The Work We Do: Cathy Blasko, Braun’s Grill in Cutchogue

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Hi, I’m Cathy Blasko. I am a manager here at Braun’s Grill. We are a seafood take-out restaurant located here in Cutchogue. 

We rely on the local baymen’s products.

In the morning I can come in and see what they’ve brought in for the day and say ‘Oh, yeah. I want that on my menu for today.’

We’re coming into Peconic Bay scallop season soon, so on Nov. 4, we’ll see what kind come in.

Then we start preparing for the day and by 11:30, we’re ready to roll. It’s like a normal restaurant where you come in and you get everything made. We make a lot of the stuff ourselves — the sauces, salads, soups.

The restaurant business has been part of my life forever. My grandfather worked at the old Mitchell’s. My mother and all of her sisters worked at Mitchell’s. They were waitresses. My mother actually was pregnant with me when she was waitressing, so it’s like I was born to do this.

I started out working in the market, which was really great because I got a lot of experience. I learned how to cut the fish and open clams and oysters. The people that work here are great teachers. If you have any questions about any of the fish or clams or how to open something easier, the guys in the back, they’re so willing to help you. It is a family here.

I had no knowledge about fish. I was raised on a farm out here in Southold, so I knew more about potatoes and cauliflower.

We have a new menu that just came out for Braun’s Grill. I love it. We don’t try to do too much to the local fish because people want to taste their fish. The specials, however, that’s where we put a little flair.

It’s a warm feeling. People come in and you greet them. If you know their name, you call them by name, even with our summer customers. We know their families. We’re now into the second generation. The children of the people that were coming in our first year are now coming in with their kids.

Snowbirds will come in and say goodbye to us before they leave to go and say ‘We’ll see you in the spring.’

It’s a really nice feeling, cultivating that over almost 14 years.

“The Work We Do” is a Suffolk Times multimedia project profiling workers on the North Fork.