L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano " The dishes I pick for each of my restau- r a n t s a r e l i k e t h e 'dishes of a story' because the beauty of this job is that every time you open a new restaurant a new story begins." Following the pandem- ic, Chef Angelo Auriana rewrote and adapted the his- tory of his restaurants, which he opened in 2013 with Mat- teo Ferdinandi: Brera, Sixth a n d M i l l s a n d F a c t o r y Kitchen in Downtown Los Angeles, and Brera Osteria and Matteo's Restaurant in Las Vegas. Not knowing how things would go after the p a n d e m i c , t h e c h e f f r o m Bergamo, Lombardy, decid- ed to initially reopen in LA with only one kitchen offer- ing a take-away menu that summarized all three restau- rants. Later he reopened his flag- s h i p r e s t a u r a n t O f f i c i n e Brera for dining in. Officine Brera specialized in northern Italian cuisine but was later transformed into a fully Ital- ian restaurant: "We included pizza and some more classic dishes, such as meatballs with sauce, pasta all' amatri- ciana, cacio e pepe, and so o n . " T h e n , t h e F a c t o r y Kitchen trattoria reopened with its patio: "We saw peo- ple's answer was positive," Auriana continues, "so we decided we are soon going to open a third restaurant dedi- cated to Chef Monica Ange- lats, with an entirely Spanish menu." Chef Auriana, how did you rewrite your restau- rants' menus while keep- ing faithful to your culi- nary philosophy? From my point of view, it is essential to educate cus- tomers on what Italian cui- sine is, which is not putting everything together, mixing ingredients, and so on. So I tried to bring together the best things, taking inspira- tion from the culinary cul- ture of Italy's lakes, sea and hills. On the menu, we go from the banks of the Po, where they make pasta dishes tied to rural culture - like the pis- arei (bread dumplings) you f i n d a l s o i n M a n z o n i ' s Promessi Sposi - to Pied- mont's potato gnocchi with spinach and a fondue made with Castelmagno, a typical c h e e s e f r o m L a n g h e . W e have risotto with osso buco, which is replaced here with bonemarrow, Milanese risot- to and risotto with mush- rooms. We make fresh pasta, like pappardelle with wild boar, which is a Tuscan dish. We also have caponsei, made with bread or ricotta and vegetables, which is a more delicate dough. What about the restau- rants in Las Vegas? I n L a s V e g a s , w e m a k e Neapolitan pizza, meat or fish tartare, and roast pork knuckle with potatoes. At Matteo's Restaurant, we have fresh pasta, from mandilli- with pesto, a dish from the Ligurian coast, crab ravioli, pasta with lobster and pan- fried zucchini. W h a t i n g r e d i e n t s must be imported from Italy? Apart from mushrooms which, here in California, you can even pick twice a year, m a n y o f o u r i n g r e d i e n t s come from Italy. For exam- ple, Parma ham, which we use on pizza with stracciatel- la and arugula, or which we combine with a leavened and then fried dough known in Tuscany as donzella. And then olive oil, butter, Italian c a n n e d t o m a t o e s , i p e l a t i . B e i n g a c h e f a l s o m e a n s s e l e c t i n g t h e b e s t ingredients so, coming from Italy, I always tried to respect o u r c u l i n a r y p h i l o s o p h y . Without giving in to fusion, without bastardizing flavors. If you are an Italian restau- rant you cannot put ingredi- ents like cilantro on pasta. Do you think local cus- t o m e r s h a v e b e c o m e more accepting of culi- nary traditions? Americans are very open- minded customers because they come to the restaurant and ask for advice on what to eat. Italians generally look at the menu and choose, while Americans are more open to trying. Then, you just need to think that 15 years ago they only wanted NY-style pizza, a n d n o w m a n y p i z z e r i a s m a k e N e a p o l i t a n a n d R o m a n - s t y l e p i z z a . A l s o , thanks to social media, it is easier to spread knowledge about food. In my opinion, t h e n e w g e n e r a t i o n s a r e more open and, in general, Americans are more used to eating different types of cui- sine. For dinner, an Italian wonders whether to make pasta, risotto, or a steak. An American, on the other hand, is thinking about whether to eat Chinese, sushi, or Mexi- can. Y o u r f a v o r i t e d i s h ever? Having four restaurants, it is difficult to name just one. I am certainly very attached to the Bergamo-style casoncelli, because they come from my city. In my Las Vegas restau- rant, Brera Osteria, it is the most requested dish. In the US, customers very often find a particular dish in a restaurant and keep on going t h e r e f o r i t . I n a d d i t i o n to casoncelli, I love risotto. It i s d i f f i c u l t t o r e c o g n i z e myself in a single dish. Per- sonally, I eat what I like that day. After all, our cuisine is so versatile that every time you could eat something dif- ferent. What is your earliest memory related to cook- ing? My father was a food and wine representative in the province of Bergamo and therefore had many restaura- teur friends. So on Sundays we would always go to the restaurant. My father would go to the kitchen to greet the boss, and one day I walked with him into this kitchen where there was a lady busy with four or five pans full of rabbit that had just come out o f t h e o v e n . A t t h a t v e r y m o m e n t , h e r s o n a r r i v e d from the stable with some skimmed milk and the lady used it to glaze the rabbit. I was so impressed that, since that day, I have always asked to eat rabbit on Sundays. I think that's the episode that instilled in me the love for cooking. A n d w h a t h a p p e n e d then? From there, I then attend- e d t h e s c u o l a alberghiera, where I culti- vated my love for food. Many students dropped out, it was a very selective school. To m e , h o w e v e r , i t a l w a y s seemed the right choice. I worked during the summer h o l i d a y s a n d a l s o d u r i n g C h r i s t m a s b r e a k . A t 2 3 I decided, after years of work, to take a vacation to Florida, because I was a fan of the TV series Miami Vice. When I arrived in Florida, I realized t h a t I c o u l d h a v e m a d e a career in the US, so I stayed. In 1985 I moved to California and I'm still here. W h a t ' s t h e m o s t rewarding part of your job? It's when my customers tell me that, at my restau- rant, they ate as they did in Italy. SILVIA GIUDICI Chef Angelo Auriana in the kitchen of one of his restaurants (Photo: L'Italo-Americano) After the pandemic, chef Angelo Auriana's cuisine got a makeover while staying faithful to tradition LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY

• Cover