It may sit on a cute little wedge of Westhampton Beach, but there’s no stuffing One Trick Pony in a corner. The ever-riffing ideas of owners Candice Huffine and Shelly Lynch-Sparks simply won’t allow it.
Taking over the space previously occupied by North Fork Roasting Co., One Trick Pony officially opened June 16. They’re keeping the former caffeinated concept buzzing, along with pastries and heartier breakfast items for the morning — think whipped feta and avocado toast, breakfast burritos and the killer breakfast bun, a rib-sticking mix of eggs slathered in lemon aioli, bacon and caramelized onions (“It sounds like a lot, but it’s delicious!” says Huffine). But this cafe has a day-to-night tweak: Huffine and Lynch-Sparks are galloping further with the concept, adding a grown-up bar for the evenings that gets tucked behind a moveable wall during the day.
“We wanted it to have a new twist, and bring something else to the Westhampton Beach town at night. It’s a little space to go for your coffee in the morning, but at night it’s a chic place to grab a beverage before dinner or the theater,” says Huffines. “The feedback we’ve gotten from the town has been great. They all seem pretty excited and keep telling us, This is what we needed!”
One Trick Pony’s Hyphen & Co.-designed coffee bar. (Photo credit: Candice Huffine) 
Giddyap! Each of the three house proprietary coffee blends is from North Fork Roasting Co. (Photo credit: Hannah Huffine) 
The regular coffee menu that graces the wall across from the coffee bar is part art, part info. (Photo credit: Candice Huffine) 
With lots of nicely curated cafe seating, One Trick Pony offers lots of spots to hang out and chill. (Photo credit: Candice Huffine)
Fans of North Fork Roasting Co. will be happy to hear that its owner, Jennilee Morris, a friend of both Huffines and Lynch-Sparks, has curated three propriety blends for the new café from her roastery in Shirley: the Off to the Races house blend of Honduran, Guatemalan and Ethiopian beans; the Triple Crown for espresso shots (although Huffines says it’s also rad in cold brew) and Hold Your Horses, which they use for drip coffee, all of which are also available for purchase to brew at home.
Also a hold-over from NoFo Roasting: the baristas. “We kept the coffee and we were lucky that the baristas stayed, too,” Huffines says. “We were lucky they wanted to go on this journey with us.”
As far as the wine and cocktails go, expect an espresso martini (natch!), but made with earthy tequila instead of ho-hum vodka, as well as a female-forward wine list that Lynch-Sparks put together from her passion for pouring.
It’s a path that started as a dreamy idea during the pandemic — both women had moved out east during Covid 19 pandemic, and began fantasizing about opening a little café to call their own. When Morris decided to vacate the WHB space, it seemed like a good time to get the horse out of the gate and let it run.
Huffine and Lynch-Sparks, partners in both business and life, are each successful in their own right, never allowing unquestioned rules of life hem them in. Huffine busted barriers as a successful model who didn’t adhere to the stick-thin parameters of that world, forming her own all-size inclusive workout brand of activewear clothes, Day/Won. Lynch-Sparks is the founder of the New York design firm Hyphen & Co., which marches to its own beat, breaking design rules to create unique and original motifs for her clients (and created the gorgeous interior of One Trick Pony).
“We’re really proud to be a queer, female-owned business buying from a queer, female-owned business,” says Huffines of their new venture and the notion that they’re brewing with Morris’s North Fork Roasting Co. beans.
They’re also planning on adding boxed beach lunches, so you can come in the morning, grab your cuppa and lunch, and head straight for the beach. And with that spirit in mind, Huffine says they’ll also be adding a give-one-get-one lending library, so you can snag something to read for a day in the sand, too.
“The great thing here is we want this to be a really fun spot for the community, and we’ll continue to evolve every week and every month — there will always be something new,” says Huffine, all of it aimed at “making people feel happy and welcome any time of the day.”
One Trick Pony’s café at 59 Main Street in Westhampton Beach is open Thursday to Monday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the wine and cocktail bar open Thursday to Sunday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.. Stay tuned for expanded hours later in the summer.
