Dans Hamptons

Jimmy Loo went to NYU from Ward Melville High School with the intent of pursuing a medical career. But he soon decided that his future lay in other areas. After buying his first property in NYC at the tender age of 20, he eventually came back to Long Island and became involved in the restaurant business. Today, still a young man of 35, Jimmy owns the Village Crossroads as well as the Birchwood in Riverhead, and he recently acquired Buckley’s in Southampton, which he is renaming Birchwood on the Park.

The Village Crossroads has recently undergone a major face-lift and gone are the plastics and Formica. Now, as you enter you are faced with a new, impressive and comfortable bar complete with flat screen TV’s plus a tempting bar menu. The large catering room is a very popular venue for events of all types, from weddings to birthday parties, showers and so on. Over the past four years the catering business has grown here by over four fold. The main dining room also has been redesigned to reflect the warm, intimate atmosphere with well-spaced tables that Jimmy looked to create.

When you meet the staff of the Village Crossroads you realize that they are a very loyal band of people who have been together for many years. Mario Zabaleta, the Head Chef and Restaurant Manager Danielle Sessa Loo are part of the long service group as is Lauren who looked after our needs very professionally.

We started the evening with their Combo Platter with its selection of tried and true favorites, such as baked clams, calamari, crab cake, mozzarella sticks and coconut shrimp. This is an appetizer that would easily serve two people and each item was well prepared and tasty although I would have preferred more crab and spice to the crab cake. The Crossroads house salad was also a large serving of a good selection of crisp greens.

The current main course menu is sectioned according to steaks, seafood, poultry, burgers pastas and wraps. However, Jimmy explained that he is in the throes of changing the menu to provide a more sophisticated range of entrées and also to include a selection of Paninis. Look for such dishes as Gorgonzola stuffed filet mignon wrapped in apple-smoked bacon with a cabernet reduction or horseradish coated salmon topped with herbs and breadcrumbs and served with a Dijon beurre blanc sauce.

The rack of lamb we sampled came perfectly cooked to our request and was delicious. Halibut ‘Fire & Ice’ sounded intriguing with its blending of Louisiana hot sauce and cool blue cheese and it turned out to be a very good choice as the fire and ice did complement a very good piece of fish.

Desserts on offer usually include several fresh fruit pies, a home made chocolate layer cake, tartuffo and rice pudding and the selection we indulged in were uniformly tasty.

Currently the Village Crossroads has a relatively small wine list but the new menu will feature many more Long Island wines. Wines are from $5 a glass and bottle prices start at $14. Appetizers are from $6 to 12 and main course from $15 to 23. The Village Crossroads is open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner and they also offer a very popular Sunday brunch (the Easter Bunny is expected to make an appearance on Easter Day)

With their ever-expanding catering business, the remodeled bar which is a great place to meet and unwind and the welcoming dining room this looks to be an increasingly busy Crossroads on Route 25.