First-time visitors to the Rye Roadhouse usually notice the alligator nuggets on the menu first. Invariably, they ask their servers, “Are they really alligator?”
The nuggets are served blackened or fried with Cajun remoulade on the side and even though they”™re listed on the menu as ”™Gator Nuggets, regulars can”™t seem to resist the double entendre of calling them ”™Gator Bites instead.
Kevin Campbell, co-owner of the Creole Cajun restaurant, is questioned about the nuggets or “bites” daily. “No one thinks it”™s really alligator,” he said.
It is.
The nuggets are made entirely from tail meat from Louisiana farm-raised alligators. (Campbell, who goes by the nickname “Soup,” said they had contemplated serving wild alligator or Florida alligator, but the texture and taste were inferior by comparison. Apparently, alligator meat connoisseurs agree that Louisiana ”™gator is the way to go.)
Curious eaters often react to the taste the way one would when trying a new meat for the first time. “They say, ”˜It tastes like chicken,””™ Campbell said.
The Rye Roadhouse holds a spot near the top of a hill in what is otherwise a residential neighborhood. It”™s on High Street, a one-way road in Rye in an out-of-the-way working class neighborhood that bears little resemblance to Purchase Street, the ritzy and well-trafficked shopping destination.
Just past the Roadhouse, the street pivots leftward, running parallel to Interstate 95 far below. There are no direct connectors to the highway nor to any of the city”™s thoroughfares. It wouldn”™t be a stretch to say there isn”™t a lot of transient traffic in the neighborhood and the legend goes that the only way someone can know where the Roadhouse is, is if they already know where the Roadhouse is. Most of the buzz around the business has until recently been word of mouth, but now the little neighborhood restaurant has gone national.
The Roadhouse was featured on the June 18 episode of “Road Trip with G. Garvin” on The Cooking Channel. The show focuses on highlighting Southern-style restaurants and recipes and featured the local restaurant on an episode with a “Best of New York” theme.
Host G. Garvin and a camera crew visited the restaurant in November for filming and to sample some of the Roadhouse”™s signature dishes, which included bacon explosion sliders ”“ made from Italian sausage wrapped in bacon ”“ as well as fried mac ”™n cheese, Big Joe”™s Jambalaya and rather predictably, the blackened ”˜Gator Nuggets.
Garvin, who grew up in Atlanta, called all the dishes “top notch” ”“ but raved most about the jambalaya. “Now everybody is gonna stop me in the airport and go ”˜Really, we”™re from New Orleans, we make the best jambalaya,”™” Garvin said in the episode. “No, it”™s all about Rye. It”™s all about the Roadhouse with the jambalaya.”
Tom Codispoti, co-owner, like most Roadhouse servers and regulars has a nickname. His is Cody and it”™s used so frequently that people are sometimes surprised to find out his name is actually Tom. Codispoti had the most screen time in the “Road Trip” episode, having taken Garvin on a tour of the kitchen. The anticipation grew between filming and the first broadcast, with Codispoti thinking back several times and hoping he represented his restaurant well while being recorded.
The restaurant had a premiere-night celebration and the restaurant owners, who also tend bar, saw the episode for the first time along with their customers. Campbell said it was a surreal experience and also offered a level of validation for the work he, Codispoti, their partners Greg and Jonathan DeMarco, and their staff put into the restaurant. “Our little place in Rye is on national TV,” he said.
The little place dates back nearly a century and a gin den operated on the ground floor of the bi-level spot for decades. In the 1990s, the neighborhood bar turned into a neighborhood bar and restaurant, serving Southern comfort food. The current ownership took over in 2007, updating the interior and solidifying the menu. Campbell and Codispoti had worked at the restaurant under previous ownership when it was called The High Street Roadhouse.
It was christened Rye Roadhouse with a new sign out front, on a red wood-plank wall near the front entrance. Its owners acknowledge the location and character of the restaurant contribute to its popularity.
Inside, the restaurant is decorated in finished-wood paneling and wood floors with stone accents in the dining room. There are black-and-white pictures of Mardi Gras scenes throughout and in the dining room there are two signs: French Quarter and Bourbon Street. The small, two-people-at-a-time men”™s restroom doesn”™t have a mirror only a stainless steel hand-towel dispenser that reflects well enough as far as customers are concerned.
It isn”™t uncommon for families to come to dinner a couple of times a week. “Soup” and “Cody” seem to know everyone who comes into the restaurant, and at the bar, the customers know each other too. Yes, everybody knows your name.
Codispoti said despite his big small-screen debut, he”™s not sure he”™d leave his neighborhood place for the bright lights of Hollywood, nor would he hit the road for his own reality show.
“I”™m pretty comfortable right here,” he said, with a laugh. “I don”™t know if I”™d travel around the country.” He paused for a moment, then added, “I don”™t know if they”™d let me.”
