Chef Spotlight: Michael Rozzi of 1770 House, East Hampton

Michael Rozzi has read all the plaudits about his sophisticated fare at 1770 House, all the stories about the local-boy-done-good, all the hype about “farm-to-table” this and “locally sourced” that.

He’s not overly impressed.

“I’m not an ego guy,” says Rozzi, 50, the executive chef at the historic East Hampton inn and restaurant that’s home to one of the more widely praised eateries on the East End. “I let my food do the talking.”

And it’s spoken up loud and clear.

Whether catching bouquets from tastemakers like Ina Garten and Martha Stewart, or being named one of Open Table’s 100 best restaurants in America, the charm-soaked 1770 House has become synonymous over the last decade-plus with Rozzi’s ambitious, ever-evolving “New American menu,” as well as the best-of-both-worlds vibe that comes with the restaurant’s two distinct settings — fine dining upstairs, and a casual tavern downstairs.

“I love this as much as I did the day that I started,” says Rozzi, who made his name on the East End as head chef at former Hamptons hotspot Della Femina. “I still to this day sit here and think about new dishes. I have a repertoire, but I don’t have a signature dish, aside from the fluke tartar, which people seem to have fallen in love with.”

The fall menus at 1770 House this season include both elevated everyday-type staples, like roast chicken and the Tavern’s famed meatloaf, as well as more meticulously crafted fare like a halibut, mushroom and thyme ragout, a braised California rabbit leg, and a Channing Daughters Ramato Jus roasted bone-in Berkshire pork chop.

He himself doesn’t call his menu New American, but prefers “ambitious fine dining.”

“I don’t have a notebook full of recipes … we go in there and grind,” he says.

Although he’s a Hampton Bays kid from an old Sag Harbor family, Rozzi says the hype surrounding the farm-to-table “movement” out east doesn’t much resonate with him.

“Growing up in the restaurant business, born and raised in Hampton Bays, I fell in love with food at a very young age … when I was growing up, the philosophy was always fresh and seasonal,” he says. “Farm-to-table food was a way of life here before it was a popular sort of trend.”

As you might expect, his network of tuned-in local sources runs deep. He uses everything from Accobonac Farms beef to Milk Pail apples, and is still very much the kind of chef who would rather ask a local fishmonger what they’re going to be eating that night than serve a dish because it’s on-trend. “I work with people who love to do what they do,” he says. “It’s always about what’s local, what’s available, what fits into the menu.”

Some might call Rozzi old school, a chef’s kind of chef. Indeed, he holds himself to some pretty high standards: “Good chefs are cerebral chefs, good chefs know where their food is sourced from, good chefs understand technique and methods and respect them,” says Rozzi. “That stuff is fun to me. I can talk about this stuff for hours.”

On a roll, he’s happy to report that 1770 House is returning to pre-COVID levels, with the downstairs Tavern hosting shoulder-to-shoulder crowds for its in-demand burgers and meatloaf during weeknights, while the upstairs dining room remains one of the East End’s “last bastions” of fine-dining, a place where you can actually hold a conversation with the person sitting across from you in a setting where fine silver and crystal and hand-laundered Italian linens are the norm.

Of course, among Rozzi’s and 1770 House’s biggest fans is East Hampton’s beloved hospitality queen, Ina Garten. On the Food Network, she’s reported to have said: “When you’ve had a hard day, there’s nothing like going to the pub (at 1770 House) with a good friend and settling into a corner table. All is well with the world.”

Now that’s good advertising. And all of it lives inside the 18th century colonial home on Main Street. With its original wooden staircases and exposed beam ceilings, wood-paneled and book-lined parlor, roaring fireplace and antique furniture, the 1770 House is a rare example of historic preservation and modern culinary ingenuity working together in perfect harmony.

“It’s like having two restaurants. I’m running an inn and two restaurants. For a very small place, there’s a lot of hustle. We go seven days a week all year at 1770 House,” says Rozzi. “How rare are places like this? They are so far and few between.”

The 1770 House is located at 143 Main Street in East Hampton. Call 631-324-1770 or visit 1770house.com.