Plans for new restaurant in former Doc’s Tavern building aren’t dead yet
The Brentwood couple looking to open a Mexican restaurant in the former Doc’s Tavern site on Pulaski Street has renewed its permits for the project — two days before the permits were set to expire.
The building permit and commercial alteration permit, issued by the Riverhead Town building department last January, were scheduled to expire Thursday, Jan. 26. They were renewed Tuesday.
Delmis and Fausto Reyes are listed as the applicants on the plans to reopen the site, which has been closed for several years and which for many years operated as Doc’s Tavern, a once-popular restaurant and watering hole in the heart of Polish Town. Delmis Reyes told the News-Review last week that the pair had planned to open a Mexican restaurant there, but as of last week the two were unsure if they would follow through.
A sign with the new name of the proposed restaurant, La Isla Bar and Grill, has already been posted on the front of the building.
The owners could not immediately be reached for comment this week.
Doc’s has been closed for about six years. It had been renovated following a kitchen fire prior to that, and reopened, but closed shortly afterward.
While Doc’s has been gone for several years, it still has a Facebook page, even though Facebook didn’t exist when Doc’s was open.
The page was created by Tracy Ferguson of Aquebogue, and is called “Friends of the Old Doc’s Taverns.”
“An old Polish Town hangout all the locals know about!” the Facebook page says. “You either hung out in there as a kid with your grandparents, aunt or uncle, (or) you put some of your earnings on the counter and in that ole jukebox!”
The Facebook page is scheduled to be archived, according to Facebook.
The building itself is owned by a corporation called Mile High Inc., which is based in Cutchogue.
