The Lake House - Bay Shore, Long Island

Long Island consists of four New York counties: the NYC borough of Queens is Queens County, the NYC borough of Brooklyn is Kings County, the eastern two-thirds of the island is Suffolk County and wedged between them is Nassau County. When speaking of Long Island, many people speak of only Nassau and Suffolk Counties which are out of metropolitan NYC. 

Long Island is the longest island (118 miles from NY harbor to Montauk Point) and largest island (1,401 square miles) in the contiguous U.S. (23 miles wide at its widest point). It is the 11th largest island in the U.S. (of the 10 larger, 8 are in Alaska, the Big Island in Hawaii and Puerto Rico) and the 149th largest in the world. It is larger than the state of Rhode Island. It has a population of 7.87 million and includes 40% of the NY state population. If it were a state, it would rank 13th in population and first in population density. 

We previously visited northern Nassau County several years ago when we visited Sagamore Hill, the Teddy Roosevelt summer home in Oyster Bay. On our recent trip we visited Jones Beach Island on the south side of Nassau County when we drove the Ocean Parkway from the Meadowbrook State Parkway to the Robert Moses Causeway. 

An Art Deco style water tower designed by Robert Moses is visible for quite a distance as the tallest thing by far. 

Jones Beach is 6.5 miles long and very popular in the summer. In February, when we visited, it was cold and windy and we practically had it to ourselves. 

Andrew looked along the beach and found some empty skate egg sacks. 

The wind moves the sand around, sometimes obliterating fence lines. 

After leaving Jones Beach Island, by this time in Suffolk County, we drove to Bay Shore at the edge of Great South Bay and ate at the Lake House. 

Window view from our table.

I'd read a little before-hand about Blue Point oysters and found that they originated in the Great South Bay of Long Island off the town of Blue Point, just east of Bay Shore. So when oysters were on the menu at Lake House I ordered three of them, as did Judy and Andrew. The marketers of Lucky 13 Oysters proclaim them to be genuine Blue Points. The oysters were decent sized, had lots of oyster liqueur and were fairly briny, which I like. I was tempted to order more.

They also offered little neck clams, so I ordered two of them. They came out raw, the first time I've ever eaten raw clams. There was nothing off-putting about them and they were less rubbery than cooked clams. Probably more out of custom and habit than not, I think I prefer the clams cooked, unlike oysters which I much prefer raw. 

I ordered a lobster roll made from a 1 1/4 pound lobster with fries and some salad greens. The roll was toasted with butter and not much, if anything else. The lobster had little added ingredients. It was cooked nicely, plump and a little cool. However, I would have liked mayonnaise or added butter. From a lobster standpoint, it was a nice roll, but the preparation prevented it from being one of my favorite lobster rolls.

Judy and Andrew each got crab eggs benedict. I had a nibble and it was nice, but quite bland. 

The inner decor and our window seat was wonderful. The Sunday Brunch menu was very reasonably priced. It was a nice stop for the day.