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A Few Clouds 22-year-old takes over Copper Pot Chicken Co.
Copper Pot Chicken Co., a free range fried chicken eatery that opened last year, has a new owner who is hungry to make his mark in the industry.
“I was pretty much since I can remember cooking with my grandmother and my mother,” said Dean Livingston, who officially took over Copper Pot on Aug. 14. “I just had a passion for food.”
Livingston, 22, from Queens, went to Nassau Community College for its culinary program and later studied at the Institute of Culinary Education, where he graduated with a culinary arts degree in 2016.
Since he was 15, Livingston said he has worked in restaurants, from cleaning toilets to serving as a dishwasher and busboy. “Literally everything,” he said of his past roles. “Now I’m the owner.”
After graduating from the Institute of Culinary Education, Livingston said he was working in kitchens waiting for an opportunity, and that he fell in love with Copper Pot. He is familiar with the area, having worked as a disc jockey in Rockville Centre at places like Kasey’s Kitchen and Cocktails.
“I just love the atmosphere,” he said of the village. “Everyone’s friendly, everyone’s close-knit, everyone supports one another.”
Chadwicks Restaurant Group opened the business last year. The eatery, at 65 N. Village Ave., offers chicken buckets, burgers, sandwiches, pies, cakes and other plates, as well as a variety of alcoholic beverages.
Though he plans to keep the name and much of the menu, Livingston said he would be implementing some of his own flair over the next few months. In addition to adding “crazy” milkshakes and a new line of draft beer and wine, he said Copper Pot would soon be offering the Whiz Burger — injected with Cheese Whiz tableside — as well as “the best corn bread in Rockville Centre.”
In addition, he is introducing a Copper Pot Chicken Hot Wing Challenge, which he said would take place sometime in October.
“It’s probably the best feeling in the world,” Livingston said of becoming a restaurant owner. “The craziest thing is when your dreams actually come true.”
