The name “Love Lane Kitchen” isn’t just a nod to the equally adorable street that the restaurant calls home in Mattituck. It truly encompasses the DNA of this North Fork icon: colorful, cozy, familiar, welcoming.

The daily specials are scrawled on a chalkboard. Years of accolades and news clippings, including a framed Wall Street Journal article, hang proudly on the walls. “Live a beautiful life” is written above the entrance to the kitchen. “You are my sunshine” is stenciled in bright yellow on the front window, matching the painted yellow bike with a basket full of flowers — and a missing seat — chained to the nearby street sign.

The table on the other side of that window is where owner Carolyn Iannone and I catch up as another busy breakfast and lunch rush begins to wind down. As I settle in with my mug of hot drip coffee from the self-serve station, I notice another painted sign straight ahead that reads: “Today I will be as happy as a bird with a French fry.” I mean, how could you not be in a place like this?

‘It’s never about the eggs‘ 

Stepping inside feels less like entering a business and more like walking into an old friend’s kitchen. It’s like a family reunion every day of the year. Iannone’s philosophy: People might come for the bacon and eggs, but “it’s never about the eggs.”

It’s about a sense of belonging.

“It takes people like 15 minutes to sit down. They’re all saying hello to each other,” Iannone smiles as she describes the customers who have become like family to both her and each other. “And it does have that same hum of energy that really feeds me… it’s like a little bit of magic because you can see it happening.”

She points out a family sitting at the communal table. They have four kids, and “every single one of them has sat in that high chair,” she says, laughing. “They’re big now.”

Right on cue, another regular stops by our table on his way out to ask about her recent trip to Tahoe. Like a North Fork version of Cheers, Iannone knows everyone’s name.

From one big family to another 

Iannone didn’t grow up in the restaurant industry, but she was raised around a never-ending parade of food and guests as part of a large Italian-American family in East Moriches. Her mother was one of seven sisters, giving Iannone 26 first cousins.

“Just kind of what you would imagine as a big, chaotic Italian family… we always loved to just gather around the biggest table, or multiple tables in multiple rooms… it really is just about being together,” Iannone remembers.

Despite the unintentional hospitality training her entire life, that wasn’t the plan when she went off to SUNY Albany for college. She studied journalism, and her goal was to “eat, drink, travel, write and get paid for it.”

Upon graduation, she started working at Palmer Vineyards, where she fell in love with the world of wine. During that time, she rented an apartment across from Love Lane Kitchen, where she became a regular before she ever collected a paycheck. She points out the window where the previous managers would toss rocks, signaling it was time for her to come over and hang out while they closed for the night. 

Iannone started managing the restaurant in 2009, and when the owners decided to sell three years later, she made a snap decision that forever changed the trajectory of her life: She put in an offer, and to her surprise, they accepted.

“In my little naive brain at the time, I was like, ‘Well, what’s the world without Love Lane Kitchen?’” she remembers.

A storybook level of community 

The community connection extends beyond the clientele. Not only does Iannone prioritize local purveyors for items like wine, produce, and seafood, but they are literally her friends. She and Cody Homan of Braun Seafood Co. even host a podcast together called “For the Love of Business,” where they interview other business owners around the region.

Iannone says it’s totally normal for farmers to show up unannounced with fresh micro-greens they think she might like, or for winemakers to hand-deliver a fresh case at the back door and grab a sandwich on their way to their next stop.

“It happens so organically, and it sounds like Belle in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ sweeping the street saying, ‘Bonjour, bonjour.’ But honestly, the North Fork is legitimately picturesque like that,” she says.

But those magical vibes are most evident within the Love Lane Kitchen staff itself, many of whom have been with her since she was a manager here.

“My entire kitchen, my full-time staff, my management team. It’s incredible. Everyone’s been here,” she says. Executive chef Cory Guastella is like an Italian little brother to her, raised on all the same Italian-American dishes. Meanwhile, her actual sister, Elisa Ferrebee, is the manager and has been at the restaurant for 12 years. Her superpower is calming even the grumpiest of guests. Iannone jokes, “By the end, they’ll be hugging each other goodbye.”

As my partner and photographer, Justin, and I split the Cuban panini with fried plantains, Elisa tells us that for the longest time, she didn’t realize it was a hot sandwich because she had only ever eaten it cold — usually hovering over a garbage can in the back. But every once in a while, she visits the restaurant on a day off as a guest and is reminded why people love it here so much. “It’s actually really nice,” she laughs.

Weathering the storms 

Of course, it’s not all fairytales and rainbows. There have been countless times Iannone wanted to quit, especially when the restaurant was forced to close during the pandemic in March 2020. It was during those dark days she realized that “Carolyn Iannone is not Love Lane Kitchen. And Love Lane Kitchen is not Carolyn Iannone,” as she famously wrote in a first-person magazine essay in 2021.

“When we really were struggling through COVID, people showed up and bought thousands of dollars of gift cards for us,” Iannone says. “It just goes to show that it’s not just about those connections and that community… people show up for each other here.”

While many businesses close or switch to limited hours in the winter, Love Lane Kitchen remains open year-round to serve both the customers and the staff, even if it means operating in the red for a few months.

“I’ve always made the decision to take the hit in the winter because it means that we’re here for the locals and we’re here for my staff,” she says.

To help offset that hit and give locals a reason to venture out on freezing nights, Iannone leans on popular off-season traditions like Burger Mondays and, new this year, Saucy Sundays — a comforting nod to her and Guastella’s shared Italian roots.

“The food is really good. It’s not overly complicated,” Iannone says.”It’s a good deal. And people show up for that.”

Resiliency isn’t always about navigating a global crisis or surviving an unusually long winter. Sometimes it means constantly tweaking the menu to adapt to changing habits. Justin snaps a few photos as Iannone mixes up his Mezcal Paloma at the bar, which contrasts with the bright non-alcoholic “Pomegranate Splash” that I ordered. She explains that she recently added an N/A program because “people are drinking less” but still want beautiful ingredients.

Through all the pivots and panics, Iannone has emerged stronger than ever.

“I’m scared of nothing now and I’m just like… try me,” she says.

It’s a fearlessness born from experience. That yellow bike parked out front? Iannone bought it from an 11-year-old in Los Angeles when she was living there and broke. She keeps it as a humble reminder of the time in her life when she survived off farmers market samples.

“If we can survive what we survived in the last six years, we’ll be here forever,” she adds.

The unchanging communal table 

As we wrap up our conversation, I ask if the communal table is a nod to those large Italian gatherings she experienced in East Moriches as a kid. She says she wishes she could take credit, but it’s been here since the beginning. Same goes for the beloved self-serve coffee station, which has become the restaurant’s version of the office water cooler.

“Some things just weren’t meant to be changed, it gives people comfort,” she notes, adding, “I get to know so many people at the coffee station.”

Both offer a level of connection that people appreciate.

“When you’re out in the world and you’re talking to the table next to you, you realize like everyone’s just doing their best and it’s nice to understand that there’s so much more good. There’s so much more joy. There’s so much more resilience in the world,” Iannone says. “And we’re so lucky to have those small conversations throughout the day every day here.”