[music] When thousands of Polish immigrants started coming to the United States more than a hundred years ago, many ended up in Riverhead.

This was a landmark they were told to look for.

St.

Isidor's Church and the Polish town section of Riverhead.

They would come out from New York City, and they would find help getting a place to live and to work, usually ending up on one of the many potato farms in this area.

I'm Doug Geed, Out East for Newsday TV.

On this episode we're going to take you to an authentic Polish deli on riverhead and talk about some of their Easter traditions and foods.

We'll also visit Lumber and Salt kind of a high end salvage yard where they take old things and make them new.

Then we'll take you to Macari Vineyards in Mattituck and show you how all that wine gets put into thousands of bottles.

And just to change things up we're going to tell you about a man who restores antique cash registers.

The 4th finishes were popular.

They still are today.

This is bronze.

We have a yellow brass one over there.

But let's begin our show at what is probably Long Island's smallest restaurant and definitely one of its quirkiest, the Little Gull Cafe in Speonk.

We ride the ferry a lot, the Orient Point ferry.

There is a little island in the Long Island town called Little Gull Island.

Just a cute little name and then this cute little spot came to us so we thought it made sense.

It's a former train station.

You get that as soon as you walk in.

It was not intended to be a restaurant but we've kind of shoehorned one in here.

So it is very cozy and historic.

Inside what your max seating capacity.

I think 16 is what it says on the wall.

So it's cozy and when it gets crowded in the winter, you definitely feel it.

I mean it was really just the ticket room and waiting room for the train station.

The train used to be you know pull up right outside on this side.

So this was actually where you would come in and buy your tickets and wait.

The bench is still the original bench from you know when it was a waiting room.

We still occasionally get people coming in here thinking they're getting a ticket or you know headed for the train and we have to kind of direct them to the new platform.

The counter you are leaning on that's that's kind of new, too, right?

It is and it actually folds down.

It has brackets so we can fold it down if we need a little extra space in here but yeah just trying to squeeze every spot we can.

So that gave you three more seats which was like 20% more capacity for you.

Yes yeah.

The railroad owns it.

It was literally like you had to go to a boardroom and presented like what we wanted to do and they said okay you're you're the guy.

>> So they're your landlord essentially.

>> There it in more ways than one.

Yeah they are our landlords.

>> So what was the shape of this place and then did you have to take care of that?

Yeah.

The the the floor you're standing on was nonexistent.

It was bare bones.

We've been very fortunate and then I think we've become what I wanted it to become which is a neighborhood restaurant.

So it was basically a blank slate.

blank slate right.

So what were you going for what did you want in terms of decor?

I'm passionate about that.

I'm passionate about the history of this place.

Where I'm sitting right now is the same seats that people were sitting in in you know in the 30s and the 20s like >> Waiting for a train.

>> Waiting for a train.

The people even though you're right next to the track sometimes get surprised when the train goes by.

For sure.

Oh, everybody loves when the train goes by.

Like, little ones, little ones especially.

It does knock plates off the counter.

We have smashed plates so we have to deal with the train.

That's part of the beauty of this place.

It's part of the charm.

It's got this wonderful homey feel and comfort food but not diner like.

It's really sophisticated.

So, you know, just friendly, comfortable and food's really good.

And if you bring the kids, the train goes by.

It's actually fun.

It's sort of nuanced.

The more you look, the more you find interesting things.

Ranging from Elvis on the wall to different tchotchkes.

So you just describe it as comfort food meets what you'd expect in New York City.

That will blend without any of the pretense.

I'm going to get the buttermilk pancakes.

Talk food, Will.

Let's start with breakfast.

Top three most popular sellers.

Pancakes, 100%.

Pancakes, for sure.

And then we do make our own sausage.

So we're getting local pork in there when we're grinding it down.

And putting this local sage and rosemary and fennel.

Even in the winter, we still get main lobster.

What I do is hand-made pasta.

So we'll do lobster ravioli.

sometimes lobster like tossed with our homemade pasta.

We're trying really hard to make everything local and to make everything a representation of this area that we come from.

We're very lucky to live where we live.

All this wonderful produce, all this wonderful protein, all this wonderful wines and beers.

And we're lucky to have it.

Incredible to me, a place like this.

He makes his own bread rolls, makes his own pasta.

He does.

I mean, it really is all about scratch-made food.

So that's kind of the big thing.

And he really tries to do that with everything.

You know, even like the tuna salad.

It's like he's poaching the tuna and making it and not, you know, opening a can.

I wonder if anybody ever accidentally walks in here knowing it's a restaurant.

Yeah, I mean, that's a struggle we have is just that we don't get foot traffic.

You know, it really is either you are coming to the train and you stumble upon it or you hear about it and you come check it out.

