David Pasternak, 2004 New York's best chef, has been here!!!
It's been exciting to meet him on the docks of Ancona's port. He was supposed to be there at 3,30 AM. At 3,05 he was already there, excited to be a day out at sea with my father's fishing boat Peppinello.
David Pasternak, chef at Esca and involved in partnership with "the legend" Mario Batali, with whom he opened the Bistro du Vent too. Both restaurants in Manhattan, of course!
It took a few time to wait for David's first magic: he grabbed a couple of cuttlefishes, five or six crawfishes and ten sardelles, cleaned them in five minutes, wet with lemmon, a sip of oil, salt and pepper, and they were served. The faces of the crew, who was mistrustful (raw fish? oh my God!), turned into happyness after one minute, and the fish was gobbled up two minutes later!
Extremely interested in everything involved with fish and fishing, he studied all the phases of the routine, before doing his second miracle, to transform an anonymous box of pasta into a delicious dish of Spaghetti alla Giuseppe Peppinello, after my grand-grandfather's name, whose nickname was Peppinello (that's why our fishing boat was named so). Some squillas, ten red mullet, some cuttlefishes, a crawfish (already caught, of course!), three or four fresh tomatoes, some garlic... and a crew astonished!!!
What really surprised me of that day was to see how a good chef is really a good chef, capable to make a great dish from almost nothing. Obviously, I'm talking about equipment, from the knife, to the oven, to oil, to herbs, pasta and so on. It's been the fundamental skills of a chef at work, no doubt.
And I'm sure that David has the chance to have the freshest fish ever, and had fun to cook it.
And, finally, I'm sure that at Esca I will eat the best fish ever. Hope to visit David in New York, as soon as possible. Thanks a lot, Dave!
David Pasternak, chef at Esca and involved in partnership with "the legend" Mario Batali, with whom he opened the Bistro du Vent too. Both restaurants in Manhattan, of course!
It took a few time to wait for David's first magic: he grabbed a couple of cuttlefishes, five or six crawfishes and ten sardelles, cleaned them in five minutes, wet with lemmon, a sip of oil, salt and pepper, and they were served. The faces of the crew, who was mistrustful (raw fish? oh my God!), turned into happyness after one minute, and the fish was gobbled up two minutes later!
Extremely interested in everything involved with fish and fishing, he studied all the phases of the routine, before doing his second miracle, to transform an anonymous box of pasta into a delicious dish of Spaghetti alla Giuseppe Peppinello, after my grand-grandfather's name, whose nickname was Peppinello (that's why our fishing boat was named so). Some squillas, ten red mullet, some cuttlefishes, a crawfish (already caught, of course!), three or four fresh tomatoes, some garlic... and a crew astonished!!!
What really surprised me of that day was to see how a good chef is really a good chef, capable to make a great dish from almost nothing. Obviously, I'm talking about equipment, from the knife, to the oven, to oil, to herbs, pasta and so on. It's been the fundamental skills of a chef at work, no doubt.
And I'm sure that David has the chance to have the freshest fish ever, and had fun to cook it.
And, finally, I'm sure that at Esca I will eat the best fish ever. Hope to visit David in New York, as soon as possible. Thanks a lot, Dave!
posted by Angelo at 5:25 PM
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