APRIL 2020 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 55
MAIN DISH
CHEF BEN DIEDERIKS
PUBLICANS’ NEW CHAPTER
BY ALAN KRAWITZ
Ben Diederiks, executive chef of the recently
reopened Publicans in Manhasset,
is poised to write a new chapter in the
storied history of the gastropub that
traces its Long Island roots back more
than 70 years.
Publicans has operated as a restaurant
bar on Plandome Road, under
several different names, since 1948. Following
a string of management changes,
it closed last fall and reopened in January
with new ownership, a revamped
menu, and Montauk native Ben
Diederiks taking over in the kitchen
— although becoming a chef was
a surprise ending for Diederiks.
“Even though I was always around
kitchens, I never wanted to be a
chef,” says Diederiks, who attended
a trade school on Long Island for
computer networking
but realized it
wasn’t his
calling.
He later began working at The Gig Shack
on Main Street in Montauk. He followed
that up with stints at Rowdy Hall in East
Hampton and then Swallow East in
Montauk and although he says he was
a “half-decent” chef, he still wasn’t convinced
he should go professional.
But things changed when he started at
Swallow in Huntington, working at the
salad station and meeting chef
Paul Miranda,
who had what
Diederiks
calls a
“ hu g e
inf lue
n c e ”
on his life.
“At Swallow,
I learned to
make simple
food but
with great
techniques,” Diederiks says. “And this
is where it started to dawn on me that
cooking was a potential career.”
In his three years at Swallow, Diederiks
says he “learned as much as he could...
asked lots of questions, worked hard,
and moved up all the way to managing
the kitchen.”
Diederiks then continued to hone his
craft at True North in Huntington and
most recently as sous chef at Osteria
Leana in Oyster Bay.
“You need to teach yourself in the kitchen
if you want to advance,” says Diederiks,
33, who has never had any formal culinary
training.
Publicans is his first executive chef position
and he has redesigned the menu
from top to bottom.
“As a from-scratch kitchen, we make
all our pastas from hand, dressings,
salsas...everything is made in-house,”
he says, noting that the goal theme is
“elevating simple dishes using great
technique.”
One technique he uses is to weigh
ingredients out precisely, even the
salt that goes into meatballs.
“The reason,” he says, “is to
maintain consistency. You want
a signature dish to always taste
the same.”
S p e c i a l t i e s
include carne asada and chicken tinga
tacos made with handmade tortillas,
filet mignon, and cage-free chicken, and
served with guacamole and pico de gallo,
starting at $7.
Publicans’ top sellers are the all-American
burger, two patties made from a
custom meat blend of brisket, short
rib and chuck, special sauce, lettuce,
tomato, onion and cheese for $14, and
the Publican, an 8-ounce patty made
from the same custom meat blend with
truffled cheddar, onion marmalade, and
arugula and garlic aioli, served on a brioche
bun, for $19. Pricier fare includes a
center-cut pork chop for $29 and a New
York strip steak for $32.
Vegetarian options are also available,
such as a kimchi-topped meatless
burger; cauliflower florets cooked
General-Tso’s style, a bean-based vegan
curry, and a cauliflower steak with
raisins and capers.
Looking ahead, Diederiks says he
wants to own his own restaurant,
manage several kitchens at once, and
do more supervising, menu design and
training. Yet he sees a huge problem:
Some chefs don’t want to cook anymore
because they feel they’ve “paid their
dues.”
For a chef who prides himself on constantly
learning about unique cooking
styles and ways to make similar dishes
better, Diederiks says he’ll never surrender
his hands-on approach in the
kitchen.
“You shouldn’t call yourself a
chef if you’re no longer cooking,”
he says.
Publicans, 550 Plandome Rd.
in Manhasset. It can be reached
at 516-627-7722. Visit at publicansmanhasset.
com
Ben Diederiks is executive chef of the newly rebooted Publicans in
Manhasset. (Photo by Tab Hauser)
“As a from-scratch kitchen, we make all our
pastas from hand, dressings, salsas...everything
is made in-house,” says Chef Ben Diederiks.
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