Off Main Owner Trying Out for New Gig

A new day could soon be dawning for one of the owners of , which closed this summer.

Off Main's Facebook page announced "exciting news" on Tuesday, stating that Kayleigh Van Vliet-Baig, who owned Off Main with her husband Tahir Baig, will be "trying out" Friday morning, cooking at the on Sound Avenue in Riverhead.

The Facebook notice urges friends and customers to join Van Vliet-Baig and "give her a boost."

Baig and Van Vliet-Baig opened last year. The eatery was a New York-style deli open for breakfast and lunch, offering homemade cinnamon rolls, homemade pastrami, gourmet sandwiches made-to-order, paninis and more. The shop also carried a variety of grocery items including fresh-ground coffee, canned goods, dairy products and local organic produce.  

For the two young business owners, Off Main, located on Osborn Avenue at the site of the former Peconic Baking Co., was the realization of a dream. 

“I was a clerk at a gas station and I was tired of living someone else’s dream,” said Tahir Baig. “I wanted to live my own.”

Baig, 27, who worked for years in a grocery store, said at the time that he would lean on his wife’s talents as a chef – she worked as a sous chef at the Meadow Club in Southampton and studied at the Suffolk County Community College Culinary Arts Program in Riverhead – coupled with his retail experience.

Neither Baig nor his wife could immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday; the owner of the Garden of Eve Organic Farm was on vacation and could not immediately respond.

Were you sorry to see Off Main close? Will you be happy to see Kayleigh Van Vliet-Baig at a new eatery? Share your well wishes and thoughts in the comments section.