www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I APRIL 2018 25
I took recipes from
all over Greece and
I made them smaller and
infused them together to
marry the south and the
north of Greece.
NICHOLAS POULMENTIS
Chef
Food
He certainly proved himself when, in
2012, he was chosen to cook a meal at the
White House for Greek Independence Day.
“It was a crazy experience,” Poulmentis
said. “It was cool, I have photos with the dog
Bo. Former Vice President Joe Biden was
coming in the kitchen. I had a very nice time.”
Poulmentis worked at restaurants in the
city, including Kellari Taverna and Theo’s
before meeting Kouvaros through a mutual
friend, who happened to be the chef’s
fish provider.
“I spoke with Chris and explained
this is what I’m trying to do with food and
I wanted to it to be natural, new recipes,
new items,” he said.
The unique menu items include volvi, an
appetizer of baby pickled onions flown in
from Crete, htapodokeftedes, fried octopus
with lemon dill aioli (the aioli is made with
Greek yogurt instead of mayo) and htenia,
scallops in a squid ink linguini pasta with a
white saffron emulsion. The pasta for his
dishes is made in-house.
“I took recipes from all over Greece and
I made them smaller and infused them
together to marry the south and the north
of Greece,” he said.
Poulmentis takes pride in his ingredients,
which he says are “selected daily” and
“high quality.”
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