McQuade's Neighborhood Grill in Lynbrook has been sold and changes will come to the long-standing restaurant but not just yet, according to the new owners.
“Everything is still the same,” Phil Laurelli told LongIsland.com in a recent phone interview. Laurelli is the son of McQuade's new owner Jim Laurelli, a former Nassau County police officer, who bought the place last fall. “We only changed things to try to help the business.”
Those changes include added hours, a new happy hour, and a few slight food item adjustments. They are open from Noon to 10pm daily with a Sunday brunch until 3pm featuring a new special weekly.
“We have the same staff, almost the same menu and the same regulars come in,” Laurelli said.
They also retained rights to the name so it will still be called McQuade's Neighborhood Grill, for now.
“We will be transitioning to a brewery in late 2023,” Laurelli revealed.
Laurelli has been brewing beer in his basement for a few years and will soon be making and selling his own brand of beer at McQuade's.
It’s a familiar tale. Before the pandemic Laurelli had a career that got hit hard. He worked for an alcohol distribution company but lost his job due to Covid-19. He began brewing beer and eventually found a new job at Broken Bow Brewery in Tuckahoe, NY where he was the lead cellarman and brewer.
“I went from homebrewing to brewing on a larger scale,” he said.
Laurelli said that his father always wanted to open his own restaurant. The opportunity presented itself when McQuade's Neighborhood Grill came up for sale, which is a hop, skip, and a jump from their house. They live within walking distance of McQuade's.
The elder Laurelli worked at McQuade's for a year before the transaction was completed so he could learn the business.
Things will change though, according to Laurelli. They're in the process of making half of the restaurant’s private party rooms into a brewery.
“We’re going to get all the essential equipment to brew in the restaurant,” he said.
When that happens McQuade's Neighborhood Grill will get a new name: Ugly Phil Brewing. Since beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we asked Laurelli if, in fact, he was ugly.
“I would like to think I’m not,” he admitted.
In reality “Ugly Phil” is a nickname that Laurelli got as a freshman on his ice hockey team at West Virginia University. He was the newbie on a team filled with seniors so he had to deal with a little bit of hazing.
“My coach nicknamed me ‘Ugly Phil,’” he said. Why remains a mystery, assuming there was not a handsomer Phil already on the team to distinguish the two.
Dispite a renaming, Laurelli says that he doesn’t want much else to change; he is improving things by addition.
“Everything else essentially will stay the same,” he said. Even the staff if they want to stick around.
At first they plan to brew all the classic craft beers like IPAs, pale ales, and lagers.
“The more common ones,” said Laurelli but he wants to expand their offerings including his favorite, German-style beers.
He said that overall the current clientele seems agreeable to the fact that while new things are afoot, in general, it will still feel like the same old place. He is respectful that this is a place people have enjoyed going to for many years.
“That’s what we were going for,” he said. “Consistency.”