Chef Andrea Aprea on New Namesake Restaurant and Café in Milan Food - Italy HEAD TOPICS

Chef Andrea Aprea on New Namesake Restaurant and Café in Milan

10/21/2022 10:00:00 PM

After a decade and two Michelin stars as executive chef at Park Hyatt s Vun Aprea launched his first solo project at Fondazione Luigi Rovati the new cultural address in town

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After a decade and two Michelin stars as executive chef at Park Hyatt s Vun Aprea launched his first solo project at Fondazione Luigi Rovati the new cultural address in town After a decade and two Michelin stars as executive chef at Park Hyatt s Vun Aprea launched his first solo project at Fondazione Luigi Rovati the new cultural address in town “I used to be a chef. Now I’m a chef, a waiter, a manager, an entrepreneur — everything,” jokes the affable Neapolitan chef while serving a glass of water. Around him, his staff was quietly making preparations for the dinner service.Main ingredient: the right location, which “came out of the blue” but was a decisive factor in convincing Aprea that it was time to go solo.  “The Vun [restaurant] was a project that was built from scratch, step after step. And the biggest inheritance it left me was indeed this process. Without that, there wouldn’t be this. This is the 4.0 [version] of that experience,” says Aprea, showing all the details of the new space — from the thin foam layered under the custom-made tablecloth to minimize the sound of glasses on tables to the vases nodding to Etruscan artifacts in a tribute to the foundation’s collection. Read more:
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San Antonio's The Big Bib BBQ expands to nearby New BraunfelsThe new restaurant is open for lunch daily and plans to expand its hours in the coming weeks. SanAntonio SATX SanAntonioTX SanAntonio Food SanAntonioRestaurants NewBraunfels Conan O’Brien reportedly fired a staffer after ‘rude’ restaurant incidentThe revelation comes hot on the heels of the news that James Corden was banned from New York’s Balthazar restaurant. How rude and inpatient. Just remembering that now, for no particular reason... Such a location inspired Aprea to launch not only a gourmet restaurant on the top floor but also an informal café-bistrot overlooking an internal courtyard on the ground floor.Fly roundtrip from San Francisco to Austin for under $180 His recognition in home economics was just the beginning.of a "scratch kitchen, craft cocktails and experiential gaming like karaoke, bowling and a vintage arcade.linked to testicular and kidney cancer risk , according to the American Cancer Society. The façade of Fondazione Luigi Rovati in Milan. Giovanni De Sandre/Courtesy of Andrea Aprea “I used to be a chef. He became obsessed with making pizza and wanted to learn everything he could to develop his skills and make pies faster. Now I’m a chef, a waiter, a manager, an entrepreneur — everything,” jokes the affable Neapolitan chef while serving a glass of water. Decisions, decisions: Don't care for pickleball? Smash Park, which opened its first location in 2018, also has trivia, bingo, cornhole, giant Jenga and Connect Four, bocce, foosball and arcade games — plus dozens of TVs. Around him, his staff was quietly making preparations for the dinner service. Owner Tony Gemignani tosses some pizza dough at Tony's Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco on Oct. “I wasn’t missing anything, I was not in a condition in which I had the urge to change, quite the opposite. Chef Hansen continues to say that what this means for the cup of chowder is that there's no real clam meat in the mix. I was in an optimal situation. Gemignani was recently recognized in a world-best pizza ranking. "Some of the legacy brands are seeing that, and they're elevating their menus — people expect that.…But maybe I wanted a project that could be mine from inception,” recalls Aprea. “Of course, I have always thought about this. “What Harlem Globetrotters does with a basketball, we did with pizza. If you don’t, you don’t reach the point of actually making it, but as everything in life, this is a recipe, too, and you need the right ingredients. Photo courtesy of Puttshack What they're saying: "People are looking for ways to connect with each other and looking for something a little more than the typical bar and restaurant," Susan Walmesley, Puttshack's chief marketing officer, tells Axios.” So, here’s the recipe. I became my own competitor. Preparation: make the most out of a pandemic. “It’s in the moment of crisis that you take the biggest decisions.S. The pandemic was for sure complicated, it created many problems but also opportunities,” says Aprea. “Now it’s already a completely different scenario. Gemignani stopped spinning pizza dough in the early aughts but continued winning awards in other areas. If I had to think of an entrepreneurial project now, I would say, ‘wait, let’s think this through one more time,” he adds, mentioning the increasing prices of energy and overall inflation. Main ingredient: the right location, which “came out of the blue” but was a decisive factor in convincing Aprea that it was time to go solo. More pizza ahead Back at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, a small crowd of employees gathers around the workstation to watch a rare pizza-spinning show from the boss.  Inside the Andrea Aprea restaurant at Fondazione Luigi Rovati in Milan. Leo Torri/Courtesy of Andrea Aprea “The Vun [restaurant] was a project that was built from scratch, step after step. The dough begins to flatten more and eventually oscillates vertically when Gemignani lowers his hand to gain momentum. And the biggest inheritance it left me was indeed this process. Without that, there wouldn’t be this. The crowd goes wild and breaks out in applause. This is the 4.0 [version] of that experience,” says Aprea, showing all the details of the new space — from the thin foam layered under the custom-made tablecloth to minimize the sound of glasses on tables to the vases nodding to Etruscan artifacts in a tribute to the foundation’s collection. But every now and then he breaks that rule for a child who’s curious enough to see his old acrobatic tricks. “This is the evolution that I couldn’t get there for structural reasons, because this is an open space where I can also host events for 50 people, while there I couldn’t,” notes Aprea. Inside the Andrea Aprea café at Fondazione Luigi Rovati in Milan. 