Few buildings on Long Island’s East End carry the weight of nearly 250 years inside their walls. The structure at 57225 Main Road in Southold — believed to have been the Payne family home, constructed in the Second Empire style between 1765 and 1790 — has served as a private residence, a roadside inn, a French countryside restaurant, and now, under the stewardship of Michelin-starred Chef John Fraser, one of the most celebrated farm-to-table dining destinations on the entire Eastern Seaboard. North Fork Table & Inn is not merely a restaurant with rooms upstairs. It is a living document of Long Island’s evolving relationship with land, sea, and the culinary ambition of people willing to bet everything on a place most Manhattanites still can’t find on a map.
From my counter at The Heritage Diner in Mount Sinai, I’ve watched the North Fork transform over two decades — from a quiet agricultural corridor into one of the most sophisticated food and wine regions in the Northeast. And no single establishment has been more central to that transformation than North Fork Table & Inn.
A Building That Remembers Everything
The property’s hospitality lineage runs deep. In 1909, J.W. Post opened the Sunrise Inn within its walls. By 1949, it had become the Southold Hotel under Jimmy Hallas. Robert and Christine Hascoat purchased it in 1975, converting the space into La Gazelle, a French restaurant that served the community for over two decades. In 1998, Chef Aristodem “Arie” Pavlou reimagined the property yet again as Coeur de Vignes L’Hotel & Restaurant Français, blending French technique with influences from his native Cyprus (NorthForkTableAndInn.com, “Our History,” 2024).
But the chapter most people remember — the one that rewrote what Long Island dining could mean — began in 2005, when two chefs from the highest echelons of the New York City restaurant world drove east with a radical idea.
Gerry Hayden, Claudia Fleming, and the Birth of North Fork Farm-to-Table
Chef Gerry Hayden and pastry chef Claudia Fleming were not escaping the city. They were chasing something the city could never give them. Hayden had built his reputation at Aureole and Amuse, earning three James Beard Award nominations. Fleming, a James Beard Award winner, had defined an era of American dessert-making at Gramercy Tavern, where her cookbook The Last Course became a classic. Together, alongside hospitality veterans Mike and Mary Mraz, they gutted the former French restaurant and opened North Fork Table & Inn in May 2006 (Suffolk Times, 2020).
The skeptics were loud. Many predicted the couple wouldn’t survive their first North Fork winter. But Hayden and Fleming weren’t building a seasonal attraction. They were building something permanent — sourcing from local farms like Ira and KK Haspel’s biodynamic operation in Southold, buying eggs from Holly and Chris Browder of Browder’s Birds in Mattituck, forming the kind of relationships between kitchen and field that the farm-to-table movement would later claim as its founding principle (Northforker, 2014).
Tom Colicchio, founder of Craft Restaurants and a part-time Cutchogue resident who had worked alongside Fleming at Gramercy Tavern, put it plainly when reflecting on what the couple accomplished: they built a community around the restaurant, displaying local artists, featuring small producers, and working with North Fork wineries like McCall Wines to create something that transcended any single plate of food (Northforker, 2014).
The restaurant became Long Island’s top Zagat-rated dining establishment. It was the real thing.
The Loss That Could Have Ended Everything
In 2010, Gerry Hayden was diagnosed with ALS. The disease is 100 percent fatal, and it began stripping away the physical tools that had made him one of the most respected chefs in the country. But Hayden refused to leave his kitchen. Even as ALS confined him to a motorized wheelchair, Colicchio recalled watching Hayden taste dishes prepared by his cooks — despite the choking risk — because he could not separate himself from the work (Northforker, 2015).
Hayden passed on September 2, 2015, at the age of 50. Through the nonprofit he co-founded, A Love Shared, he had raised awareness and funds for ALS research during his final years. His legacy at North Fork Table & Inn was not just culinary. Holly Browder of Browder’s Birds recalled that his restaurant was the first to ever purchase her farm’s products. Jenilee Morris, co-owner of North Fork Roasting Co. in Southold, credited Hayden with shaping her entire career. Nicole Webb of Love Lane Kitchen described the restaurant as his legacy — one that changed the dining landscape of the North Fork permanently (SoutholdLOCAL, 2015).
Following Hayden’s death, Chef Stephan Bogardus — just twenty-seven years old, but mentored directly by Hayden — stepped into the role of executive chef. Fleming, reflecting on the transition, noted that Hayden had seen much of himself in the young cook (Northforker, 2015). Chef Brian Wilson later succeeded Bogardus, maintaining the DNA of the original vision through the restaurant’s later years under Fleming’s ownership.
John Fraser and the Second Life
By late 2019, the restaurant’s future had become uncertain. A social media post suggesting closure after New Year’s Eve sent shockwaves across the East End. The clarification came quickly — it was a seasonal closure, not a permanent one — but the truth was more complex. North Fork Table & Inn had been sold (Edible East End, 2020).
The buyer was John Fraser, a Michelin-starred chef and restaurateur who heads JF Restaurants, a hospitality group with venues across New York City and Los Angeles, including The Loyal in the West Village and IRIS in Times Square. Fraser, born and raised in a blue-collar family in Los Angeles, had trained at The French Laundry in Napa Valley and at Taillevent and Maison Blanche in France. He opened Dovetail on the Upper West Side in 2007 and went on to earn recognition for redefining the role of vegetables in American fine dining (Edible East End, 2021).
