We were on Long Island recently for the first time in months, for the Wake of a good friend, Jimmy McGuire. Driving around areas and through neighborhoods that were part of our lives for over 60 years brought back lots of thoughts and memories. As we were driving through Westbury, Susie said to me, “What was the name of that restaurant on Post Avenue that was across the street from the Westbury Train Station?” Well, we wracked our brains, and although we remembered the Wheatley Hills Tavern just up the street, we couldn’t for the life of us remember the name of the restaurant Susie had asked about. We continued to search our brains, and Susie did her letter association, which usually works for her, but nothing. It wasn’t till we were on the Garden State Parkway hours later that the name came to her…The Piping Rock Inn! Remembering that started us thinking about other restaurants that we’d enjoyed, but that are no longer in existence, and Susie said to me, “You should right a blog about them.” And so, here it is! The one thing all these restaurants have in common is that they are gone, and only live in our memories. Let’s start with the one that started this whole discussion…..

The Piping Rock Inn – It was located across from the train station on the corner of Westbury Avenue and Union Avenue. We started going there when we were dating and it was considered one of the more classy places I took Susie. It was an upscale establishment and dinner was at least $50, so that tells you how long ago it was! We’d be escorted to our table, elegantly seated, and order a bottle of Mateus Rose, or Lancers, or perhaps a Little Blue Nun, and pretend we were very elegant. We’d have a wonderful meal (no idea what the food was) along with elegant service. Who knew almost 50 years later that we can spend $50 going to McDonald’s with our 3 Grandkids! The restaurant was ravaged by a fire on July 5th, 1980, and never reopened, and the corner is now the home of a glass and steel multi-story condo building. Sad that it’s gone, but it will always live on in our memories!

Wheatley Hills Tavern – Located a couple of blocks further north on Post Avenue in Westbury, it was a favorite “after dinner” stop for us in our dating years. When you walked into the front door off of Post Avenue, you were confronted by a huge rectangular bar. Liquor bottles were displayed on glass shelves around the middle of the bar, and were softly lit by red light. It was a nice quiet place to sit and talk and have a drink. There were no boisterous groups at that hour, and we enjoyed it as a great venue to learn about each other. We’d both enjoy an Amaretto on the rocks and each others company. The restaurant was started in the 30s, and was there for many, many years. The building is still a restaurant, but no longer the Wheatley Hills Tavern.

Dynasty Restaurant – Located on Northern Blvd. in Roslyn, my association with this great Chinese Restaurant started when I was still going to C.W. Post College in nearby Brookville. It was an upscale, elegant Chinese Restaurant and my folks loved it too. It also plays a central part in Susie’s and my life, as it was the first place I took her for dinner shortly after we met. On that night, the “fortune” in my Fortune Cookie said, “You will marry your present lover and be happy!” Almost 45 years and 3 kids later, I think you could say that it was a very accurate forecast of my future. It was a family run restaurant, and you’d be greeted by “Mama” in the coat check room, and then by Sam, the oldest son and maitre d’. Sam would take and make our drink orders, and present you with a menu. The menu at Dynasty was not really a menu, but a folder that held many small menus. There was a menu for Beef and Pork, Seafoods, Appetizers and Soups, Cocktails and Wines, Poultry, Calorie Conscience, Vegetarian, and Noble Delicacies, Chop Suey, Egg Foo Young, Chow Mein, and Lomein, and Desserts. The food was incredible and there was a great staff of only gentlemen who elegantly served you. It was a very special place. Over the years we learned that Sam was an architect, but as the oldest son, when his father died, he had to leave his chosen profession, and run the family business. Shortly after Mama died, the restaurant closed and the space became an Italian restaurant. We miss the Dynasty, and will always remember the special place it had in our lives, and only hope that the closing meant that Sam got to live his chosen life!

Jericho Diner – Located on the corner of Jericho Turnpike and Roslyn Road, this was our local diner, and the place that all our kids ended up after any nighttime event. The pay phone outside the front door was also our only means of communications when we moved into our Mineola house in the middle of a strike at New York Telephone and couldn’t get our phone installed! Susie, by the way, was pregnant with Krissi and Kenny too! Unfortunately, a number of years ago it was replaced by a CVS Drug Store! As with all diners, the menu was huge, but Susie always claims they served the best cheeseburger she’d ever had…even though one day they served her a Cheeseburger Deluxe platter, piled high with fries and onion rings and a beautiful bun, but no burger! Everybody, including the waitress got a good laugh out of that!