But, you know, people I think are pleasantly surprised when they come in because it's not, you know, it's kind of on the zooming from the outside and then you come in.

It's like a cute little bustling restaurant.

How many of you are old enough to remember these?

They're called viewmasters.

Might seem a little primitive now, but when they came out boy, they were very popular.

They came with these little wheels with different scenes.

They put them right in here and be taken off to some foreign land.

Well, this is just one of the many, many unique things you'll find at a place called Lumber and Salt in Jamesport.

We deal in architectural salvage, reclaim materials, agricultural products, plants, things for the garden and home, a lot of repurposing of objects and material.

Explain the name, Lumber and Salt, where they come from.

Lumber and salt.

We develop it as a farm, mercantile, the lumber being the strength of the buildings.

It's a product that we can sell.

We can reclaim locally.

We also bring some in from out of state.

Barnwood, beams, iron, different farm implements.

And the salt is from the sea.

So that salt product could be introduced to textures on material.

Let's say galvanized steel that has a whitish gray to it, oxidation, things like that.

And then that salt also ties back to flavors for different products that we sell.

It could be a chocolate or something in the coffee.

I'm sure people come in, they see a knick knack or whatever and they buy it and go home.

You will also design things and you do businesses, right?

You have a whole big portfolio.

Correct.

So an example of a client would be a local farmstand or winery that needs to re-brand and reintroduce their space and we may supply barnwood, cabinetry, shop fittings.

It could be an old glass showcase for their product or a bar that we have here and then we design that in and help them create that space.

We do sell a lot of mantles, barnwood mantles, beams, you know large pieces of wood at all different levels of age and texture and size and people use that residentially that would probably be our number one seller here.

We have some huge cupolas that came from Long Island off of big school.

They're copper coated on the outside.

They're probably, you know, turn in the century.

Most likely they'll be used for like a garden, gazebo, be elevated with some sort of structure and have, you know, plant things around them or, you know, a center.

One of the wineries is looking at the larger one right now as a, you know, a wedding venue or some sort of cupola structure.

Lots of tables out front.

I saw that one with a swivel seat.

Yeah, we just got that in, you know, they're old cafeterias.

Style tables with cast iron bases, the swing out stools, wood tops.

And that can be used residentially.

We do sell a lot into people that are repurposing their barns.

So that could be a large 10 foot table for, you know, party seating or a retailer may buy it for a bar restaurant or coffee shops, something like that.

So where does all this stuff come from?

I'm sure a myriad of places.

We are buying, you know, every day from all different levels of opportunity.

It could be old factories, old barns.

Every week you never know what you're going to come in to find.

It's a treasure trove of objects and material and product.

What I'll say is we found that if you like it, get it because the likelihood of it being there when you come back is low.

But, you know, we have repeat customers every single week that are coming back because our product is ever changing and it's it's quick in and quick out.

There's something for everyone.

Our price points are very wide in range.

You know, you could get a little mug or, you know, something under $10 or you can walk out with an antique door that's, you know, over 2000.

We do like people to come in and just explore on their own.

Sometimes people pick up things that I don't even know we have.

Then I'm like, let me check my inventory on that and I'm like, wow, that is very cool.

So that's how quickly our inventory is coming in and it's how quickly it goes out.

Our lighting has, we have some very high end pieces and it's nice because it's mixed with some, you know, gritty industrial pieces.

So our high and low there is kind of our sweet spot in regards to our brand.

What's over the coffee bar there?

Those barrel lights.

So those are industrial barrel cans.

We refinish them, we polish them up, we hung a bulb inside and they just become like a conversation piece.

We have a full espresso machine so we can do any lattes, cappuccinos, americanos.

We have a nitro cold brew that's delicious.

You know, typical drip coffee.

If you're not into any of the fancy stuff we do as well.

And then in the summer we like to play with some, you know, iced tea, lemonade, different specials, stuff like that.

We have delicious baked goods that come from five minutes up the road at Main Road, Biscuit Co.

They've been a great partner for us and I can't resist most weekends looking at that case of goodies.

So it's good to be a good company.

We believe in building community and bringing people together so it's been kind of cool to see this develop as like a hotspot.

In the distances downtown Riverhead I'm standing just on the outskirts on West Main Street.

About 40 yards down from where I'm standing is the Polka deli, a Polish deli, and every year around Easter the line to get in there starts from where I'm standing all the way down to where those flags are.

It has been in my family for 30 years.

It was owned by my initially by my godmother and then my her brother took over and he also retired and I acquired it.

It's about our little Polish community, all those flavors and aromas that you can find at home and also everything is homemade.

Sorry, not everything.

We get our breads from the Polish bakeries in Brooklyn.