But Fraser’s connection to Long Island predated his fame. He had spent summers bartending in old Montauk — the Montauk of fishermen and working-class locals, before the hedge fund crowd arrived. He had watched the North Fork’s food and wine scene mature from a distance for twenty years, quietly harboring the dream of running a restaurant surrounded by farms, vineyards, and fisheries (Edible East End, 2021).
JF Restaurants purchased the property — last listed at $1.595 million — from Claudia Fleming, with the understanding that Fleming would remain as pastry chef and Brian Wilson would continue as executive chef for at least a year (27East, 2020). Fraser brought in designer Thomas Juul-Hansen to renovate the inn’s four boutique rooms in 2021, preserving the building’s historic character while modernizing its warmth — felt sconces, warmer wood flooring, an expanded bar, and the deliberate removal of tablecloths to create what critics described as a more precise yet equally intimate dining experience (Edible East End, 2020).
The Menu: Where the Land Meets the Sound
The culinary philosophy under Fraser remains rooted in what the North Fork itself provides. The menu is seasonally inspired, featuring locally grown biodynamic and organic produce, seafood from the Peconic Bay and Long Island Sound, and award-winning North Fork duck and beef (OpenTable, 2026). Signature preparations include the Roasted Long Island Duck and the Southold Grill, showcasing the freshest local catch.
The beverage program, directed by JF Restaurants’ Amy Racine, features one of the most extensive on-premise lists of North Fork wines available anywhere, set alongside an international selection that invites guests to compare local terroir against global benchmarks. Classic and seasonal cocktails anchor the bar — from the People Pleaser with sugar snap pea puree, LIV vodka, and green Chartreuse to the Stone Fruit Old Fashioned built on Maker’s Mark and preserved stone fruit (NorthForkTableAndInn.com, “Menus,” 2025).
Every Sunday at the bar, the restaurant offers Burger & Blend night — an Acabonac grass-fed burger paired with select local wines for $30. The Big Grin Food Truck, parked on the sprawling grounds, serves chef-driven casual fare during warmer months, including lobster rolls, smashburgers, duck fat waffle hashbrowns, and a seared Dimple Dog with crispy onions and Swiss cheese (James Lane Post, 2025). In summer 2025, the restaurant launched its outdoor Beer Garden, offering craft beers, wines, spiked Italian ices, and food truck bites in the garden and picnic area.
Fraser also launched The Industry Table in 2023, a discount program inviting restaurant workers to dine across JF Restaurants at cost — roughly 70 percent off menu prices — as a gesture of appreciation for the workers who carried the hospitality industry through the pandemic years (Northforker, 2023).
The Inn: Four Rooms Above the Kitchen
The four boutique guest rooms on the second floor, renovated in 2021 by Thomas Juul-Hansen and curated by Fraser, offer an experience that extends the restaurant’s hospitality into overnight stays. Guests can step downstairs for a dinner reservation or use the inn as a base for exploring the North Fork’s vineyards, farms, and coastline. Rooms include flat-screen TVs, air conditioning, complimentary Wi-Fi, and free breakfast. Complimentary parking is available on-site (NorthForkTableAndInn.com, “Rooms,” 2024; TripAdvisor, 2025).
The inn sits 1.5 miles from Horton Point Lighthouse and Nautical Museum and less than two miles from Southold Bay Oysters, placing guests at the intersection of the North Fork’s agricultural heritage and its maritime identity.
What This Place Means
North Fork Table & Inn carries a 4.6-star rating across more than 2,490 reviews on OpenTable, with guests consistently praising the seasonal cuisine, the intimate dining room, and the quality of the cocktail and wine program (OpenTable, 2026). On Google, the restaurant holds a 4.5-star rating across 383 reviews. It operates seasonally, currently open Friday and Saturday from 5:00 to 8:30 PM, and Sunday from 5:00 to 8:00 PM, with the food truck running Friday through Sunday from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM during warmer months.
There is a particular kind of establishment that outlasts its founders, survives a pandemic, transitions ownership, and still manages to feel like it was always meant to be exactly what it is right now. North Fork Table & Inn is that place. From the Payne family’s colonial home to J.W. Post’s Sunrise Inn, from La Gazelle’s French countryside ambitions to Gerry Hayden’s radical bet on local provenance, and now to John Fraser’s precise, vegetable-forward vision — this property at 57225 Main Road has been telling the story of Southold for nearly a quarter millennium.
As someone who has spent twenty-five years behind a grill on Route 25A, I understand what it costs to keep a restaurant alive through seasons that want to kill it. North Fork Table & Inn has not just survived. It has become the standard against which every serious East End dining establishment measures itself.
Contact & Reservations
Address: 57225 Main Road, Southold, NY 11971
Phone: (631) 765-0177
Website: northforktableandinn.com
Reservations: OpenTable
Instagram: @northforktable
Delivery: Contact the restaurant directly for catering inquiries
Hours (Seasonal — check website for current schedule): Friday–Saturday: 5:00–8:30 PM | Sunday: 5:00–8:00 PM | Food Truck: Friday–Sunday, 11:00 AM–3:00 PM (seasonal)
Features: Full bar, BYO wine (corkage fee), indoor fireplace, outdoor beer garden (seasonal), wheelchair accessible, private event space, four boutique inn rooms
