Business

The Work We Do: Marissa Drago, Main Road Biscuit Co.

My name is Marissa Drago. I’m the owner of Main Road Biscuit Co. in Jamesport, N.Y. on the North Fork of Long Island.

A typical day for me, I come to the restaurant probably around 8:30. The first stop is always in the back to my baker. I stop into the savory section of my kitchen. I meet with my executive chef and my sous-chef. I take a look at how the restaurant looks, make sure the baked goods are all looking gorgeous and beautiful. I always make sure there’s backups of coffee, iced tea, hot chocolate and everything we need that our guests rely on us for.

I grew up on Long Island, I’m a Long Island girl. I ended up after college moving into the city. I actually worked in software for about six years. About a year after 9/11, I really made a commitment to just changing my career path.

I lived in East Hampton for a little while and worked at Barefoot Contessa and that was really my first foray into food. Pretty much as soon as I stepped foot inside the door, I knew that that’s what I wanted. From there, I did go to culinary school. I continued my food career in the city, ultimately in catering. I did corporate catering for about 10 plus years.

This building here in Jamesport became available and we decided we could open a restaurant. It was relatively turnkey, so we really need to just have a menu and a concept in place, then assemble a team.

My favorite part about owning Main Road Biscuit Co. is definitely the people that walk through the door. I love talking to them. I love getting to know our guests, but the thing that I really love the most is when the plate hits the table, fork is lifted, put into the food and put into their mouth. I love to watch the reaction of the first bite of food. It never gets old.

I always see a smile on people’s faces, or just sort of a nod. I love it, and that is really the most satisfying thing about this.

“The Work We Do” is a News-Review multimedia project profiling workers around Riverhead Town. It is made possible by Peconic Landing in Greenport. See more photos on Instagram @riverheadnewsreview