There are two major bakeries that are still Polish in Brooklyn and yes we get a lot of our pastries and our breads from them.

However we also bake a little bit here too.

And on Sundays I bake my Danishes and a lot of the Polish, the crowd comes in.

We also make a lot of things from scratch like our hot case right here.

Everything is made in our kitchen.

The pierogies that you see over there, 19 flavors of pierogies are made here in our kitchen, made from Zilnicki farm potatoes.

So yes, we try to do everything from scratch.

You can hear the beating of schnitzels in the back.

Pierogies are little dumplings, Polish dumplings filled with all kinds of fillings.

Our most popular is potato and cheese.

However, we have 19 flavors.

Sauerkraut, mushrooms, meat pierogies, we have spinach and cheese, or even fresh cabbage.

We even have Dubai pierogies , Dubai chocolate pierogies A holiday season, so definitely Christmas and Easter.

Yeah, those are really busy.

Two years ago we had a line going up to the traffic lights, so last year we didn't have one line.

We had two waves going in both directions so yeah it was a, got a little crazy.

Yeah, but nobody got in a fight so we were good.

The staple on the table is of course the kielbasa.

These are our smoked kielbasa but the fresh kielbasa takes the center stage.

Fresh kielbasa is called biala kielbasa and it's sold raw so you have to either boil it or bake it.

It actually serves as a base for our zurek which is our Easter soup.

You can eat a year round, however it's a must for Easter.

Love the hard boiled eggs in there.

Yeah.

That's tradition.

Yes, the eggs that's a that's a must.

And of course we can't forget about the desserts that Easter dessert.

It's called Paska.

It's a Bapka.

It's a Ukrainian Bapka.

However, here we have a Bapka that's covered in chocolate.

That's more modern.

Speaking of the Easter traditions, I'm loving these.

Just what's the story behind them?

These are called pysanky.

So you can see how elaborately decorated these are.

It's actually a work of art.

And there are different regions in Poland that have like different designs.

Now in Poland, is it like in America that hiding the Easter eggs for the kids in the morning?

That's not done.

No, we're just eating them.

We're just eating them.

So that the hiding them is like a silly American thing.

It's nice for the kids.

But another work of art are the palms.

It's like a whole art.

These are actually very nice palms that are made out of dry flowers.

So on Holy Saturday, you take your Easter basket to church to get all the foods blessed.

So that's very much a tradition that you still do today taking the baskets to over to St.

Isidor's.

Oh yeah, we love that church.

And so Holy Saturday, I think they have the blessings of the baskets every other hour.

So I think it's 9, 11, 1 and 3.

And the aromas of kielbasa in that church.

Wow.

Wow.

Thank you.

Yes.

Yes.

Oh.

Oh, no, so super, super.

So we want to continue the heritage.

And we want to teach our kids where we came from and the traditions and the roots.

And so they would, you know, continue.

There's a Polish church.

There's a Polish school.

There are a few local Polish businesses here that, you know, as a community, you have to kind of keep them going strong.

So lastly, it's kind of corny, but wanted to give a nice Polish Easter greeting, like, you know, happy Easter to everybody from the Polka Deli.

You make it up, but you say it in Polish.

[Speaking Polish] Perfect.

Don't know what it means, but it sounded nice.

You said it with a great smile.

Thank you.

Next up on our show, a trip to the popular Mattituck winery, Macari Vineyards, which we visited on bottling day.

Macari Vineyards, we opened in 1996.

We just celebrated 30 years.

Joe Macari Sr., actually started making wine in his basement in Corona Queens.

We have a total of 500 acres, so about around 180 or so are the planted vines.

We do also have our own composting that we do here as well and the Macari family is still very heavily involved as well with the winery.

We have the good fortune of having our own bottling line in house.

It's a 16 head filler at full speed.

It can bottle up to about 3,000 bottles per hour.

We usually run it with a crew of four individuals.

That's enough to man all the stations and have a quality control check throughout.

Usually bottle about seven or eight hours a day and we do multiple bottlings a year.

We were just kicking the bottling season off right now.

This is our 2025 rosé and this is one of the first lines that we bottle every year.

The line starts off at the glass table where we have one person who empties the empty bottles onto the tray.

It makes its way through the machine where it gets sparged with an inert gas, nitrogen in this case.

And then to the filler heads that's where the bottle is filled with the wine itself and then it passes through a leveler that ensures that the fill height is where it should be and that happens right before the cork is inserted.

Then the cork's bottle makes its way down the line towards the capsular which applies a tin capsule to the top which then gets spun down on the bottle.

Continues on towards the labeler.

The labeler applies the labels front and back in this case and that's the final operation before we have another individual who takes them off the line, places them into the boxes for the boxes event sealed to the last person who then takes them off the line and stacks them onto a pallet.

