Mediterranean Farm-To-Table Restaurant Calissa Opens In Water Mill

Spruce trees, to most, are unremarkable: a humdrum Long Island foliage unlikely to turn any heads.

But to Dominic Rice, who forages needles right in his restaurant’s parking lot, washes them off, dries them and supplants them as a bed for rotisserie chicken, spruce is just another opportunity to showcase Long Island’s local bounty.

“It adds a mastic, Greek pine effect,” Mr. Rice said. “We’re trying to be as local as possible and have a little fun with it.”

Mr. Rice is head chef of Calissa, a newly opened restaurant located at 1020 Montauk Highway in Water Mill that implements a farm-to-table business structure, translating Long Island-sourced produce into a light, upbeat cuisine inspired by the Greek island of Mykonos.

Mr. Rice, previously of Narcissa and Jean Georges, and managing partner James Mallios are not new to the world of local sourcing or Mediterranean cuisine. The pair worked together at Amali, a Manhattan Mediterranean restaurant renowned for its sustainable practices. Amali is officially certified by a number of sustainable and organic accreditors, including the Slow Food Society, Clean Plates and High Roads. Mr. Mallios is confident that these accreditations will soon find their way to Calissa as well.

“Once we kind of get our bearings a little bit, we want to have that same ethos to be part of our experience out east and we’d like to play a similar contributory role in the community that we have been acknowledged for doing in New York City,” Mr. Mallios said.

Harboring fond memories of picking peaches and strawberries with his mother and grandmother in the then more rural coasts of Suffolk County, Mr. Mallios, a Flushing native, holds a particular nostalgia for Long Island.

He, of Greek heritage himself, has also been vacationing to Mykonos for the better part of two decades. And on these excursions, he noticed a unique synergy between the island and the Hamptons; both areas progressed along a similar developmental trajectory: fishing village turned Bohemian sanctuary around the 1960s turned beach-renowned tourist destination.

In similar vein to Jackson Pollock’s expressionist imprint on the East End of Long Island, Jacqueline Onassis—with her low-pump heels and untucked turtleneck, white jean combo—frequented Mykonos, exposing the island to modern fashion. Promptly, the galleries and boutiques followed suit and each area slowly transformed into a high-society tourist magnet.

When the opportunity to establish a restaurant on Long Island arose, Mr Mallios champed at the bit, and thus, Calissa was born.

“This restaurant is my personal love letter to the island that I love and to a part of Long Island that I grew up going to,” Mr. Mallios said. “And hopefully the community loves it as much as we loved putting in the effort to create it.”

Mr. Rice shares a similar sentimentality for self-picked produce. Growing up in Flint, Michigan, his childhood summers were spent collecting apples for cider and donuts. He looks to translate this nostalgia and family-orientation, values also embedded in the Mediterranean way of life, into his cuisine at Calissa.

“It’s about sharing and it’s about the social element of being at the beach and at the Hamptons,” he said while cracking a salt-bake that encased a freshly caught striped bass. “Really having the light, airy feel, maybe a party atmosphere. Almost everything on the menu is meant to share. I’d do a 250-pound pig if it called for it.”

Calissa’s menu will shift with the seasons. July’s Montauk bass and oysters will morph into South Shore blackfish in October. All seafood, with the exception of Atlantic octopus, is sourced from Long Island or New York City vendors. Vegetables, some of which are to be grown in Calissa’s outdoor garden, will cycle on the menu carousel as well. The unifying thread: Mykonos staples such as thieves lamb and lobster bucatini.

“Seasonality is really important because it allows you to continually change,” Mr. Rice said. “As cooks and as people who like to express our artistic ability in the kitchen, it’s a very masochistic kind of job or career path. Fun and exciting and changing seasonally allows you to be creative.”

Mr. Rice, a self-dubbed culinary manager, rather than chef, ardently believes in showcasing, not bolstering, foods. And as such, he shies away from glutinous meals, preferring nutritious, airy dishes that underscore, rather than overhaul, and allow for his clientele to return multiple times a week if they so please.

“The product is excellent. You don’t need to reinvent it,” Mr. Rice said. “You need to showcase it and you need to make sure your clientele thinks it’s healthy, it’s satisfying, that there’s value to it … I am more of a white-bread, WASPy-style person in the sense that I am not the most artistic person in the world. I understand flavors and technique.”

Important to the selection of the Water Mill location was its versatile outdoor space. Open until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturdays, Calissa will feature a DJ on the weekends as the atmosphere gears toward a Mediterranean-esque energized late night.

“We love spaces that are multifaceted and can provide different experiences within those spaces,” he said.

And of course, to accommodate, the wine selection is in abundance; three full-time sommeliers help guests navigate a 150-bottle list.

“People come here to really enjoy themselves and what we’ve tried to carry through with the social element of dining really has shone through,” Mr. Rice said.

For more information, and to view the whole menu, visit calissahamptons.com.