Monthly Archives: June 2012

The Opera Singer, the Investment Banker and the Communist

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My father loved opera and our home in Sri Lanka was filled with music. Gigli, Callas, Caruso and Pavorotti would boom out of the stereo, its ancient valves gently glowing as the turntable or the open reel tape deck would spin out well loved arias. At family events my father would be pressed to exercise his soaring tenor, by then usually mellowed by a wee dram of Scotland’s finest. There is a much retold family legend of my father being stopped in post war Italy without the right papers and charming his way out of the situation by singing to the police in Italian!

Like my father, opera singers tend to be larger than life characters. They also tend to be rather large, enjoying to the fullest their appetite for life’s finest. Many are gourmands. Spanish opera singer Placido Domingo celebrated his love of Mexican food and his friendship with Mexican born chef Richard Sandoval by opening Pampano, a Mexican restaurant in New York City. Sandoval’s restaurant career started 15 years ago with Maya, the elaborate Mexican restaurant and tequila bar on First Avenue and has now expanded to 30 restaurants around the world. Maya even has a branch in Dubai. Very dish dashing. Sandoval is frequently cited amongst the top Mexican chefs in the US and Pampano as one of the best Mexican restaurants in New York City.

I was recently at Pampano, in the Amster Yard neighbourhood of Manhattan. This mid town area on the east side of the island housed stables in the 19th century. After World War 2, designer James Amster created a compound as a haven for creative types, attracting amongst others the interior decorator Billy Baldwin, fashion designer Norman Norell and sculptor Isamu Noguchi as residents. Today the yard is being sensitively redeveloped by the Instituto Cervantes, a not for profit cultural foundation backed by the Spanish government. These days that usually means German taxpayers are footing the bill.

I was with the Swattie and the Hybrid Banker. The Swattie is a recovering communist trained at a secret branch of the Kremlin, on the Crum river in Pennsylvania. The Hybrid Banker is a gentle giant who drives only hybrid cars and might hug a tree if he thought no one was watching. His bank famously provided free banking services to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Sadly, since the Occupiers thought that work was a four letter word, they had no money and the bank wouldn’t accept Starbucks coupons.

Beachfront decor on 49th Street

Pampano occupies a two storey building with a bar and taqueria on the ground floor and the restaurant upstairs. The upstairs space is light and airy, with a dramatic white on white beach theme. The glass roof has white canvas blinds through which diffused sunlight spills into the room. There are old fashioned paddle fans and white plaster reliefs of palm trees. An outdoor dining area is decorated with metal fish in bright Miro colours .The decor transports you from 49th street to a beach front, the soft guitar music adding a definitive Latin lilt.

The drinks list naturally focuses on tequila. The Agave Oro Margarita uses ultra premium Gran Centenario Silver tequila, agavero and agave nectar. They don’t make margaritas quite like this on the other side of the pond. The flavour was nicely rounded with a depth and a complexity rarely found in this cocktail. The lime was present in the mouth, but so was a delicate sweetness. I had two drinks, just to make sure I liked it.

This is a creative drinks list and the Mojito Martini was another hit. Made with white rum, mint and lime, it is topped with cava and garnished with a red grape. The initial sip is full of cava, but the bite of rum and lime is present as the sparkle hits the back of the throat. The shredded mint floating on the surface of the drink generates a lovely fragrance.

I could have stayed all afternoon drinking, but lunch was on the agenda. It is hard to find good Mexican food in Europe. Chef Sandoval does his birth nation proud with creative combinations that retain cultural authenticity.

This is a coastal Mexican seafood menu, punctuated with chillies. They are all present on the menu; from the flavourful anchos, anaheims, guajillos and chipotles to the fiery habaneros and jalapenos. Sandoval uses chillies with a deft touch, enhancing flavours without overwhelming them. Crispy jalapenos bring a piquancy to fluke (aka summer flounder), with a boniata puree nicely offsetting the chilli in this flaky white fish dish. Guajillo peppers add complex green tea and berry overtones to mixed seafood stuffed into a poblano chilli in the Chile Relleno.

It’s been a while since I saw Placido Domingo perform. He is past his prime now but his friend Sandoval is keeping his restaurant investment safe. Eat, drink and be merry! My father’s musical genes have been passed and enhanced in my daughter whose work appears here. Enjoy!

Further Reading

Blogger reviews of Pampano from The Gotham Palate and Boo in London. Watch and listen to Placido Domingo singing the much loved Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s Turandot.

