It is always a pleasure to interview internationally renowned bartenders, great when they are Italian and have won a world award. Tell us about your experience in New Zealand and how your extraordinary cocktail "elixir of love" that won you the prestigious 42Below Cocktail World Cup was born ?
The pleasure is all mine !!! If I have come to achieve certain results it is also thanks to people like you who put so much effort and passion for this fantastic craft that continues unabated to evolve , with quality products, equipment and techniques from mixologists around the world. I would like to point out that I was not only in New Zealand, but with Team Italy composed of two mixing artists Alex Frezza & Luca Sai, and the great 42 below brand ambassador Elia Calvieri. It would take a book to recount the ten "crazy days" in NZ. just today (Sept. 28 ) I received a visit from one of the finalists the Australian Jason Soto. I'll just tell you that I met amazing people, great professionals very creative and passionate people...and brave, since the first thing you had to do upon arrival after 36 hours of travel was to bungy jump off a bridge, and the second day at full throttle on the steeps while preparing the drink of the first official test. Incredible true !!!How did we win ? Good question, surely our drink was special but the "cinema" of the performance made the difference. The audience was on our side. I recommend you to watch the videos on you tube. If you type "dalla pola cocktail " on the search bar you will also find reports from TV NZ and Australia, China... Singapore Have fun !!!
How do you get to these results? Where and how did you get started? Would you like to briefly tell us your story? The accolades you have received that have gratified you the most?
1985 .I started as a teenager in the Milanese suburbs with cappuccinos, coffee &briocheMy first drink for sure was a coffee spiked at the Bergamo bricklayers clearly at 7.15 a.m., then slowly moved on to the butcher's 10.30 a.m. sprayed white, to the old jeweler's with a nice Campari soda and white wine at 11 a.m. not bad !!!! Joking aside, it was thus in my approach to the bar world, I switched after a short time to the preparation of the aperitif counter, and the glass carafe with the cheap negroni, then I immediately began to use the carafe with the addition of orange juice AND sparkling wine ..the so-called house aperitif , in such a way that I could finally prepare the negroni on the spot. This was the first recognition, clearly from the owners I used to study cocktails I used to go around clubs in the city after the service to see how others worked, trying to take the best from everyone, on vacation, if I could go ,London Amsterdam, Spain were nice destinations, we also used to go to Venice to Harrys's bar .. I did a few competitions with very good results,, in my 20s I was working freelance for an agency, touring Italy mainly big clubs and bringing my knowledge which at the time was all about tex mex ... margaritas ...daiquiris, piña coladas, lots of fresh fruit and garish decorations. If you want to call it an American Bar . Shortly came the Mojito and La caipirinha Finding limes in '89/'90 was a feat and the mint was from your aunt's garden. The best thing is definitely that some of my cocktails are still around And it is a great satisfaction to have been one of the pioneers of bartending a and 'happy hour Milanese , then in Italy. And then ... America precisely Miami Beach for almost 10 years I worked with South Americans, Americans, Europeans, Japanese ... I learned besides languages many things in the beverage industry in food and restaurant management. I was voted " best mojito" by Miami news time for 2 years in a row Sometimes I was a "private chef" in villas and cocktail parties in pools. In 2002 I arrived in Bologna and opened with 2 friends ( Davide and Maurizio ) from Milan, and my wife Elena the nu lounge bar and later Pizzas Italian restaurant. Now we are working on a new project.
Is there anyone in particular that you consider your master or any bartender in the history of all time that you consider the ultimate point of reference ?
Definitely the great Don the Beachcomber Today if I look for inspiration definitely in Beachbum Berry and Stanislav Varda I find it.....
You are certainly a top bartender, trend setter and likes to experiment, but your preferences to which category of drinks go to ? Is there a type of cocktail that you think is particularly important in the history of international fine drinking?
Definitely tropical cocktails are my favorites. I would always say the tropic cocktails, daiquiris especially, then margaritas , mojitos the punches, they are wonderfully complex.
Can you explain to us exactly what the Icy Drink glass is and with what kind of preparations it offers the best result ?
Icydrink , cool !!! Just know how to use it with the right drink, the Icy glass A great idea of Mario Montanari. He invented a machine that makes them as if they were cubes, makes 16 cubes every hour and they have to be stowed in the freezer in special conical containers when they are dropped inside the tub so that they don't break. Definitely my top drink is Icy mule with Moscov mule ice cream ( prepared by the gelato university/Carpigiani to my recipe). Other ingredients are a ginger splash centrifuged fresh ½ lime juice and vodka all in a nice mixing glass without ice topped with ginger beer and mixed with Swizzle stick ...to make some " cinema". Decorate with cucumber peel and fresh mint...the cool sensation is incredible.
From what I have read and seen about you, I understand that you place great importance on looks, marketing, and the awesomeness of gesture and preparation. What value do you place on the ability to communicate and impress ?
Certainly if you have a tiki bar you don't go with a jacket and tie, if you make drinks inside the coconut you have to have a shirt at least with 200 flowers and palm trees drawn on it. If you stand behind the counter of a hotel bar I would say uncompromising elegance is de rigueur. Communication to your customers must be well planned, I usually if I have to launch the promotion of a new drink , I do it among the tables not at the bar, we have a lot more people sitting than at the counter, so you organize a ber cart equipped with all the ingredients for the cocktail and the tools to make " the cinema" like strange shakers, or glasses, or strange containers like old perfume bottles, block of ice to carve in front of the customer, smoker , dry ice, .. even fire if you need it.. maybe a nice blue blazer definitely makes a scene. Offer the experimental drinks at the table of 2 beautiful girls maybe in the middle of the room ... and everyone immediately asks .. nice what is it? Bam !!!!...here's the first cocktail sold The always updated blackboards with homemade preparations ( syrups, infusions ..jams, bitters ..) The most important part is the "cinema "I take it for granted that the cocktail is great, I try to serve it in a short time so as not to bore and in the meantime I tell what and why I use certain spirits or fruits ... I really enjoy it.
In your profession, nothing is left to chance, every tiny detail even the seemingly most impromptu and creative is thought out and calibrated. In this quest for perfection and balance, does the right professional equipment also count? Is it important to have quality glasses, equipment and supports at your disposal ?
As I said before to impress you must have the top of the equipment, it must be quality and scenic, every cocktail needs its own glass. But the important thing is that it is prepared with the right equipment.Some techniques and drinks need a 3-piece shaker others the boston ...
What are the new ideas that are in your head? In what direction are your talents and creativity going ?
I am trying to create a line of syrups and aromatic waters to sell worldwide and I hope to finish my exotic cocktail book within a week, to have it available before Christmas I am working on an ipad app also related to exoticocktails.com
If you had not been a bartender, can you imagine another profession you could have done? What possibly?
Chef, or maybe rockstar
For those who would like to know more about and you or contact you, can you give us a reference?Nuloungebar.com
Exoticocktails.com
Interview by Monica Palla
