L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 2015 www.italoamericano.com L'Italo-Americano 5 Piero Selvaggio's Valentino: on top of the L.A. restaurant industry for over 40 years Italian cuisine is recognized and appreciated all across the globe. From extremely simple to more refined dishes, what makes the real difference are the gen- uine ingredients of our tradition. Yet there was a time in the - not s o d i s t a n t - p a s t w h e n t h e y couldn't be found abroad, due to t h e i r c o s t a n d p e r i s h a b i l i t y . Among them were white truf- fles, fresh mozzarella, burrata cheese, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and real pro- sciutto. Nowadays, we can't e v e n i m a g i n e d o i n g w i t h o u t them! O n e o f t h e p i o n e e r s w h o i n t r o d u c e d s u c h d e l i c i o u s flovors in the Los Angeles food s c e n e i s P i e r o S e l v a g g i o , a n a t i v e o f M o d i c a , i n S i c i l y region, founder and owner of the famed Valentino restaurant in Santa Monica. Opened over 40 years ago, the place has become a mile- stone of Italian fine dining and hospitality in L.A. thanks to a few key factors. First of all, the location: there are no shops or o f f i c e s i n P i c o B l v d , s o t h e restaurant is a chosen destination for habitués or customers cele- b r a t i n g a s p e c i a l o c c a s i o n . Second, the food quality and authenticity: "In the beginning, i t w a s n ' t s o g o o d " , P i e r o Selvaggio recalls. "It was too spicy and rich, influenced by the American taste and the memo- ries of first generation immi- grants. So I went back to Italy and discovered that Italian cui- sine is actually very elegant, fea- turing truffles, carpaccio, porcini mushrooms, and other delica- cies." In Italy, he also learned a lot about wine varietals and how to match them with different cours- es. The Sicilian restaurateur brought this knowledge back to the U.S. with him, and asked his chef to prepare some new dishes, despite the difficulties relating to importing the products and per- suading the customers to try them. "Somebody must take the f i r s t s t e p . I t ' s i m p o r t a n t t o understand what the clients want but also to teach them a few culi- nary details, even if takes time. Today it's different, people have access to more information by traveling the world and surfing the Internet, while 40 years ago they couldn't know how the real Italian cuisine was supposed to taste." T h e t h i r d r e a s o n f o r Valentino's success is the atti- tude and charm of his creator: Piero Selvaggio's vision and determination enabled him to remain on the top for decades, taking his chances and reinvent- ing the menu to move with the times, but always consistent with his original identity. "When I came to the U.S. at the age of 17, I had never thought of start- ing a restaurant. My uncle was a restaurateur, and I used to help him while in school. After grad- uating from college, a friend of mine talked me into this adven- ture, he had just a little more experience than me at that time, but I've always been good at connecting with people and so I was in charge of the public rela- tions. Later on, when my friend and I went separate ways, I had t o l e a r n h o w t o m a n a g e t h e kitchen as well. Those are two sides of the same coin, and I like them both. Having control over all the restaurant's activities is essential in order to establish a reputation; at the same time, Valentino is a big Italian family, many of my collaborators have been working here for over 20 years. The chef Nino Chessa is from Sardinia and has been with me for 5 years now." Together they contribute to promote the Italian culture and culinary tra- dition abroad, keeping the ties with Italy and the local Italian American community. Throughout the years, Piero Selvaggio has opened a few more restaurants in different areas of Los Angeles as well as in luxury hotels in Las Vegas, such as the Venetian and the Mandalay Bay. Yet Valentino remains the main location, with a wide and high-class selection, in terms of both wine list and menu, that earned it several awards and the special mention as "Best Italian Restaurant in the W o r l d " b y t h e r e n o w n e d Gambero Rosso dining guide. "Being revered doesn't neces- sary mean being full of cus- tomers though, especially in a city like L.A. where every day a new trend is born and a new restaurant is opened. This is why I decided to invest in pro- fessionalism, reliability, and ele- gance, which never go out of fashion. We offer a complete and high-standard service to a certain target, such as celebri- ties, institutions, charities, and c l i e n t s w h o k n o w v e r y w e l l what they're looking for. And they know that Valentino can meet all of their needs." SILVIA SIMONETTI Piero Selvaggio Dangerous Perfection Artistic creations have been a part of culture since the dawn of time. All of this art has con- tributed to the vast archaeologi- cal his tory pres ent today. Although many countries all over the world have had a rich amount of art ranging from paintings to sculptures, Italy is one that is extremely well known for its pottery. At the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, there is an exhibition that began on November 19, 2014 and is run- ning all the way until May 11, 2015. Entitled D anger ous Perfection: Funerary Vases from Southern Italy, the exhibition will display thirteen Apulian vases that highlight the restora- tive techniques of nineteenth- century Neapolitans and what methods they used to perfect these vases. This exhibition took six years to come to fruition thanks to all of the hard work from the J. Paul Getty Museum and the A ntikens ammlung, Staatliche Museen in Berlin. The thirteen Apulian vases were found at Ceglie del Campo close to Bari in Apulia. Apulia had previously been populated by the Peucetians. Due to their strong ties with Greek culture, around the time of the fourth century B.C., the pottery found in this group's tombs clearly demonstrated Greek influence w ith s ome vas es depicting scenes from mythology. The thirteen vases that will be on dis- play now were originally exca- vated at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Baron Franz von K oller, w ho w as a Bohemian military specialist, happened to be positioned in Naples from 1815-1818 and then again from 1821-1826. He took an interest in archaeology, which led him to uncover the Apulian vases. Since the pottery was dis- covered in bits and pieces , K oller handed them over to Raffaele Gargiulo. He was very distinguished as a restorer for ancient pottery at the Real Museo Borbonico, nowadays known as the Naples National A rchaeological M us eum. Gargiulo maintained internation- al business as a dealer in the Neapolitan market for artifacts. He was so magnificent at what he did that sometimes it was hard for people to tell what he had restored and what was in the original painting on many of the ceramics he mended. In fact, his work and others who performed restoration on ceramics were so close to the real thing that they were referred to as "dangerous perfection." Not only does the exhibition showcase these famous vases but it also shines a light on the tech- nique that was used to obtain such high quality, this so-called "dangerous perfection" which brings new meaning to the name of the exhibition. The curator of this w onderful exhibition is David Saunders who is also the associate curator of antiquities at the J . P aul G etty M us eum. Whether you are a history buff, love archaeology, or have Southern Italian roots, this exhi- bition will cater to each and every one of your interests. This presentation is not only about the cons ervation methods us ed by nineteenth-century Neapolitan craftsmen but also about the valuable history these thirteen Apulian vases provide in terms of the necessity of art in culture. Art can obviously carry a lot of meaning. The thirteen Apulian vases do not just show artistic creativity but they also show the funerary practices and customs of the Peucetians. It is interesting how intricate vases like this are not quite as preva- lent as they used to be. This is not just in Italian culture but internationally as w ell. The restorative processes that take place are one of the few things keeping ancient artifacts and their his tory alive. F or s ix months, guests at the J. Paul Getty Museum will be able to feast their eyes on pottery that has been hidden to the public eye for so long. Although the people who created them in the first place are no longer around, their story will still be told for centuries to come. STEPHANIE FRUSTACI Assemblage of 13 funerary vessels from Ceglie del Campo, Apulia. Photo courtesy of the Getty

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