Fadeley’s Deli Pub has always been one of those places everyone seems to have a story about.
For generations, locals packed into the West Main Street spot for cold beer, loud laughs, and the oversized sandwiches that made it famous through the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.
Then the deli part faded away.
Until now.
Four best friends — Scottie Campbell, Chris “CB” Breheny, Ed Shine, and Patrick Wright — took over the longtime pub in the spring of 2024. All of them spent their teenage years in the booths.
And all of them had the same thought whenever they walked in over the last few years:
If this place ever goes up for sale, we’re buying it.
Owner Steve Haller, who took over in the 1990s, retired last year. The four friends jumped.
“We purchased this place over a year ago and it’s four guys that grew up in the town and we always saw an opportunity to bring it back to what it was,” said Breheny, 54. “Everyone always associated Fadeley’s with ‘Deli Pub’ — it says it right on the building — so we wanted to bring that tradition back.”
They kept the bones of the place intact — the German beer tradition, the memorabilia, the original signs still tucked downstairs like a museum — but made enough improvements to support a real deli operation again.
New kitchen, new septic, new equipment. TVs and a refreshed backyard, too.
But the big investment of time, care and energy was in the menu.
The return of the sandwiches
Fadeley’s hasn’t served sandwiches since the late 1990s.
That changed on Nov. 13, when the new owners rolled out an entire deli board featuring 10 specialty sandwiches and five wraps, some brand-new and some straight from the old handwritten menus that locals still reminisce about.
“We talked to a lot of the customers and they give us great ideas on what the place used to be,” Breheny said. “Some of the old-school stuff they used to do — we wanted to bring that back, have fun with it, and keep that tradition going.”
They even recreated old favorites like the Gerry Cooney, named for the famed heavyweight boxer who used to frequent Fadeley’s.
(Yes, Cooney will be back for autographs on Friday, Dec. 12, from 5 to 8 p.m.)
Other classics were reimagined “just a little bit,” Breheny said.
Sandwiches have evolved since 1973, after all.
Scottie Campbell said the new pastrami is already a runaway hit — a proper brisket pastrami on marble rye with Swiss, coleslaw and Russian dressing.
“Back in the day they used to be really famous for their pastrami sandwich,” Campbell said, adding that most delis no longer use brisket. “It holds the juices more.”
He also revived sandwiches he grew up with, like the Turkey Gobbler, with Thousand Island, melted Swiss and bacon on a toasted hero.
“The sandwiches are unbelievable,” said cook Tom Lowry, 62, of Bayport, who grew up in Sayville. “We try to make it consistent on every sandwich that we do, this way we keep the customers happy.”
They’ve launched weekly specials and plan to showcase “sandwiches of the week” pulled from the old menu archives.
The biggest change comes in the prices, Lowry joked. “They were $1.79 back then.”
The Fadeley’s kitchen is open seven days a week, from noon to 7 p.m., with cold sandwiches available from the refrigerator case even when the deli counter is closed.
A Patchogue influence runs deep
Breheny said the group leaned on another Patchogue native to get the deli operation right: George Lenhard, former owner of Associated Supermarket — and a dear friend.
Lenhard, a longtime butcher and deli veteran, helped the team retool the kitchen and rebuild the old menu.
“He was instrumental to us in helping us get this up and running,” Breheny said.
Fadeley’s German traditions remain too. “Ten out of 12 of our tap lines are from Germany,” Breheny said. So are the Karl Ehmer hot dogs, Karl Ehmer brats, and the big Bavarian pretzels.
Downstairs, the walls still tell the story.
“It’s like a museum,” Breheny said. “There’s stuff there from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.”
A longtime patron’s verdict
To longtime customer Michael Heinlein, 65, of Sayville, the return of the deli is more than nostalgia — it’s a homecoming.
He grew up hanging out at Fadeley’s, eating sandwiches with friends. He’ll easily rattle off all the old sandwich names, as he’s tried them all: The Boston Tea Party, The Knock Out, the Turkey Gobbler.
“It was just a cool place and very diverse in the people that hung out,” he said. “You’d get everybody from executives to musicians. We used to come down here on the weekends with our fathers and have sandwiches and a beer ya, know, as kids.”
Heinlein has already started working his way through the revived menu — the Hindenburg, the Forgotten Boro and, especially, the pastrami Reuben, aka. The Fadeley’s Famous.
“I will have to tell you, that was orgas— … ” he started, laughing. “Can I say that? Orgasmic?”
He said the new owners nailed the vibe.
“Oh, no, yeah, definitely,” Heinlein said. “I think it’s enhanced greatly with the use of live music [every weekend], too. They brought it all back.”
Fadeley’s future
The new owners aren’t just restoring the past — they’re programming the future.
Upcoming events include:
- Gerry Cooney meet-and-greet and autographs — Friday, Dec. 12, from 5 to 8 p.m.
- Randy Jackson of Zebra performing live (ticketed event) — Friday, Dec. 20; Jackson performance from 8 to 11 p.m. Click here for tickets.
Alongside the music and events, they’ve revived the old 100 Liter Club — complete with a members-only pullover and a new plaque for those who down 100 liters at Fadeley’s (no time frame).
“Every last corner of the place has history,” Campbell said. “Some of the plaques date back to 1975. You see names you grew up with. We love it.”
Campbell said that, despite owning several bars and restaurants, Fadeley’s is the one that feels most like home, the old Patchogue where he grew up.
“I own a lot of places,” he said, “but this is my favorite place to hang out.”
Follow their journey on Instagram.
Top: The Gerry Cooney (named for the famed Long Island heavyweight) is back on the sandwich board at Fadeley’s.
Memory lane:
