The Red Zone’s previous edition, printed within Pulse’s June 2012 issue, commemorated my fourth anniversary as author of this seven-year column.

After one month used to cogitate about my experience thus far, I offer the following statement:

Thank you.

NASSAU

Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza
(516) 877-7750, Carle Place
anthonyscoalfiredpizza.com

“I moved to Florida in 1980, and the pizza was just so bad,” says Anthony Bruno, founder of Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza. “A lot of people move from New York to Florida, and the quality of pizza is one of the first noticeable differences. I wanted to change that.”

Bruno, a native of Franklin Square, opened Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza’s first location in Fort Lauderdale in 2002, introducing “the pizza [he] used to eat in Brooklyn” to Floridians, but he aspired to return to New York—Long Island specifically—with his 800-degree, coal-burning concept.

Eight years later, with his site in Carle Place, Bruno succeeded.

Established in 2010, Bruno’s first Long Island-based restaurant (a second location opened in Woodbury, in 2011) offers specialty pies, such as Arugula and Meatball & Ricotta, and multiple pours from Blue Point Brewing Company, including Hoptical Illusion, a malt-sweet, pine-mouthed IPA, and Toasted Lager, the Patchogue-based brewery’s copper-hued flagship.

Brews Brothers Grille
(516) 216-5008, Franklin Square
brewsbrothersgrille.com

:: Initiate Dream Sequence ::

Dick Clark: “For the sixteenth consecutive week, The Brews Brothers have secured the chart’s top position at American Craftstand! Move over, Captain & Tennille! Here are The Brews Brothers, performing their hit single, ‘Beer Will Keep Us Together!’”

:: End Dream Sequence ::

Though Michael Weinberg and Brian Clermont chose different industry paths, prior to Brews Brothers Grille one activity remained constant within their friendship—beer consumption.

“I took the beverage route and he took the restaurant route, but we never stopped drinking beer together,” says Weinberg. “After a while, we decided to open our own place. It just made sense.”

With Joe Clifford, Clermont and Weinberg opened Brews Brothers Grille in 2008, offering 20 drafts (e.g., Hacker-Pschorr Dunkel Weisse, a profile of chocolate, bread, banana and clove) and, for patrons, accessibility to options.

“I love to see my Bud Light people trying new beers,” Weinberg says. “So many regulars drink [Abita Brewing Company] Purple Haze and Harpoon [Brewery] now, because they tried something different.”

SUFFOLK

Love Lane Kitchen
(631) 298-8989, Mattituck
lovelanekitchen.com

With locally sourced products, such as grass-fed McCall Ranch-bred Charolais beef and Sylvetta, a variety of arugula harvested at Satur Farms, Love Lane Kitchen’s seasonal farm-inspired menus are constructed to provide Long Island with…Long Island.

“We create dishes based on the availability in our community,” says Mike Avella, who opened Love Lane Kitchen in 2006. “There are several local farms and breweries pushing the artisanal movement, and we focus on supporting them as best as possible. It’s an exciting time to live on the North Fork.”

Avella, who also operates Love Lane Market, a butcher and gourmet food market adjacent to Love Lane Kitchen, aspires to offer products created with old-skool farmland tradition, “when people really appreciated and used the land they lived on.

“Local products are the freshest you can get,” says Avella. “And that’s exactly what we offer.”

Food/Beer Matrimony: Steak Frites (horseradish-lime-marinated skirt steak, salsa verde and fried North Fork Egg Farm egg) & Greenport Harbor Brewing Company Hoppy Stout.

Sapsuckers Hops & Grub
(631) 683-4945, Huntington
sapsuckersli.com

While warm-colored Audubon lithographs and mahogany-framed mirrors convey comfort, Sapsuckers Hops & Grub’s 16-draft system, which pours Xbeeriment #44, a smoke-present stout brewed to celebrate Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, and Bear Republic Brewing Company Peter Brown Tribute Ale, a balance of brown sugar and citrus, is designed for adventure, providing patrons with constant craft variety.
“Our beer selection is more aggressive and left of center than most places,” says Peter Arnata, manager of Sapsuckers Hops & Grub. “It gives our customers more options and keeps them from being bored.”
Established in September 2010 by Nino Antuzzi, owner of Red and Osteria Da Nino, Sapsuckers Hops & Grub complements alcohol-based fun-ness with menu options named Alabama Sloppy Hammer, a ciabatta-breaded combination of grass-fed beef, fontina cheese and gravy, and Sardinian Style Dog, a house-made boar sausage with balsamic reduction and caramelized onions on brioche.
More fun-ness.

Follow Niko Krommydas and his blog, Super Neat Beer Adventure, Yes!!, at lipulse.com where you can find more craft beer on Long Island.

Photo of Brews Brothers Grille by Stephen Lang