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The Bohlsen Restaurant Group is bringing yet another upscale eatery to the Islips with the expected fallĀ opening of H20 Seafood & Sushi in East Islip.
This is the second H20, which has been enjoying success and prestige in its Smithtown location for over a decade. The first H20 Seafood & Sushi opened up on Main Street in Smithtown where a Beachtree CafƩ once stood.
The East Islip location that will house the new H20 was also a Beachtree CafƩ.
The restaurant group’s owners, brothers Michael and Kurt Bohlsen,Ā are actually third generation restaurateurs. As reported in the West Islip Patch in 2010, their grandparents were owners of the Pine Lake Tavern on Montauk Highway, which opened in the 1940s and was a neighborhood staple for over 20 years.
Today, the Bohlsen Restaurant Group operates several Long Island restaurants, including three in Islip: Tellers Chophouse, Verace, and Pizza Parm.Ā
Michael Bohlsen indicated that working in the community where he grew up is a great source of pleasure for him. He and Kurt Bohlsen lived ādown the blockā from the location of the new H20, he said.
Kurt Bohlsen and his family still live nearby.
āWe take even that much more pride in what we are doing there,ā Michael said.
Executive Chef Luis Polanco, who has worked as a sous chef in other Bohlsen restaurants, will lead his staff in designing a menu with fresh, quality ingredients and top-notch sushi.Ā
āWe are going to have a very similar menu to the H2O in Smithtown, eventually adding a few nuances that will be unique to East Islip,ā Michael said.
For example, the new location will serve lunch and brunch. Ā H20 in East Islip will also feature signature Wine Dinners that include three-course price fixed specialty menus for $50, with wines carefully selected to accompany the dishes.
Check out this week’s Wine Dinner menu in Smithtown.
Keep an eye out for activity in H20 Seafood & Sushi on or around Thanksgiving, and check back at greaterbayshore.com as the time comes near for updates.
There’s an incentive to being among the first to dine at the new H20, as guests who attend the soft opening will receive a gift card amounting to 50 percent of their checkĀ that night for use in 2017.
āIts a great way to introduce ourselves to the neighborhood and give us a little wiggle room to work out the kinks at the same time,ā Michael said.
