When Carlos Roman opened the Vinoco Wine Bar and Tapas Restaurant in Mineola three years ago this month, he knew he wanted to give his patrons something they had not experienced before.
“I wanted to create something that has to be different,” Roman said. “My food has to be a different quality.”
What Roman has created is a cuisine he calls “global fusion,” drawing on Spanish, Italian, Greek, Asian and Latin American cuisines in unusual combinations of seasonal offering of tapas selections that comprise most of the Vinoco menu.
The menu includes offerings like macaroni and cheese ropa vieja foe grass lollipops, paella croquuettes lollipops stuffed with chicken and chorizo, and crispy smoked salmon deviled egg with cilantro, corn, onion, topped with caviar and sriracha.
Vinoco, which is located at 147 Mineola Blvd., also offers more traditional Spanish dishes such as seafood paella and shrimp ceviche on a menu that included 32 entrees earlier this month. The menu, Roman said, is always subject to change with the seasons and his latest inspiration.
Before opening the restaurant, Roman had managed Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan for three years, as well as another city eatery called Bolo. He said he was looking for an open kitchen when he decided to open his own restaurant and was aware of the large Portuguese-American population in Mineola when he settled on the location for Vinoco.
He said he brought cooks he had worked with him over 18 years as a waiter and manager to Vinoco.
Roman said his mission when he opened Vinoco was to raise the local consciousness about tapas, which offers Spanish appetizers and snacks, while also creating novel combinations that crossed different cuisines.
“Long Islanders didn’t know the concept of tapas,” Roman said.
Roman emigrated to New York from Peru in 1993 with fond memories of what his father, Carlos – a “passionate” cook, he said – created in the family kitchen. He said since he was a young boy, he was “intrigued by food.”
Working as a waiter and manager, he said he learned how to sell food and how to talk to customers. He said he eventually took a course on wine and applied what he learned from that course and his practical experience in creating Vinoco’s varied wine list of vintages from different continents.
He said his method in creating new tapas forms is largely trial and error, testing new combinations in his own kitchen for his wife and three daughters before introducing them at the restaurant.
His wife Stacey is his trusted “taster,” he said.
His ongoing effort to create new forms of culinary fusion is intended to make a lasting impression on customers’ palates.
“I have to compete to do something with a lot of work and effort to win the customer’s heart,” Roman said. “I refresh customers. There’s so many things to do.”
Roman said the response to Vinoco has been good, drawing a clientele of mixed ethnicities, including Indian-Americans and Asian-Amercians, that reflect the mixed cuisine.
“I just want to get my name out now,” he said.
Roman helped his own cause with an appearance on CBS’s “The Couch,” two years ago, when he produced a green paella.
He said he draws new ideas from trips abroad and spends much of his free time on his computer, googling “culture”.
More details about Vinoco’s menu and the restaurant’s hours are available online at www.vinocony.com.
Reach reporter Richard Tedesco by e-mail at rtedesco@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x204. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
