Mirabelle Restaurant Celebrates 30 Years

Mirabelle Restaurant at the Three
Village Inn is
celebrating their 30th Anniversary this April and would like to
invite guests to celebrate this milestone with them by offering three different
deals for 30 days.  Deals include:

$5 Mirabelle Cocktail

Blanc
de Blanc sparkling, plum brandy and Mirabelle plum

Complimentary Wine or
Beer

Choice
of select wine and beer given with Chef Guy’s farm-to-table menu

$19.84 ‘Tini And A Bite

Choice of One

Bites:
hummus with toasted pita bread; Chef’s mixed olives; smoked salmon bistro style
with quail egg

‘Tinis:
Mirabelle 1984 ‘tini; white cosmopolitan; metropolitan

GUY & MARIA REUGE’S JOURNEY – THE INSIDE STORY

When Guy started his
apprenticeship at a small bistro near Orleans, France, at the age of 14, he
knew one day he would have his own restaurant. As a young apprentice he worked
in restaurants from Paris to Strasbourg to Switzerland. In 1975 he arrived in
New York City and fell in love with the city and his future wife Maria, whom he
met that same day. Maria was an editor at Gourmet Magazine and had spent 6
months in France taking time to visit food markets and dine at restaurants. She
loved la cuisine française. Guy spoke
no English so the language of choice was French, and the subject was food and
restaurants. The idea of opening a restaurant together was already on their
minds. They were married in Virginia in 1980 and several years later, after Guy
had worked in New York establishments such as La Tulipe, Le Cygne, and Tavern
on the Green, they decided to finally open their own place in St. James, Long
Island, a long way from Manhattan.

In 1984 St. James still
had working farms in the area, and there was farmland across the road from the
restaurant. The building needed renovation, and with Maria’s uncle and a group
of investors it was transformed from a small farmhouse to Mirabelle, decorated
simply and elegantly, with a large arrangement of flowers the centerpiece of
the room. In classic French fashion Maria ran the front of the house and Guy
was the chef. It was not easy in the beginning. The couple lived upstairs in
cramped quarters. Guy had little help in the kitchen, and his working table was
an old dining room table brought from the New York apartment. Maria had never
worked in restaurants, and she learned on the job how to bartend, bus tables,
and greet customers.

It took only a few
months before the word was out that a new restaurant had opened. Guy wowed
customers with his duck in two courses served with local vegetables, no orange
sauce in sight, and his own creation, the piquant and sweet ginger almond
tart.  People were impressed with the
Frenchman (whose English had improved, though the accent was strong) who cooked
so well. And on some days, lines would form at the door before opening.  Not too long after their first child was
born, they moved to a house of their own. Their daughter learned how to crawl
and walk on the dining room floor of Mirabelle, but privacy was somewhat
lacking in the upstairs apartment. There were the occasional customers who lost
their way and headed upstairs. 

For 25 years, Reuge and
his wife Maria operated Mirabelle in St. James, considered by many
discriminating gastronomes to be the very best Long Island has to offer.  He closed the original Mirabelle in December
2008 to join Three Village Inn where he also operates Mirabelle Tavern and the property’s catering arm.

The new Mirabelle
Restaurant opened to rave reviews garnering an “Exceptional” rating from Newsday. 
“The reborn Mirabelle, haute in cuisine and refined in style, improves
on the original and in a handsome, serene setting.  It’s still a plum,” Peter Gianotti commends,
“Reuge pairs exceptional local produce and meticulous technique.” The New York Times rated it “Don’t Miss”
(the highest rating that is equivalent to the former four-star or “Excellent”
rating). “The new Mirabelle is larger and lovelier than the original,” Joanne
Starkey raves, “The move to Stony Brook seems to have revitalized the kitchen,
with spectacular results.”  Former food
critic for The New York Times, Richard
Scholem, who now reviews for Long Island
Pulse rated the restaurant four-and-a-half stars or an extreme “Excellent.”
Scholem says, “There are many excellent restaurants on Long Island—none are
better than Mirabelle.”

The original Mirabelle
was also an immediate success meriting a cover story in Newsday, an “Excellent” rating from Florence Fabricant of The New York Times, and a four-star
rating (“Exceptional”) from Newsday.  When the Zagat
guide published its first suburban New York booklet in the 1980s, Mirabelle was
awarded a rating of 27/23/25 with the comment: “Not widely known, but the few
who know it want to keep it a secret.” As Mirabelle grew and matured, its
reputation for excellence spread throughout Long Island and beyond.

Highly respected by his
peers, Reuge received the prestigious La Toque d’Argent (the Silver Toque) by
the Maitres Cuisiniers de France, who declared him “Chef of the Year” in
2006.  He has earned a well-deserved
reputation for consistently serving top quality food and now brings Mirabelle’s
impeccable service to this historic Stony Brook landmark.