And with that he opens the throttle of his 19-foot fishing boat, and we are banging through the waves out of the Great Egg Harbor Inlet and into the Atlantic Ocean.
Roman, all of 31, owns a catering company, two three-bell restaurants, Blackfish and Mica, and has plans to open a third restaurant this fall. And, as if he is not busy enough, he goes fishing before dawn a few mornings a week, occasionally taking along another chef.
This morning, it's his buddy Josh Lawler, also 31, chef-owner of the Farm and Fisherman, a new Center City restaurant that also just earned a three-bell, or excellent, review.
Not only are both chefs local boys - Roman grew up in Fishtown, Lawler in Conshohocken - the two have history: They went to cooking school together at Drexel and were brothers in the same fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha, same pledge class.
Both are also avid fishermen. Roman spent summers fishing with his mom in Ocean City; Lawler with his grandfather in Cape May. And both prominently feature seafood on their menus.
While both are successful, neither chef has risen to the level where he no longer cooks nights. Roman cooks on the line four shifts a week between his two restaurants, and Lawler works most nights; each cranks out 40 to 100 dinners, stressful night after stressful night. They are both married with little ones: Lawler has 18-month old twins; Roman has three under the age of 5, and he and his family rent a house for the summer in Ocean City.
So, early-morning fishing is a time to get away, to be on the water, away from the pressure and the grind.
After bouncing over the waves for about an hour on a relatively calm morning, we reach a spot, about five miles off the coast of Atlantic City, where Roman is convinced we'll find fish. Partly because of the early morning fog, no land is in sight.
