Mariia Rahmani had just moved her insurance business from Brooklyn to Nassau County. She wanted a quiet place near her Rockville Centre home where she could sit with clients over coffee and a pastry. She couldn't find one, so she opened her own. Tête-à-Tête Cafeteria opened in August at 239 Sunrise Highway. It has four tables, counter seating, and a midnight-blue room with gold and wood accents.
The address matters as much as the café. In the village, people usually think of Sunrise Highway as the road that runs along the LIRR corridor on the way somewhere else. This fall it is where the newest dining is landing, and the state is repaving it at the same time.
A Café That Stays Open Until Midnight
On paper, Tête-à-Tête looks like a morning business. It opens at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday and closes at 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday it stays open until midnight. On Saturday it runs from 7 a.m. to midnight, and on Sunday it closes at 2 p.m.
The menu draws on suppliers from around the region. The coffee comes from East Coast Roast in Island Park, and the pastries, from croissants and kouign-amanns to cheesecake, come from Le Petit Paris in Queens. Six specialty drinks run $6.50 to $7.50. They include the Raf, an espresso drink with cream, vanilla, orange and sweet spices that Rahmani drank in Ukraine, and the Mont Blanc, a cold brew with foam and orange zest she found in Australia. The savory menu is short, $12 to $15. It includes a roast beef sandwich with Gruyère and whole-grain mustard, and mozzarella, tomato and pesto on rosemary focaccia.
Those late weekend hours put a small café on Sunrise Highway on the same evening schedule as the village's best-known sit-down restaurants. The comparison comes into focus a few blocks away.
A Few Numbers Down, Aperitif Becomes Sage & Sea
Aperitif Bistro held 242 Sunrise Highway for more than a decade and served its last night in late July. Newsday reported the closing in a July 20 story that set the final service for that Sunday, July 26.
The room did not change hands. Long Island Wave reports that the new restaurant, Sage & Sea Coastal Kitchen & Bar, operates under Sage Bistro Food Corp and covers 240 to 242 Sunrise Highway. It is run by the same family behind Sage Bistro in Bellmore and Sage Bistro Moderne in Woodbury. The owners describe the new menu as Mediterranean coastal cuisine with French influence, built around fresh seafood, premium steaks and handcrafted cocktails.
As of the September reporting, no opening date had been announced. When Sage & Sea opens, that short stretch of Sunrise between 239 and 242 will have a café open until midnight on weekends and a full seafood-and-steak dining room run by a family with two other restaurants on Long Island.
The Highway Is Being Rebuilt Underneath Them
This is all happening during active roadwork. The village's October 2 infrastructure bulletin says the New York State Department of Transportation will keep working on Sunrise Highway over the coming weeks. The work includes:
- Traffic signal loop replacements
- Crosswalk improvements
- Full milling and paving of the roadway
The village notes that the work depends on weather and that drivers may see temporary delays and detours. The same bulletin says National Grid will start replacing gas mains on Tuesday, October 6, beginning on Aldred, Cleveland and Harrison avenues in the Driscoll and Cleveland Avenue area.
Further west, where Sunrise Highway meets Merrick Road and North Centre Avenue, a hotel proposal has passed its first hurdle. A 63-room Tru by Hilton is planned for the former La-Z-Boy site. On June 24, the village Board of Zoning Appeals approved the project's variances. One of them cuts the parking from the 63 spaces the code requires to 44. Site-plan review by the Planning Board was the next step, and that board's next meeting at the time was July 21. That June report is the most recent public update, so the last confirmed status is variances approved, with site-plan review still ahead.
The direction is the same on all three fronts. A new café, a renovated dining room and a proposed hotel are all on the same road, and the state is rebuilding its crosswalks and pavement this fall.
North Park Avenue Kept Its Landmark
A few blocks north, the village's longest-running restaurant story went a different way. DODiCi has been at 12 North Park Avenue since Raymond Montemurro opened it in 1992. It reopened this summer under new owners, and on August 19 the Rockville Centre Chamber of Commerce and Nassau County Legislator Scott Davis came out for a ribbon cutting.
