JANUARY 2022 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 63
VICTOR LAPLACA, CHEF AT HAVILAND KITCHEN & BAR
AMERICAN FOOD-FOCUSED
BY ALAN KRAWITZ
Alexander Graham Bell famously
coined the expression, “When one
door closes, another opens.” Veteran
chef Victor LaPlaca counts himself a
believer because that›s exactly how
his Haviland Kitchen & Bar in East
Rockaway came to be.
In 2020, LaPlaca, along with millions
of other restaurant workers across the
country, had lost his job overseeing
food and beverage operations at Neue-
House, a collective workspace in New
York City, due to the pandemic. The New
York State Restaurant Association has
estimated that more than 8,000 restaurants
in New York State closed due to
the pandemic.
“I was discussing the idea of doing some
catering with my longtime friend Don
Poland. We even talked about possibly
doing some type of food-truck operation,”
says LaPlaca, 49, who grew up in
Lynbrook.
LaPlaca says that while he knew he
could likely return to NeueHouse once
businesses started to reopen, he had
already been contemplating his next
move before the pandemic hit. He said,
“I didn›t want to do what I was doing for
someone else any longer.”
Working with his partner Poland, whom
he met decades earlier while working
at Michael›s Porthole Restaurant in East
Rockaway, LaPlaca found available space
on Main Street, the former site of Nikki›s
Bakery. “We built the place and ended
up putting much more time and money
in than we originally thought,” LaPlaca
explains.
LaPlaca credits his wife, Melinda, for the
name Haviland Kitchen, which refers
to local entrepreneur Joseph Haviland,
who built a grist mill in 1688 for milling
grains. The area became a town square
with a public oven that people used to
bake their own bread aft er milling their
grains at the mill.
“I thought Haviland was a great name for
a restaurant where casual, American
food is the focus,” LaPlaca says.
When he was growing up, LaPlaca used
to visit his Sicilian grandparents’ farm
in upstate New York. Their huge garden
with fresh veggies including corn and
heirloom tomatoes helped cultivate his
appreciation for cooking and Italian
cuisine.
“Food was a huge part of my upbringing,”
he notes. Following high school, he attended
The Culinary Institute of America
in Hyde Park.
“Culinary school was very intense but
it taught me discipline because you›re
in school with people who are already
working in restaurants,” he recalls.
Following school, LaPlaca›s career took
him all over the country. He worked
through the 1990s under the direction
of celebrity chef/entrepreneur Todd English
at an array of English’s restaurants
including the acclaimed Olives in Boston
and Las Vegas, and in New York at the W
New York - Union Square. He also served
as corporate executive chef of Todd English
Enterprises, overseeing all existing
restaurants, and leading back-of-house
teams for all new restaurant openings.
“When I worked at the original Olives
in Boston, I learned all about food and
bold fl avors. It was an incredible place
to work,” LaPlaca says, adding that his
former boss was ambitious with his
off erings. “He had 20 specials per night,
on top of a packed menu that already
had 30 items on it.”
LaPlaca also did a stint as executive chef
at the Isola Trattoria in the now-defunct
Mondrian Hotel in SoHo from 2011 to
2016.
LaPlaca, who specializes in Italian cuisine
but also cooks many other types of
food, says he wants to “stay true to using
locally sourced ingredients.”
“I want to elevate and educate people
about food, such as our lamb spareribs,
which are big sellers on the
menu.” As chef/owner of the 50-seat
venue, which opened in December,
LaPlaca will be doing most of the
cooking.
Signature dishes already getting rave
reviews include cast-iron chicken,
marinated in parsley and garlic with
roasted Yukon potatoes; roasted pork
shank with polenta, truffle-cabbage
and apple-cider glaze, and monkfi sh
piccata with braised artichokes, white
wine, lemon, and capers.
Appetizers spotlight Long Island-sourced
oysters Rockaway and the Haviland
salad, a shareable dish made with romaine,
mozzarella, and cranberry-bean
red onions in balsamic vinaigrette.
Asked about the current spate of celebrity
chef cooking shows, LaPlaca says
they benefi t the business.
“I think the celebrity chef phenomenon
is great because it educates people about
diff erent aspects of food,” he says, adding
that he appeared on Iron Chef America
with Todd English.
“I want to be successful, not famous.
It›s too crazy and too draining to be a
big celebrity chef. I like to be honest to
food I›m preparing, and create a good
experience for people.”
Regarding the ongoing pandemic, La-
Placa had familiar complaints about
rising food costs, supply chain issues,
and persistent trouble fi nding restaurant
staff .
But he remains optimistic that both
residents and good reviews/word of
mouth will help drive traffi c.
“We’re literally a mom-and-pop restaurant
— we›re right on Main Street,”
LaPlaca says.
“I also want people to come from other
places, but I want to make it worth their
while.”
Haviland Kitchen & Bar is located at 43 Main
Street in East Rockaway. It can be reached at
516-612-4545. Visit at havilandkitchen.com.
MAIN DISH
Chef Victor LaPlaca
“I want to be
successful, not
famous," says Chef
Victor LaPlaca.
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