For well over a decade, restaurants inhabiting the space at 29 Main Street in Sag Harbor haven’t been able to stick.
That is, seemingly, until now, as third generation Sag Harbor native and longtime restaurateur Michael Nolan has taken it over. The name of the new spot is Miracle — a hat tip to the now-closed Miracle Bar and Grill, the popular Southwest cuisine restaurant Nolan owned and managed in the East Village of New York City, and where culinary celeb Bobby Flay gained early career recognition as its executive chef.
Shooting to open May 1, Nolan — owner of beloved East Hampton eatery Fresno for over 20 years — is fulfilling a practically lifelong dream of having a restaurant on the Main Street of the town he grew up in.
“Sag Harbor is home, first and foremost,” he says. “We live here. I grew up here. My family’s from here. Even before college, the plan was to live and have a restaurant in Sag Harbor. So, finally, 50 years later, it’s happening.”
Fresno chef Jesus Gonzalez will be at the helm for owner Michael Nolan’s new restaurant, Miracle, in Sag Harbor. Nolan’s wife and business partner, designer helen gifford, is curating the interior. (left photo by doug young, right photo by emily toy)
While the new business venture is fulfilling big dreams for Nolan, it’s equally fulfilling for his staff at Fresno, particularly executive chef Jesus Gonzalez, who’s worked there for years.
“He’s the most willing chef I’ve ever worked with,” Nolan says. “One of the reasons why we started looking for another space is because of the amazing team we have at Fresno. Jesus has been amazing. He’s been with us for what I think, will be his fifth year. The menu is phenomenal. His willingness to do what customers want is out of this world.” Joining Gonzalez at Miracle will be beverage director Quinton Burke and his wife, service director Brinn Foley.
Poised to be a year-round spot in the former whaling village, Miracle will be open every day during the summer season, serving both lunch and dinner. Described by Nolan as “Fresno-ish,” the menu is slated to contain a modern, curated take on the New American-style cache of comfort foods with sophisticated twists, along with elevated, deftly executed classics that both utilize and highlight in-season, locally sourced bounty. A handful of vegetarian and gluten-free options, plus a transitional menu for those looking to have a small bite in between lunch and dinner service, or a coffee, or a late afternoon cocktail, will also be available — which, in a fine- and performing-arts town like Sag Harbor, is a nice perk.
“We want to have things that can carry you into later afternoon,” says Helen Gifford, Nolan’s wife and business partner who is also leading the design charge at the new 70-seat resto.
“Sag Harbor is home, first and foremost. We live here. I grew up here. My family’s from here. Even before college, the plan was to live and have a restaurant in Sag Harbor. So, finally, 50 years later, it’s happening.”
Michael Nolan
Gifford — owner and founder at internationally acclaimed HelenBilt, which specializes in lighting design — is putting her expertise to work, layering elements of the richly traditional English pub culture she grew up around with nuanced, elevated touches that offer subtle reminders of the bayside village’s natural aesthetic.
Beneath a glossy stamped ceiling, walls are painted a rich, satin-finished, cool-toned blue. Black-topped wooden tables set with dark wooden chairs run throughout. Upon entering the building, the zinc-topped bar will be set with about a dozen or so bar stools. To the right of the entrance, on the far side of the narrow yet intimate, cozy dining space, is a tufted, black-leather banquette adorned with a row of cast iron-based two-tops. Mirrors with a distressed, foxing finish run throughout, offering the illusion of more room throughout the space, and radiating the soon-to-be inescapable sunlight that will pour through the wall of foldable windows that open onto the patio.
Buzz around the new space has been palpable, to say the least.
“It just started showing up this week and popping off as a Fresno moving in here,” Gifford says. “It’s not a Fresno in that it’s exactly the same, but it is a Fresno in the way that people know Michael as being a consummate band master. The beat of this place is similar to the beat that he first got when he opened Miracle years ago.”
Without a doubt, news of the revered hospitality pro coming home to Sag Harbor has added some much-needed, end-of-the-winter excitement to Main Street.
“Fresno is more of a destination,” Nolan says. “Here, we’re a downtown place. I want it to be a place where people want to hang out. We want to be that, be a place that’s firmly rooted in the community. It’s a dream come true.”
