Billy Joel Who? Meet Fox Hollow's "Piano Man"

If you've only been to Woodbury's Fox Hollow for a catered affair, you might appreciate the fine food and impeccable service, but you may not know that it is also home to one of the few remaining piano bars on Long Island.

Followers of musician Drew Hill have kept his local piano gig a secret for too long. I suppose we just wanted to preserve the intimacy of the venue and were intoxicated by the undivided attention from Glenn, the bartender.

For a while it was just a few "regulars," and we liked it that way. We'd go to the lounge every Wednesday night and request obscure songs by Elton John or Stevie Wonder. Drew's friends from Sea Cliff would come and request Billy Joel tunes.  Then there were always a few couples celebrating an anniversary and requesting love songs and ballads.

We were more than happy to share our Wednesday evenings with business travelers who were staying at The Inn next door. One night, a man from Seattle was so moved by Drew's rendition of "Still Crazy" that he actually had his wife join us via cell phone for another Paul Simon song.

That was a long time ago. Our little secret is out and we don't always get a seat at the bar anymore. Sometimes we settle for a table by the fireplace instead. The crowd, no matter how large, remains intimate. By the end of the night, Drew knows everyone by name. The audience is so diverse that you might hear Frank Sinatra or Gershwin at 7 p.m. and wind up singing along to The Beatles or Queen by 10 p.m.

Late one night,  men and women split up to take turns singing different parts of  "Paradise By the Dashboard Light." We never know what to expect, and neither does Drew, because he lets the audience decide if it's going to be a night of ballads, classic rock, standards or oldies.

When he is not playing a request, Drew may be playing a theme song from a movie or a jingle from an old TV commercial and trying to stump the audience with music trivia. Then the audience tries to stump him by requesting obscure titles and artists, but he is too good.

In fact, we met a guy one night who was there for a wedding anniversary. He had been married at Fox Hollow more than 20 years earlier. We told him to request his wedding song, and he confessed to us that he had forgotten it and didn't want his wife to know. We told Drew the year they were married, and he was able to pin down the most popular wedding songs of that year. He played the song and had the woman believing that her husband had remembered and requested it. 

We still go almost every week, and we find that the growing crowd only adds to our enjoyment. Sometimes we have dinner, sometimes just a drink or a cappuccino. Recently, to accommodate a larger fan base, Fox Hollow has added Tuesday night to Drew's schedule. Tuesday is Italian night. Wednesday is Lobster night. 

Try either night, or try them both, but if you take my seat at the corner of the bar, please save me one of the tables by the fireplace.