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Vue goes dark at Goat Hill: Country Club seeks new restaurant manager

REPORTER FILE PHOTO Three restaurants in the past three years have failed to make a go of it at the clubhouse of the Shelter Island Country Club.
REPORTER FILE PHOTO |  Three restaurants in the past three years have failed to make a go of it at the clubhouse of the Shelter Island Country Club.

Three strikes and you’re out.

That’s not something Shelter Island Country Club Board President Ron Lucas wanted to hear. But once again, the hunt for a new restaurateur to operate an eatery at Goat Hill is under way. Vue Restaurant operators Ian Weslek, Harry Brigham and Joe Piscatello have called it quits after a single season.

In three years there have been three different restaurant management teams operating at the site. In 20014, restaurateur Dan Murray was in business, but left at the end of the season. He had taken over from Tammy Moore, who had a three-year residency and was gone by Labor Day 2013.

Pulling up stakes is not something the Vue partners envisioned a year ago when they invested time and money in a major remodeling effort preparing for an Easter opening. Mr. Weslek agreed to talk about the decision to close, but hasn’t set a time for that discussion. The other partners have not returned requests for comment.

Mr. Lucas speculated that the investment the partners put into the restaurant wasn’t justified by the bottom line at the end of the season.

“We are extremely frustrated” to search again for new restaurant operators, Mr. Lucas said, speaking for the country club board. “But we’re going to keep plugging along.”

He said neither the club nor the restaurant operators made money this season. Part of the renovations had included bar equipment that the club subsequently had to purchase from the team that ran the restaurant.

While the board is talking with a couple of perspective operators, there’s no deal in the works, Mr. Lucas said.

Still, he speculated that a new restaurant would open at Goat Hill by Mother’s Day.

What has been an economic burden in the past for restaurant managers is the split of revenues between the bar and restaurant.

The club has taken all revenue from the bar, while the restaurant operators receive money only from food service.

“We’re not ready to give that up,” Mr. Lucas said, explaining that bar revenues are necessary to keep the cost of country club membership reasonable, Mr. Lucas said.

Dan Murray, who ran Fairview at Goat Hill the summer of 2014 was thought to be a perfect fit, since he’s operated restaurants at golf clubs.

But after one season, Mr. Murray had bailed. He was unwilling to comment about the reason for his departure beyond the difficulty of the money split.

“I think that’s silliness,” Mr. Murray said. If it’s all about the money, he suggested the club charge more rent to the operator and let the bar and restaurant operation be a single entity.

The restaurateur went a step further, saying it’s difficult running two separate businesses in one spot.

So separate were kitchen and bar during his tenure at Goat Hill that he felt “like an outcast” working alongside those operating the bar.

“You almost feel you’re not part of that,” he said, describing a lack of camaraderie in the restaurant.

It’s also a short season of about four months, Mr. Murray said, which makes it difficult to hire the caliber of help needed when only summer employment is offered.