Tropicana chef exemplifies the perfect honoree for Atlantic Cape Restaurant Gala

By Scott Cronick

Ask Chef Demetrios Haronis about something going on at Tropicana, where he has worked most of his career, and he will likely begin his answer by talking about his culinary team or someone on it.

Modest doesn’t begin to describe Haronis, who literally looks uncomfortable when asked about his accomplishments.

So, I will make him more uncomfortable and use some words to describe him: talented, intelligent, kind, thoughtful, loyal, hardworking, loving, generous, creative, and an Atlantic City legend.

Demetrios Haronis isn’t just a chef. He is a friend. A good friend.

He’s someone I call when I need some true guidance, a person who really keeps a secret in the vault intuitively. He’s someone I can always count on no matter what I ask of him. He’s someone who always has your back if he’s your friend. He’s someone you want in your corner when the chips are stacked against you. At about 6-foot-4, with another foot added for his chef’s hat that he always wears, Haronis is a soft-spoken warrior who lets his quiet and intimidating presence say more than most could with words. He’s a gentle giant who has more respect than any other chef in the city.

And he earned every bit of it.

So, perhaps more than any other time in the 30 years that I have been going to the Atlantic Cape Community College Restaurant Gala, I was truly touched when Haronis was this year’s culinary honoree, an annual tradition bestowed on a graduate of the esteemed Academy of Culinary Arts, which is the best school of its kind in the state.

I also knew Haronis, who is by far the longest reigning executive chef/director of culinary at an Atlantic City casino, was going to feel very awkward speaking about himself in front of 1,000 people. So, what did he do?

He thanked others, of course … and he kept his speech brief.

Anyone who knows him wasn’t surprised a bit. That’s who Demetrios Haronis is.

A culinary star is born

Two of those people Haronis thanked were his late father Spiro and his 87-year-old mother Helen, who was in the crowd being the proud mom she should be.

After all, it was Haronis’ parents who got him started in this crazy business in the first place.

At one point, the Haronis family lived in Washington, D.C, where Spiro and his business partner/chef would run the acclaimed and legendary The Monocle Restaurant, which has been a Capitol Hill institution since 1960 and still exists today.

“They would run The Monocle in the winter, and then in the summertime, they would come here to run our restaurant on the Wildwood Boardwalk,” said Haronis, remembering the restaurant specialized in seafood and Italian cuisine. “I started working there and cooking there. Every summer we would do that.”

Eventually the Haronis family relocated to the Jersey Shore permanently, and they opened several restaurants in Cape May County, including locations in the Royal Hawaiian Motel and Bar Harbour hotel in Wildwood Crest.

“My mother and father worked in the restaurants together, but that’s where it all started for me,” Haronis said.

Spiro was quite the role model. He also learned the business through family connections as his parents owned a hotel on Kentucky Avenue in Atlantic City. Not only was he an amazing restaurateur, but previous to that he was also a real-life warrior, returning to Greece to fight in guerilla warfare fashion against the communists and the Germans, and later returned to fight for the United States military in the Korean War.

But, tragedy struck when Spiro died unexpectedly at 55 years old from a heart attack when Demetrios was only 10 years old.

By then, the restaurant business was in Helen’s blood to the point that she ran the restaurants Spiro left behind, including the Longport Inn. And Demetrios would cook at the restaurants, as well.

“It was tough, but she learned the business, and back then it was even tougher being a woman running restaurants,” Haronis said. “She worked until I had to force her to retire back in 2006 or so. I know she was having fun and loving the social part of it, but it was just time.”

 

Career choice

Although it seemed like Haronis didn’t really have a choice as to which career he would pursue, he actually did.

Haronis was actually enrolled in Stockton College, but in between semesters he decided to head to the Academy.

“Even though I grew up in the restaurant business, my parents didn’t really want that for me,” he said. “But it’s what I wanted, it’s what I knew. So, in January between semsters, I was already enrolled in Stockton and had to drop classes and hurry up and sign up at the Academy. I remember walking in with a full beard and they looked at me and said, ‘You have to shave!’ Then I started the work and said, ‘What the hell did I get myself into?’ But it’s the best thing I ever did.”

Coming out of the Academy, Haronis got his first – and only – job at the Tropicana, where he has been for about 30 years, starting as a sous chef working graveyard shift in the coffee shop and rising up to banquets and as restaurant chef in the players club, the former steak and seafood house called Regent Court, the former Pier 7 seafood house, the Italian staple Il Verdi and eventually being named Director of Culinary nearly 20 years ago.

