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Deceptively simple
How to open a second restaurant without going crazy

BY LOUISE KASDON SIDELL

Take a close look at the cover of Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby’s new book, Let the Flames Begin, and see if you can catch the typo. If so, you might have saved the publisher a lot of time and egg on the face before the first 50,000 copies were printed. Hint: it’s not a fancy new spelling — it’s just a mistake. . . . In the " it’s unofficial but likely to happen department, " sometime this fall Andy Husbands will take over the spot where South End Galleria now operates (please note: Galleria will be open throughout the summer). Husbands is planning to offer his Cajun, New Orleans–y twist on French-bistro fare. Evidently Husbands and Torch’s Evan Deluty had been competing for the space. . . . Similarly, Stan Frankenthaler wants everyone to know that Salamander is still in business despite his filing for bankruptcy and seeking a buyer. Do him a favor, have a satay sometime this summer. He needs relief from the rumored $30,000-per-month rent that he’s been trying to pay. . . . Chef Jack Henniger has just moved from the South End to Central Square, where he’s captaining the cooking at both Central Kitchen and the new upstairs place, the Enormous Room. . . . Chuck Draghi has taken root once again after Marcuccio’s and Limbo. He’s now at 33 Restaurant & Lounge on Stanhope Street. . . . Stay tuned, the next big news is the opening of Spire, the restaurant in Boston’s newest hotel, Nine Zero on Tremont Street. . . . Building on its successful weekly Wine Mondays series, L’Espalier has a new addition: Cheese Tuesdays. Once a month, L’Espalier’s in-house cheese expert and veteran maître d’ Louis Risoli will host a special evening of cheese. Chef Frank McClelland will build a four-course tasting menu around various cheeses from a range of tastes, origins, and textures, while sommelier Erik Johnson will pair them with matching wines — culminating in a night of cheese education and enjoyment. Visit www.lespalier.com for details.

 

IT’S A WEEK or so before opening at Via Matta, but there’s no craziness on " Crazy Street " — the English translation of the name of the new Michael Schlow–Chris Myers Italian trattoria in the Heritage on the Garden building. It’s little bit of Positano in Park Square. It’s almost too orderly when I drop in unannounced late Thursday afternoon. (I am disappointed; I had hoped for a little bit of drama.) But all is quiet here. The wait staff is in a training session across the street. The plasterers, electricians, equipment installers, and chefs are all practicing their crafts. Every 10 seconds, a cell phone goes off, allowing someone to punch out one more item on the punch list. Myers is someplace doing something. Esti Benson is overseeing the landscaping, and Schlow, dressed in a spring-green linen shirt, is in the kitchen kibitzing with Luis Morales, the chef de cuisine for Via Matta — he’s been Schlow’s sous-chef at Radius (and was one of the team that opened Pignoli, which preceded Via Matta in the space).

Where’s the anxiety, the crisis over chairs that didn’t get through customs, the light fixtures that won’t do at all, or the oven that is two inches bigger than it’s supposed to be? At the very least, shouldn’t the pastry chef be threatening to quit or the liquor-license transfer be in jeopardy? But no, things are smooth as silken tofu in this Schlow et al.–times–two production. What a bummer for someone in search of soap-opera drama. Via Matta will open on time — June 17 — and probably on budget, and the kitchen will not crash on the first night. This is a study in boring, impressive professionalism in the normally " exciting " restaurant world. How are they pulling this off?

" It’s the same anal, maniacal organization that we used when we opened Radius, only this time we planned even further ahead, " says Schlow. " Last time we did a critical path that went eight weeks out. This time we planned 16 weeks out because we learned that it really does take all that time to get the place built, transfer the liquor license, get the equipment delivered, and the staff in place and in gear. And this time we gave ourselves extra time for the things we couldn’t predict, the things that could have gone wrong. " He flashes his trademark photo-op smile. " This is the calmest I’ve ever been. I’ve learned from my mistakes. " The biggest change between the two openings, he admits, is the choice of CAFCO as the builder. " CAFCO build 95 percent of all the restaurants in Boston. In my opinion they should build 100 percent. They just get it done. " (CAFCO is going through some changes of its own right now, with 40-year-old Joe Thibert " retiring " and transferring ownership and control to Ed McCabe.)

