For Riverhead restaurateur Dennis McDermott, owner of the Riverhead Project, revitalizing the town is a passion that fuels every aspect of his life.
Dennis McDermott outside The Riverhead Project on East Main Street, which is housed in a former bank building; the not-for-profit East End Arts, also on East Main, is dedicated to supporting cultural development in the area.
Dennis McDermott never stops moving. The restaurateur has run in 28 marathons from Rome to Honolulu and participated in 50 triathlons in the past seven years—and he shows no signs of slowing down.
He applies this same drive and momentum to his business endeavors. The Frisky Oyster, the restaurant he opened in 2002, helped change the face of Greenport and, in turn, the entire North Fork.
the Suffolk Theater, once a vacant eyesore, has been renovated and now features a stellar lineup.
When he launched The Riverhead Project (TRP) in 2011 on a nearly deserted East Main Street in Riverhead, people wondered who would go. Housed in a vacant former bank building from the 1960s, the restaurant preserved many original structural elements, including the vault and safe-deposit boxes. TRP gained instant critical acclaim: It received a glowing review from The New York Times and several accolades, most recently a three-star rating from Newsday.
Since the restaurant’s opening, the nearby Suffolk Theater has been renovated and its lineup is stellar. Hyatt Place East End & Resort Marina took over the hotel across the street, and the Long Island Aquarium & Exhibition Center has revamped its programming. The riverfront is looking tidy, and, little by little, storefronts are illuminating East Main Street.
Its school is a gathering place for aspiring artists, musicians, and actors.
“When I saw this building, with the windows all boarded up, something in my head said, You know what you’re going to do. I became fixated on this building: the Midcentury-Modern style, the scale, the space. It didn’t trouble me that there was a blight on East Main Street at the time—vacant storefronts, and there were crime and safety issues. I had this moment when I realized this is what Greenport was when I opened The Frisky Oyster. A lot of people say that The Frisky Oyster is responsible for the revitalization of Greenport—and then the North Fork. And what I’ve been doing here has translated to what is happening in Riverhead. As the town gets better, so will my restaurant.
I’ve grown really fond of the community. The more involved I get, the more I like it. We’ve been in Riverhead three years now, and we’ve firmly established ourselves here. I was named Riverhead Chamber of Commerce Person of the Year in my second year, and the Riverhead News-Review named me Business Person of the Year as well. It made me feel welcome.
The Riverhead Rocks Olympic Distance Triathlon [held this year on August 3] is something I developed with East End Arts and the Riverhead Town Board. There’s a bike route, a six-mile run, and a swim in the Peconic River. It’s the only race out here with an urban feel and a downtown finish line. Initially I was concerned about people’s perception of downtown Riverhead because the Suffolk Theater was vacant at the time, as were most of the surrounding stores, so we made partitions in the storefronts for pop-ups. The North Fork Animal Welfare League brought an adoption center; we had a wine tasting spot and even a cupcake shop. The response was great. There were 375 people in the race that first year.
Dennis McDermott enjoys a lemon Italian ice from Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices & Ice Cream.
It’s about increasing people’s comfort level with Riverhead. For example, now I know where to go when I need a quick snack: across the street to The Blue Duck Bakery Café for a chocolate chip cookie or to Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices & Ice Cream for a lemon Italian ice. When I need to go for a stroll, I walk down along the Peconic River, just behind East Main Street, and then loop up and walk through town.
The Blue Duck Bakery Café, across the street from McDermott’s The Riverhead Project, offers tempting treats like these chocolate croissants.
I don’t think people realize how much culinary diversity there is here: Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, pubs, barbecue. That’s why we’re starting the Riverhead Restaurant Group. We’ll create Riverhead Restaurant Week, which will get visitors to explore the town. I’m also working on getting the Riverhead Music Festival going this August, and we want to do a Halloween parade in October. By New Year’s, we want Riverhead to be the destination for a no-drive night, with shuttles running up and down the street to the four 100-room hotels in town.
I am pushing Riverhead to grow into its own. I want to be the person making this happen because I benefit from it. I am not a philanthropist—I like the challenge. I was drawn to this spot for the architecture of The Riverhead Project’s building and the scale of the town, but I didn’t realize Riverhead was such a hub, and it’s just getting better. In the next five years this town is going to pop.”