The Plaza Café Has Wheels

Grilled seafood, chipotle slaw, avocado mash and pickled onion tacos; tuna poke nachos smothered with wonton chips, mango, and an Asian cream cheese sauce; lobster mac ’n’ cheese spring rolls; spicy rock shrimp tempura; sriracha-maple glazed fried chicken waffle cones; and Kobe Asian-fusion beef sliders, as well the typical hot dog, chicken finger and burger curbside dining choices are available at The Plaza Café’s new food truck.

Chef Douglas Gulija said the only problem is he can’t serve on the street outside his restaurant, or on any curb in Southampton Village for that matter.

“I’ve gotta go down and speak to someone at the village to try and figure out how to keep this new business afloat,” Mr. Gulija said. “Every restaurant in the village here is doing something not by the book and we are trying to make a living through the summer.”

Southampton Village does not permit for any “drive-in, open-front or curb service” eating establishment in any business district, aside for special exceptions made in Highway Business districts, according to village code. The closest The Plaza Café on Wheels may be able to set up shop is on the corner of North Sea Road and County Road 39 if granted approval from the village.

“We have not been really that interested in it—food trucks have been popping up around our community. It isn’t fair to the restaurants. They pay an enormous amount of rent, and suddenly you have a food truck there and they are not paying any rent,” Southampton Village Board member Nancy McGann said. “It’s competition to them, and we all felt this way on the board. … I have no idea where [The Plaza Café] intends to park its food truck. I have no idea what will happen on this.”

For now, Mr. Gulija is just planning on being available for private parties. The truck made its debut serving 83 local architects at Rockman Millwork Windows & Doors in Bridgehampton, and a handful of birthday parties in early May.

“I want to show people that good food doesn’t need to be expensive or fancy, and that’s how the food truck started to come to life,” Mr. Gulija said.

His restaurant on Hill Street has been a staple for high-quality seafood in Southampton Village for 21 years. Mr. Gulija, a native of the South Fork, opened the restaurant with a lot of help from his late wife, Andi.

“We really wanted to be a little family, easy comfort food kind of place,” he said.

That didn’t stop The Plaza Café from achieving three- and four-star reviews from publications near and far, as well as a 4.5-star rating from Zagat.

“Now I am trying to reinvent myself,” he said. “I am going to try to make it casual and try to get away from that special-occasion vibe and fine-dining vibe. … I really want to do some simple food.”

The last decade has been difficult though, Mr. Gulija said, after his beloved wife died of cancer in 2010. Not to mention the rising cost of rent and workers’ compensation, food service fees, liquor licensing, and staffing a dinner destination five nights a week. The restaurant is off the beaten path, and aside from a sign displayed on the corner, it’s not visible from Hill Street. 71 Hill LLC and 91 Hill LLC, the property’s owner, has also wanted to revitalize the complex with high-end stores. A nearby spa and gym in the complex have since left, too.

“Just to put the key in the door, before I do anything, I’m like $500 a day—just turning on heat or air conditioning, washing linen—before I have done anything, before I pay staff. It’s mind boggling,” Mr. Gulija said. “If this keeps up … I can’t make a living as a chef out here. … The food truck is kind of my plan B.”

It’s a pricey, unconventional alternative—more than $100,000 up front to buy the truck, not including the monthly insurance fee, peddler’s license, health department certificate and fuel. But rebranding is important, he said. His first crack at naming his new kitchen on wheels was “The Seafood Shack,” but the restaurant’s regulars, and food critics, told him to keep The Plaza Café in the title.

“I am not going to gross on that truck what I am going to gross here in the restaurant,” Mr. Gulija said. “But I got to find something to make ends meet. … That’s why you see more and more corporations moving out here because us little guys can’t make it anymore. It’s sad. We are becoming a resort area more so than a community. So, I can either complain or react, and the food truck is a great way for me to react.”

Alongside sous chef Giovanny Sibre and someone to take orders at the window, Mr. Gulija expects to spend his day off from the restaurant—every Monday—on the truck. He’s already getting up to three inquiries a day. Estia’s Little Kitchen in Sag Harbor and a co-working space in Southampton, The Spur, have both reached out about availability, he said.

“I am not trying to steal lunch business from anybody. I’m not driving from Selden to Patchogue to take local people’s money out of their pockets. I own a restaurant. I paid my dues. Can’t I just operate my truck for two or three hours outside here where my three tables are?” Mr. Gulija said.