18, 2022. Leo Torri/Courtesy of Andrea Aprea Both the restaurant and bistrot were designed by the Flaviano Capriotti Architetti studio, which focused on textures rather than embellishments. The gourmet restaurant covers a 4,306-square-foot surface, with an entrance hall, private dining space and wine cellar located around a central venue that accommodates eight tables. Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE As Gemignani looks ahead, he’s also decided to stop teaching at his International School of Pizza after 15 years. A part of the wine cellar at the Andrea Aprea restaurant. Leo Torri/Courtesy of Andrea Aprea The main hall contains custom-made design pieces, ranging from the leather seats to the central Murano glass chandelier with gold leaves. But it isn’t an indicator that he’s slowing down. Walls are clad in tubular structures crafted from the dark ceramic used by Etruscans for pottery and, along with the sloped ceiling, they converge on the open kitchen, which is the core of the restaurant and covers half of its surface. Inside the Andrea Aprea restaurant at Fondazione Luigi Rovati in Milan. “We're really strong in the Bay Area and we’re growing,” Gemignani said. Massi Ninni/Courtesy of Andrea Aprea Open from breakfast to dinner, the bistrot replicates the minimal approach while offering a modern take on Milanese cafés of the 20th century. A semicircular counter is the epicenter of the space, which can accommodate around 22 guests inside and an additional dozen outdoors. You're going to see a bunch opening in LA soon in the first part of next year. Both locations feature artworks hailing from the foundation’s collection and nodding to Aprea’s Neapolitan roots and Mediterranean culture, including pieces by Thomas Ruff, Giulio Paolini, William Kentridge and Mimmo Jodice, whose poignant “Amazzone Ferita” welcomes guests headed to the restaurant. Mimmo Jodice’s work welcoming guests headed to the restaurant. He’s excited about the future and reasons that Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, plus his 32 years in the industry, helped grow his pizza empire. Leo Torri/Courtesy of Andrea Aprea Site-specific artworks by Andrea Sala and Mauro Ceolin also punctuate the restaurant and bistrot, respectively, with the latter representing the first iteration of a project the foundation and Aprea jointly launched to promote art. The art selection intertwines with Aprea’s overall approach to cuisine, which aims to honor Italian culinary traditions and regional ingredients, revisiting them with a contemporary take. “It's an institution. “This is my identity…I try to take [guests] in different places by staying seated at a table, so letting them taste plates they could expect to eat in Sicily or Apulia or Piedmont, but seen through the filter of a contemporary chef,” says Aprea. A cuttlefish-based dish offered at the Andrea Aprea café-bistrot., San Francisco. Massi Ninni/Courtesy of Andrea Aprea While the bistrot has a more approachable menu with options including spaghetti with tomato, lemon and basil or “Vitello tonnato,” veal with tuna sauce, the restaurant offers three tasting menus. Dubbed “Contemporaneità,” “Partenope” and “Signature,” these include five, six and eight courses, respectively.m. Prices range from 155 euros to 195 euros, or 245 euros to 325 euros if including wine pairings selected by the sommelier, who has more than 650 labels in the cellar to choose from. The first menu explores the link between memory and innovation; the second is a tribute to Aprea’s origins with half new recipes and half existing ones; the third is a selection of his most signature plates developed between 2011 and 2018.m. Key dishes include rice in an extraction of pepper with oysters and candied lemon; tortello pasta with buffalo ricotta cheese and Neapolitan ragout, and his take on “Uovo al Purgatorio,” a traditional recipe based on tomato — Aprea’s personal favorite ingredient — and eggs, which his grandmother used to make and was “one of the best dishes I’ve ever eaten.” (A bowl of fried rice tasted in Kuala Lumpur was a runner-up in Aprea’s memories.m.) A 2014 dish included in the Signature menu: pigeon with cherries, buffalo blue cheese and chicory. Massi Ninni/Courtesy of Andrea Aprea Born in 1977 from parents who ran a restaurant-pizzeria, Aprea started to travel around the world at a young age. “I’ve always been passionate about it, I wanted to see new things and couldn’t settle to remain there — also because Naples in the ‘90s wasn’t a city offering much,” says the chef. He piled up experiences at Michelin-starred restaurants in London, across Italy and Malaysia, before returning to his hometown at age 30 to become executive chef at the luxury Romeo Hotel. He moved to Milan and covered the same role at Park Hyatt’s Vun in 2011. The following year Vun got its first Michelin star, becoming the first hotel restaurant in Milan to receive this acknowledgment, which was doubled in 2017. Asked if he is aiming for such recognition for his new solo project, Aprea says he would be “a hypocrite to say I’m not interested in this,” but he doesn’t believe “in Michelin stars deciding one’s journey, they are just the consequence of one’s work.” “A restaurant has to satisfy guests and have them wanting to return, but on the other side having recognitions is important in attracting other people, and this is the most institutional guide in the world,” says Aprea, although social media and word of mouth are also influential. A strawberry-based desert with mascarpone cheese included in the Signature menu. Massi Ninni/Courtesy of Andrea Aprea Inside the kitchen of the Andrea Aprea restaurant. Leo Torri/Courtesy of Andrea Aprea Aprea keeps himself busy not only with his namesake restaurant and bistrot but also overseeing the fine dining experience of the Il Faro di Capo d’Orso destination set among the cliffs of the Amalfi Coast. Asked about future goals, he invokes Neapolitan superstition and says he prefers to be pragmatic, working step by step and sharing projects when they are done deals. Still, he reveals his secret recipe to success: “Passion, creativity and continuity: to succeed in any field, these are the three ingredients you need,” he concludes. Italian chef Andrea Aprea. Massi Ninni/Courtesy of Andrea Aprea Tags .