Owners Eyeing March 2024 Opening For The Stone Goat Restaurant & Brewery in St. James
With such a huge built-out there were bound to be delays. Nick Gounaris, co-owner of The Stone Goat Restaurant & Brewery that’s going into the former home of St. James Public House, said that they have big plans for the space. The owners are putting in a sunroom in the front of the building, two bars (one upstairs and one down), a second floor deck, expanding the building, and installing a brewery on premises.
“We were all set for New Years,” Gounaris told LongIslandRestaurants.com in a phone interview recently.
He said that run-of-the-mill construction delays have forced them to push that date to March 2024.
Crews have gutted the entire place and are planning a complete renovation. Plans call for three additions totaling 692.5 square feet, a 472.5-square-foot one-story addition, a 67-square-foot vestibule and a 153-square-foot freezer box to the existing restaurant.
Gounaris says that upstairs there will be a bar with a tap room. The vibe will be relaxed and beachy with televisions for watching the game. Upstairs they will serve pub-style fare. They describe the new outside area as a cigar deck.
Downstairs will be a whole different story, according to Gounaris. There will be a bar and fine dining, where the executive chef, Alfred Hand, has plans for dry-aged steaks, homemade pasta dishes, a raw bar and fresh seafood on the menu. That will be where diners can sit in the new sunroom, once it’s completed.
They describe themselves as a new American style restaurant.
According to Gounaris, he has extensive food business experience and has worked in breweries before but this is his first as an owner.
He envisions the backyard property, which is almost an acre in size, to be similar to one of the breweries you find out East like Jamesport Farm Brewery with a large picnic area, live music, games, and events. It will be pet friendly, kid friendly and have a chill atmosphere. Visitors to The Stone Goat won’t be able to go into the brewery itself but can see the magic happen through glass windows.
The restaurant at 552 North Country Road had most recently been St. James Public House. Before that it was briefly Grant’s Place and Five.Five 2. Prior to that it was O’s Food & Wine Bar.
As for the name, The Stone Goat, Gounaris says it’s different because they are going to be a different kind of restaurant and he wanted the name to stand out as well.
“Names tend to be boring, even uninteresting, and I was looking for a name that would get people asking questions,” he said.
The Stone Goat Restaurant & Brewery is set to open in March 2024 at 552 North Country Road in St. James. We will post further updates as they become available.
📷 Google Maps.