Long Island Wave reports that the new operator is Vicarious Hospitality Group, which took over the room in the spring. The name stayed, and so did the Italian kitchen. The name is also the address, since dodici is Italian for twelve. The Pink Café & Bakery, profiled by Newsday in February, is a few doors up at 24 North Park Avenue.
Here is how the newest café on Sunrise compares with the oldest dining room on North Park:
| Tête-à-Tête Cafeteria, 239 Sunrise Hwy. | DODiCi, 12 N. Park Ave. | |
|---|---|---|
| Opened | August 2026 | 1992; reopened under new owners, August 2026 |
| Monday | 5:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Closed |
| Tuesday to Thursday | Closes 5 p.m. Tue/Wed, midnight Thu | Noon to 10 p.m. |
| Friday | 5:30 a.m. to midnight | Noon to 11 p.m. |
| Saturday | 7 a.m. to midnight | Noon to 11 p.m. |
| Sunday | 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Noon to 9 p.m. |
On Friday and Saturday nights, the four-table café on Sunrise stays open an hour later than the 34-year-old Italian restaurant.
Getting to North Park Avenue takes a little more planning this fall. Parking Field 23, the municipal lot between Clinton and North Park avenues, was scheduled to close on September 8 for rehabilitation. The village said it would stay closed during construction and directed drivers to other municipal fields. That September notice gave no reopening date and warned that weather or other circumstances could delay the work. The village Engineering Department takes questions at 516-678-9271. Electric upgrades are also continuing at the Lister Park Parking Lot.
The Merrick Road Corner Is on a 2027 Timeline
The third spot to watch is still empty. Chat Noir, at 228 Merrick Road and South Village Avenue, closed in late 2025. Long Island Business News reported in August that the building sold for $960,000. The new owner plans to renovate the facade and exterior and offer the retail space to a future tenant. A September 25 Herald report said the building was still vacant, the renovation was expected to finish in 2027, and no lease had been signed.
That puts the downtown dining picture on three timelines. North Park Avenue's landmark is open now. Sunrise Highway has one new café open and one renovated room still to come. The Merrick Road corner won't have a tenant until sometime after its 2027 renovation.
The October Dates Still Ahead
Most of the village's fall events are away from both dining strips, at Tanglewood Preserve, Veterans Park and the municipal fields. One event runs on Front Street, which sits beneath the station beside Sunrise Highway.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 9–11, 16–18, 23–25, 6–9 p.m. | Spooky Fest, Center for Science Teaching & Learning | Tanglewood Preserve, 1450 Tanglewood Rd. |
| Oct. 10, 11 a.m.–1 p.m. | Dog Meet-Up & Holiday Parade, second annual | RVC Municipal Field No. 2 |
| Oct. 10, 7–10 p.m. | Backyard Players & Friends Oktoberfest, fourth annual | St. Agnes Parish Center |
| Oct. 23, music 8–11 p.m. | Funktoberfest with Tales of Funk & Soul | Press 195 |
| Oct. 24, noon–3 p.m. | Fall Fest, free | School of Rock, 197 N. Long Beach Rd. |
| Oct. 25 | Halloween Parade and Party | John A. Anderson Recreation Center, Veterans Park |
| Oct. 30, 7:30 p.m. | South Shore Symphony Halloween Spooktacular | Madison Theatre, 1000 Hempstead Ave. |
| Nov. 14, 8:30 a.m. fun run, 9:30 a.m. 5K | Village of Rockville Centre 5K and 1-Mile Family Fun Run | Front Street, North Village to Centre avenues |
A few details for planning. Spooky Fest's Enchanted Forest is aimed at families, and Spooky Woods is the scarier option for anyone who wants more of a fright. Registration for the Halloween Parade is open through the village's RecDesk portal. Organizers of the dog meet-up are collecting sheets and towels for Posh Pets Rescue. The Backyard Players Oktoberfest is an adults' evening with live music from Jerry & The Newcomers, and the proceeds go to the group's recreational programs.
If you own a building on Sunrise Highway or North Park Avenue and want to know what this fall's changes mean for your property's value, Steven Kramer - Main Site offers a confidential consultation built on what is actually happening on your block.