Pampano New York on Urbanspoon

The Italian Job

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I recently had an opportunity to drive several fast cars and thought about the connection between cars and national character. The big V8 Ford Mustang was an American bruiser. Confident and wide shouldered it announces it presence with a low basso growl. Rev the engine and dogs run away. Small children start crying. The Porsche 911 is all wrong. The engine is in the wrong place, the weight balance makes it act like a pedulum, but the Germans bullied it into behaving. It’s clinical and efficient – and occasionally mean. Not for nothing was the car called “the widow maker”. There is something of the stiff British upper lip about the Aston Martin Vantage. It’s classy, fast and imperturbable. Yet, it’s a bit cold. The ideal car for a cold blooded killer. Say, James Bond. If the American car is masculine and confident, the Italian is edgy and wild. The Ferrari 360 starts up with a malevolent yowl, like someone stepped on a cat’s tail. It’s never settled or docile – it commands and demands attention . This a beautiful, high maintenance automobile. We have all known women like that – easy to fall in love with. Difficult to live with. Always beguiling. Like most things Italian.

I had Italy on my mind as I visited Negozio Classica in Primrose Hill, their second restaurant in London. Negozio Classica started out in Notting Hill as a wholesaler’s shopwindow for all things Italian. The original tiny store in Notting Hill stocks exquisite wines, dried meats and cheeses. When it first opened it also carried watches, knives and a bunch of expensive Italian bric a brac. We went there because the espresso was fabulous and because the woman who ran it was an exotic, olive skinned beauty. She was also bonkers. One of her marketing ideas was to have the TV screens in the store playing The Godfather 1, 2 & 3 in a continuous loop. I worried about those big knives. Negozio Classica has come a long way. The concept has been refined to selling Italian wines and serving a limited Italian menu. Avignonesi, the Tuscan wine maker is now a part owner. The tiny store in Notting Hill is always packed. The Primrose Hill venue is bigger with a proper restaurant space and a private dining area.

Tonno del Chianti at Negozio Classica

I took the Valley Girl and the Boston Brahmin with me on a balmy spring day. The cocktails are limited to an Aperol Spritz which continues to be my favourite summer cocktail (Aperol is an orange liquor, a bit like Campari but with half the alcohol. The cocktail adds Prosecco and a dash of soda water for extra fizz). I wait in vain for the English summer.

The wines at Negozio Classica are unique and desirable. The wine list included some exceptional Tuscan and Sardinian wines that I haven’t seen anywhere else in London. All of the wines in the store can be ordered in the restaurant with a very reasonable £8.50 (~ $12) corkage on the retail price .

The establishment has a wine store facing the street, a restaurant in the back and a private dining room upstairs. The decor is simple; earth tones, small oak tables and sixties-chic lighting. The menu is simple but delicious. We had chunks of parmesan and puglia olives to start – take some home for your next cocktail party. The hard cheese is rarely served by itself in non Italian homes – it deserves to be. The Tonno del Chianti is the standout dish here – literally Tuna of Chianti it is actually a pork dish simmered until tender, then shredded and stored in olive oil and spices for several days. At Negozio Classica it is pressed into a disc and served chilled on a bed of spinach. It even tastes a bit like tuna. The story goes that local monks would drive pigs into a lake and then baptise them as fish, so they could be eaten during lent, when eating fish is permitted but meat is prohibited!

Gilbert and George, LONDON PICTURES at the White Cube Gallery

On an Italian mission I then visited Zucca in Bermondsey, a restaurant worth crossing the river for. Bermondsey is near London bridge and attracts smart young things without children, who live in apartment spaces without walls. Zucca takes its inspiration from the River Cafe and is very, very good. It is also a shockingly good deal – mains are under £16 (~$25) and starters are all under £6 (~$10). I got there a bit early for lunch and wandered into the newly opened branch of the White Cube art gallery. Fittingly they are showcasing an Italian/British artist duo in Gilbert & George. Their photo based art work is controversial and in your face. Their current exhibit, London Pictures doesn’t disappoint, portraying an almost Dickensian appreciation of modern London life.

I calmed down with a Negroni. Zucca has an architecturally cliched concrete and white wall thing going. It’s a small space with large windows and the simple decor works. I have eaten here several times and the dishes have been faultless. The nation’s critics have universally acclaimed it. The spicy octopus stew with pancetta and polenta is a nice Italian take on surf and turf and is a favourite. The standout dish for me though is the starter of Zucca Fritti. The pumpkin from which the restaurant takes its name is chipped, lightly battered and fried. The chip like rendering of a pumpkin is unexpected. The crispness of the batter contrasts nicely with the soft, slightly sweet flesh of the pumpkin. I think its probably better for you than French Fries.

These are two restaurants on either side of the river Thames. They are both Italian, but they offer different interpretations of Italian cuisine. Negozio Classica offers straightforward Italian and Tuscan specialities. Zucca is more creative in its offerings, while remaining true to an Italian heritage. Visit both. Drive a Ferrari. Live a little. Vivi un pò!

Further Reading

Blogger reviews of Zucca from An American in London and Swedish Meatball Eats London. The UrbanSpoon link to Negozio Classica below is to the original Notting Hill venue. The new branch in Primrose Hill is too new to have been reviewed yet. You read it here first!

Negozio Classica on Urbanspoon

Zucca on Urbanspoon