Longtime restaurateur set to open new business in former Pentimento location
After being vacant since September, the spot formerly occupied by Pentimento will be home to a new restaurant.
In a statement Jan. 31, Eagle Realty Holdings Inc. announced David Tunney, who owns and operates several restaurants on Long Island from Port Jefferson to Roslyn, will open a new restaurant at 93 Main St. in Stony Brook Village Center.
“After many interviews with at least a half-dozen local and more distant restaurateurs, Eagle Realty Holdings trustees are pleased with our choice of David,” said chairman Richard Rugen in the press release.
According to Eagle Realty, Tunney is expected to open the new restaurant in the spring. He has not announced the name of the business or what will be offered.
“This will be a new concept, different cuisine and a whole new look,” Tunney said in the press release.
The business owner has been in the restaurant industry for 35 years and is a familiar face in the Three Village area. He grew up in Setauket and graduated from Ward Melville High School. In 2019, he bought the former Raga Indian Restaurant on Old Town Road and turned it into Old Fields Barbecue.
“This is where I grew up, this is where my roots are, and it’s amazing to come back to it,” Tunney said in a 2019 TBR News Media interview.
In addition to the Setauket spot, he owns Old Fields restaurants in Port Jefferson and Greenlawn and Old Fields Barbecue in Huntington. He is also one of the founders of the Besito Restaurant Group along with his brother John and part-owner of Besito Mexican restaurants in Huntington and Roslyn.
In the 2019 interview, Tunney said he had good memories of growing up in the Three Village area. His mother, Marilyn, worked in the TBR News Media offices for 25 years, and one of his first jobs was at the Arby’s that once was located where the Setauket Main Street firehouse is today. Tunney said his first job was with the former Dining Car 1890 that was located on Route 25A and Nicolls Road, where he started as a dishwasher.
In the interview, Tunney said he leaves the cooking to the chefs and enjoys the hospitality side of the business, which he learned from his brother John.
“The part I really love about it is making people have a great experience and that they just love all the food, the service, the ambiance, how they are taken care of,” he said in the interview.
