Marcellus, N.Y. — Daniel’s Grill, the only fine-dining option in this small village, will close its doors for good after dinner service on Saturday night.
Dan Curley, 62, owned the restaurant that sits along Nine Mile Creek with his wife Dina since 2004. They had been considering closing off and on over the past year. They finally decided last month to move on.
“I love what I do,” he said Thursday afternoon. “But my wife is ready to retire, and I can’t do it without her. It’s sad, I know. The mom-and-pop places are going away.”
Between the two of them, the Curleys have more than 50 years of combined experience in cooking and catering expertise. Before opening Daniel’s, Dan cooked in restaurants all over the East Coast, including Boston and New York.
Specialties at Daniel’s included lobster ravioli with pink vodka sauce, New York strip steak au poivre, seafood puttanesca topped with fried calamari and crab cakes.
Even during the Covid-19 shutdown, Daniel’s remained popular. Former syracuse.com restaurant critic Jane Marmaduke Woodman raved about her takeout meals that she reviewed from home.
“The day is fast approaching when we’ll feel comfortable dining inside a restaurant,” she wrote. “Never having tried Daniel’s Grill before, we were delighted to discover a place we’ll be returning to for.”
Over the past two decades, Daniel’s Grill became a spot for locals to gather for a cocktail and a sit-down dinner. Rich Nojaim, the owner of Nojaim Brothers supermarket a mile away, has been bringing his wife, Lori, there almost every week.
“We’re all neighbors here,” Nojaim said last week, before hearing of the restaurant closing. “We walk in there and see the same people that I’ve seen all week here (at the supermarket. It’s family.”
After working 75 hours per week since opening the restaurant, Dan said he and Dina will spend time traveling before moving onto their next venture.
He’s confident someone will come along and fill this void. Dina has an online listing for the property ready to go. It will likely publish on Sunday.
“I feel like we’re letting people down,” he said. “We appreciate that we were appreciated. But it’s time.”
Daniel’s Grill is located on North Street in Marcellus.Stephen D. Cannerelli
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Charlie Miller finds the best in food, drink and fun across Central New York. Contact him at (315) 382-1984, or by email at cmiller@syracuse.com. You can also find him under @HoosierCuse on Twitter and on Instagram. Sign up for his free weekly Where Syracuse Eats newsletter here.
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