Chef Michael Rozzi is celebrating a decade as executive chef at The 1770 House in East Hampton, and 30 years working in commercial kitchens, which included 15 years at Della Femina Restaurant. We caught up with Rozzi to learn more about his work on cookbooks, his famous fluke tartare, and celebrating the milestone.
Tell us about your background as a chef. How did you get started?
Growing up out here we have a real service-based industry. It was something I always loved. I grew up around the local farms and fisheries. I fell in love with it. I realized at a young age that I was pretty good at it. And people gravitate to the things that they’re good at. Traveling and going places with family, going out to dinner was always such a big event. It was always captivating to me. You know that feeling when you’re a young kid and you go to a nice restaurant, the food and flavors, it’s not what you eat at home usually.
As a third-generation East Ender, how has that influenced your cuisine?
Having my grandparents be from out here — I think that their connection to things influenced me greatly. There were a lot of baymen and hunters. Everybody uses the word “local” now as a popular thing, but it’s really the way people have always eaten out here for a really long time. That’s what we did — we fished and clammed, we all had gardens. That was the influence from my grandparents especially.
Let’s talk your famous fluke tartare. How and when did this become a signature dish of yours?
I’m not a signature dish guy. I have a repertoire that I like to work from, but I never really do much twice. I don’t like to fall back on food. I think as I’ve grown as a chef over the years my philosophy has really been food forward — to use some of the things I’ve done in the past. Being the fluke tartare guy, that would probably be the only thing I’d consider a signature dish. I didn’t set out to make it that, but you don’t really do that anyways. Other people decide what your signature dishes are. We have a small dining population, in retrospect, compared to a city, and people like to see new things. The exception to the rule — the fluke tartare. It’s the trifecta — flavor, texture, and color, and that’s why the fluke is good, those contrasting flavors. And the best part about it is the beautiful fluke is caught locally and you have to treat it with such respect because it’s so fresh. I think that’s why people really love the dish, the level of freshness.
Are there any special dinners or events that have stood out to you at The 1770 House over the past decade?
Truthfully, I hadn’t even realized it had been 10 years. What I’ve really put into perspective turning 50 this year is the 30 years I’ve spent working in commercial kitchens. As chef you only start to get really sharp after that 10, 15, 20-year period. I’m enjoying the longevity of it and how much I still learn and love to cook. It’s definitely a milestone being at 1770 for 10 years and it’s been an honor for me to be there as long as I have and I’m looking forward to many more years there and enjoying how beautiful the house is. I’m lucky to be a part of it and the incredible team front and back of house.
I always want to mention the experience and professionalism of our staff. I’m honored and privileged and fortunate to work with people who are very hardworking and motivated to cook amazing food with me. Nothing happens without them.
Talk a little about your 15 years at Della Femina Restaurant.
What really comes to mind is Jerry [Della Femina] himself. I was a young chef and working for him in a different position and he gave me the opportunity of a lifetime. The opportunity came about for me to run the kitchen and it was my first really big chef job, for a 30-year-old chef who had been working really hard. Jerry gave me his restaurant and told me to run it — probably the biggest promotion of my life that put me on the map. I’m forever indebted to Jerry for that, for letting me be creative, for letting me grow there, letting me take chances, and making me part of the decision process. It was such an iconic restaurant and people still talk about it. When Della Femina closed it was a sad moment, but it was a celebration. In the Hamptons, that was one of the best restaurant runs. Jerry, he is one of the most creative and kindest people and to give a guy a shot like that, I’ll never forget that. He’s one of the great ones.
Talk a little about your work on the cookbook “Dinner with Jackson Pollock” and “The Ladies’ Village Improvement Society Cookbook.”
I’ve been really lucky and fortunate to work on a couple great books. The Ladies Village Improvement Society cookbook was a tremendous honor. It was so cool to cook all of those recipes selected by author Florence Fabricant and bring them to life as well as styling the dishes with photographer Doug Young. I’ve always been interested in food, food art, and the whole process. It was an amazing learning experience working on both books. Working with the photographers, the recipes.
Jackson Pollock was very interesting to me because we knew him for being a local artist, being one of the great artists of his time, but not knowing much more about him. But being given his recipes, Lee Krasner’s recipes, his mother Stella Pollock’s recipes — I was handed hand-written family recipes by author and photographer Robyn Lea that I had to sort of translate into modern cooking and to be able to cook and put on a plate to create photos for the book. They were written on postcards, on slivers of paper, back of receipts. We had to find ingredients that don’t get used anymore. Bringing that to life was interesting. For me it was a real study of their lives. It was a big honor to be involved in that project. A huge honor and memorable life experience was cooking in his house. I cooked his recipes on his stove. That’s a very rare opportunity.
You’re an avid collector of cookbooks.
I was super young when I started cooking. I got into my grandmother’s cookbooks or whatever was around. I started collecting cookbooks. It started with simple cookbooks like “James Beard American Cookery” and I got into the New York Times cookbook. I’ll never forget my first celebrity chef cookbook that my dad gave me. It just sort of spun into collecting cookbooks. There are a ton I have on the science of cooking. There’s a broad spectrum of what I like to collect. I love them signed.
