Restaurants
Landmarc (two locations), Ditch Plains, and Kingside, New York; and Grey Salt, Tampa
On becoming a chef
My father was an American diplomat. I was born in Milan, and we moved every two or three years. I grew up eating really well, and when I finally got out of high school, I realized
I needed to get a job and thought, ‘If I learn how to cook, I’ll be able to eat.’ I didn’t want
to go hungry, so I went to a three-month cooking school.
On early jobs with chefs including Terrance Brennan, Alain Ducasse, Georges Masraff, and Sylvain Portay
When I started cooking, I got addicted to it. I love the camaraderie, I love the pressure, the excitement, I love the people in the kitchen. I was a sponge, absorbing everything I could. I would try to work everywhere for a year or two and then move on to something else, learning from another chef. You’re getting paid to learn.
On opening the first Landmarc in Tribeca in 2004
It was the right opportunity, it was the right time—my wife and I were about to have our daughter, and I wanted to be my own boss, set my own hours, and be able to spend more time with the family. We lived two blocks away from the restaurant, so it was convenient. I worked at all these fancy places, but I wanted to make a restaurant where I would see my friends three times a week and not three times a year on special occasions. We decided to do a bistro because French cooking was my background. But I also wanted to bring in some of my Italian background, so we made a French bistro with Italian influences.
Grey Salt, designed by TBD Architecture + Design Studio. Photography by Cedric Angeles.
On his latest restaurant, Tampa’s Grey Salt, his first outside of New York
[The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino] was looking for an outside, somewhat bigger-name chef, and a friend of mine who works with them approached us. I said, ‘We’re so close to the Gulf, how about doing something with some of my Mediterranean influences because you have all that great fish?’ We’re using local ingredients and coming up with fun food. You think of lemons, olive oil, you think clean, grilled fish, grilled meats. I wanted the design to be that as well—to feel like an oasis in the middle of the casino, because obviously the casino is hustle
and bustle.
On what guests want in restaurants today
You can make the best food in the world, and if the restaurant is lit badly and the music is terrible and it’s uncomfortable, people aren’t going to come in. Design is a big element; you’re already going to know what kind of restaurant it is. When I was a kid, I could tell the kind of restaurant by how many glasses were on the table. If there was one glass, I knew it was more casual, and when you saw three glasses lined up, I was like, ‘Oh, this will be fancy.’ I want [my restaurants to] feel like an old pair of
jeans. They’re comfortable and you can slip into
them very easily.
On being a judge on the TV series Chopped and Chopped Juniors
It gives national recognition to my brand, which obviously helps my restaurants. But I love seeing the contestants; that’s who shines on the show. We get to see great talent, and we learn; the producers find some crazy ingredients—sometimes things we’ve never seen before. I love this industry. I love the people that work in kitchens and that’s basically who we get standing in front of us on the show. It’s fun to see what people come up with and it’s fun to judge with the other judges. We’ve been doing it for eight years, so shooting is like hanging out with your fraternity or brother or sister.
