Inside of The Shed in Huntington. Photo by Melissa Sorice
Huntington’s new American eatery, The Shed, is the type of restaurant I could live in. The menu is drool-worthy. The vibe is comfortable, a sort of rustic chic, but with interesting art lining the walls and wallpaper that has bunnies on it—and if you’re a Huntington local it’s convenient, located a hop away from the Paramount on New Street. It’s the type of place you want to settle into and stay awhile, and as The Shed is serving lunch and dinner, Tuesdays-Fridays and brunch, lunch and dinner, Saturday and Sunday, you can do exactly that.
You can order breakfast all day at The Shed. Photo by Melissa Sorice
“On the fourth day we were open I’m talking to some of the servers and one of them says ‘I have some regulars coming in,’ and I go ‘Regulars? We’ve been open for three days. But those customers had been here every day,” said owner John Tunney.
Glance at the menu and it’s easy to see why people keep coming back—a hot honey chicken sandwich, avocado toast and sunny eggs, quinoa bowl—you’d need to keep coming back to try every dish on the menu.
“It’s the type of place you can have an omelet or a steak for dinner,” Tunney said.
The hot honey chicken sandwich is quickly become one of the popular dishes at The Shed. Photo by Melissa Sorice
Bob Baez is overseeing the kitchen putting out breakfast, lunch and dinner dishes with almost everything priced under $20. A couple of customer favorites that have came up in the few weeks the restaurant has been opened include the Burrata, with chili berry jam, pea shoots, toast, “It’s unbelievably tasty,” Tunney said, comfort food like the Chicken and Waffles and Shed Burger, and salads such as the classic Cobb and Shed Bowl, of roasted chicken, wild rice, arugula, radish, sweet potatoes, sunflower seeds, mushrooms and goat cheese with a spice honey vinaigrette.
“All the dishes are staples of American cuisine but done with high quality, so with something as simple as a burger we’re grinding the meat every morning. Everything is from scratch,” Tunney said.
For Tunney who owns the Besito Restaurant Group, The Shed is a departure from his normal restaurants featuring upscale Mexican and Italian cuisine but it was a place he thought was needed.
Meat for the burgers are ground each morning at The Shed. Photo by Melissa Sorice
“When a spot becomes available, I always look at it very closely and think about what the neighborhood is missing.” Tunney said. “I think there’s a market for a breakfast, lunch, dinner place, a neighborhood kind of place.”
The Shed isn’t large, but it’s cozy. The outdoor space with its white furniture and benches will have you feeling like you’re in California, but the best seats in the house according to Tunney are the three tables on a balcony right off the bar where you have a view of practically the whole restaurant.
“It’s a happy, upbeat place,” Tunney said.
