After more than eight months of renovations, the former Beachtree restaurant in East Islip is relaunching tomorrow, Dec. 20, as H20 Seafood & Sushi, and we’re providing you with a special 360-degree look inside.
“We have owned this location since 1983 and the Beachtree had a great run for 35 years, but times and tastes change and we thought a top-notch seafood and sushi spot in our native East Islip would be a perfect fit,” said co-owner Michael Bohlsen of the Bohlsen Restaurant Group.
This is the second Beachtree to be transformed into an H20. The first was in Smithtown in 2001.
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The new location, which has been a restaurant in one form or another for more than 100 years, has had some major changes done to it in recent months.
“We tried to make the most dramatic impact visually on the building inside and out without changing the structure of the building,” said co-owner Kurt Bohlsen, Michael’s brother. “So we rearranged the staircase, rearranged the dining room and the kitchen. We added a sushi bar. And we made a very big bar, because the bar is now a place where people like to go and eat dinner.” He said the bar can fit up to about 35 people.
There are six beers and six wines (three red and three white) on tap and 14 wines by the glass available. The restaurant seats just under 150 in total over two floors.
In the kitchen, “Everything is absolutely state-of-the-art and the most energy efficient top-of-the-line equipment money can buy,” Michael Bohlsen said. “Since we own the building, we are going to be there a while, so every dollar we invest in the best equipment now will pay off in the long run.”
The Bohlsen brothers, third-generation restaurateurs, grew up in East Islip, and Kurt still lives in the town.
“This location is special for me, because as a kid, I started working here when I was about 14 until I was in my mid-20s,” Kurt Bohlsen said.
Led by chef Luis Polcano, H20 East Islip’s fare will be very similar to the Smithtown location’s, but there will be a few new East Islip-specific sushi rolls “and we have added an entire lunch menu and an entire brunch menu, two things we do not have at H2O currently,” Michael Bohlsen said. “They both present a variety of new dishes that you will only be able to get in East Islip. My personal favorites are the Lobster Thermidor and the Everything Crusted Sushi-grade tuna over wasabi mashed potatoes.”
Kurt Bohlsen added: “It’s a great location, it’s a great concept and we have wonderful people work for us. We’re very confident that with the chef, the management and the staff here that we’ll have a hit on our hands in no time.”
For the first two soft opening weeks, each table will receive 50 percent of what they spent on dinner in a gift card valid in 2017. Michael Bohlsen said it’s “a way of saying ‘thank you’ for joining us for our opening.”