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Port Jeff Harbor

P.J. Harbour Club is taking over the former spot of Due Baci. Photo by Julianne Mosher

A new Italian steakhouse with innovative cuisine is coming to Port Jefferson village, and it all started because of two friends playing golf.

Joe Guerra, of Port Jefferson, and Michael Russell met about a year ago at the Port Jefferson Country Club. While the two were playing, they got to talking — they decided to become business partners and open up a restaurant. 

And that’s how the P.J. Harbour Club was born. 

Joe Guerra (left) and Michael Russell (right) are preparing to open up a new Italian steakhouse in the village. Photo by Julianne Mosher

Guerra has over 40 years of restaurant, hotel, catering and club experience locally and globally. He studied at the Culinary Institute of America and received classical training — so when he retired from the industry, not too long ago, he just wanted to play golf. 

“And then he convinced me to come back,” he laughed, gesturing at Russell.

Russell, an East Setauket native, worked for several major Wall Street firms and said has been a partner and investor for restaurants throughout his career. When Guerra mentioned opening a new space, the active community member — who retired in April — said, “Why not?”

“It got exciting because of Joe and his experience,” Russell said. “We get along.”

It took about nine months to negotiate the building that once was the home to The Graceful Rose and, as of more recently, Due Baci. The Italian restaurant closed its doors shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, in January of last year. Last week, the two were able to start renovating the space and make it their own. 

“We hit the ground running,” Guerra said. “Since last week, we’ve already done a lot of changes in the place, kitchen-wise, and are going through the permit process.”

The goal is to be a friendly place where everyone in the neighborhood can get together while enjoying good food and a glass of wine. 

“People are excited because they know us,” Guerra added. “It’s going to be gathering place where our old friends, our current friends and the new friends that we’re going to be making in the area can meet.”

And the two want to complement the other restaurants throughout the village. They don’t want to compete. 

“We know a lot of the people that own the restaurants in the village and they’re all doing a great job,” Russell said. “We’re just a little bit different. Our intention is to be different.”

The restaurant that sits on the second level of 154 W Broadway will bring classic and unique entrees to customers, in a trendy, but comfortable, setting. 

Along with the minor cosmetic renovations, Russell said they will be adding dining banquettes to sit in, with photos of Port Jefferson’s history along the walls. 

“It’s just something that we wanted to do — it’s not something that we needed to do,” Russell said. “I think that that’s the difference — we want to do this so that the public will really enjoy it.”

The P.J. Harbour Club is anticipating an early spring opening.

This past weekend, Port Jeff residents got a glimpse of a historical schooner in the harbor. Photo by David Luces

With her twin, slanted masts, the 120-foot schooner Amistad, a replica of a famed 19th century ship, rose from Port Jefferson Harbor like a ghost of history the weekend of July 19.

It’s a ghost that has haunted Port Jeff in the past, as local historians and sailing enthusiasts try to bring a tall ship into harbor.

“This harbor was filled with schooners back in the 1800s. We would love to bring those masts back [to Port Jefferson],” said Chris Ryon, Port Jefferson village historian. “We found out they [Amistad] were in Greenport and they were like ‘Can we stop by?’ and we said sure.”

Ryon and other schooner enthusiasts have been trying to bring a tall ship back to Port Jeff Harbor for quite some time. Together they set up the Port Jeff Tall Ship Committee, a subset of the Port Jefferson Harbor Education & Arts Conservancy as well as creating the Port Jeff Maritime Facebook page in an effort to advertise for interested tall ships.

The Amistad at the village dock July 19. Photo by David Luces

One of those interested tall ships was the Amistad, which briefly made an appearance this past weekend at the village dock. The ship is a re-creation of the famed African slave ship where Mende captives from Sierra Leone rebelled against their captors and took control of the ship in 1839. Unable to navigate back to Africa, the ship was towed into port in New London Harbor, Connecticut. The captives were faced with execution or slavery, but their case for freedom was supported by many throughout the state. The U.S. Circuit and District courts ruled in the Mende’s favor, and the Mende would eventually gain their freedom with a final decision by the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the lower court’s decision in 1841. Georgette Grier-Key, Long Island history initiative director at Nassau Community College, had the chance to tour the Amistad, where she also showed the ship’s crew historical memorabilia from that time. She said tall ships are something the greater Port Jeff community could really benefit from.

“It would be great to have that history there, they [schooners] are so beautiful to see in the harbor,” she said. “The Amistad has a great legacy and it is critically important to tell the story. I really hope they can get a ship there.”

The crew of the Amistad was impressed with what Port Jeff had to offer.

“This is a beautiful waterfront. There’s no question in my mind that you guys need an attraction vessel. This town needs it,” said Chris Stirling, captain of the Amistad.

During the summer, the Amistad goes from port to port providing dockside programs where they show patrons the ship and tell them the history behind the vessel. In the evening, the New Haven-based ship does a sunset sail where they take people out on the water to watch the sunset.

Ryon said they’re continuing the quest to get tall ships in the harbor and the Amistad could potentially be one of those ships.

“The owner is up in Connecticut — we have been talking. She seems very interested,” the village historian said.

Stirling said when traditional boats come into port it is an attraction.

“Everybody gets jazzed; they love it,” he said.

The captain of the Amistad said he thinks a boat like theirs can come to Port Jeff and do stuff periodically but mentioned the need for the village to have a flagship vessel.

This past weekend, Port Jeff residents got a glimpse of a historical schooner in the harbor. Photo by David Luces

Back in March, the village had announced negotiations with the Halie & Matthew, a 118-foot-long schooner originally set to dock in Port Jefferson Harbor. But village officials said negotiations fell through when the schooner company, Maine Windjammers Inc., wanted to work the vessel partly as a restaurant, operating outside the normal hours of the pier.

“When the Halie and Matthew deal fell through, we said ‘Let’s not sit here with an egg on our face and let’s try to get someone in here,’” Ryon said.

Ryon said they have been reaching out to the schooner community for a while now and have made it known they are interested in getting a ship in the harbor and are offering a free dock.

“We’re working on it; there are no promises on anything,” he said. “It’s fine on our side. It’s a big boat, that’s the issue — it’s really up to them.”

The village historian mentioned that ideally a ship around 70 feet would be a good size for the dock. Ryon said it may be a little tight for the Amistad to maneuver as it is a 120-foot ship and the water is a little shallower.

There are plans to use committee member Jason Rose’s own still-to-be-reconstructed schooner, Elizabeth, as a placeholder at
the dock.

Rose said he hopes to be able to take the Elizabeth out in the water in the next couple of weeks.

“It would be great to have another schooner join the Elizabeth here,” he said.