Farmingdale's The Nutty Irishman Recovery Room Adds More Baked Goods

FARMINGDALE, NY — The Nutty Irishman Recovery Room Café is stepping up its daytime game.

While the café is part of The Nutty Irishman, the business is striving to give Farmingdale something community members have been asking for: more baked goods.

The business, at 323 Main Street, has hired a pastry chef, Kelly Saphire, to join chef Kristina Grimes on the café side.

Grimes offers many of her old favorites from her former store, Le Petit Café, which closed during the coronavirus pandemic. After stints on other parts of Long Island, Grimes is back in the village. Saphire rejoins Grimes after having worked for her at Le Petit Café, and she is making some of her own recipes in addition to Grimes'.

"We’re kind of giving Farmingdale what they want by utilizing the space that we already have and the same business that we already have," Grimes told Patch. "I would like them to come and see The Nutty Irishman as a café with more baked goods. We do all of our own everything. We’re a little mini version of what we had at Le Petit Café."

Grimes said she is hoping to add more flavors of her stack cakes, as well as more cups, cookies, brownies, and stuffed cookies — "Stuffies." She also sells scones, rainbow cookies, miniature tarts, tiramisu and French cream cups.

Grimes worked out of the marketplace behind 317 Main Street for a while before she left because of the lack of space to make her breakfast and lunch menu. Joe Fortuna, owner of The Nutty Irishman, reached out to Grimes to bring her back once he added the Recovery Room.

Grimes called it her "perfect scenario."

"I get to do what I love and I have free rein without having to do the books and everything myself," she said. "Instead, I have a whole little group to work with. The guys have always been so good to me. So when they asked me to come back, it was a no brainer."

With Grimes in the kitchen, The Nutty Irishman serves paninis, farm fresh eggs, egg sandwiches, pancakes, omelets, grilled cheese, smoothies, bowls, sandwiches, and more. All jams, ketchups, dressings, soups and sauces are made on premise with limited ingredients in house. Grimes will be serving her brunch items from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Monday.

"We don’t want to say we are a bakery, because we don’t have the amount of stuff," Grimes said. "We can have more baked goods as a café and market. We’re unique."

Grimes said she wants to keep her café open longer on Thursdays through Sundays for retail, dessert and coffees, even after the café kitchen closes at 3 p.m.

"The Nutty Irishman has a reputation of providing good food for many years," Fortuna said. "This continues our service to the community with good food, good times and great music."

From 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, The Nutty Irishman shifts the Recovery Room to late-night foods. The offerings will give people who are out at night drinking something to eat, as most restaurants on Main Street are closed deep into the night.

The Nutty Irishman's late-night menu for the Recovery Room features egg and cheese sandwiches (with or without bacon), hamburger sliders, chips, brownies and chocolate chip cookies, candy, sweets, and drinks such as soda, electrolyte-fueled liquids, coffee, energy drinks, and more.