For years, a night out in Westbury meant one thing: pick a show at the theater in the round, park in the lot, drive home. Dinner happened somewhere else. The village center, with its free summer concerts at Piazza Ernesto Strada, sat quietly a few blocks away, mostly known to the people who lived within walking distance of it.
That gap has closed. Between the new residential buildings along Merrick Avenue and Corporate Drive, the free Thursday concert series on Post Avenue, and the two ticketed rooms bookending the village, a summer evening in Westbury now holds together as a single itinerary. Here is the current shape of it, with the places and dates worth knowing.
The Restaurants Attached to the New Buildings
The most concrete change in the last eighteen months has nothing to do with the theaters. It has to do with where the newest dining rooms sit. Two of them are physically inside luxury residential projects developed by the Beechwood Organization, which means the rooms were designed as amenities first and destinations second. That distinction matters. The scale is different, the parking is easier, and the crowd skews toward people who live within the same complex.
The Comet Club opened this spring at 990 Corporate Drive inside The Vanderbilt, a luxury residential and hotel property developed by the Beechwood Organization. The project is a partnership between Beechwood's Steven and Michael Dubb and hospitality operators Chef Jesse Schenker and Claudia Taglich of Oyster Bay's Lush Life Group. Schenker is a two-time James Beard Award nominee, and the room is positioned as Westbury's luxury coastal chophouse, with prime steaks, exceptional seafood, an abundant raw bar, and seasonal cooking. The interior leans throwback-meets-tropical, blending Gilded Age New York with 1920s-era Miami and Havana influences. Practical detail worth knowing: it operates seven nights a week with bar service starting at 4 p.m. and dinner beginning at 5 p.m., closing times ranging from 9 p.m. on Sundays to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Reservations are recommended and valet parking is available.
The Farm Italy Westbury is the second act. It arrived through a similar formula, a collaboration with Beechwood Homes, situated just steps from The Selby luxury apartment community. The Westbury dining room mirrors the Huntington flagship's menu, including Branzino in burro bianco, fresh Pappardelle Bolognese, the Double R Ranch NY Strip, and the signature Cacio e Pepe. The space seats 150 inside, with two private dining rooms, an Italian bar beneath skylights, custom artwork and fixtures, and a fireplace, plus outdoor seating for 70 on a covered terrace and open-air patio with a fire pit.
The Shed Restaurant rounds out The Selby's culinary lineup at 685 Merrick Ave. It runs an all-day brunch model and keeps late hours by suburban standards, Mon-Thurs 11am-9pm, Fri 11am-10pm, Sat 9am-10pm, Sun 9am-9pm. Two things to know before you go: The Shed does not take reservations but runs a text-based waitlist at the door, and the patio is the point during warm months.
For classical Long Island Italian in the village proper, Steve's Piccola Bussola has been at it for decades, famous for signature dishes including grilled octopus and calamari, linguine filetto di pomodoro, and chicken scapariello. Spuntino Wine Bar & Italian Tapas hosts smaller-format events like wine walk-arounds and pasta classes in the same neighborhood. Both are worth having in rotation when the newer rooms are booked.
Thursday Nights at the Piazza
Free outdoor concerts are the connective tissue. Westbury Arts programs an annual series at Piazza Ernesto Strada, and the 2026 calendar is the reason to plan Thursday dinners early enough to walk over.
The piazza sits at the corner of Post and Maple Ave, and the format is what you would hope: bring a chair, arrive before seven, stay until the light goes. Rain sends the show to the Westbury Community Center at 360 Post Avenue. Parking is free after 6 p.m. in the village lots.
This year's confirmed lineup, based on Westbury Arts and Eventbrite listings:
| Date | Act | Style |
|---|---|---|
| Thu, Jul 9 | The Afro Latineers | Latin jazz with west African rhythms |
| Thu, Jul 16 | The Nu Groove Project | Motown to pop to funk to rock |
| Thu, Aug 6 | Rock Stars From Mars | Rock covers |
The evenings are billed as free rock and pop under the stars, and the crowd is a mix of people who walked over from a nearby table and families who came specifically for the show. The programming is by local performers, ranging from jazz to hip-hop, all free and open to the public, made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
The reason to care about the exact calendar: if your Thursday dinner runs long, you have missed the show. The concerts start at 7 and the piazza is a five-minute walk from most of the village dining rooms.
The Two Rooms at Either End of Post Avenue
Ticketed shows in Westbury run at two very different venues, and the distinction is worth internalizing before you buy.
Flagstar at Westbury Music Fair, the 3,000-seat theater in the round that most locals still call by its NYCB or Music Fair name, has the bigger touring acts. It was built in the theater in the round style, seats more than three thousand people, and was initially built to play host to musicals. The 2026 summer slate includes Gladys Knight on June 27, Alison Krauss and Union Station on July 9 and 10, Aziz Ansari on July 14 and 15, and The Stray Cats on August 14. The Happy Together Tour played the room on June 6. One practical note that catches first-timers off guard: parking is included in the price of your ticket, and when the main lot fills, a satellite parking lot on Brush Hollow Road is used.
The Space at Westbury, at 250 Post Avenue with parking throughout the Village of Westbury for no charge, is the smaller, tribute-heavy sibling. Upcoming shows on the calendar include a Rolling Stones tribute on October 17, a Return to Paradise Styx tribute paired with an Awaken set on Halloween, and a Journey, Foreigner, and Bon Jovi tribute night on November 21. The Space also programs candlelight concerts and comedy specials, plus a Concert for Bangladesh 25-year revisitation on November 28. It is not a substitute for Flagstar. It is a different night, closer in scale to a club show, and it sits directly inside the village grid, which means dinner beforehand is walkable in a way it is not from Brush Hollow Road.
Stringing It Together
The reason all of this adds up to something new, and not just a list of separate updates, is geography. The Selby, The Vanderbilt, the Piazza, and The Space at Westbury all sit close enough that one evening can hold two of them without a car in between. Flagstar sits a few minutes farther east and pairs more naturally with dinner at The Comet Club, which was built for exactly that pre-show slot.
A workable Thursday in July looks like this:
- Early dinner at The Shed or The Farm Italy near The Selby, holding a 5:30 or 6:00 table.
- Walk to Piazza Ernesto Strada by 6:45 for the 7:00 concert.
- Cap the night at Spuntino for a late glass, or continue to a 9:00 show at The Space at Westbury if the calendar aligns.
A Saturday shifts the anchor to Flagstar. Dinner at The Comet Club at 5:00 lands you at the theater comfortably before an 8:00 show, with valet handling the parking question on both ends. That sequence did not exist here two years ago, and it is the change most likely to matter to anyone who still thinks of Westbury as a place you drive to for one thing at a time.
If You Are Home in Westbury This Summer
The short version: the village has more evening options this year than it has had in a long time, and the ones worth planning around have dates attached. Book The Comet Club or The Farm Italy a week ahead on show weekends. Put the three remaining Westbury Arts concerts on the calendar now. And if you have out-of-town family visiting between July and August, a Thursday walkable itinerary reads better than it has in years.
If you are weighing a move within the village or thinking about how the neighborhood's evening life factors into a longer-term decision, Joanne Hantzopoulos is happy to talk through what the block-by-block picture looks like right now. Let's connect.