The Food Mill in Point Lookout NY

The Food Mill in Point Lookout, NY -- Designed, Built and Operated by Richard Zampella

Richard Zampella has worked in all areas of the hospitality and food service industry for over 30 years. He has managed the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel and served as Food and Beverage Manager of the The Essex House Hotel on Central Park South. For 15 years he worked 65 floors high atop Rockefeller Center at the Rainbow Room under legendary restauranteur Joe Baum. In 2010, he created the concept and design for Skipperdee’s Ice Cream Shop in the seaside hamlet of Point Lookout, NY.

As a restaurant designer he executed designs for Heneghan’s Tavern in Point Lookout, NY and Brixx & Barley in Long Beach, NY.

In 2018, he designed, built and re-opened the market Nicholas and Carmela Merola opened in 1930 in the tiny Long Island hamlet of Point Lookout, NY at 40 Lido Boulevard. The Food Mill continues the tradition of operating a community market recalling an era celebrating value and quality.

Richard Zampella is the Managing Partner of Transmultimedia. He produced Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen which is narrated by Sam Waterston. Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen was reviewed by The New York Times film critic Andy Webster on October 11, 2013 and was named an NY Times Critics’ Pic by Manohla Dargis, A. O. Scott and Stephen Holden. Webster said the picture was proof that the work of these two men "endures and so does what they stood for". Other producer credits include; Sergeant York: Of God and Country for Warner Home Video which was narrated by Liam Neeson and Inside High Noon for Paramount Pictures which was narrated by Frank Langella with an introduction by President Bill Clinton. Zampella is currently working on a documentary about American writer Elmore Leonard entitled 'But Don't Try to Write'.

Richard is the proprietor of Idylease, A Historic Landmark located in Newfoundland, NJ.

The Oak Room at The Plaza: Mighty Mixture by Gary Stevens

Richard Zampella Managed The Oak Room at The Plaza Hotel in the late 1990s

TRADITION UPHELD:

For many generations, The Plaza has had a restaurant to boast about The Oak Room, constructed with dark wood has always resembled a vast dining room in an English castle with a facsimile somewhere around London town in a private club. That distinction has merited all kinds of upper class people. Be they bankers from Park Avenue, visitors from wealthy midwestern families. Continental travelers from Paris or Saudi Arabia, and chic New Yorkers who revel in the special kind of atmosphere that The Plaza’s Oak Room offers.

Dining here, if you have a healthy imagination, can suggest an exalted New York past. Nothing has changed. It remains dignified and imposing. Richard Zampella, a friendly young man in charge, greets you at the door and is wonderfully cooperative in suggesting dishes and keeping tabs on service. Very good Lobster Bisque, I tried. And the Grilled Salmon was tender and prepared. The prix fixe dinner is a lure for theatergoers and is well worth ordering. During the evening, a fixture here for ll years, give an arpeggio or two, is Michael Roberts, a talented pianist, who plays something for everyone. Pinpointing Michael & Richard. The Oak Room is in good hands. The Plaza is very easy to find. Fifth Avenue and Central Park South. It may be the best address in the world.

Reprinted from Mighty Mixture -- Gary Stevens -- Aug. 1999

Skipperdee's Birthday Tea Parties

Make plans for your next birthday celebration at Skipperdee's in Point Lookout NY with a custom tailored Birthday Tea Party. Book your next birthday event at Skipperdee's and create an afternoon birthday tea party that will captivate and surpass your child's imagination.

Richard Zampella, Proprietor of Skipperdee's ran the Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel on Central Park South where he oversaw afternoon tea each day in the Grand Lobby of the Hotel.

Father Mychal Judge: The Saint of 911

Father Mychal Judge

Several months before 9/11 I received a letter from Father Mychal Judge while working at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. He was one of the first victims of the World Trade Center attack, but the death of Father Mychal, the beloved New York Fire Department chaplain, was not as extraordinary as his ability to connect and bless everyone that he met.

The letter I received was simply addressed; RICHARD - THE OAK ROOM - THE PLAZA HOTEL - MANHATTAN. By the standards set by the U.S. Postal Service, it probably shouldn't have been delivered.

I had run into Father Mychal a few days earlier when he came to have dinner at The Plaza. I was new to the hotel only recently accepting the position as the manager of The Oak Room. It has been six years since I had seen him last. Our previous meeting was on the day Father Mychal had traveled to New Jersey to eulogize my father.

