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The newly renovated Nicky’s Clam Bar opens for 2017 in Bay Shore

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Nicky's Clam Bar in Bay ShoreNicky’s Clam Bar has just opened for its 27th season in Bay Shore at the main Fire Island Ferries terminal.

And it’s got a whole new look.

2017 also marks the first big renovation at the Clam Bar since 1989, when Nick Parini of Bay Shore and his family took over the building, which for a long time operated as Porky’s.

The Parinis opened for their first season in 1990. Nick Parini’s son, Joey, is now a co-owner and operator of the Clam Bar. 

He was just 7 years old when his dad first opened the place.

“I was washing dishes, doing salads, [construction], you name it,” Joey Parini recalled. Today he still does a bit of everything, including cooking, bussing tables, and mixing drinks.

But now he and the staff will be doing so in a more modern backdrop.

The property owners, the Mooney family, undertook a complete interior and exterior renovation of the restaurant starting in mid-December. They put down new floors, added new all new lighting, sheet-rocked and painted the walls, among other touches. They also added a cedar plank outside finish that matches the cedar on the neighboring ferry terminal, which got a facelift last year.

before & after photos below

“They were just going to do the ceiling over, but after pulling it down they decided to just do the whole place over,’” Joey Parini said.

Nicky’s opened again Monday — about three weeks later than usual. 

Nicky’s Clam Bar will then close again, as it does each year, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Parini assured the Clam Bar still offers the same extensive menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner  — and it’s not changing. That menu includes seafood offerings — including Nicky’s whole fried clam bellies, as opposed to clam strips — and non-seafood dishes with plenty of Italian food.

And the vibe, he and his sister, Christina Thall, said, will remain the same — even if it doesn’t look like 1989 anymore.

“Everybody knows everybody over here,” said Thall of Islip Terrace, who waitresses and more at Nicky’s Clam Bar. “The city people know the city people; the locals know the locals. People will stop to eat, but then see one another and push their tables together and catch up.”


Top: Joey Parini and Christina Thall at the ‘new’ Nicky’s Clam Bar in Bay Shore on Monday. (Credit: Michael White/greaterbayshore.com.)

The older photos that appear below come courtesy of Nicky’s Clam Bar.

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BEFORE
Nicky's Clam Bar Exterior
AFTER
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BEFORE
Nicky's Clam bar Dining Room
AFTER
IMG_1859
The bar prior to the renovations. Joey Parini and Christina Thall (above) are seated at the new bar.

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