Owner Elvia Macas had already been at work in her new café, Brunchette Bagels, for 12 hours by 4 p.m. on Saturday. And there were several more hours to go.
Elvia and other members of the Macas family are working hard to ensure their deli/café is a success. They want to put a smile on patrons’ faces.
The new Brunchette Bagels, at 124 South Country Road, a pivotal spot in Bellport Village, offers an ambitious menu. Besides breakfast muffins and bagels, it’s omelets, healthy eggs, wraps, crafted sandwiches, paninis, salads, signature melts, soups, full catering and more, all homemade and made to order, all with emphasis on gourmet, about 80 items.
“We worked together,” said Elvia during a quiet moment, speaking about her family, including nephew and café manager Alex Macas, brother and cook Marcello Macas (Elvia cooks, too); about 10 more siblings and in-laws pitch in.
Several offer emotional support; one minds her two children; a sister, who has a countertop business, prepared the marble tops. (There are six tables.)
You would want to be part of the Macas family.
“For over 20 years, we worked for others and learned about customer service, how to make good food,” said Elvia Macas, a pretty, humble woman. “I make the dough for the bagels myself.”
It’s been a learning curve, working for other owners, starting sometimes at 2 a.m.
“But no one said, ‘thank you,’” she emphasized. “This is my store, and I said, ‘We are going to change our lives.’”
Her culinary journey began in Llintig, Ecuador, where her mother owned a small food business. When the family moved to Gualaceo, “I started helping out at age 13.”
Recent food places Elvia has worked include Patchogue; her brother, Marcello Macas, owned a café in North Patchogue.
Alex Macas, his son, said the finish line has been worth the wait. He popped up Thanksgiving turkey dinner photos on his phone. Their logo was his design. His other hat will be social media guru.
“We have a lot of experience, so we know how to do it,” he said. Customer service is in the forefront and a big part of training staffers.
“Even if customers want to try a taste of something,” Elvia Macas said, “we will provide it.”
While dogs, except service dogs, aren’t allowed because of Health Department rules, plans are afoot to open the back garden, already rimmed in hydrangeas, next to Carla Marla’s. Dogs will be allowed with their owners.
A green sodded area with a bench and concrete patio is already there; more benches and tables will be added next summer. And the family has plans to expand into the storefront next door.
Landlord Phil Grucci, whose main office, Fireworks by Grucci, is upstairs from Brunchette, was enjoying a corned beef sandwich the day before.
The line for food was about six deep; then it ebbed, then it gathered again. Shop owners LuAnn Thompson and Pamela Lerner have already reported, “the food is good!”
The Brunchette deal was sealed, Grucci said, in April. “They renovated the space, bought new equipment, installed a bagel oven, and had to cut a hole in the back to fit it in,” he said of the 2,600-square-foot space.
While exclaiming over his corned beef sandwich, “The bellwether of success was the egg sandwich,” he said. “Whatever they include—bacon, cheese, avocado, any additions—the sandwich is succulent and juicy.”
Mutual admiration lingers here. There’s even an Uncle Phil sandwich.
“He was 100 percent of this journey,” Elvia Macas said.
Previously, Grucci said an interested party backed out of renting because of health reasons. “Then a few were interested in trying to open a deli.
“Elvia was energized and focused. Our approach is, ‘We have to make it a success for them.’ Elvia is a happy person, and the family is loving and hardworking.”
Visit their website www.brunchettebagels.com
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