September 9th, 2009
New chef at Cafe Gia
Chef Gianfranco Fracassetti—originally from Bergamo, Italy—has joined the kitchen staff at the popular Little Italy restaurant. The menu at Cafe Gia will stay the same, assures owner Gia Blattermann Fugate.
But chef Gianfranco, who has worked in several high-profile Italian restaurants in the area, will showcase his cooking talents through specials and seasonal fare, she says.
10:41 am
Categories: chefs, restaurants
If Gian is going to Cafe Gia, who will be cooking at Pazza Luna?
Thanks Suzanne! ANd if the menu were to change, it would be just as well! My husband rocks the Italian authenticity!
A little strange hiring someone from Bergamo in Northern Italy for a restaurant which claims to be all about Sicily and Southern Italian food - so while Chef Gianfranco might "rock" the Italian authenticity, what are his Sicilian bonafides?
Ryan, as a bonafide Italian, he's got to be HOT......good lookin and good cookin as we say...not to worry!
I am trying to ask a serious question here...
Ryan-One doesn't have to be from a region to cook its food. Off the top-Rick Bayless has no Mexican blood and yet is considered at the top. If we only let those from anywhere cook where they grew up, well we we had have a tough go of it. Imagine doctors only treating those with whom they shared a similar disease. We would not have many surgical oncologists.
mdlrvrmuncher - I completely agree with you in most instances, BUT Gia's does make a concerted effort to promote its authenticity as a "sicilian" restaurant. To me, having a Northern Italian chef diminishes that authenticity.
Have any of you been to an Italian restaurant in Little Italy? Are they ALL Italian> and if so, are they from the SOUTh of Italy? Gianfranco's bonafides are this, if you MUST know. His wife and father in law and nonna are from Catania. He's in. Now that you know that, why don't you go around and see what other kind of chefs are in the kitchens, down there OR anywhere that is serving ANY type of cuisine in ANY restaurant, that claims a certain ethnicity. Nothing is diminished in this case.