“It will be like cooking with a big Italian family – lots of yelling!” laughed Chef Tony Mantuano on the telephone.
The award-winning Chicago chef recently took time from his Florida vacation to talk about his upcoming visit to Providence to cook with five of Rhode Island’s most celebrated Italian chefs in a gala dinner benefit slated for Sunday, March 8 at the Providence Marriott Downtown, One Orms St.
Billed as the “Dinner of the Decade” by the Association of Professional Italian Chefs, the event will bring together in one kitchen Franco Paterno of Calabria, chef at the Marriott; Nino D’Urso who hails from Capri-Campania and is the veteran executive chef of Capriccio; Michele Calise of Ischia-Campania, longtime executive chef of Mediterraneo; Salvatore Cefaliello from Napoli-Campania; and Walter Potenza, originally from Mosciano Sant’Angelo-Abruzzo, who is executive chef and proprietor of Walter’s Ristorante.
Potenza and Mantuano are longtime friends and colleagues. The James Beard award-winning chef and author refers to Potenza as “the boss.”
Mantuano’s restaurant, Spiaggia, is known these days as President Obama’s favorite. Spiaggia, on what is referred to as the Magnificent Mile on Lake Michigan, has a well-deserved reputation as the place to see and be seen in the Windy City. Chicago’s dining scene is among the best in the world, although not as glitzy as some other cities.
Chicago boasts some of the nation’s most accomplished chefs such as Charlie Trotter, Rick Bayless, Grant Achatz and Mantuano himself, who has won James Beard Best Chef and numerous awards and nominations for his cookbooks and his restaurant.
Among the scores of visiting celebrities who regularly dine at Spiaggia are Paul McCartney, for whom Mantuano created a vegetarian tasting menu that is now a regular offering; Madonna, whose father was a wine merchant and had Mantuano for a customer; and the new president, a regular at the downtown spot for the better part of the last decade, culminating in a victory dinner with the first lady shortly after the election last November.
In our interview, Mantuano was charmingly protective of the president’s preferences, having to be drawn out as to Obama’s favorite dish – wood-grilled scallops served with shitake mushrooms and a balsamic reduction, a Spiaggia signature. Just as charming was his deference when I asked half tongue-in-cheek if he had been on the short list of candidates to become White House chef. Some Chicago chefs’ names had been bandied about as possibilities immediately following the election.
Mantuano’s style of Italian cooking is unique, with delicate layers of flavors in his signature dishes. The menu at the Providence dinner will consist of pass-on appetizers and small plates filled with traditional regional specialties created by Chef Paterno; Nino D’Urso’s filetto di manzo – beef filet topped with truffled foie gras in Madeira wine reduction on potato and organic spinach galetta; Calise’s citrus-infused seafood salad with capers and imported extra virgin olive oil over baby arugula; Ligurian-style ravioli pansoto filled with new asparagus, nutmeg and ricotta in vegetable broth and thyme created by Cefaliello; and Potenza’s Torte Mimosa – layers of vanilla cake filled with a rich almond cream Chantilly, and white maraschino liqueur.
Signed copies of Mantuano’s latest cookbook, “Wine Bar Food,” will be available for purchase at the event. “There is no better Italian restaurant in America than Spiaggia; Tony Mantuano has always been committed to the truest flavors,” says John Mariani on the jacket of Wine Bar Food. Mariani is food and travel correspondent for Esquire Magazine, author of the Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink and a Rhode Islander.
Dinner of the Decade is a celebration of International Women’s Day, a favorite of Potenza’s. Women’s organizations and governments around the world observe the day annually on March 8. The tradition sees men honoring their mothers, wives, girlfriends and colleagues with flowers and small gifts. In some countries, the observance has taken on a status equivalent to that of Mother’s Day. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Federal Hill House, a multi-ethnic social services agency.
Tony Mantuano is looking forward to coming to town. As Special Guest Chef for this collaborative cooking effort, his role will be that of a technical adviser, official taster and as he joked, “referee if needed.” It promises to be a memorable night for a good cause.
Tickets are $95 for the Dinner of the Decade. Seating is limited.
To purchase, call (401) 273-2652. For more information visit ChefWalter.com. •
Bruce Newbury’s “Dining Out” radio show can be heard on WPRV-AM 790 Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. His e-mail address is bruce@brucenewbury.com.
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