In the Presence of Greatness

A few weeks ago, I got an ad (via email from 5280) that Frank Bonanno, chef/owner of renowned Mizuna and Luca d'Italia, would be teaching a few classes on making fresh Italian cheeses. These small classes of 10 students would be held in the Luca d'Italia kitchen and then topped off with a small tasting menu and wine pairings. Being a fan of cheese, of Luca d'Italia, and of Frank Bonanno, I called to reserve a spot right away.

I showed up Saturday afternoon at 3pm at Luca, in great anticipation of learning how to make fresh mozzarella. Chef Bonanno is an unassuming guy, very down-to-earth and approachable given his stature as a nationally known chef. He took us right back to the kitchen, where we tried to stay out of the staff's way as they prepared for a busy Saturday night service. We were offered glasses of Prosecco to sip as we watched him work his magic. He talked as he worked, telling us some of his own story in the process. His passion for food was genuine and evident in everything he said and did. As he melted the mozzarella curd and then carefully worked it into spheres, I was transfixed - seriously enraptured.

He talked about his passion for the freshest and best local ingredients. "I hate recipes," he said. "You should just go to the market and buy what looks the best, what's ripe, what's good. Because if you go looking for something specific, you very well may end up with shit." Straight from the horse's mouth.

He waxed poetic about salting the water for the mozzarella. "The thing I always tell home cooks is their most common mistake is that they don't season their food! This water should be saltier than sea water; it should be THAT objectionable..."

He spoke about his training and apprenticing in some of the best kitchens of the world. The appreciation for good ingredients that came from working with Thomas Keller at The French Laundry. "Keller was really intense, really serious about food." He worked at Michelin-starred restaurants in Italy and France, at Gramercy Tavern in New York, each time saving up enough money to go work in these renowned kitchens for free for six months. Now that's dedication. That's passion. And having sampled the chef's tasting menus multiple times at Mizuna and Luca, I am the proud beneficiary of both his dedication and his passion.

He discussed his new venture, Osteria Marco (named after his second son, Luca being named after his first) which is slated to open in Larimer Square next month. It's to be a place that holds the values his other restaurants display (like using the best, freshest, housemade ingredients) while trying to be a more affordable, approachable place (than, say, Mizuna...) with nothing on the menu costing over $18. I can't wait.

He talked about Luca - that almost everything they serve is top quality, organic, local if possible, and the best and freshest available. They make their own grissini and breads, their own cheeses, their own salumi, which cures in their basement year-round except for July and August. They grow most of their own herbs, greens, and vegetables. And everything they serve is made fresh that day. Leftover mozzarella is either thrown out or smoked (in their own smoker, which Chef Bonanno bought at Sports Authority). Every pasta is made fresh daily (with the exception of the fusilli) then thrown out or given away at the end of the night.

What was also fascinating to me was the sheer number of people it took to run such an establishment. Their were seven people alone to work the line for the evening service. You add to that all the prep cooks who had been working all morning to prepare for the dinner service, all the dishwashers, all the waitstaff, the front of the house people, the sommelier. On top of all the hours and dollars it takes to get the best ingredients and make essentially everything in house, you're employing all these people just to serve dinner to 60 in an evening. Even though Luca would be considered by most people to be an expensive restaurant, chef Bonanno revealed that the profit margin in these fine dining establishments can actually be quite low. And I believe him, now that I've seen Luca's kitchen. And maybe I'm just a sucker, but now that I've seen all this, I wonder if they shouldn't even charge more. I'm not rolling in dough, but now I'll be a little more inclined to part with my money at places like Luca and Mizuna.

At the end of his cooking demonstration (that also included making a fresh agnolotti filled with fresh cheese and herbs), we were ushered back into Luca's dining room and seated at a table set for the ten of us. Sommelier Noel Martin poured three different Italian wines, giving a brief biography on each one. Our first course was a mozzarella tasting with two different levels of acidity. One was fresh mozzarella with heirloom tomato (salted well, of course, as "tomatoes really need a lot of salt!"), great extra-virgin olive oil, and 25 year aged balsamic; next to it was served fresh mozz with red onion and lemon cucumber that had been briefly (5 minutes) pickled in red wine vinegar. Both were good, but I preferred the former, as it just let all of the great ingredients just speak for themselves. The second course was a bruschetta of sorts, with gently melted mozz and some house-cured bresaola. This was heavenly - I could have eaten plates and plates. The final course was the agnolotti, dressed simply with a fresh tomato sugo and some olive oil.

All of this for just $45! Honestly, I would have paid that much just for the three courses of food and four tastings of prosecco/wine. Heck, I would have paid that much just to learn from Chef Bonanno for an hour or two and hang out in the Luca kitchen. And I got to do both...

Anyway, I was left this weekend with a profound sense of appreciation for his commitment and passion to his craft. Frank Bonanno truly inspires me, and I hope he remains in the Denver food scene for many years to come.