Franco Vendome, the family behind Nino's AQ in Astoria and Nino's Beach. Nino's Beach is a 9,500-square-foot waterfront restaurant at the Safe Harbor marina in Port Washington, and some guests arrive for dinner by boat.

Neither the family nor the landlord has announced a name or an opening date. The filing shows that someone plans a full restaurant with a bar at the address. A restaurant opening there is still a separate question.

Griffin's address has a similar history. The space was once a salon. Cool Mess opened there in 2018 and Limani Mezze in 2021, and both closed within two years. A sign for Mia's went up and came down before that bakery opened. The old Roslyn Cinema is also changing. Its owners are turning the four-screen theater into a single retail space and were looking for one tenant as of February.

Against that history, the mill's timeline stands apart. George Washington stopped there on his 1790 tour of Long Island. For more than 150 years it was the economic center of the community. The tenants around it have turned over again and again. The mill has stayed put, and this year the businesses on the boulevard helped fund its restoration.

What the mill still needs, and when it opens

The mill is in the middle of its next phase. Phase 3 covers restoring the water wheel, moving the gearing mechanisms back inside, relocating the stormwater basin and building an ADA-accessible public entrance. In April the Landmark Society said it expects the mill to open to the public as a museum in 2027. That would be the first time in more than fifty years that visitors can go inside. The Taste of Roslyn proceeds go toward that remaining work.

October is a busy month for the Society and its neighbors:

• Oct. 3, 3 to 5 p.m. "Tuffets & Tricksters," presented by Dance Visions NY at Cedarmere, 225 Bryant Ave. It was moved to this date from Sept. 27 because of rain.
• Oct. 5. Costume swapping and shopping open at Bryant Library's children's Halloween Costume Shop. The program runs through Oct. 22.
• Oct. 8, 6 to 7:30 p.m. The Landmark Society hosts Preservation Long Island for "Wood and Water: Furniture on Long Island, 1660–1860," a free lecture at Bryant Library, 2 Papermill Road.
• Mid-October, date TBA. The Landmark Society's media day at the Grist Mill.
• Oct. 17, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A Long Island Poets writing retreat with Christina M. Rau and Stefanie Maura at Cedarmere. The fee is $85.

The lecture's subject overlaps with the mill's. Its time frame starts in 1660, and the mill went up within that span, 1715 to 1741. Anyone can already see the new siding from Old Northern Boulevard. Mythos at 1380 and Ilios at 1355 sit on the same block of addresses as the mill at 1347.

If you own a home near Old Northern Boulevard, this year's changes may be part of what a buyer weighs. That includes a restored landmark heading toward a 2027 museum opening and a corner that may soon have a new operator. The Andréa Sorrentino Team can show you how changes like these figure into what your home could sell for today. Request a Confidential Valuation.