Old Fields Restaurant

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CLOSED NOW - Opens at 5:00pm

Old-Fashioned Charm, Updated By Joanne Starkey New York Times For over half a century the Old Fields Inn has been a fixture in Greenlawn. Known for its marinated steaks, it was the place where the Kiwanis and Lions Clubs met. When I last visited, a couple of years ago, it was tired and lackluster. Last June, David and Christine Tunney bought the venerable old place, took five months to renovate it and reopened it in November with a shortened name: Old Fields.Mr. Tunney is an experienced restaurateur, a former partner in Honu in Huntington and current partner in the Besito restaurants in Huntington and Roslyn and in West Hartford, Conn. The Tunneys skillfully updated the place while keeping its old-fashioned charm. The wooden booths, brick fireplace and knotty pine walls are still there, joined by a shining new wood floor, a brick wall and a new kitchen.Old Fields is laid back and family-friendly, with vintage games like Chinese checkers and tick-tack-toe. A menu with no item over $20 is another attraction.A child in our party who always zeros in on chicken nuggets was happy with the popcorn-style chicken. It arrived with a honey mustard dipping sauce that pleased the adults, but a bottle of ketchup was also handy. Another fried treat was the crunchy Ipswich clams, served with lemon wedges and house-made tartar sauce. My favorite opener was the upscale Manhattan clam chowder, which contained four whole littleneck clams in the shell and was crowned with a slab of grilled bread. French onion soup also made a good showing; it tasted of sweet onions, not salt as it so often does. Plump Prince Edward Island mussels arrived in a noteworthy white wine broth sparked by onions, tomatoes and fresh basil and accompanied by two slices of grilled ciabatta bread.Large groups will enjoy sharing the generously portioned cheesy spinach and artichoke dip served in a black iron frying pan, surrounded by triangles of warm pita. Even the ubiquitous Caesar salad has an edge here, made with house-made herb croutons and shards of Parmesan rather than grated cheese.Old Fields has its predecessor’s “55-year marinade,” so called for the age of the recipe. We tried the marinated strip steak (at $19.95, the menu’s highest-price entree), which was juicy and tasty and not overwhelmed by its marinade. It came with a mound of good mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables.A seafood risotto had creamy rice laced with bay scallops and topped with four large shrimp. A worthy special one night was tender veal osso buco in a chunky tomato sauce served over rice.The restaurant features nine burgers and five other sandwiches. We liked the Reuben on marble rye but found the burgers, cooked to order and running with juices, even better. The purists went for the Old Fields classic with lettuce, tomato and pickle. Also appealing was the “56” burger. (The original Old Fields Inn opened in 1956.) It was lightly marinated and covered with sautéed onions and melted Swiss cheese.Sandwiches come with French fries or a side salad (mixed greens topped with shaved fennel, carrot and cucumber in a light lemon dressing); for 95 cents, diners can substitute onion rings or exemplary sweet-potato fries. We liked all four but thought the thin, wispy onion rings were the best.Desserts, all $6, are made in-house and include a warm apple cobbler à la mode, a brownie sundae and an old-fashioned ice box cake, made with chocolate wafer cookies and whipped cream. (The whipped cream is the real thing and used with abandon.) Diners can also choose an old-fashioned banana split, or order a shake or Coke float.David and Christine Tunney have turned a somewhat tired landmark into a restaurant any neighborhood would be proud of. It’s sure to attract patrons from farther away.Old-Fashioned Charm, Updated By Joanne Starkey New York Times For over half a century the Old Fields Inn has been a fixture in Greenlawn. Known for its marinated steaks, it was the place w...