Our "chance" meeting in the hotel lobby was brief, not particularly detailed and the conservation was light and filled with laughter, but I remember a quiet attentiveness in his eyes as we spoke. We were both very happy indeed that our paths had crossed once again and this time on the opposite side of the Hudson River.

Fr. Mychal served as pastor of St. Joseph Church in West Milford, N.J., from 1979-1985

In the letter Father Mychal pondered our meeting by writing;

"It was unbelievable that we should once again meet. The more I think of it, the more I think that your dad must have just willed our meeting by placing us together after all these years, for he was a great planner and idolized his boy!! And you know what I think? I can see change in you. I know it's hard on you and you are being challenged. See what God wants to do for you. He does have a plan for you. I know you are unsure of that plan, but you must believe this. It will be revealed to you in time. It was great seeing you. We should really have lunch together and catch up."

I've pondered Father Mychal's words many times over the years. The letter remains a significant possession for it's contents betrayed the casual nature of our meeting. Over the years, the words become more profound. I read it sometimes when times seem confusing.

In his funeral homily Father Michael Duffy said, "Everyone thought Mychal Judge was their friend," and with reason, since he carried around a large black satchel full of letters from people and he would always write to them, with a line or two remembering something of significance in their lives."

I am grateful to have been included on that list.

Fourteen years later is a time of reflection and remembrance for me for those lost so tragically on September 11, 2001.

On this anniversary, it gives me pause to reflect and wonder about my "chance" meeting in the lobby of hotel with Father Mychal. I would like to believe that it did not occur by happenstance, but rather predetermined by something I do not fully comprehend. Perhaps there was a greater significance that we saw one another.

Father Mychal's honest and sincere compassion has enriched the lives of countless people. I am sure my story is not unique. The man was truly blessed. Everyone that he touched will surely remember him as the personification of love. If his example persuades us to assume the role of loving others, his memory will has been given it's due. For those that knew him, even if life is no longer with him physically, he remains with us all spiritually. As long as he is remembered, it should gives us all pause to accept the task to try to follow his example.

-Richard Zampella
September 9, 2015
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Richard Zampella: Owner & Operator of Skipperdee's

Richard Zampella: Owner & Operator of Skipperdee's in Point Lookout, NY

Richard Zampella has worked in the hospitality industry for over 30 years. He has managed the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel and served as Food & Beverage Manager of the The Essex House Hotel on Central Park South. For 15 years he work 65 floors high atop Rockefeller Center at the Rainbow Room under legendary restauranteur Joe Baum. In 2010, he created the concept and design for Skipperdee’s Ice Cream Shop in the seaside hamlet of Point Lookout, NY.

Richard Zampella is also a restaurant designer that created the interiors and exterior of Brixx & Barley Restaurant in Long Beach NY. He is also responsible for the bar design for Heneghan’s Tavern in Point Lookout, NY as well as the tavern’s website.

In 2013 Zampella receive a Critics’ Pic from the New York Times as producer for the feature documentary Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen which is narrated by Sam Waterston. The film is currently available on DVD at Walmart, Best Buy and Target.

Visit Website: Skipperdee's

The Oak Room at The Plaza Hotel in New York City

Richard Zampella

By Richard Zampella Photographed in The Oak Room at The Plaza Hotel in NYC Date uploaded: Jan 28, 2014 © & ™ Richard Zampella, Transmultimedia Inc., All Rights Reserved

Richard Zampella: The Pierre Hotel in New York City

Richard Zampella at The Pierre Hotel in NYC

Born and raised in Northwest, NJ Richard Zampella was exposed to the world of food and hospitality at a young age; he took his first position at the age of nineteen when he accepted his first management position at The Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station under Jerome Brody and Mario Staub. He credits his father for introducing him to the culinary world which led him to a fifteen year engagement at The Rainbow Room under his mentor Joseph Baum.  He continued his experience working as restaurant manager in some of New York's best restaurants including Le Cirque, Aureole, and The Oak Room & Bar at The Plaza Hotel before being recruited as a Food & Beverage Manager of the Essex House Hotel on Central Park South.

Richard Zampella is the founder and President of the restaurant consulting company Zampella & Company. The restaurant consulting company provides numerous services, that include; restaurant interiors design, marketing, branding and online multimedia for hosptality projects in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

For More Information visit:
Zampella & Company