Rutha’s Italian Restaurant – Located on Northern Blvd in the Auburndale section of Queens, this was a real old school Italian place. We learned about it the day we moved from Jackson Heights to Bayside in 1968 and the moving men told my Dad they’d stopped there for lunch and raved about it. Soon after we went for dinner and saw why they raved. The place was built in 3 storefronts, with one being the bar and the other two the actual restaurant. Your dinner came with a salad, complete with glass oil and red wine vinegar bottles on the table. Everything was great, from pizza to mussels, to full meals, but I loved the Veal Parmigiana that was prepared and served in a small metal casserole dish. It was big and oh so good, and every time I got it, it was cooked to perfection. Because it was also a bar, it was a great place to enjoy a pizza and a pitcher of beer. Sadly, after many years of enjoying meals there, one day it was suddenly gone.

Roslyn Cafe – Located on Roslyn Road, about halfway between Northern Blvd. and the Long Island Expressway, my love for this place dates way back to being a student at C.W. Post College and my time at WCWP, the college radio station. I think the first time I went to the Roslyn Cafe was with Bill Mozer, on one of his Friday nights off from ABC, and a group from the station. That was the first of many visits over the years with family and friends, and I remember loving the food and the kind of crazy atmosphere, as we loved sitting in the bar room. It was the food, and the people we were with, and the atmosphere that made it special in our eyes. Sadly, in the early 90s, it became an upscale restaurant with Valet Parking, and our beloved Roslyn Cafe was no more!

Manero’s Steak House – I don’t remember the first time I went to Manero’s, but I know it was a staple of our early married life when we lived in Port Washington. Located on Northern Blvd. and Middle Neck Road, this Manero’s was one of a couple of restaurants in a small local chain, and we just loved the place. It had a real old time steak house vibe, but unlike the current version of steak houses, you didn’t go broke paying the bill. Your meal came with a big salad in a wooden bowl, and I remember a real treat was to get their Oil and Vinegar dressing, and pay a bit more to add crumpled Gorgonzola cheese! We enjoyed many great steaks, along with their onion rings and garlic bread over the years, along with the typical grumpy waiters. Sadly, the entire chain went away and our location became a Bryant and Coopers, which Susie and I only went to once back in the day because the prices had more than doubled! We have, however, recently been there for our good friend Patrice’s Birthday Lunch, and it was very nice…but then we didn’t pay the bill!

TR’s in Williston Park – Located on Hillside Avenue, a block away from the East Williston Long Island Rail Road station in Williston Park, the TR in the name stood for Teddy Roosevelt, with a menu loaded with Teddy references, and a place we were regulars on many Fridays we didn’t travel to the Shore. This was a real neighborhood bar, where people stopped in on the way home from the train station for a drink or dinner, and where people like us came to enjoy a meal and the surroundings. We loved sitting at one of the high tops in the bar, having a couple of beers, playing Lotto Quick Hits, and running into neighborhood people we knew. We enjoyed their buffalo chicken wrap and their burgers were excellent and served on an English Muffin. Susie was partial to their sweet potato fries! Sadly, Patti the owner sold to some folks who decided (as often times happens) that they had a better idea, and changed the theme, the name, the concept and raised the prices and TRs was no more.

These are just a few of the many restaurants that have come and gone, but that live on in our memories. Of course, there were others like Apple Annies on Westbury Avenue in Westbury, that was a big old rambling place that we went to on holidays like Mother’s Day. They had the best brunch! There was Jimmy’s Backyard along the water on Main Street in Port Washington that we went to for George and Pat Michael’s wedding reception. We thought it was a fabulous place, but it abruptly closed, and we never got to use the $100 gift certificate we had. The Candlewood Inn along College Point Blvd in Flushing, where they made incredible Spaghetti Carbonara right at your table. After going a couple of times, loving it, and bringing others with us, the next time we drove by it was a topless club! Then there was Danny’s Haven in Baldwin, near where Susie lived in. An old school pizza and beer place, it was knocked down, and replaced with a McDonalds! There was Amigos, a little hole in the wall Mexican place on Main Street in Port Washington that we went to for many years. Nothing fancy, but good food and drinks at good prices. Sadly we drove by one day and it was gone. Susie’s brother Donnie worked at Villa Rosa in Freeport. Great Italian food, but sadly it too is gone!

The restaurant business is tough, and any establishment that survives and thrives (like our favorite Piccolo’s in Mineola) is an exception to the rule. Yes, restaurants come and go, and like the ones I’ve enumerated above, ultimately all is left is our memories of good food, good times, and great people. We salute those that live in both our memories and in our everyday life, and hope to have lots more drinks and meals with the people we love in the great restaurants that are still around. To the rest of them, thanks for the memories!