Turning a Happy Accident into 20 years of Hospitality
Pete Palladino, Director of Operations for Fearless Restaurants, didn’t plan on falling in love with the restaurant business, or with Long Beach Island. However, as he says, the best things in life are happy accidents. “I was living in Philadelphia and started managing the Moshulu,” Pete recalls. “I just quickly fell in love. It was like a puzzle that I just needed to continue to figure out every day.”
“I was living in Philadelphia and started managing the Moshulu,” Pete recalls. “I just quickly fell in love. It was like a puzzle that I just needed to continue to figure out every day.”
Having grown up visiting the island every Summer, when the opportunity came to move to LBI in 2006 to run Plantation and help open Daddy O, Pete didn’t hesitate. This was his beach, where he’d spent his days stand up paddleboarding and relaxing on the sand.
“When you live at the beach, it’s a totally different lifestyle,” he says. “It was life changing for me to be able to live near the water.” Now living in Manahawkin with his wife, Pete still marvels at his good fortune: “I could walk up there and take a look at the waves—so I’m like, well, I can go to Philadelphia, you know what I mean? I might as well live here.”
The Rhythm of LBI
What Pete loves most is the ebb and flow of LBI. “In the summer, it’s bananas. We’re all just trying to hold on,” he laughs. “Then in the off season, you get to recoil, you get your life back, and you get to spend more time with guests and really figure out a way to make this all make sense. I love to figure out problems.”
That problem-solving spirit is infused in everything at Daddy O. Pete and his culinary partner Jeff Alberti are constantly experimenting, inspired by their trips to New York and Philly, by the smells and sights they encounter wandering through neighborhoods. They’re always asking: how do we bring this back to LBI?
No Ego, Just Excitement
“There’s no ego where it’s like, if we try something and it doesn’t work, we’re offended,” Pete insists. “It’s a conversation. Let’s listen to what our guests are saying”
Whether it’s launching espresso martini flights with ten different flavors or introducing Pau Hana Fridays (a Hawaiian term meaning “finished with work” that perfectly captures the surf vibe), the team is constantly pushing themselves to stay inspired.
“If we’re excited about something and you can excite the folks in the kitchen, that excitement flows out into the dining room, and then eventually it flows to the guests,” Pete explains. “It’s got to be fun.”
Giving Back to the Community
Pete brings that personal passion to everything Daddy O does. The restaurant stays open year-round (except Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas) as a way to give back to the community that’s supported them.
“When we first opened on LBI, the conversation was always, is it worth it to be open in the winter?” Pete remembers. “And our thought was always, you know what? Yes, because it’s a way to keep everybody engaged and give back to the community that has supported us all summer long.”
Every day features something special: half-price sushi with live music, wine club events, whiskey flights, tequila tastings. As a musician himself, Pete carefully curates the musicians who play Thursday through Saturday, leaning on his booking agent to ensure they’re “awesome musicians, who are super talented.”
Rooted in Gratitude
At Daddy O, everything possible is sourced locally. The menu features scallops from Barnegat Light just up the road (“some of the best scallops in the entire East Coast”), local flounder and tuna, and Jersey’s legendary tomatoes and corn.
Pete draws on the bounty around him, “Here in New Jersey, we’ve got the best of a lot of different worlds. This coastal ecosystem as well as wonderful farms that aren’t too far away.”
After nearly 20 years at Daddy O and a decade at Tucker’s Tavern, Pete’s gratitude remains genuine.
“We love LBI. LBI is just a special place,” he says. “LBI is a different culture than any place else on the Jersey Shore, and we love being part of that ecosystem. We’re super thankful that we’ve been embraced by the community and are still going strong.”
When you walk into Daddy O, you’re not just entering a restaurant, you’re experiencing Pete’s passion for this 18-mile stretch of protected waterway, his love for hospitality, and his commitment to creating something special for the community he calls home. For Pete Palladino, this isn’t just a job. It’s a life he chose, a puzzle he loves solving, and a love affair with LBI that keeps getting better.
Daddy O | 4401 Long Beach Blvd, Long Beach, NJ 08008 | (609) 494-1300
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