For years the shorthand on Roslyn dining ran the same way: steak at Bryant & Cooper, Greek at Kyma, Italian at Trattoria DiMeo, margaritas at Besito. That map still holds. What has changed in 2026 is quieter and more consequential. A short stretch of Old Northern Boulevard has picked up two new operators in a single spring, and the village's dining identity has begun to tilt from steakhouse-and-red-sauce tradition toward a farm-to-table and globally-sourced axis. If you live here, the practical effect is that your Wednesday night rotation now has real new entries for the first time in a while.
The block that quietly reset the village
The most concentrated activity sits on a two-address stretch of Old Northern Boulevard between the Roslyn Clock Tower and Hendrick's Tavern.
| Address | What's there in 2026 | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1512 & 1514 Old Northern Blvd | Griffin Kitchen & Bar | Opened mid-April 2026, former Limani Mezze space |
| 1516 Old Northern Blvd | Besito Mexican Restaurant | Anchor since 2009, OpenTable Diners' Choice |
The Griffin space is the one to know. The Village of Roslyn Board of Trustees approved the application at its February 17, 2026 meeting, with chef and owner Pasquale Abbatiello presenting a contemporary American concept aimed at seven-day service from noon to 10 p.m. and a primarily reservation-based room. That last detail matters. Old Northern Boulevard parking has been a running village conversation for years, and Abbatiello told the board that employees would use the lower garage and deliveries would route to the rear of the building through the basement, keeping the front curb clear.
What Griffin actually brought
The menu reads broader than most new Long Island openings. Buttermilk biscuits, mussels a la plancha, Wagyu meatballs, schnitzel with chicory-arugula salad, braised short ribs with potato puree, grass-fed burgers, fried chicken sandwiches, dry-aged steaks. It is a global-leaning American room rather than a single-cuisine restaurant, which is a deliberate answer to the village's existing lineup. Roslyn already has a definitive steakhouse, a definitive Greek room, and a well-established Mexican destination. What it lacked was a modern American kitchen with a farm-to-table pitch.
Abbatiello framed the sourcing this way to the trustees:
"There are a lot of farms. You can buy milk in Riverhead. You can get local ingredients from the North Fork."
Whether that translates onto the plate every night is a question for regulars to answer over the next year. What is already visible is the intent: seasonal, locally sourced, elevated brunch, and a room designed to move at reservation pace rather than walk-in volume. Early reviews on the steak sandwich have been positive, with diners citing the kitchen's attention to detail and Abbatiello's menu construction.
KuKu and the Korean question in Roslyn Heights
Cross Northern Boulevard into Roslyn Heights and there is a second, quieter arrival to track. KuKu Korean Cuisine, a Queens-based restaurant, opened its first Long Island location at 96 Mineola Avenue in May 2026. It is co-owned by James Chen and chef Chris Pak, who has built the culinary identity around traditional Korean cooking methods with light modernizations. The menu covers bibimbap, bulgogi, spicy pork with kimchi, wings, tenders and poppers, and a house dish called Thai chili chi-bap that pairs fried chicken in Thai chili sauce with rice, spicy mayonnaise and pickled vegetables.
The context here is worth pausing on. Chen has been public about his concern that traditional Korean restaurants are thinning out on the East Coast as older operators retire, and that a broad-menu format, rather than a narrow barbecue or fried chicken concept, is his answer to that trend. For Roslyn Heights specifically, this is the first full-spectrum Korean kitchen inside the local mile. The nearest comparable options previously required a drive to Great Neck or into Queens.
The anchors that didn't move
New arrivals only matter against a stable backdrop, and Roslyn's backdrop remains unusually deep for a village of its size.
- Bryant & Cooper Steakhouse. Opened in 1986 by the Poll brothers with the stated ambition of bringing a top-tier New York City steakhouse to Long Island. Still the village's default for a hand-cut prime dinner.
- Besito Mexican Restaurant. Rated a Top 100 restaurant in America by OpenTable, called "Excellent" by the New York Times, and the OpenTable Diners' Choice #1 Mexican room on Long Island every year since 2009. Sunday brunch with two-for-one margaritas continues to draw a village crowd.
- Kyma. Whitewashed, Santorini-styled Greek room with a resident DJ in the lounge and an open-air patio that turns over quickly on summer weekends.
- Trattoria DiMeo. Salvatore DiMeo has been serving Neapolitan food in the Roslyn area since 1969, which is now 57 years of family-run consistency.
- Felice. Named by Newsday one of the top Italian restaurants of 2026, the kind of local nod that tends to correlate with a two-week reservation window.
- Pietro's. The Manhattan Italian institution held its grand opening in Roslyn, giving the village a 220-seat room with an established New York City pedigree, and stirring the predictable debate among residents about how a city concept translates once it is out here.
- Atlas New World Bistro. Inside The Roslyn Hotel, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, with a globally rotating menu and live music programming through My Father's Place under the same roof.
Read that list against Griffin and KuKu and the shape of 2026 gets clearer. The village added a modern American room and a broad-menu Korean kitchen without losing a single anchor. That is a rarer arithmetic than it sounds.
Beyond the plate
The other change residents can feel this summer is that the dining scene now sits inside a fuller village calendar. The Penn Toyota "Roslyn Rocks" summer concert series returned to Gerry Park under the Roslyn Chamber of Commerce and the Town of North Hempstead, drawing roughly 400 people for the Echoes of the Eagles set. On the Town of North Hempstead schedule, Milagro, a Santana tribute, was slated for Gerry Pond Park at 10 Papermill Road at 6 p.m. The Roslyn Landmark Society has been promoting Dancing on the Docks at 7 p.m. as part of the same summer arc.
The practical pairing writes itself. Sunday brunch at Besito with the two-for-one margarita window from noon to three, then a walk down to the harbor. A Tuesday reservation at Griffin before the tribute band starts at Gerry Pond Park a few minutes away. A weeknight bowl of bibimbap at KuKu on Mineola Avenue when you do not feel like sitting for a full tasting. The village has quietly built a rotation that does not require leaving Roslyn on a summer evening.
What to try first if you have not been in a while
If it has been six months since your last full tour of the village, three specific visits will bring you current:
- Griffin Kitchen & Bar for a Wednesday dinner. Reservation-based room, farm-to-table American, the newest kitchen in the village.
- KuKu on Mineola Avenue for a weeknight lunch. Full-spectrum Korean menu, easy in and out, a category the immediate area did not previously have.
- Felice for a Friday night. Newsday's 2026 Italian nod is a useful excuse to see whether the room holds up to the praise on a busy service.
The rest of the village, from Bryant & Cooper to Trattoria DiMeo to Atlas at The Roslyn Hotel, is where it was. That is a feature, not a lack of news. The story of Roslyn dining in 2026 is that the base held while the top of the menu got broader.
Whether you are staying put and simply eating your way through the year's new arrivals or thinking further ahead about a move within the village, the Sun Sha Team knows this market block by block. When you are ready to talk about what your home is worth in today's Roslyn, get a free home valuation and we will give you a factual, prepared read on your options.
