Arts & Entertainment

Food Network to Spotlight Restaurant with Wantagh Roots

The journey of a Wantagh couple who own an eatery in Pennsylvania will be featured on the show "Restaurant Impossible."

A Pennsylvania restaurant with Wantagh roots will be showcased to a national television audience next month.  

Former longtime Wantagh resident Roger Murray will be appearing on the hit Food Network show “Restaurant Impossible” slated to air June 9 at 10 p.m. The show will highlight how Roger and his wife Sandy decided to tackle owning their own restaurant near a vacation home in Greeley, Pa. after the husband lost his successful corporate job during the economic downturn. Sandy Murray remains in Wantagh working for a company in Melville while Roger is in Pennsylvania running the day-to-day operations of the new restaurant called Pinehurst Country Lodge

The show’s episode entitled “Lost in the Woods”, chronicles how Roger Murray, who had no previous restaurant experience, purchased the Pennsylvania eatery located near the Woodloch Resort and was $350,000 in debt and in danger of losing everything. The show’s host, Chef Robert Irvine, then has two days to give Murray the tools and authority needed to lead his staff to success.

Murray said the decision to try running a restaurant in Pennsylvania was made after he struggled to find new employment at age 53 on Long Island.

“We had to try something to get by and owning something on Long Island was not an affordable proposition,” Murray explained. “So we decided after years of searching for employment that we would try and be proactive rather than wait for a job to come along.”

The June 9 Food Network episode of “Restaurant Impossible” featuring the Murray’s new establishment will also be re-aired on June 10 at 1 a.m. and June 12 at 9 p.m. For further information, log onto the show's website


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