History: Charlie and Jeanette Dassaro owned the Carving Board restaurant for more than thirty years. The Calverton eatery served as a gathering place for all the Grummanites. However, the local business community took a major hit after the closing of Grumman. The Carving Board was the only business to survive in the area.
In 2009, Jeannette decided she wanted to retire. Charlie had passed, and she had been running the business by herself. Charlie Jr., her son, approached his sister Joanne and her husband John Leibold, saying he wanted to keep the business in the family instead of selling it after his mother retired.
But in order to do that, they realized they had to move in a different direction to survive in the dwindling business community. With all the chain restaurants in the area, they felt as if they were fighting a losing battle by staying in the restaurant business. That’s when Joanne came up with the idea of a bagel café where the community could once again gather and enjoy that family friendly atmosphere The Carving Board was famous for.
They named the business in honor of their father, taking the name from a small café in Barbados that Charlie and Jeanette would visit on their regular vacations there. They closed down shop to renovate, and after a year of construction reopened as the new Bean and Bagel Café.
Description: The family strives to serve the community and make it a part of the “Bean family,” providing the same loving atmosphere as the former Carving Board.
“It’s not an easy business to be in, especially since we’re a free-standing building in the middle of nowhere,” said Leibold.
The family aims to provide fresh food with a diversified menu and consistently new products.
“We don’t put a smile on our face and act friendly because corporate told us to,” Leibold said. “We really enjoy what we do. The Bean & Bagel is so fortunate to be in a great community; we do not look at people as money, but as friends and family.
What makes them unique: Leibold travelled to Brooklyn to learn how to make traditional boiled stone-baked bagels. The bagels are made from scratch on premises.
“We wanted to bring the [boiled stone-baked] tradition out to the island, because no one does it that way out here,” said Leibold. “It’s very hard work, but we want to serve the best to our community,” Leibold said.
The future: “We are currently working on a few new product lines for the spring,” said Leibold.
The first step is “going national” — people will be able to order bagels and have them shipped anywhere in the continental states. “We want to be able to serve kids at college, snow-birds down south and jealous family that miss the New York bagel scene,” said Leibold.
Next, they plan on putting in an iced coffee bar, with at least ten blended iced-coffees to choose from, as well as a seasonal selection. When that is complete, the next step will be a yogurt bar that will feature ace bowls, homemade specialty granolas, yogurt smoothies and acai smoothies.
Contact:
Visit their website at beanandbagelcafe.com or email them at beanbagelcalverton@aol.com
Phone: 238.5858 Fax: 238.5860
Bean & Bagel Cafe
4426 Route 25
Calverton, NY 11933
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