It’s been out of commission for eight years, but The Old Mill Inn in Mattituck is back. Lovingly restored and packing crack front- and back-of-house teams, it may well be this year’s "it" North Fork restaurant.

Owner Anthony Martignetti was first lured out to the North Fork by the wines. It was almost 20 years ago when the New York City hospitality impresario started serving Shinn Estate wines at Brinkley’s, the now-closed gastropub he and his brother owned in Soho. Vintner Barbara Shinn invited him out to see her Mattituck operation (now under new ownership and called Rose Hill Vineyards) and he was overwhelmed by the visit: "What is going on out here?" was his main takeaway.

Spending more and more time in the area, he looked for a farmhouse to fix up but could not find one within his budget. What he could afford was The Old Mill Inn, a 200-year-old structure on Mattituck Creek that, after many owners and iterations, had given up the ghost in 2017.

"There was water coming through the floorboards," he recalled. "There was no electrical or plumbing — it was practically condemned." But it was only $625,000.

Martignetti was able to see through the wreckage to the structure’s soul which, he said, "encompassed so much history, so many lives." He was as entranced by its past as he was bullish on its future. Built in 1820, it served as a tidal gristmill for the next 80 years. Before today’s boutique farms and wineries, before even the heyday of Suffolk's vaunted potato fields, there was plenty of wheat and other grains raised on the North Fork "for flour to bake bread and for animal feed. Before the railroad [which reached the North Fork in 1844] and the modern roads, people here had to grow almost everything they needed."

The mill served farmers from Riverhead to Southold. Those from points west reached it via West Mill Drive, as customers do today. But, to shave off a few miles for those coming from the east, East Mill Road, which today ends at the water’s edge, used to continue across a bridge over the creek. In 1902, a steam-powered mill opened a few miles south, rendering the water-powered mill obsolete. The building was transformed into a "gin mill" that evolved into a Prohibition-era speakeasy and, after that, a tavern and inn.

From 2018 until this May, Martignetti deepened (deeply) his initial investment, moving the building off its foundation for a year, sinking 67 new pilings into the creek and raising the foundation 5 feet before putting the building back. He kept as much of the old structure as possible, including the original beams, the gear cog (that turned the millstone) and, from its earliest days as a tavern, the zinc bar. The decor of the 50-seat dining room is classic, vaguely nautical, but never tilts into nostalgic kitsch. The newly built deck, with a more modern feel, seats another 20 people. A lower deck, with another 50 seats, is used only for drinks.

Martignetti’s team could have squeezed more capacity out of the building — and he knows he could fill those seats in the summer — but staying small will, he hopes, enable the inn to stay open through the winter, when both staff and customers thin out.

Tess Wonderling, a North Fork hospitality veteran, was engaged as the general manager and Kyle Bloomer, formerly of Greenport’s The Halyard and Bruce & Son, took the kitchen reins. Like the decor, his menu updates the classics without running too far afield.

There are local treasures such as Peeko and Little Ram oysters, greens from KK’s The Farm in Southold, asparagus from Cooper’s Farm in Mattituck. Starters include smoked beet dip with labne and grilled pita ($16), black-garlic chicken wings $20) and fluke ceviche ($23). Mains include Baja-style fish tacos ($24) and a fine lobster roll ($44) at lunch, roast chicken with maitake mushrooms and salsa verde ($36) and swordfish with red-pepper chimichurri ($44) at dinner, and fish and chips ($34) and double burger with Gruyère and garlic aioli ($26) all day.

The wine list is drawn primarily from the North Fork and includes a few bottles from Old Sound, a micro-winery owned by Martignetti, now a winemaker as well as a North Fork resident, a man who has indeed come full circle.

The Old Mill Inn, 5775 W. Mill Rd., Mattituck, 631-621-2251, oldmillnorthfork.com. Open Monday and Wednesday to Friday 4 to 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday noon to 3 p.m. and 4 to 9 p.m., closed Monday. No children under 18.