AUGUST 2019 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 71
SAMMY’S RESTAURANT
FLAVOR OF FRESHNESS
BY ALAN KRAWITZ
Mike Rose, an executive chef at
Sammy’s Restaurant in Montauk, is
so fond of the area that he makes the
voyage all the way from South Florida
each season just so hungry tourists
can get their fill of freshly caught local
seafood.
Rose, who shares cooking duties
with Sammy’s owner and longtime
Montauk resident Sam Joyce — who
has also plied his cooking talents in
Hawaii, California, and Mexico — says
their friendship goes back at least 20
years when the two met while cooking
in Florida.
“We both were working in banquets
and pastry,” Rose recalls. “Sam would
go back and forth between Florida
and Montauk, back when Sammy was
working at Gosman’s at the time.”
As for Rose, he says he’s been in the
restaurant and catering business for
quite some time. Now 40, he explains
that while he did take some cooking
classes at Culinary Institute of America,
he mostly learned on the job.
“I’ve been in the restaurant business
since I was 13 or 14, starting out like
lots of people do as a dishwasher and
then working my way up, doing the
basics,” Rose says. “I worked every
station from salads to line cook as well
as pastries.”
When Joyce opened Sammy’s in 2013,
he liked Rose’s cooking style so much
that he asked if he would consider
cooking seasonally at Sammy’s, every
summer.
And that’s essentially how things
have been working, with Joyce handling
year-round cooking and Rose
joining him for the chaotic Montauk
summers starting around the Fourth
of July to help cook a variety of fresh
seafood, from lobster burgers to mahi
mahi tacos.
“I love the fact that fish comes right
in off the boat,” Rose says. “The fluke
and striper couldn’t get any better and
the scallops are top-notch … If you’re
not highlighting the fresh fish in Montauk,
then you’re missing the boat.”
Rose says his cooking philosophy is
to not overcomplicate things. He uses
fish that’s plentiful, such as poke,
which you can make “a thousand
different ways.”
He also likes to make use of hot and
cold combinations, such as mixing
fresh fruit into fish dishes.
“We’re not trying to reinvent the
wheel here at Sammy’s,” he notes.
“People look for this type of food. Both
Sam and I like to focus on keeping
the feel of Montauk and the summer
season.”
And, capitalizing on the invigorated
food truck scene, Sammy’s maintains
its own food truck down near the
entrance to Montauk Harbor, which,
according to Rose, does a very brisk
seasonal business supplying eats for
boaters going out on day trips as well
as strong foot traffic coming from
various places.
“Food trucks are getting better and
many now serve fresh food; they’re
more upscale,” Rose says, adding that
the truck helps to cater parties and
events and is available May through
October. “It’s a unique addition to the
restaurant.”
At the restaurant, there’s no shortage
of seasonal specialties, from clams on
the half shell to fish and chips. Some of
Joyce’s chef favorites include the crispy
potato-crusted flounder sandwich and
stuffed mushroom caps. Non-seafood
items include Wreck Bar BBQ baby-back
ribs in a Caribbean barbecue sauce
made with nutmeg and cinnamon.
Asked what the future holds, Rose
says he’s “interested in possibly taking
the restaurant to the next level…
in whatever shape that might take.”
Sammy’s Restaurant is open for lunch
and dinner seven days per week. It
is located at 448 West Lake Dr. in
Montauk. It can be reached at 631-
238-5707 or sammysmtk.com
MAIN DISH
Mike Rose and Sam Joyce of Sammy's Restaurant in Montauk in their food truck.
“I love the fact that fish comes right in off the
boat,” says Chef Mike Rose.
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