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FREEPORT’S NAUTICAL MILE ISEVOLVING

By Taylor Nicioli

On the outside, the street is quiet. Few cars drive down the stretch of the mile, passing restaurants, bars and fish markets seemingly unoccupied during the winter months. The water is still, as boats stay docked at their posts. Inside the businesses, the scene is quite the opposite, as their stools and booths are filled with customers — locals — that come in regularly for fresh seafood, to share a laugh and a drink with one another.

During the off-season, the Nautical Mile in Freeport may not be at its usual liveliness, even described as a ghost town, yet the restaurants and markets stay afloat with the help of the locals and the community. For the past decades, the mile has been a staple for the Long Island seafood culture, as many restaurants provide the unique promise of “ocean to table.” However, in recent years, the mile had to work harder to keep business running.

Ivan Sayles, owner of two restaurants on the mile and the president of the Merchant’s Association, described it as nothing short of a community. “There’s a saying, a rising tide doesn’t raise people who don’t have a boat,” said Sayles. “The mile is that boat.”

One of the busiest spots on the mile is a fish market that’s been around since the ’60s, which sells to many neighboring restaurants. The 2 Cousins Fish Market is a crucial business on the mile, keeping a reputation for its cleanliness, and selling to regular customers that prefer the freshly-caught market fish over grocery store fish.

“We are actually very busy right now, selling a lot of fresh fish,” said Kevin Holton, general manager. “People are finding out more and more good things about seafood, how healthy it is, and how fish has high protein and low calories. In general, people are eating more seafood.”

The Nautilus Cafe, one of the restaurants that buy from 2 Cousins, and the highest-rated restaurant on the mile, take pride in their ability to have high standards when it comes to seafood. Their menu ranges from fried oysters and baked clams, to grilled salmon, pan-seared ahi tuna and blackened swordfish. Aohan Fandino, a waiter and bartender for the past three years, calls the restaurant a hidden gem of South Shore. “We have tourists that come to see the mile, and we have customers that have been coming here for 33 years.”

While the customers in the winter season are enough to keep businesses running, it is no surprise that many are looking forward to the traffic the warmer weather brings. “It is crazy down here in the summer,” said Brian Crofton, the owner of the Nautilus Cafe. “With the live music on the weekends, Saturday night is packed and you can’t even get down the street. Labor Day comes and it’s all over.”

In 2024, a 100-room Hilton Garden Inn will come to the end of the Nautical Mile, with a waterfront view. Many business owners are eager to see this hotel built, in hopes of bringing even more tourism to the mile. “We are looking forward to the hotel opening to get more traffic down here, so it is less seasonal,” said Crofton.

The mile is the place to go to get a flavor of the seafood culture of Long Island, and not just from the restaurants and the fish markets. The Nautical Mile is also the destination for dinner cruises, another advantage to being set right on the water, and is a unique way to hold celebrations and gatherings with friends and family. “There is no question that the Nautical Mile is the jewel of the island,” said Tom Bentsen, vice president of Sapphire Cruises. “If you really want to get a flavor of Long Island during the summer, you’ll come to the mile.” The Nautical Mile, similar to many businesses, is still in recovery from the pandemic. “Typically we would have a very strong Christmas season, and New Year is the biggest night of the year. We would expect to fill two boats, but this year, people were scared to gather due to the variant,” said Bentsen. This is not the first time that the mile had to pull through from a setback. In 2012, the Mile was left devastated by Hurricane Sandy. Geraldine Goldchain, a resident of Long

“WE HAVE TOURISTS THAT COME TO SEE THE MILE, AND WE HAVE CUSTOMERS THAT HAVE BEEN COMING HERE FOR 33 YEARS.”

- Aohan Fandino

Waiter at the Nautilus Cafe

Beach, reminisces on the mile before the hurricane. “It was very lively and known for its great seafood restaurants. After Sandy, a lot of the restaurants were devastated and none of them opened back up. It was a turning point.” Other Long Island residents claimed that the mile became more of a bar scene for the weekends.

However, many restaurants have looked at Sandy as a turning point and took measures into their own hands to renovate and bring back the liveliness of the Mile.

While some businesses shut down, Bracco’s Clam and Oyster Bar, one of the restaurants known for its live music, took advan tage of the hurricane to renovate its previous fish market into an inside restaurant. “Bracco’s is the cornerstone of the mile. It represents what the mile is,” said Thomas Micciulli, the general manager. “You have fresh seafood, you’re on the docks and with the local people. It still has the South Shore feel of the mile and is staying true to its roots.”

Micciulli worked at the market when he was a teenager and returned in recent years following the hurricane. “After the hurricane, the mile was eight feet underwater,” said Micciulli. “This bar brought an energy to the mile and more people were coming back, which is what everyone needed.” Recently, the high-energy bar and restaurant toned it down at late hours for the residents across the way.

The Nautical Mile has seen its ups and downs as it has recovered from devastation in recent years, yet the promise of fresh and local seafood stays the same.“Seafood is our culture,” said Sayles. “There is no kid that grew up on Long Island that hasn’t been fishing with their father. Seafood is a huge part of our culture, and we are very lucky to have that.”

View from the bridge of a Sapphire Cruise ship used for dinner crusies. Photos by Taylor Nicioli