After weeks of hard work and long days and nights, Beth Pike is ready to unveil her labor of love as the Deep Water Bar and Grille opens on Front Street in Greenport tonight.
“It’s stressful but exciting,” Pike said this morning, as she hurried to attend to last minute-details before the soft opening. A grand opening celebration will be held in June.
The restaurant and bar will open at 5 p.m. tonight and welcome a crowd of supporters who are planning to turn out and cheer on Pike, who’s not only a new business owner but their longtime friend and colleague.
For almost 20 years, Beth Pike has been a familiar face on the North Fork, a well-loved bartender, nurse and realtor. Pike, who lives in Mattituck and worked for 18 years as a bartender at Claudio’s, retired from that post last year and said she found herself with the opportunity to open the new eatery; Deep Water Bar & Grille is located where the former BBQ Bill’s was sited.
After raising four children, Matthew, Kirsten, Britt, and Emily, as a single mom for 22 years, Pike is ready for the next chapter of her life to unfold.
Pike, 58, began working in the restaurant industry early in life. “I’ve always wanted my own restaurant,” she said. “Over the years, my kids and I would talk about opening a restaurant together, but it was kind of wishful thinking. Sort of, ‘I would like to do that,’ but more like, ‘I wish had a pony.’ I never thought it could happen. I never thought I would have the guts to walk away from a steady paycheck.”
But now, Pike has taken a leap of faith and, along with her proud kids, a full circle of supportive friends, and even former customers, she’s working tirelessly to reopen the waterfront space.
The location, at 47 Front Street, is the perfect spot, Pike said. “It’s right in the center of the village and it has the water view.” Plus, she said, patrons can come from Connecticut and the South Fork by boat and walk right over.
The menu, she said, will feature seafood and light American, bistro-type food, prepared by chef Jorge Castellano, formerly of Digger’s in Riverhead.
Most of all, Pike hopes to create a “homey, cozy” atmosphere. “I want it to be a place where everyone is welcome, where they can enjoy each other’s company and not have to outtalk the music.”
Another feature will be dockside service, with a takeout station and delivery to the marina and Mitchell Park. Waitstaff, she said, will wear “noticeably fun attire. You’re going to know who they are.”
Pike plans to be open year-round, seven days a week, from 11 a.m. until midnight during the week and until 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturdays.