Haronis has seen a lot transpire over those years, including multiple ownership changes, many casino presidents and bosses coming and going, restaurants opening and closing, COVID-19, economies thriving and collapsing and Atlantic City having its peaks and valleys.

One of his most memorable creations was Fin, a seafood restaurant overlooking the ocean that became Haronis’ first signature restaurant in 2010.

“That was my baby,” Haronis said. “(Former Vice President of Food and Beverage Al Maiorani) came to me and said, ‘This is going to be your restaurant.’ Before Fin, I was always behind the scenes. So, I told them we needed to use Jersey seafood and offer sushi, which no one else was really doing then. I wanted to bring back that Zaberers experience because there weren’t any seafood restaurants in the casinos even though we are right on the beach. Al forced me to be in the front and talk to diners, which was something I wasn’t comfortable doing. But, after a while, I grew to love it.”

Like most casino restaurants, Fin was replaced when Iron Chef Jose Garces was lured to the Tropicana to open Olon, a coastal cusine restaurant inspired by Ecuador, and its sister Japanese restaurant Okatshe. Both were great, but now that they are both gone, people still wish Fin was still around.

“Every five or six years, you just have to expect things change,” Haronis said. “At the time, it made sense to bring in Jose Garces. Plus, seafood places and steakhouses are expensive to run. As much as I loved Fin, you just have to accept those things will happen in this business.”

 

Haronis honored

When Haronis was honored last week at the Restaurant Gala at Harrah’s Waterfront Conference Center, he didn’t show up in a fancy suit or tux … he wore his chef whites with his giant white chef’s hat.

“I wanted to be with my guys working tonight,” he said. “I don’t have a speech prepared, just a list of people I want to thank. I have been lucky and had a lot of mentors over the years. I got a lot of help from a lot of people. We don’t do this by ourselves. No matter how great you are, you can’t do it without your team. So, to me, this is recognition for the whole team. That’s how I look at it.”

That list included Academy chef educators Klaus Muller, Jeffrey Phillips and, at the top of the list, George Richert.

“He was the man,” Haronis said of Richert. “He was the guy every chef wanted to be like.”

Haronis also praised fellow local legend and former Ram’s Head Inn Executive Chef Luigi Baretto, and former Tropicana co-workers, including former Executive Chef Joseph LaPorte and Steve Callender, who Haronis said was his “best boss ever.”

On the night Haronis was honored, the sold-out Gala raised the most money it has every raised – $306,000 – to help the Academy continue the amazing work it does preparing students for the real world in the culinary field.

“The Academy is always a special place for me,” Haronis said. “And it’s so great to see how it has evolved. They have amazing facilities now with great equipment. It has come a long way from where it was. The bake shop we used to call little house on the prairie because it was this one room, old building away from everything else. Now they have a wood-burning pizza oven, amazing equipment, computers and the best of everything. But no matter how much equipment and technology evolves, you still have to learn the fundamentals, the basics. There are no shortcuts to good food. A lot of people don’t learn the basics. They don’t know how to make mayonnaise, but they want to make a lime tartar aioli or some crazy thing. You have to learn to crawl before you run.”

Director of the Academy of Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Joseph Sheridan said honoring Haronis was a no-brainer.

“Chef Demetrious was the perfect choice to be our alumni honoree at the Atlantic Cape Restaurant Gala,” said Sheridan, who was named 2024 Chef of the Year by the Professional Chefs Association of South Jersey. “His exceptional journey from Academy of Culinary Arts graduate to Executive Chef and community leader makes him a true role model for our culinary students and the next generation of aspiring chefs. I’m proud to call him a colleague and friend.”

 

No regrets

Working in the casinos – or anywhere for that matter – for more than three decades could sour a lot of people and make them wish for early retirement. But not Haronis.

“I have zero regrets,” Haronis said. “I still enjoy coming to work and problem-solving. It’s something different every day, and that’s the key. You can get tired of doing the same thing every day. We have so much going on at the Tropicana and in Atlantic City and the casinos, that the job is different every day. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I don’t want to be sitting behind a desk. I want to be in the kitchen. It’ s exciting and new every day.”

Haronis does have some inspirational words for those thinking of pursuing a culinary career.

“You get what you put into it,” he said. “How hard you work is what you get out of it. Volunteer, get involved, give back, don’t chase money and don’t chase titles. Do this job because you love it and it’s a passion and you can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Well said, Chef.