However, this success has been prepared by a long time, many experiences, and a lot of hard work. Can you tell us about your career path? How did you get started? What are the most important milestones in your career that led you in your early thirties to these prestigious results?
It'strue it was a real surprise that rewarded our tireless desire to do this work with humility and passion . A fair amount of success achieved with sacrifices and a lot of daily commitment . I became a restaurateur almost by accident . My real passion in the beginning from an early age was the bar and I remember my mother accompanying me to the bar in my home town ( Mazara del Vallo ) and in agreement with the owner of the bar kept me there every afternoon of the week for a few hundred liras a month . What a sight , my family was quiet because I did not go around making trouble and instead I admit with all sincerity that it fascinated me I had so much fun being among people and serving them was a pleasure difficult to describe in words alone . At the age of 14 I enrolled in the hotel institute in Palermo, which I attended for 5 years and graduated. At the turn of these 5 years I was doing seasons partly for experience and partly to pay for my studies . Around Italy and much of Europe I really honed the art of mixed drinking . After graduating then I devoted myself completely to this field . It gave me a lot of satisfaction and I joined the AIBES doing and participating in various competitions obtaining various awards including first place at the national Aibes competition in the year 2000 which took place in Saint Vincent . The decisive turning point to my professional career and beyond, however, came in 1997 when working behind the counter of an American bar in Sicily I met the one who today is the mother of my three children. My wife is from Bergamo so that year I moved to Bergamo , starting to work in the famous restaurant Da Vittorio . The experience made in this temple of catering transformed me almost radically so much so that in the spring of 2006 I decided to open the restaurant Al Vigneto .
Your "fish market," is not really below home, because it is known that you get your supplies in Marzara del Vallo, which is your home town. It is a choice that allows you to bring to the palate of restaurant-goers a very fresh, caught fish, which you serve masterfully in numerous preparations, even raw. How, where did you learn to know fish so well, to know how to enhance the peculiarities of each variety ?
Often and oftentimes native places change the destiny of some greats of the earth. This is not my case I assure all possible readers pero somehow since I am a restaurateur today I must say that thanks to my origins I have an advantage over some of my colleagues. One day home from school during the holiday season my dad took me to the Mazara del Vallo fish market. I had been waiting for this event for a long time and I confess that I was given this opportunity as a reward for getting a good grade in school . For a long , long time I had made this request but it was not taken into consideration . From my family the fish market was considered a dirty smelly place frequented by freaks . This obviously was not my thought . I had seen on television on a local network a fish auction live from the port of Sciacca . The thing did not go unnoticed at all so hence the reason for so much pressure on my father for me to be accommodated . That morning I woke up early and without the call of my mother , I was irrepressible with joy and could not wait to get there . The memory of that morning is still sharp in my memory I dressed in a great hurry breakfasted and ready to leave . Arriving at the " marina " ( that's what the place where the fish market takes place is still called nowadays ) from a distance I caught a glimpse of a fishing boat arriving . I asked my father if it would be possible for us to approach the dock and I was satisfied . After a few minutes once the fishing boat docked the sailors began with the landing of fish . What a rarity my eyes and mind were traveling in different directions . Of course I did not even know the names of the products that were being landed and so loaded with questions to my father . I was jun river in piuena . Having completed the landing the auction begins . The person on duty in charge started to " ABBANNIARI"( in our dialect abbaniari means to shout in some way so that all those interested in buying could hear even from a distance the quality of the product being dealt with the initial price of the auction and who gets the lot and at what price . This experience fascinated me so much that that was not the last time I went . My uncle was a fish peddler, and the following summer after finishing the second grade I decided with the consent of my family members and my uncle to work with him. We would go around the country in a piaggio Ape selling fish .I enjoyed it and was never tired even though the daily wake up call that summer was at dawn every day of the week except Sunday . It was from that experience and more that I learned to know the names of various crustaceans mollusks and fish in general . The rest I learned around the country inns at the beginning of my career and later in the various restaurants also quiotati around Europe .
The excellence of the restaurant is not only about the high quality of the raw materials (extraordinary fish and selected meats in particular) and the talent of the chef. The level of quality is expressed in every detail and in the care and kindness of the service. Professionalism for you therefore does not stop within the kitchen, you like to pamper the customer in every way. For this to be possible all the staff must be very well organized and believe strongly in what they are doing. Who are your closest collaborators?
So many, multiple jobs and therefore activities can be done by individuals and I am not even going to list them. Just take a moment to think back and voilà an infinite number of trades that do not need trusted people to work alongside . They don't need employees who have to work days even 18 consecutive hours , Sundays , holidays sacrificing private life , family children and any hobbies . In this profession the hobby on duty becomes the kitchen , cooking tools and the various raw materials that are needed to make a dish . I speak frankly being a restaurateur is not only knowing this or that product or perfecting the art of hospitality or being decorator of your place but being a restaurateur and it is the most difficult part is that of choosing collaborators . From this point of view I consider myself very lucky , although I do not believe in luck . For example the person who runs the kitchen so my Chef to be exact Simone Scrivo has been working with me practically since the opening of the restaurant . Willing guy who knows how to question himself at any time . Trustworthy , capable , caring , brilliant at times with some flashes of genius at other traits . I like his way of cooking . He does not like frills he likes practicality .I also love practicality and he is the right person to run the kitchen of my restaurant . Of course he is assisted in an exemplary way by a couple of very willing elements . My task is not the easiest in fact I have always maintained that motivating staff in this job is the hardest part . I believe from experience that it is much easier to manage a restaurant room full of customers than a kitchen brigade WITHOUT STIMULATION and desire to do . My right-hand man in the dining room is Philip last in the order of our staff but I would like to mention him for his professionalism and punctuality . He has so much desire to do and learn and I am very happy to have him by my side . Finally and not in order of importance , she does not like to be put on a pedestal but I believe with conviction of facts that the soul of the place is my wife Silvana . To her I also owe much the fact of the existence of the restaurant . It was her idea . It was she who spurred me on , she is ALWAYS VERY POSITIVE and in a good mood .
