New eatery, ‘Vue’ to open at Goat Hill

The Shelter Island Country Club Board of Directors believes it has found a way to provide stability for its restaurant: hire three club members with complementary skills who are passionate getting it right.

Contractor Ian Weslek, club general manager Harry Brigham and electrician Joe Piscatello, owner of Peconic Electric, have formed a management team to operate the bar and restaurant to be called Vue and hired chef Tom Ritzler as chef.

“I think the club feels it’s their restaurant and we feel like it’s our club,” Mr. Weslek said about an expected Easter weekend opening of the restaurant.

Mr. Weslek was on the country club board last year, so he has a knowledge of the finances and overall operation. He and his partners submitted a proposal to the board to manage the restaurant and Board President Ron Lucas said it appeared to be a solid plan.

Patrons of the restaurant in the past who visit in April won’t sense a dramatically different ambiance. But they will observe some changes around the porch. There will be added lighting at each table and heat that will enable operation from the beginning of April through early November. Inside track lighting will be replaced, something Mr. Weslek describes as left over from the 1980s. Instead, there are fan lights overhead that he believes will add to the more open and breezy look.

Bathrooms are being redone to provide one that’s handicapped accessible.

But the major changes will be in the kitchen where Mr. Lucas said the flow of the food operation wasn’t efficient.

Chef Tom Ritzler will be king of the kitchen, Mr. Weslek said. A Shelter Island native, Mr. Ritzler has worked at Bon Adventure before opening the Shelter Island Bake Shop with his then wife Kyle and most recently cooking at Clark’s Fish House.

The menu is still being developed, but Mr. Lucas said it will be moderately priced. Mr. Weslek described it as basic American restaurant fare with plans to offer healthy organic alternatives.

As for the added work the three men will do in managing the restaurant, Mr. Brigham said, “It’s not a job. I love working for the club.”

Two different managers have operated the restaurant during the past two summers.

In 2013, Tammy Moore managed Fresh, but that ended just before Labor Day weekend. Dan Murray, who operates Poxabogue Golf Center’s Fairway Restaurant, seemed a natural match to replace Ms. Moore, but after one season in 2014, he announced he wouldn’t return.

Mr. Lucas said that he thought Mr. Murray’s attention being split between both restaurants resulted in problems at the Fairway at Goat Hill where breakfasts and lunches were fine, but dinners less than what the membership wanted.

Mr. Murray, who at the time of the split, said he had offered a number of suggestions to the Shelter Island Country Club Board for changes to make the restaurant viable, didn’t return calls for comment about the Vue.