⚡"New school milkman" Chef Nick Reisini of Honest Plate has gone from helming Hamptons hotspots (Tutto il Giorno, Dopo La Spiaggia) to creating a sustainable meal delivery and catering service -- including zero-waste glass containers filled with "clean, locally-sourced" eats.

Here's Chef Nick's story, in his own words.

The Moment It All Changed

Born in Switzerland, raised in Connecticut, I started cooking very young, hanging out with my grandmothers in the kitchen more than my cousins outside.

I was working at a high-end deli called The Passionate Palette in Wilton Center when I was 15. That's where everything changed.

I remember the first time I had a bite of Australian grass-fed free-range beef. It tasted completely different than any other steak I'd had in my entire life. Just salt and olive oil, grilled. That was the moment I decided I wanted to be a chef.

The owner was doing exactly what you see everywhere now — farm-fresh ingredients, grass-fed beef, things like that. But he was 15 years too early.

The Maurizio Mentorship

I worked at another deli for five to six years. When I was 20, my aunt who'd worked in high-end restaurants, called me: Do you still want to be a chef or do you want to waste your life in a deli?

My aunt sent me to meet her friend Maurizio Marfoglia at Osteria Laguna on 42nd Street. I showed up in a suit — my dad's idea — and Maurizio immediately goes, Why are you dressed like that? You're here to interview for a kitchen job. He fed me wild boar ravioli with red wine reduction. I ate that first bite and knew I needed to work there.

After a trial shift, he took me down to this dark boiler room with two milk crates, gave me a cigarette, and said, I can tell you know nothing, but you're very passionate. I'm moving out to the Hamptons. Come out there for the summer.

This was 2008. When I asked where to meet him, he said, Just come to Sag Harbor and drive to the end. So I drove to the end of the wharf on Memorial Day weekend, waited for hours. He was on a helicopter to Martha's Vineyard cooking for clients. Classic Maurizio.

Learning the Hard Way

That first Hamptons summer at what became Tutto, then Dopo La Spiaggia, made me fall in even more love with cooking. Tiny kitchen, started on the fryer, learned every station when people called out sick. By the end of the summer, I was running half the line myself. By the second summer, I was sous chef.

Then Maurizio taught me an important lesson: I really love you, but you're not learning anything here anymore. I'm going to fire you, but the door is always open.

Best thing that happened to me. I moved to the city, went to culinary school at the French Culinary Institute, worked different restaurants, learned from Jacques Pépin.

Years later, serendipity brought Maurizio back into my life at a struggling restaurant in the city. You ever thought about coming back to the Hamptons? That's how I returned to become head chef at Dopo La Spiaggia, eventually running restaurants for the Dopo Group for over a decade.

The Restaurant Exit

By 2019, I wasn't enjoying restaurants anymore. It wasn't sustainable on many fronts, and waste was a part of it. I left to do private chef work and started experimenting with meal delivery.

My first company, Hampton's Meal Prep, was kind of working, kind of not.

Then I met Ashley John Heather at The Spur co-working space. He and his wife were doing Whole 30 every January — this reset where you cut refined sugars, eat very clean.

Ashley wanted to see if we could make that a thing for a bigger group. We launched Honest Plate in January 2020 with 20, 30 clients.

The Pandemic Pivot

Then COVID happened. Restaurants closed, but meal delivery exploded. I got my first major private client during the height of the pandemic — cooking five nights a week while building Honest Plate during the day. It was a lot, but it taught me exactly what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it.

The New School Milk Man

That's what we are — we’re the new school milkman that doesn't just sell milk. We drop off healthy meals in glass containers with your name, address, QR code for that week's menu. You eat, leave the empties out, we pick them up, sanitize them, and the cycle starts again. No plastic, no waste, no guilt.

I'm super adamant about doing things the right way because I grew up with zero waste. Everything revolves around sustainability, supporting local farmers, reducing environmental impact. It's not just about convenience — it's about changing how people think about food.

This past winter was the first time the company really paid for itself. We're doing corporate catering in the city for 120 people twice a week, producing all the food for Barryville General, and our meal delivery clients are growing steadily.

Recently we've been doing more custom meal plans, which we can do really well because we control the entire process.

Building Something That Matters

From that first taste of grass-fed beef at 15 to running Honest Plate today, it's been this winding path through kitchens, mentors, and breakthroughs.  

Now I get to combine everything I learned into something that makes a difference.

We’re proving that a healthy sustainable model works — and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Inside Tip 🪄

You can also stop by our cafe if you are in the neighbourhood. We are open Thurs-Mon 10am-4pm.

Contact 

🌐 Honest Plate

About 

Chef Nick Reisini discovered his culinary calling at an early age and worked his way from deli worker to prep cook to head chef at acclaimed Hamptons restaurants such as Tutto il Giorno and Dopo La Spiaggia. In 2020, he founded Honest Plate, a café and meal delivery service serving the entire East End. Based in Hampton Bays, Chef Nick combines his restaurant expertise with a commitment to zero-waste practices, creating clean, locally-sourced cuisine for individual clients and corporate catering.

Lead-in Image

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