Lucia Middle Island Serves 'Cooked With Love' Salvadoran Food

MIDDLE ISLAND, NY—Residents of the North Fork have been enjoying traditional Salvadoran food at Lucia Restaurant in Mattituck for five years. Now the owners have expanded westward, taking over the former Cook Room on Middle Country Rd. in Middle Island.

Melvin Recinos, who lives in Cutchogue, has been cooking his entire life, he tells Patch. He began working in his mother's restaurant in El Salvador. When he came to Long Island, his first job was at Hellenic Snack Bar & Restaurant in East Marion. He also worked at the highly-rated North Fork Table & Inn in Southold.

"My dream has always been to own a restaurant. This month of October we are celebrating our fifth anniversary of being open in Mattituck."

One day Recinos and his wife were driving around looking for some tacos to eat when they saw the former Cook Room space was available.

"We loved the idea that it was an old diner and we thought it was gonna be a good idea to bring different flavor in the neighborhood."

Lucia Middle Island, at 25 Middle Country Rd., serves a mix of diner-fare and traditional cuisine: there are steak and egg breakfast platters, burgers, quesadillas, pulled pork sandwiches, pupusas, tacos, and meat-based entrees like a ribeye steak served with shrimp.

All the food, Recinos says, has one thing in common: "It's all made with a lot of love and it's traditional from our country. We cook everything from scratch daily and fresh."

Have you checked out Lucia Middle Island? Tell us in the comments.