74 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • MARCH 2019
CHEF PHIL HAMBLETON
FLAVOR OF NAWLINS BY ALAN KRAWITZ
“If you do what you love, you’ll never
work a day in your life.”
For many, the quote is a cliché that’s
mostly elusive. But for Phil Hambleton,
executive chef at Big Daddy’s Barbeque
restaurant in Massapequa, it’s his reality.
“For me, cooking has always come
easy and it’s something I’ve never
had to really think about,” says Hambleton,
who has been lighting up the
kitchen and diners’ palettes since age
13, having learned to cook by watching
his grandparents at home.
Before landing at Big Daddy’s
nearly eight months ago,
Hambleton had spent
eight years as the executive
chef at George
Martin’s Strip Steak
House in Great River.
And before that,
he had worked in
restaurants up and
down the East Coast
from Bally’s Hotel
and Casino in Atlantic
City to Tony Roma’s
in Bayside.
“I’ve always pushed myself
to learn new cooking styles and that’s
what brought me to Big Daddy’s
where I put a unique spin on smoked
foods from pulled pork and beef to
seafood,” Hambleton shares.
A seasoned team builder and supervisor,
Hambleton is very hands-on
when it comes to cooking.
“I’d never ask any of my staffers to do
anything I wouldn’t do myself,” he says.
Recalling his long restaurant career,
Hambleton, 48, says that he went to
work early in the 1980s, starting at
the very bottom in the food service
business as first a dishwasher, then
a salad guy, and then a sandwich
maker.
“I really worked my way up, it just
was a natural progression,” says
Hambleton, who grew up on Long
Beach Island in New Jersey and
attended the Culinary Institute of
America.
He adds that he was doing so well in
the restaurant business that he was
going to quit high school but a
teacher encouraged him to go
to culinary school and really
learn his craft.
“This teacher saw something
in me and wanted
me to keep on going,” he
says.
Hambleton’s love of cooking
was also his path to
success.
“I went from a D student to an A
student after I enrolled in culinary
school,” he explains.
When he landed at George Martin’s
in 2010, Hambleton recalled he wasn’t
really planning to come out to Long
Island but he drove a friend to a job
interview and the owner said he was
looking for an executive chef.
“Long Island reminded me of where I
grew up, on Long Beach Island, being
near the Shore, the salt air,” he says.
“I’ve got salt in my veins…I like the
shore, the beach.”
“There are many different personalities
in the restaurant business and
they often clash, so it was important
for me to try and find a place where I
could hang my hat,” he says.
Looking for something different,
Hambleton says that barbeque
was the total other side of the
spectrum for cuisine.
“I’ve smoked everything
here at Big Daddys’
from watermelons
to traditional pork
and beef, fruit and
veggies,” he says.
While planning
for Mardi Gras,
Hambleton says
he arranged for
boiled crawfish
from Louisiana and
a huge, traditional New
Orleans-style buffet on Fat Tuesday
complete with live music, finger
foods, appetizers, shrimp, alligator
and pulled pork.
Specialties at Big Daddy’s include
an authentic New Orleans-style
Sunday brunch featuring items
such as Jambalaya omelettes, crab
cake benedict and chicken and
waffles. Plus, Hambleton says all
desserts are made from scratch,
such as bananas Foster, brownies
and raspberry cheesecake.
All of which brings to mind another
maxim, Laissez les bons temps rouler,
a Cajun French saying that means,
“Let the good times roll!”
Big Daddy’s is located at 1 Park Ln.
in Massapequa. It can be reached at
516-799-8877 or bigdaddysny.com
MAIN DISH
Phil Hambleton,
executive chef
at Big Daddy’s
Barbeque
restaurant in
Massapequa,
presides over
the Cajun
eatery's 2019
Fat Tuesday
celebration.
“I’ve smoked everything here at Big Daddys’
from watermelons to traditional pork and beef,
fruit and veggies,” says Phil Hambleton, executive
chef at Big Daddy’s Barbeque.
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