By Bill Parry
The founder of a Long Island City architectural firm who specializes in designing restaurants has decided to open one of his own.
Station L.I.C. is under construction above the Vernon-Jackson subway station at 10-37 Jackson Ave. Gregory Okshteyn, the creative director of Studio Go with offices on Center Boulevard, designed the train-themed restaurant/bar and he hopes to have it opened as early as this spring.
“I’m hoping to celebrate my 40th birthday in April and construction is moving quickly,” he said.
Okshteyn makes his home on Center Boulevard as well as having moved back to Long Island City three years ago.
“I lived in a loft a dozen years ago while I went to grad school at Columbia. I just fell in love with the neighborhood and always wanted to put down roots here,” he said. “I always noticed the area was lacking in nightlife. There are plenty of good restaurants with great menus, but no place to grab a drink after work. I just wanted a place where I could hang out with my friends.”
The 2,400-square-foot space will have the feel of a 19th-century European railway station that will be enhanced by the rumbling of the No. 7 subway line below.
“The history of this neighborhood is steeped in the railways. You can still see signs of the old rails down at Gantry. Trains are such a rich aesthetic, so there will be a lot of metal work, and I started antiquing for turn of the century signage and railroad lanterns. It will feel like a baby Grand Central Terminal,” Okshteyn said.
The menu will be American bistro fare with European underpinnings.
“The food will be sophisticated but accessible, the prices will be in line with the other area restaurants,” Okshteyn said.
Station L.I.C. is taking over a property that has been vacant for more than 12 years. It was most recently a tavern called Blessinger’s.
“Brian Blessinger reached out to tell me about his family’s old restaurant that had to shut down in the ’80s because of gambling debts,” Okshsteyn said. “And then my rabbi, Zev Weinberg, knew the property owner and put me in touch with him. Being a member of the community really helped out.”
Station L.I.C. will have space reserved for local artists to exhibit their work, but there is one thing you will not find in the new nightspot: televisions.
“This will be a place for conversation, to hang out and talk with your friends and make new ones,” Okshteyn said. “However, we will have a projector and screen for the big events like the Super Bowl, the World Cup and the Olympics because I want to see them.”
Okshsteyn’s attention to this year’s Olympics was diverted by the crisis in Ukraine last week.
“My family had to emigrate from Ukraine when I was 5. It was then part of the Soviet Union and my great-uncle was (Communist Party Secretary General) Leonid Breshnev’s speechwriter,” he said. “We had it all, but the memories are bittersweet because of the persecution of the Jews.”
He said it was compelling to follow the popular uprising that forced Viktor Yanukovych from power.
“It was difficult to watch the violence unfold, but fascinating at the same time. The people accomplishing freedom — back in the ’70s, that was not an option,” Okshsteyn said.
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