That's so fascinating to watch for me.

Do you ever get sick of it or is just second nature to you or do you ever sit back and like, "Well, this really is cool."

Well, it really depends on how smoothly things are running.

Everybody's always in a much better mood when the machine is operating smoothly.

Everything is going on as it can.

Here's something pretty amazing.

This house was built in 1649.

Aptly named the Old House.

It's one of a group of historic structures on what's known as the Village Green and Cutchogue right on Route 25.

Might be worth checking out, especially if you're a history buff like me.

Well, our next story has to do with old things.

Antique Cash Registers.

John Ritty was the first developer of the idea of putting money in a drawer to house it and to keep track of it.

My grandfather worked for NCR from about 1910 to about 1918.

The four finishes were popular.

They still are today.

This is bronze.

We have a yellow brass one over there.

And everybody liked it.

So they said, well, we can plate it nickel.

You like polished nickel or antique copper.

I like the one over there.

So talk about this one, Peter.

The age and style and what model that is.

Okay.

So this is a model 313.

This would have been used in a barbershop or any other business where it only rings up to $1.95.

It's in 5 cent increments as you can see.

5 cents 10 cents 15 20 and so forth.

Now this is a 313.

The system model of 312 is exactly the same except with a different key arrangement.

It will go 1 cent 2 cent 3 cents for a cents to 9 and then 10 20 30 40 50.

Only rings up to 59 cents.

That would have been specifically more for a candy store.

A candy store would have sold something for a penny.

A barbershop wouldn't do that.

And then this is very striking.

I like this a lot.

Yeah, this is polished nickel.

You can see 5 banks of key.

And it rings up usually to $99 and 99 cents.

This one only rings to $69.99.

But for customers who had more volume and bigger businesses, the bigger the machine had to get.

And the wider it had to get.

Because they just add more banks of keys or more stems to the 300s.

What is the purpose?

I see letters here and of course the price is here.

What is that?

Clerk keys.

So this is salesman Joe and this is Bob or whatever.

You have to press the clerk key.

You need to operate the machine.

Okay.

And you saw you'd first ring up an amount.

Then the clerk would push his key.

And the only way I know and I knew that clerk e made a sale was when he looks at the tape later on.

Two draw side by side.

Bar machine 99 to 10 times.

You can look at the indication here and you can see this was in a hotel with a bar.

So it's check in, check out the room, bottle goods.

Lights would light up in dark.

Most bars were dark.

Everything was on the back bar.

So they would light up the indication.

What is this one?

It's a model 12 finished in Polish nickel.

Early machine.

or, 1899.

I put it like around 1890.

That's what's amazing to me about history.

Someone whatever, 100, whatever that is, 160 years ago.

Standing right here, pressing these keys that, you know, that we're pressing.

Yeah, it's really fascinating that they, they were so well built.

Besides serving the obvious purpose of, you know, safekeeping your money, did a shopkeeper want this as like a prestige thing, you know, to impress their customers like, oh, look at that, you know, look at that.

That's why the cabinets are so fancy.

And then you had choice of putting the name of your business on the top sign.

And it was a sign of, it was a status symbol.

Yeah.

It was a sign of success.

You know, our customers would walk in the store and see something that they didn't even know what it was.

And say, wow, it's beautiful.

And then they'd talk about it and help, you know, the store sell their stuff.

A different company, scales?

That's not NCR.

Dayton.

This is Dayton.

This is Toledo.

This is Toledo.

Those were really the two big ones.

Okay.

So this is candy, I would think, right?

Something like that.

Candy and anything that would weigh up under three pounds.

And early scale, because wherever you see the fancy castings around the windows and the top sign, those were only made before 1916, just like the registers.

After that, that these went away and it was flat.

This went away completely.

They didn't need anything fancy.

But this is finished in a beautiful burgundy.

And when I say early, this would have been probably before 1900 or right around the term.

We're all made in the same period.

Everything, you know, from 1895, 6 all the way up to July of 1916 when World War I brought an end to the whole Victorian era.

Not just cast registers, or scales, but all this fancy stuff went away.

So who's buying these Peter and then what are they doing with them?

It's somebody of means because they are expensive and they have a game room and I'll get a call and say, "Look, I have a 14-foot And they usually go for the biggest and the And they usually go for the biggest and the best and most expensive.

For the contact information for all the places we showed you, go to newsday.com/out-east.

Well that'll wrap things up for this episode.

We have plenty more interesting things to show you in the month ahead, including a visit to Schmitt's Farm where they're already harvesting one of the most popular products, horseradish.

That'll be on our next show.

I think you'll enjoy it.

I'm Doug Geed.

Thanks for watching Out East on Newsday TV.

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