Setting Sail For The Gourmet Whaler
By The Foodies./ foodie@longislandernews.com

For Danyell Miller, it was love at first sight.

Cold Spring Harbor’s Gourmet Whaler, located at 111 Main St., is a friendly neighborhood luncheonette-style eatery that is steeped in history.

Owners Shawn Leonard and his fiancée Connie Olson have had the place for about three years now. Leonard has lived in Cold Spring Harbor for 52 years, and said he remembered the shop from his days riding his bicycle through town and visiting the shops. Then, it was the Gourmet Goddess; when he bought it, it was called Gourmet Delights.

“It was always a gourmet food store with different kitchen gadgets and things like that,” he said, saying it was somewhat like a Williams-Sonoma store.

His parents used to own the Whaler’s Inn in a building up the road that currently holds Harbor Mist. In recent years, Leonard decided he wanted to enter the restaurant business and made an offer on 105 Harbor Road. When that didn’t pan out, he discovered the Gourmet Goddess was on the market, and Leonard snapped it up, keeping half of the store a shop, per tradition, and the other half the café. The name “Gourmet Whaler” marries the location’s tradition as a gourmet shop and his parents’ roots as restaurant owners, he explained.

Since opening the restaurant portion of the business three years ago, the Gourmet Whaler has specialized in breakfast and lunchtime items, many of which are great for grabbing and going. BLT ($8.95), quiche ($8.95), cold sandwiches ($8.95), and Caesar salads ($8.95) are all on the menu, as are burgers ($9.95 for 7 oz.; $12.95 for the 12 oz. “Killer Whale”) and vegetarian choices like veggie burgers and chili.

One thing you might want to sit down and savor is the Fish Tacos ($11.95), something Leonard discovered during a trip to the Florida Keys. After some experimentation, he came up with his winning concoction – fresh, local Flounder in super-crispy panko breadcrumbs, drizzled with chipotle mayonnaise and topped with fresh-to-order green and red cabbage coleslaw. Served with peach-mango-pear salsa and lime wedges, it’s a perfect marriage of sweet and spicy flavors, diverse textures and unbeatable freshness that jumps off the plate. It’s their signature dish, and rightfully so.

Come back in the wintertime for chicken potpie, a seasonal favorite that Leonard says he can’t make fast enough. The Bird-In-Hand Chicken Salad ($8.95) is another favorite, with fresh apples, raisins, walnuts and dried cranberries. A seasonal must-have is their lobster roll ($19.95). Prepared simply, with just a touch of mayo to hold it together; red onion, celery, whole seed Dijon mustard and fresh lime juice, the item returned to the menu just this Saturday. Shawn and Connie said they sold out in an hour.

Be sure to save room for confectionary goodies – they have an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, a mini coffee shop and milkshakes; homemade cakes, cookies and lots more – all made from scratch, Connie and Shawn said, and it’s a perfect way to close out a meal as you make a day of it in downtown Cold Spring Harbor.