Wahlburgers, the Massachusetts-based hamburger restaurant chain led by a celebrity chef whose brothers are even bigger celebrities, opens its first Long Island location Friday in Port Jefferson Station following several false starts.
The eatery is slated to open at 11:30 a.m. Dec. 9 on Nesconset Highway near the corner of Terryville Road. The chain touts recipes based on the family’s home-style cooking with locally sourced ingredients made fresh daily on site—although some of the menu requires translation from Bostonese.
“We’ve created this family business with a mission to welcome families and friends from around the world to a place where they can break bread, enjoy some great food and lots of laughs,” said actor Mark Wahlberg, a partner in the company, earlier this year when the company announced plans to double its number of franchises.
The LI location will be the 13th Wahlburgers since the chain debuted five years ago in Hingham, Mass., a suburb of Boston. Currently it has locations in seven states and two in Toronto, although the only other one in New York is in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. The next restaurant expected to open soon will be in Florida.
Wahlburgers is also the subject of a self-titled A&E reality series starring founding chef Paul Wahlberg as well as his brothers Mark and Donnie Wahlberg.
The burger menu includes homemade Mom’s Sloppy Joes, double and triple burgers with “government” cheese, and the “O.F.D.”—the ½ lb. bacon and Swiss cheese burger with mushrooms and tomato jam, whose acronym is short for “Originally From Dorchestah.”
Among the lighter fare—including the ability to have any of the burgers made into a salad—they also offer seared chicken sandwiches, a Portobello sandwich and a kid’s menu that includes a “smahlburger.”
Wahlburgers also features a full bar with wine, spirits and beer—both local and bigger names, including their own house beer, the Wahlbrewski. In addition, the bar menu features adult frappes and floats, such as the Fluffanuttahh: vanilla ice cream, marshmallow vodka, crème de banana and peanut butter.
The LI location will be open form 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily for the soft opening for several weeks. Once it’s fully open, it will stay open til 12 a.m. weeknights and 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
The restaurant is located at 4837 Nesconset Hwy., Port Jefferson Station.
