Matthew Karp of Plates

"I always liked to cook," Matthew Karp, owner/chef at Plates in Larchmont says. "But I didn't think it could be my life's work until I had dinner one night at Nick and Eddie. I liked the food so much I asked for a job."

Eric Bromberg, executive chef at the SoHo restaurant, hired Karp and, on his first day of work, assigned him to cleaning fish. "I put my hand in the water," recalls Karp. "It was ice cold, I felt my fingers turning numb and I almost quit there and then, but I stuck it out." 

Advancement at Nick and Eddie was slow at first, but after several months, a salad prep job opened up and Karp got it by default. His new career was under way. 

A year and a half later, Karp decided to trade his paying position at Nick and Eddie in for an unpaid short-term, training assignment at the prestigious Bouley Restaurant in Tribeca. Not only was no salary involved, but the position had a lifetime of six months at best. At the same time, he landed a paying restaurant job on his days off that provided enough money to offset the cost of his Scarsdale-to-Manhattan commute. 

Chef/owner David Bouley recognized that Karp had serious intentions and within a few months, added him to the payroll. Ttwo years into his job, Karp's fiancee, Wendy Weinstein, was offered a promotion that involved moving to Milan, Italy. Karp and Weinstein had met at a hospital benefit, where they discovered they were practically neighbors: he from Scarsdale and she from Larchmont.

Karp bid farewell to Bouley and packed his bags. Living in Europe made it possible for him to attend the Cordon Bleu School in Paris; he graduated in 1998. With Weinstein, who spoke Italian and French fluently, he visited many of the finest restaurants Europe and worked or interned at several as well. 

He diligently followed his hobby of collecting restaurant dining plates and also pursued a new interest: videotaping.

In Israel, just before visiting a local restaurant, he videotaped a nearby marketplace, something he often did at outdoor markets in France and Italy.  An hour or two later, the marketplace was hit by a double suicide bombing. Returning to the scene, Karp reshot the area and turned the "before" and "after" tapes over to the local authorities, who used them in the investigation of the bombings.

Back in the U.S., Karp was hired by award-winning chef/owner Daniel Boulud at Daniel, a landmark French restaurant in Manhattan. But Bouley learned that Karp had returned from Europe and wooed him away. He rejoined his former restaurant and, in a short time, advanced to sous chef.

Fate would intervene.  Bouley was only three blocks from the World Trade Center and on the tragic date of September 11, 2001, along with much of downtown Manhattan, Bouley closed its doors, not to reopen for six months. Karp joined the kitchen crew feeding the rescue workers; meals were provided for upwards of 10,000 people daily. After Bouley's reopened, Karp stayed for another year.

But he began to think about opening his own restaurant and in 2004, the Karps bought a historic structure, about one hundred years old, not far from the Larchmont train station. Originally built as a rest house for New Haven railroad engineers and conductors, the building had been converted to a speakeasy during Prohibition and then to a restaurant by George Carl named "Carl's on the Park" in 1950. 

Karp was ready to run a business and a kitchen creating Italian, French and Asian food, and he had also provided a permanent home for his collection of plates. An earlier thought to call the new eatery "Restaurant 121" was abandoned in favor of Plates.

Karp says that Plates doesn't have a signature dish. Its duo of beef, however, is very popular year-round. It combines all-day braised short ribs and grilled hanger steak  with homemade vegetable lasagna, escarole, Jerusalem artichokes and Fontana cheese. Somehow, all of this fits on the same plate. Plates also offers tasting menus.

The Karps live in Larchmont close to Plates. Their three daughters, ages 11,  9 and 4, attend Hommocks Middle School and Chatsworth Avenue School in Larchmont. 

The plate collection

A dining plate from Nick and Eddie, the first plate in his collection, and one from Bouley, his second plate, were joined by 32 more on the walls of the new restaurant. Many were mementos from overseas travel; other were gifts from friends and relatives. 

Overseas restaurants  represented by the dishes that appear on the walls of Plates include:

Broschendahl Vineyards Restaurant, Franschoek Valley, South Africa. Obtaining a plate here was easy as a fellow Cordon Bleu graduate was a member of the kitchen staff. The plate is decorated with a beautiful rendering of the farmhouse that houses the restaurant. In gratitude, Karp currently includes a Boschendahi wine on Plates' wine list.

Lucas Carton, Paris. France. When Karp and Weinstein celebrated his birthday at this elite Alain Senderens restaurant on the Place de la Madeleine, they were given a white dinner plate bearing the initials "L" and "C," and Karp was invited to tour the kitchen.  

Moulin de Mougins, Mougins (Cannes), France. Karp was rewarded with a dish at this restaurant, where he and a visiting group of American chefs engaged in a seven-hour dining marathon in 1996.

L'Alberta, Lago D'Iseo, Italy. Karp worked here in 1996. His employer, Gualtiero Marchesi, Italy's first three-star Michelin chef, gave him a black plate with golf leaf overlay. 

Locanda dell'Isola, Lake Como, Italy. In 1997 when Karp and Weinstein dined at this restaurant, located on Lake Como's only island, the management was reluctant at first to part with their plate, a colorful portrayal of their restaurant closely resembling an oil painting. "It took a lot of pleading but we finally got the dish," Karp says.

Ca'Peo, Leivi (Genoa), Italy. After the Karps met chef/owner Franco Solari at an industry food show in Los Angeles, they followed up on his invitation to "visit my restaurant anytime." The dish he gave them on their visit depicts a young boy picking mushrooms.

Pizzeria Di Matteo, Naples, Italy. Karp made a connection with the owner, whose name was Matteo; he was happy to add to Karp's plate collection. 

Osteria cia Gigio, Rome, Italy. Karp ended up in the kitchen filming the preparation of fried fish and vegetable cuisine with Roman Jewish origins. The dish he obtained bears the name of the restaurant in script type.

Bubushka Restaurant, Moscow, Russia. Matthew interned here and after helping to prepare a vodka and dumpling dinner, he was presented with the dumpling shaping plate.

Okeanu (Ocean) Restaurant, Jerusalem, Israel. Karp collaborated with Israeli and Palestinian chefs and cooks working together at this restaurant and took home a bright blue and white dinner plate. 

The restaurant is open for dinner on Tuesday through Sunday and it tentatively plans to open for lunch on Friday and Saturday in the Fall. It is available for catered events. Appetizers are offered at half-price from 5 to 7 p.m. every evening at the bar only. On Wednesdays, no corkage fee applies if patrons bring their own bottles of wine. Plates, 121 Myrtle Blvd., Larchmont, NY 10538. 914-834-1244. www.platesonthepark.com.