There is a new answer to the date night question in Smithtown, and it involves aprons. Taste Buds Kitchen, a cooking class studio that runs sessions for what it calls ages 2 to 99, is up and running at 102 West Main Street, Suite H, in the heart of downtown Smithtown. It is the first Long Island studio for the national brand, and the state paperwork that landed this week says the adult classes are about to get more interesting.

On Tuesday, the State Liquor Authority issued a temporary retail permit to DC Ventures North Shore LLC, the Suffolk County company behind the Smithtown studio. A temporary permit is the bridge the state issues while a full application works through the system, and this one has been in the works for a while: the company filed for a full food and beverage license back on April 9. Until it all lands, the studio's own site notes that events can run BYOB. Either way, the direction is clear. The wine is coming to the date night classes.

What a cooking class studio actually is

The model is closer to a night out than a classroom. Adults book themed evenings where the group cooks a full menu and then eats it, couples book date nights, and companies book the room for team events. On the other side of the schedule, the studio runs kids' cooking classes, birthday parties, school break camps and field trips, which is why the brand's tagline stretches from toddlers to great-grandparents. Seasonal one-offs, like gingerbread house workshops in December, fill in the calendar between.

Taste Buds Kitchen has grown to 36 studios across 23 states, each one independently owned. Until now, the only New York location was in Chelsea, in Manhattan. Smithtown is the brand's first studio on Long Island, and the company's own map shows it will not be the last: a second Long Island location is listed at 765 Pulaski Road in Greenlawn, marked as a grand opening coming soon.

Main Street keeps filling in

The studio's address puts it in the middle of downtown Smithtown's storefront row on West Main Street, a strip that has been steadily collecting reasons to park and walk. A business built on birthday parties and weeknight classes is a different kind of tenant than a restaurant: it books in advance, it fills weekday afternoons that restaurants sleep through, and it pulls families from a wide radius on a repeating schedule.

The corporate paper trail here is young and local. DC Ventures North Shore LLC was formed in Suffolk County on July 30, 2025, filed its liquor application in April, and had the Smithtown studio open for bookings this summer, with weekday hours running 8 to 5 and events available seven days a week. The pace, from new LLC to open studio to a second location queued up in Greenlawn in barely a year, says the operators are betting Long Island can support the concept in more than one town.

What it means for your week

If you have kids, this is a birthday party venue and a school break plan within walking distance of Smithtown's Main Street restaurants. If you do not, it is a date night that is not dinner and a movie: two aprons, one menu, and, once the license paperwork finishes its trip through Albany, a glass of wine while you cook. Smithtown got the first one on the Island. Greenlawn is next, and how quickly that one opens will say a lot about how the first one is doing.