Lattanzi brings skills in culinary, visual arts to Rocco’s Town House
Page 4 • Wednesday, May 22, 2019 • The Hammonton Gazette
ROCCO’S, from Page 1
chalkboards located in rocco’s
dining room, as well as concocting
several dessert items in a bakery
space located behind the restaurant.
While the taste and appearance
of his culinary creations indicates
otherwise, Lattanzi—a graduate of
the Philadelphia College of art and
Design (now the University of the
arts)—did not have any profes-
sional culinary training or experi-
ence before coming to rocco’s
town House. art has always been
his main focus, and when he’s not
creating things at rocco’s, Lattanzi
often spends his free time working
on oil paintings of various land-
scapes.
Lattanzi said his preferred artis-
tic medium is oil paint, but his in-
quisitiveness and desire to create
art have led him to several other
disciplines and trades, including
the numerous ones he now over-
sees at rocco’s town House.
“My ‘home base’ is oil paints,
for the most part. But like any
artist, i want to play with every-
thing. You can be OK at the clar-
inet, but let’s check out the tuba,”
Lattanzi said.
for Lattanzi, cooking and bak-
ing offers a creative stimulation
simular to that of his paint and
chalk artwork even though the
margin for error is significantly
smaller for the latter.
“they aren’t the same gears
turning in my head, but it’s the
same engine ... i paint very roughly
and then i like going in and clean-
ing things up and being very pre-
cise. Baking, there’s not a whole
lot of room for being rough, but
that need for precision, you ab-
solutely need that. if you’re off on
any of your ingredients, your cake
will turn into a puck. But as far as
the creativity—certainly with how
they look—there’s definitely a di-
rect correlation,” Lattanzi said.
Lattanzi acquired most of his
culinary skills during the time he
spent shadowing David ruberton,
co-owner and head chef of rocco’s
town House. Lattanzi said ruber-
ton has always enriched his cre-
ative passion by allowing him to
try new things at rocco’s town
House, both in the kitchen and the
dining room.
“He has been very supportive,
which is nice. i’ve worked in
enough kitchens—and i’ve worked
in enough design studios—where
the person on top doesn’t encour-
age the people below them to be
more creative and to work harder
… and working with Dave, he has
allowed me to try something differ-
ent and that’s why i like it here: be-
cause that—to my experience—is
a rarity: a head chef that allows you
to prove yourself and then keep
stepping up,” Lattanzi said.
the discovery of Lattanzi’s tal-
ented ability to create large-scale
chalk drawings happened rather
serendipitously. initially, Lattanzi
would be responsible for writing
daily drink and food specials on the
board at rocco’s. eventually, Lat-
tanzi began adding more creative
elements to the board, and Steve
ruberton—like David—encour-
aged Lattanzi to continue express-
ing his creativity.
“i got carried away, and as i got
carried away, Steve encouraged it
… We wanted the place to look as
nice as the food tasted. all of the
energy, from what i can tell, was
going into the important thing:
making sure everybody’s drinks
were tasty and food was tasty, and
we just wanted to make it look a
little bit nicer,” Lattanzi said.
the chalk boards at rocco’s
town House now feature several
of Lattanzi’s creations throughout
the year. in addition to the afore-
mentioned specials being listed,
these surfaces also often depict col-
orful murals pertaining to various
See LATTANZI, Page 12
SOLD!
800 S. White Horse Pike (Crowley Center), P.O. Box 1119 • Hammonton • 561-0505 • [email protected] • www.CrowleyCarr.com
Congratulations
SAL
PETETTI
on the purchase
of your home!
Thank you for
putting your trust
in Crowley & Carr.
“The Best Place in
Town to Find the
Best Place in Town.”
With nearly 30 years in business,
who better to guide you on all your
Real Estate needs than the
CROWLEY & CARR REAL ESTATE TEAM!