Your dishes do not draw inspiration from the territory , they are conceived and proposed independently from the place where they are consumed , but among your preparations there are details , smells , ingredients typically local , recovered from what the territory in which you operate offers?
My cuisine , pardon our cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine . They are traditional recipes obviously adapted to our times . Easy to read gustatory and visual . The ingredients in the dish are visible and on the palate are easy to identify . Many recipes are related to childhood memories and scents of the places where I was born and lived . It is obvious to rightly take into account the territory in which one operates so let's adapt for example a polenta , a classic dish of Bergamo cuisine maybe leaving it softer and combining it with stewed sea strawberries ( small and tender little octopuses ) . We serve these days an eggplant parmigiana pie like Mom used to make with culatello from a 'farm in Bergamo that produces it almost exclusively for us . It 's nice to do cooking we like to experiment and try our hand sometimes at combinations that recall my origins by adapting them to local products . No flights of fancy are certain .
Well-stocked cellar almost all national, even with wines from the Colle dell'Aia Winery that houses the restaurant.Do you prefer harmonious and regional wine pairings according to the dish or do you like to suggest bolder combinations?
That of the cellar and therefore the wine list is a huge responsibility to be monitored every day of the week. The concept of the well-stocked wine list with more or less emblazoned labels and from every corner of the world in these economic times is not feasible. Our choice to remain within the national territory is strongly desired . We manage contrary to the opinion of food critics (guides etc ) to satisfy our clientele . I remember perfectly well when we began this adventure that for the first six months there was not even a wine list . We had a dozen labels that we listed verbally . It is obvious that this procedure could not continue even for the simple fact of respect for the customer and transparency that somehow he was not aware of the price . Let me explain better : verbally you can list the wine labels present but it is not nice to say how much it costs maybe when at the table you are not with your life partner but with a client for business or whatever . Our cuisine as I explained before is mainly seafood so consequently the wine list is oriented toward whites with recommendations in order directed toward our production ( Valcalepio ) then Sicily for reasons that are well known and for Lombardy ( Franciacorta ) . Often we also match reds with our cuisine such as pinot noirs from ALTO ADIGE , although lately with recipes also based on fish but with preparations a bit more structured we match beer . At the moment there is no special card but in the experimental phase trying to implement this project as well . At the table we drink less because of road controls and we also gladly implement pouring by the glass with labels that change weekly .
How do you see the professional sector in Italy? Are we still in the climate of "everything makes a show" ? , Of the rock star style chef, or is something changing ? What do you think of shows like Masterchef ? Are they in your opinion a good means to convey the culture of food, of eating well, to bring new generations closer to this profession, or in your opinion are they just reality shows like all the others, deluding young people that visibility and professionalism are the same thing ?
I begin with a " BASTA." I would say no more fireworks , the customer must be offered service and food safety. Chefs in this direction can and must make a contribution to get the country out of the crisis .We must act quickly on values such as our culture and tradition by creating a quality offer. Only in this way I believe our sector can become the real driver of the entire agri-food system. For those like me who are in the restaurant business for example, we should start from a value that goes far beyond the economic result or notoriety. I always put my passion for my craft first, and I am sure that there are plenty of fake reviewers around who operate only to denigrate the work of others . Aside from this parenthesis not inherent to the question I add although I certainly do not have the authority to do so a criticism of many of my fellow restaurateurs who instead of devoting more strongly to the mission of guardian of the quality of the food become television stars so they spend little time in their restaurant kitchens. Now they will raise shields of the type but how dare this , to me no one moralizes , but I would add that in this way we do not do cooking but give space to semi-processed and the cook is on television often forgetting even professional ethics. Tell me if it is not true appear on the screens cooks with bracelets rings and watches of all kinds brand and size. Beards and hair in disarray and without uniforms communicating to the new generation/ generations that you can be in the kitchen like that. The whole restaurant system is changing unfortunately for the worse the small caterer is about to be overwhelmed by the crisis and the family run businesses are struggling. It benefits the industry by continuing to take major slices of our work with fast-food chains of all nationalities and religions . The indifference is obviously generalized and general embracing even institutions light years away .The small artisan shopkeepers of yesteryear who are the very important fabric of,our tradition are disappearing . They are disappearing also because our institutions do nothing to encourage their work . Work done with only and pure passion without frills . I end as I began " BASTA "
You are definitely one of those emerging chefs to whom the world of food and wine criticism looks with respect and attention . You have already achieved a lot, but I am sure that your talent will lead you to continuous evolutions. In what directions are your creativity and entrepreneurship looking today ? Are there any new projects simmering in the pot ?
It'strue we are excited about the successes we have achieved and the awards we have won . They are natural ammunition to further stimulate our desire to do catering . I make it clear that recognitions give pleasure but it is obvious that at the center of our project there is always and only our " CUSTOMER " . We are constantly evolving gradually , we propose a type of cuisine landed to tradition and without any flights of fancy . We look to the future with enthusiasm and confidence in our means and abilities . I think of my restaurant as if it were a six-year-old child today since we opened in the spring of 2006 and I treat it as such . In my future now there is only my restaurant . A mother would never leave her child unattended in the hands of someone else . I am madly in love with my profession first of all and my restaurant of natural consequence .
Can you give us references for those who would like to contact you or experience your cuisine?
I am not fond alas of social networks . I have a facebook page in my name but only to say hello to some distant friends , old schoolmates etc. I stayed analog
Interview by Monica Palla