The other big difference is the staff. " The whole reason that we wanted to have a second place is that we had all these great people who were working for us, and we were going to lose them if we didn’t offer a way for them to move forward in their careers, " Myers explains. Many of the chefs on the line and much of the front-of house staff are Radius alums, and all have had the opportunity to spend time inhaling Radius’s rarefied atmosphere. Luis Morales, for example, spent two years as sous-chef at Radius; he also spent the last five months working stages (not-for-profit internships) around Italy in preparation for Via Matta. It is very helpful that Morales worked with Pignoli chef Daniel Bailani and knows the space intimately, the owners explain. " For example, " Myers offers, " Luis knows that you can’t carry two plates up the stairs from the kitchen in the basement [and] that you need a tray with four covered dishes or the food will get cold. He knows that you need to cook the pasta 30 seconds less so that it can continue cooking while it travels upstairs to the table. " Guy Neil, the GM, is a former colleague of Schlow’s from their New York days at Sapore di Mare (yes, these Brooklyn-born boys learned to cook Italian together) who spent the last patch as VP of Skipjack’s. Marco Deary, the manager and wine director, is an Italian import, a graduate of the Relais & Château system. It’s a new team coming of age, having graduated from the Radius system, and they’re fully ready to augment their brand of suave perfection with some Italian brio.

I was so annoyed by the calm pervading the kitchen and the construction that I went back the next day on a stealth mission. Schlow and Morales had told me that it was going to be crazy, that the first dishes were going to be tested, that the rookie staff would be in chaos. As if. With stopwatch precision, the chefs were all at their stations preparing the appetizers, with Schlow giving useful directives: " Be ready in an hour for the chef . . . 30 minutes left . . . 10 minutes now . . .  " Everyone was humming along, sautéing and chopping. The kitchen staff was asking Schlow, today in a white chef’s coat, and Morales for guidance. " Is this the right size for the basil, chef? " Schlow wanted it a little bigger, more of a rough chop. An electrician let Schlow know that the convection oven was up and working. Another young chef with a long blond braid motioned Morales over for a consult. Schlow proudly pointed out the black tile on the kitchen floor for the family table, for staff meals and special guests. Christopher Myers bopped downstairs, taking a break from the role-playing training session with the floor staff, in a floppy hat and a white dress shirt, tall and cool as an English duke. Things were so well under control that he wanted to talk about the décor, the art work on the wall, the food, the atmosphere, and his high-school-football career in Newburyport. Doesn’t he know that he’s supposed to be manic? Schlow and Myers explain that when Via Matta opens, Schlow will initially be in Park Square all the time, relieving Morales in the kitchen, and Myers will bounce between the two. " With luck, Michael and I won’t see each other for a month, " Myers says.

The spirit of Via Matta is a joyous leap from the French correctness of Radius. First, there’s the food. They’re planning on offering a dozen or so antipasti (such as trout " marinata " with shaved fennel and orange vinaigrette, and crunchy eggplant with basil, marinated tomatoes, and Parmigiano Reggiano), four or five pastas, and a half-dozen entrées per night. The menu will change daily based on the weather, and only two entrées will cost more than $24: a big Tuscan steak and a two-pound lobster. " The point is to make Italian food that is Italian, and not American-Italian, " Myers explains. " We are going to use Michael’s trademark of simplicity, taking away extra ingredients, making sure that each ingredient is perfect. Like making sure that the basil and tomatoes are superb in the world’s best spaghetti aglio e olio con pomodoro, or that the fish and fire are exactly as specified for the wood-grilled salmon con zucchini and capers. " " Italians cook by looking out the window, " Schlow explains. " You won’t see osso buco on the menu at Via Matta when it is a hundred degrees outside. " The café will be very casual, lunch and snack-y, serving bruschetta, panini, and pizzas until 1 a.m. (Myers says that they are committed to staying open late at least for a year to gauge the late-night potential in Boston.) Then there is the service. Instead of Radius’s style of exquisite restraint, these servers will be looser, more accessible, but no less professional than their colleagues downtown. Several are Italian, and by nature they are irrepressible and opinionated. Evidently, there have been many discussions during training about the right way to make marinara. Their mothers’ recipes all differ.

Via Matta is an urban concept, meant to be very much a part of the foot traffic and city bustle of Park Square. The floor-to-ceiling glass doors will open onto a sidewalk café — with no apologies for city squeal — much the way the typical trattorias do in Italy. " Here’s my story, " Myers says, spending a few fractions of his vast supply of charm. " There’s an Italian woman who lost her husband. She wants to have energy and people in her life, so she decides to open up a restaurant and decorate with her favorite things from her home. She has more taste than money. And she hires the best chefs. That’s how Via Matta should feel. " Affordable, professional, amiable, and opening on time without a thrilling backstage drama. What a bore, what a pleasure, and what a good addition to the Park Square restaurant revival.

Contact Louisa Kasdon Sidell at pommefrite@aol.com

PHOTO BY GEOFFREY KULA

 

Issue Date: June 18-July 2, 2002

 





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