Eleven years ago this month, Luca Della Casa tipped to the side of cooking fame, cutting and filleting his means to the finals of “Food Network Celebrity.”
With large dimples, a muscled body and an Italian accent, Della Casa won a myriad of followers. With his blade and method, he thrilled courts Bobby Flay, Alton Brown and Giada De Laurentiis.
Winning the competitors, he thought, would certainly resemble striking the lotto game.
” My concept was to obtain prominent and obtain abundant and quit working,” Della Casa remembered just recently. “As basic as a strategy can be.”
Viewers banned the strategy, electing rather for Lenny McNab, the “Premium Cowboy.” The outcome sent out Della Casa back to the kitchen area at Silo Alamo Levels and Nosh, a laid-back eating area that later on shut.
” I obtained a present,” stated Silo proprietor Patrick Richardson. “However Luca was sad.”
Della Casa transformed broken heart right into a luck. He partnered with Richardson to open up Nonna Osteria at the Fairmount Resort in 2017. 8 years later on, Della Casa stays executive cook and aids take care of the resort, that includes Silo Prime and the Roof Oyster Bar.
” Our objective is to make the resort Michelin degree,” Richardson stated, “and bring it back to its fabled background.”
The Fairmount made Guinness Globe Records background in 1985, 79 years after it was constructed. The three-story, 3.2 million extra pound framework was delivered half a mile on wheels from East Business to its existing area on South Alamo, a design task that took 6 days to complete.
Chef Bruce Auden later on transformed Polo’s at the Fairmount right into an upscale, location dining establishment.
Eventually, when Auden entrusted to introduce Biga, the Fairmount came under disrepair and the dining establishment room lay vacant up until Richardson released Nonna Osteria.
Today, all-natural light puts right into the dining establishment via large home windows, offering the room the feeling of fresh, encouraging life, a different ambiance to the dirt and roll of building and construction on South Alamo.
” The Nonna Osteria is a really interesting job for us,” Della Casa stated. “We remain in an outstanding location around. A great deal of power is occurring about this area.”
Richardson anticipates a tidy sight of South Alamo by the end of October with improvement to adhere to. When finished, the Fairmount will certainly being in a park-like setup. Resort, dining establishment and website will certainly overshadow anything Della Casa can have thought of in his young people.
Della Casa matured in Torino, Italy, playing running back in the Italian Football Organization and examining English. He discovered job as a dish washer and appreciated the food preparation of his mother’s granny, Norma Mengotti, a single restaurateur that prepared family-style suppers every Sunday.
” Gnocchi e coniglio was certainly the specialized,” Della Casa stated. “She likewise made light potato gnocchi in this abundant bunny sauce and tiramisu.”
In his very early 20s, Della Casa transferred to the Canary Islands and came to be a line chef at a busy Spanish grill. He discovered to make hen, steak and pork chops and take care of the kitchen area.
” Then, I was no more seeking what I intended to do,” he stated. “I recognized I intended to come to be great as a chef.”
After a couple of years at the grill, Della Casa complied with 2 pals to the united state, where he came to be a chef in San Antonio at the since-closed Sage, in the exact same resort room that Nonna Osteria inhabits.
Without any official cooking training, he entrusted to benefit Andrew Weissman at Le Reve (French for “The Desire”) and later on at Il Sogno (Italian for “The Desire”), where he functioned as executive cook.
” Andrew was certainly the very best coach when it concerned food preparation strategies and devotion to excellence and to seek the best bite at the best time,” Della Casa stated. “He was extremely effective in a really tiny dining establishment.”
The following kip down life took Della Casa right into consulting and after that to Snack, Richardson’s Austin Freeway restaurant under flooring of Silo. That’s when the door open up to “Food Network Celebrity.” A casting supervisor welcomed Della Casa to audition. The catch: The program needed Della Casa to miss out on 3 months of job. Would certainly he need to give up Nosh?
A heart to heart with his manager left him stunned. Richardson stated he would certainly pay Della Casa’s wage for the 3 months he was away.
Della Casa stopped working to get in touch with the target market after the 2nd episode and obtained cut. He was rerouted to one more program, “Celebrity Redemption,” where he stood out after enlisting in Toastmasters. His shipment and discussion enhanced and Della Casa was welcomed back to “Food Network Celebrity.” To sum up: He showed up on the program, was gotten rid of, restored and ended up second.
” It was a fantastic experience,” he stated.
Back in San Antonio, Della Casa and Richardson made prepare for a brand-new principle. In tribute to Norma Mengotti, they accepted incorporate 2 names: Nonna, Italian for “granny,” and Osteria, an Italian restaurant that offers basic food and a glass of wine.
8 years because opening, Della Casa takes satisfaction in the food selection’s most prominent recipe: tartufo.
” It’s our table-side prep work,” he stated. “Fresh tagliatelle threw in a parmigiano reggiano wheel to produce a luscious sauce. And afterwards, as we put it on home plate, we cover it with big swelling crab and cut some fresh bagnoli black truffle.”
Della Casa browses the dining-room, all-natural light enlightening tables, flooring and kitchen area. Memories flicker. A youth home in Italy. That very first dining establishment at the Fairmount. Contending on the Food Network.
What would certainly his granny make from this trip?
Della Casa grins. Norma Mengotti may assume her grand son has actually succeeded.
