A familiar stretch of Jericho Turnpike in Commack is getting new life. Restaurateurs Chris Perrotta and Frank Ubriaco plan to open Bar Franco at 6005 Jericho Turnpike in October 2026, taking over the space long occupied by Jackson's, the gastropub that closed its doors last September.
A New Concept Where Jackson's Once Stood
Perrotta and Ubriaco will call their new venture Bar Franco, and according to Newsday, they are taking over the old Jackson's on Jericho Turnpike in Commack and calling it Bar Franco. The pair hopes to have the restaurant open by the end of October, per the same report. Bar Franco is planned to seat about 100 people, a scale similar to what the space handled during Jackson's nearly two-decade run.
Jackson's operated at 6005 Jericho Turnpike as a gastropub for 19 years before shutting down in September 2025, as DailyVoice reported. The restaurant's owning family said at the time that the cost of everything has gone up so much and that it's just not sustainable anymore, according to the outlet.
What's On the Menu at Bar Franco
Bar Franco is expected to offer a menu similar to that at Uncle Frank's, featuring artisanal pizza, refined pastas, and Italian starters and sides, but with the addition of burgers, steaks and some casual entrees, the report notes. That expanded lineup suggests Bar Franco will lean more casual than some of the team's other concepts while still drawing on their established Italian-leaning playbook.
Perrotta and Ubriaco already operate three other Long Island restaurants: Blackbird Kitchen & Cocktails in Wantagh, Rustic Root in Woodbury, and Uncle Frank's Pizza & Cocktails, also in Wantagh. Bar Franco would mark their fourth Long Island location, according to DailyVoice.
A Second Attempt To Fill the Space
Bar Franco is not the first venture to try to move into the vacated Jackson's footprint. Shortly after Jackson's closed last September, a restaurant called Noto announced it was taking over the space, but that venture fell through, Newsday reports. Bar Franco now represents the latest attempt to bring a full-service restaurant back to the long-running Commack address.
The turnover comes amid a rocky stretch for Long Island's restaurant scene. Newsday's own roundup of 2026 closures noted that one of Long Island's most ambitious Japanese restaurants, House of Yoshin, shut down after not much more than a year in business. Rising costs have been squeezing operators well beyond Commack, too — Restaurant Dive reported that ballooning food and labor costs, along with higher insurance premiums, are further straining restaurant finances, while the National Restaurant Association said persistent cost increases and enduring demand will shape the industry in 2026.
For now, the plans for Bar Franco give Commack diners a concrete target date to watch for this fall, with an established local team betting that its expanded, Uncle Frank's-inspired menu can succeed where Jackson's ultimately could not.
