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Have pan, will travel

WHEN LUKE Palladino describes his typical seven-day, 100-hour workweek, he does so without regret. Splitting time between his acclaimed, year-old, 30-seat BYOB, Luke Palladino Seasonal Italian Cooking, in Northfield, N.J., and his recently opened namesake, a 230-seater in Harrah's Resort Atlantic City, may make him ridiculously overworked, but as far as he is concerned, that's a blessing, not a curse.

Luke Palladino assists his executive chef, Ed Affinito, in Palladino's Northfield, N.J.,  restaurant. (Gregg Kohl)
Luke Palladino assists his executive chef, Ed Affinito, in Palladino's Northfield, N.J., restaurant. (Gregg Kohl)Read more

WHEN LUKE Palladino describes his typical seven-day, 100-hour workweek, he does so without regret. Splitting time between his acclaimed, year-old, 30-seat BYOB, Luke Palladino Seasonal Italian Cooking, in Northfield, N.J., and his recently opened namesake, a 230-seater in Harrah's Resort Atlantic City, may make him ridiculously overworked, but as far as he is concerned, that's a blessing, not a curse.

"Especially when you're in the throes of the opening, it's always frustrating and difficult," admitted the 42-year-old Long Island, N.Y., native with the dark, movie-star looks. "I'm thinking, 'What am I doing? What am I thinking?' But it quickly passes because my passion overcomes everything. It's what I do. It's me."

To Palladino, cooking was always an integral part of his life.

"I've been interested in food since I was 13," he said. "I have a love and a passion for it. I never wanted to do anything else.

"I grew up [in] a big family and we'd get together for the holidays, and I remember . . . we'd get together around 1 in the afternoon and leave at 8 or 9 at night. We'd take breaks, but I remember this procession of food. All the different segments of the family would bring their specialties, and that's what I loved."

The 1989 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park, N.Y., began his career working for super-chef Emeril Lagasse in the latter's Commander's Palace restaurant in New Orleans, and then put in time in a kitchen on Cape Cod.

In the early 1990s, he began the first of three extended stays in Italy. Traveling throughout the country, he absorbed the regional styles, from the Piedmont in the north to Sicily in the south. It was during his third stay that he changed from employee to employer when he and a partner opened a restaurant in Venice.

By the early 2000s, the divorced father of three was back on American soil, running his own eatery in Aspen, Colo., and then at the Mirage casino on the Las Vegas Strip. About a year before the 2003 opening of Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa, he arrived in Atlantic City to build what would ultimately become Specchio, a casino-level, high-end gourmet room, and Ombra, a more casual trattoria on the floor below.

He also ran Risi Bisi, an Italian version of a fast-food outlet. All three operations were, by any standard, successful. But Palladino found himself at odds with casino management when it came to operating philosophies. In 2008 he called it quits at Borgata.

"Not every relationship is successful, in life or in business," he reasoned. "They opened a lot of restaurants, which diluted our business, and they wanted us to close too many nights. I wasn't comfortable with that. Plus, they wanted us to alter . . . our identity as far as our cuisine goes. They wanted the Italian I don't want to cook. But we were very busy, very profitable."

It may seem a little odd that someone who has set up shop in such glamorous spots as Venice, Vegas and Aspen has decided to put down commercial and personal roots at the Jersey shore. But Palladino speaks of the region as if it were a culinary Shangri-La. Ask him about the indigenous food, and his words take on a positively evangelical tone.

"[Jersey is] the best," he declared. "We work with about 30 different farmers in South Jersey. We're not buying from anyone else - it's all local . . . eggplant, zucchini, peppers onions, garlic. We work with a consortium of farmers who bring us their products."

Despite the difference in their sizes and layout (the Harrah's store boasts an open kitchen offering patrons what he likes to call "theater"), Palladino described his two eateries as essentially identical in menu and execution. "It's the same premise, [but at Harrah's] there's a little more variety. We stretch the price point and use some expensive cuts of meat. We'll have a 48-ounce rib eye that sells for $130. That's something the casino people want. But the love and care we apply is the same."

So, he added, is the frequency of change found at both locations. "We've been open six weeks, and we've probably changed the menu four or five times," he said. "At Harrah's, we run daily dishes every day, depending on what we get on the market.

"In Northfield, we have as many as seven to eight additions a day. At the end of summer we'll make some adjustments, and by October we'll make a full menu change.

"At this time of the year, we'll lean toward the [Italian] coast, lean toward the south with our menus. In the fall and winter we'll start heading north, a little richer a little bit more wintry . . . more stews, braises, roasts and so on."

The executive who brought Palladino back to the gambling hall environment is Don Marrandino, eastern region president for Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment Inc. According to Marrandino, who also persuaded Philly-based uberchef Chris Scarduzio (Table 31) to open Scarduzio's Steak/Sushi Lounge at Showboat Atlantic City, Palladino "is an incredibly talented chef with a large following of customers" who brings much to the table, as it were.

"His attention to detail in the kitchen and his unique spin on Italian food were key reasons why we thought Luke would be a home run," said Marrandino via email. "Dining is such an important part of the Atlantic City experience . . . So when we started to think about who we wanted to recruit for our new restaurants, Luke immediately came to mind."

At his age, Palladino is obviously looking at decades more as a restaurateur.

But, he does have an exit strategy. He noted that his son, Daniel, 17, will be attending the Culinary Institute of America (as does his oldest child, Kera, 20, who is enrolled in the pastry-arts program there; his youngest is 9-year-old daughter Elli).

"Hopefully," he said with a sly smile, "he'll take over the business and send me a check every once in a while. That's my plan."