MP Taverna, a Greek-American Restaurant, to Replace Day Boat Cafe in Irvington

In early spring, MP Taverna, a Greek-American restaurant, will replace the Day Boat Café in Irvington.

MP Taverna's chef/owner Michael Psilakis also owns a restaurant with the same name in Roslyn, NY, which he opened in May, 2011, and Fishtag, a seafood/wine bar, launched in Manhattan in November, 2010.

The Day Boat Café quickly gained acclaim after it opened in 2010 for its stunning structural attraction—a ceiling sculpture of 40 perfectly parallel pairs of angled oars overhanging the main dining area. The oars are being dismantled by the new management.

Psilakis is the co-executive producer and co-star of BBC America’s new cooking competition series called "No Kitchen Required," which premieres in April, 2012.

He began his restaurant career as a waiter at T.G.I. Fridays and subsequently worked at Café Angelica, a trattoria on Long Island.

Eventually Psilakis bought out the Café Angelica's owners, changed the restaurant's name to Ecco and managed the front of the restaurant. Two years later when the chef and cook didn’t show up one night, he spent the evening helping out in the kitchen. That turned out to be the first day of his new career as a cook and chef. A year later, Ecco earned a two-star rating by The New York Times.

Next, Psilakis started Onera, an upscale Greek restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and in 2006, he teamed up with restaurateur Donatella Arpaia to open the Greek restaurant Dona. Dona received two stars from The New York Times and was named one of Esquire's "Best New Restaurants" but because of real estate issues, it was forced to close in 2007.

Onera was transformed into Kefi, a neighborhood gathering place with a modestly priced menu in 2007, and moved the next year to a location that tripled its seating capacity.

Psilakis also opened an upscale restaurant in 2007 called Anthos to fill the void caused by the closing of Dona.

Then, in July 2009, he opened Gus & Gabriel, named after his late father Gus and his four-year-old son Gabriel. He closed Gus & Gabriel when he opened Fishtag at the same location in November, 2010. He opened MP Taverna in Roslyn, NY, in May, 2010.

He credits his mother with teaching him about classic Greek cooking. He said, “Even today, the flavors of my dishes are my mother’s flavors. And my instincts for taking Greek cuisine in new directions, I’ve inherited from her.”

He has received awards from many publications including:

• Food & Wine. "Best New Chef"
• Bon Appetit. "Chef of the Year"
• Esquire Magazine. “Chef of the Year” 
• Michelin. Anthos, his restaurant in midtown Manhattan, received a Michelin star
• The New York Times. Anthos was ranked third of ten best new restaurants chosen by restaurant reviewer Frank Bruni.
• Gourmand World. "Best Foreign Cuisine Cookbook." Awarded for his cookbook "How to Roast a Lamb," released in October, 2009 by Little, Brown

The Day Boat Café was opened in early 2010 by Gus Panopoulus and three partners. It closed on January 1, 2012.

MP Taverna, at 1 Bridge St. in Irvington, occupies the space that was previously the location of Day Boat Café.