Reconstructed and renovated Peter’s opens

“It was a mess, in bad shape,” is how Butch Yamali described Peter’s Clam Bar when he took it over. “I had to renovate the electric, put in new windows, a new roof and I’m not done yet.”

The most important improvement, Yamali says, is the return to the old menu. Peter’s is 75 years old. When the original owners, Peter and Anne Costalas, sold, the new owners thought they could “skimp on the food,” he explained, “but people know. People have been coming here for years they expect a certain quality. For example the crab cakes, they used everything but crab, I use only real crab. And all the old recipes I brought them all back because that is what I remember about this place.” He said when he took over he went to the Costalas and asked them for the recipes they used. The couple actually took Yamali into the kitchen and showed him how they did their food.

Yamali grew up in Island Park, and worked at his father’s Dover deli in Manhattan. He started working on his own in an ice cream truck and invested his profits. Soon he had a fleet of trucks and Carnival Ice Cream was born. Now he is the President of The Dover Group, which includes Peter’s, The Coral House in Baldwin, Hudson’s on the Mile in Freeport, and many other popular local restaurants.

Yamali said the secret to a successful restaurant is quality and attention to detail. “We make everything from scratch, the restaurant is spotless, including the kitchen. I buy locally, I know where my fish comes from.”

There are plans for additional improvements, repaving the parking lot, upgrading the outside decks, and maybe some extras.

“This is one of the places I went to as a kid,” he said, “I am a local boy, I want people to enjoy the same things I did. Island Park will always be home to me.”