Danyell's Kitchen

I had never worked in a restaurant before. People often asked me, so WHAT made you get into this business? From the business perspective it appears mental for me to enter into it. I think statistically, most restaurants don't last a year. I really now understand why.

For me, when I started, I was passionate about gardening, whole foods and preparing and serving GOOD FOOD. I am also an artist and always had a vision of having a little food place that was home to art exhibits. I am also a huge Jazz & Music lover. I wanted to incorporate music into the home as well. I thought that by bringing these elements of service to the community, they would support our business & my family.

I started slowly, without changing the menu or the name. But began hosting artists almost immediately. Learning how to operate and cook on an industrial scale for time sensitive pre theater audience was about the best kind of training I could have gotten into the venture. I appreciate & thank the customers who allowed my culinary artistry to develop with them and who still patronize us to this day.

Our location is a double edged sword. We are on Main Street, but we do not see seasonal traffic because we are 'too far' from the water's edge. The benefit to our location is we are the closest restaurant to the John Engeman theater that hosts broadway caliber productions. We do most business with them. The locals had no idea of the kind of restaurant I had worked to develop, so it was suggested that I change the name. In March, we changed the name to Danyell's Kitchen. For the majority of the day the restaurant sits empty, we peak with one seating at 6pm for the theater and then it goes empty again. That was kindof working, until early this year.

The theater traffic slowed substantially and we had nothing else supporting us, for the past few months. I have gotten behind on every bill and don't know how we will be able to continue. I am sad because the vision is finally falling into place - sourcing locally farmed food, incubating talented musicians and hosting emerging artists on Long Island. My culinary art has blossomed and I am ready to take it to the next level.  I am asking friends, family and concerned locals to help get me back on my feet & change the Campari awning and Sign & decor to Danyell's Kitchen, so that the home to artists, musicians and culinary arts can continue. So that I can have 'Danyell's Kitchen' working with staff (not all me!) preparing whole foods catering, mobile lunch and fabulous dinners paired with fine wine, music and art.

I am grateful to all who have supported me so far, and gave me the chance to learn the skills needed to own, operate and prepare the food served in a restaurant. I really do feel like the little restaurants in Italy, where I go and get the groceries, come back and prepare it, serve it when I have to and sweep up at night! That is my every day. It however takes patronage and exposure to pay the rent, the utilities, the food bills and employees. Its an artistry that is expensive. Unlike a painter or a musician, a simple canvas and paints, guitar can earn you a meal... but restaurants are beastly expensive to operate.  I have been doing this without taking home any pay for three years.  For insight on my hard times, I allow myself to buy one pair of shoes a year on my birthday, and this year I wasn't able to get them, & last year's shoes got ruined in the flash flood we had recently (where my car also got severely damaged). I had tried to bail myself out with participating as a food vendor in the cow harbor day festival last week. I saw the opportunity to sell and meet thousands of people, potentially locals. So I spent nearly 700$ in permits & food to organize and when I went down to set up, the town would not allow me to set up the tent in the heart of the festival. Only allowed to set up in front of the store, where no one had any reason to be. We merely sold $300 in food. So the chance I saw to help get me straight set me back even further on top of the car repairs I had the week before.

I gratefully accept your kindness with a donation towards helping Danyell's Kitchen survive and persist.

Thank You,
Danyell