66 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • MAY 23, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
dining out
Photo courtesy of Oli.Vine
Chopped champ opens
a new Astoria eatery
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
“Chopped” champion Nicholas
Poulmentis is a purist when it come to
his ingredients – particular enough to
walk out of a job at the Astoria restaurant
Akrotiri Seafood Taverna, where he
designed the menu.
“I stopped associating with that place
because they wouldn’t provide the proper
ingredients,” he said of his former
employer.
Th e Greek chef ’s new project is called
Oli.Vine, a contemporary Mediterranean
restaurant that opened up on April 4 at
36-03 Ditmars Blvd. in Astoria.
Poulmentis who was born in New York
City to Greek parents, left the U.S. when
he was a year old to live on the Greek
island of Kythira. Ever-inspired by his
culinary upbringing on the island, his goal
with the new restaurant was to fuse insular
Greek dishes with the ubiquity of New
York’s food stock, where a chef can get
their hands on ingredients from across
the world.
Poulmentis lived in Kythira for 37 years,
where he was largely limited to the island’s
native ingredients. He said he worked
at a seafood restaurant there where they
would cook whatever they could catch.
Now he’s bringing those tastes to
Astoria – and going through great lengths
in order to do so. Poulmentis took vrahosalata,
a form of produce native to
Greece, back with him on a trip in preparation
for this new venture. He said that
he gave the produce to a local farmer who
was able to grow it locally and supply it
for Oli.Vine.
Hot off of his recent win on the popular
Food Network show over the summer,
he’s hoping to popularize these fl avors.
Oli.Vine specializes in seafood dishes and
house-made pastas with chef ’s signature
take on Greek recipes and ingredients.
Dishes include the shrimp grape leaf
maki roll, which fuses tempura shrimp
with the classic stuff ed grapa; black tarama
with octopus ink, an elegant take on
the Greek cured roe dish; and smoked
goat cheese gnocchi.
Poulmentis said that he’s excited to
bring traditional Greek dishes to New
York. In this vein, he included a dish
called pita sfakiani, a fl atbread appetizer
made from homemade phyllo dough,
barrel-aged feta, gorgonzola and poppy
seeds.
Th e restaurant is currently taking reservations
on the site at oli-vine.com/reservations/.
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