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IN THE KITCHEN
with Gianfranco Fracassetti at Pazza Luna
Just a little over six years ago, an accomplished young chef from Sedrina, a small village in the Italian Alps, saw a notice in the newspaper...
Gianfranco Fracassetti began cooking professionally when he was just a teenager. Now in his thirties, he's recently risen to the position of Executive Chef at the newly re-opened Pazza Luna, a long-time favorite watering hole, wine bar and cozy trattoria in south Baltimore's Locust Point. Emulating his older brother, Gianfranco started cooking when he was just a kid. "I saw my brother. He was a chef, and I watched him in the kitchen, preparing the food for parties, decorating the dishes... Oh My God -was so good! I fell in love with it."
He followed his brother and went to work in a pizzeria in a neighboring town. "I was only 14 when I left my village. At first I was so excited, but after three days -Oh I missed my family!
But along with his love for cooking, he also developed a love for new sights, new places and new experiences. Eventually, his career took him to the mountain village of Bergamo, to Aosta and Cesenatico, and eventually to Milan. He earned a sous chef degree at Centro di Formazione Professionale and was working in Milan when he spotted a notice advertising positions with a restaurant in the United States. Riccardo Bosio, a native of Bergamo, Italy, and the owner of Baltimore's renowned Sotto Sopra, was offering talented young chefs from his home country the opportunity to work in America. Gianfranco responded and was soon recruited for the position. He spent 18 months at Sotto Sopra and learned the art of introducing genuine Italian cuisine to the American palate. From Sotto Sopra, Fracassetti went on to a position at Towson's Cafe Troia, where his acquaintance with the American diner's expectations deepened. "Americans want to eat a lot of one thing!" He exclaims, "In my country, we enjoy many courses, the antipasto, the soup and the appetizer. We experience many different types of food in our meal. But Americans mostly want a very large portion in the main course."
The trattoria is a specifically Italian institution, styled perhaps more like a neighborhood club than a fine dining restaurant, although the word has certainly taken on some of those connotations as it's used here in America. "In Italy, the trattoria is a small place. They serve only things from the farms and vineyards nearby, foods done in the local style -good food, like your grandmother would make for you, but relatively simple food," Fracassetti explains.
"In America, I find that people want something much more elaborate, with many ingredients, and that is fun... it's fun to develop these kinds of recipes." At Pazza Luna, Chef Fracassetti's menu aims to "educate" the American palate with an array of starting courses too tempting to skip, enticing the diner to build a real Italian-styled multi-course meal. His menu items find their essential inspiration in authentic Italian traditions but are enhanced with the sophisticated flare that the American diner expects. Riccardo Bosio purchased Pazza Luna last autumn and immediately offered Gianfranco the position of Executive Chef. After several months developing the new menu and redecorating the interior in warm, fresco-like hues, Pazza Luna opened this month to the excitement of Italian food lovers all over the city. As spring approaches, an al fresco meal at one of the charming street-side tables here just might have you singing arias in praise of the pazzaluna... the "crazy moon!" |
