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This is hard to believe. Exactly 10 years ago on April 9, there wasn’t anywhere to enjoy a traditionally American, sit-down breakfast in downtown Patchogue.
For omelettes or eggs Benedict, you’d have to head to Patchogue’s outskirts, by car or by bus, to a diner or luncheonette.
But in 2012, John Sarno and a team of ringers at his Village Idiot Pub at 8 E. Main St. set out to change all that.
Two of Sarno’s friends, both chefs, Billy Blair and David Richmond, sold him on the idea of taking over the Village Idiot kitchen each morning, seven days a week, to serve up breakfast classics in Patchogue — as well as their own creations.
Sarno said fine, so long as they didn’t expect him to help; he was too busy working late at VIP.
“We agreed for them to come in and start breakfast, but at the time I wasn’t getting out from behind the bar until 4, 5 a.m.,” Sarno recalled. “So I would sleep in the office downstairs, get up, have breakfast, go home, shower and get ready for the next day.”
Breakfast was humming. And with little comparable competition on Main Street at the time, other than bagels, bodegas and deli sandwiches, the VIP breakfast became quite popular.
Helping things along greatly was Kimberly Jamieson, “the original breakfast barmaid,” as Sarno calls her, mixing and shaking up morning drinks.
The breakfast scene in Patchogue has evolved since, especially with the game-changing Toast Coffeehouse opening nearby in early 2016, serving exclusively breakfast and lunch, every day.
That, and other restaurants opened and started introducing brunches and breakfasts.
So, Sarno decided to scale down the early hours to just Saturdays and Sundays. The menu has changed very little since 2012. Live music was added to the Sunday menu, however.
“The music has become a staple,” Sarno said.
To mark this trip down memory lane, Sarno and the VIP staff will be marking their 10-year breakfast anniversary on Saturday, April 9, started at 9 a.m., with live music and a free mimosa or bloody Mary for guests.
“We’ve morphed more into a breakfast tradition on Main Street,” Sarno said. “And we want to recognize that, and thank all the people who have supported us.”
Photo Credit: Village Idiot Pub/Facebook
