The Fabulous Fior OVER 100 Years in an Italian Kitchen
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THE FABULOUS FIOR OVER 100 YEARS IN AN ITALIAN KITCHEN By Francine Brevetti The History of San Francisco’s Fior d’Italia America’s Oldest Italian Restaurant, Established 1886 Second Edition THE FABULOUS FIOR Over 100 Years in Italian Kitchen by Francine Brevetti Second Edition Copyright © 2006 by San Francisco Bay Books 13966 Beitler Road Nevada City, CA 95959 www.fabulousfior.com ISBN 0-9753351-0-3 Printed in South Korea (?) Notice of Rights All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written premission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact San Francisco Bay Books. To my mother Tecla Brevetti, my grandparents, Alberto Puccetti, who worked at the Fior d’Italia over 100 years ago, and his wife, Gemma Lenci Puccetti and Chef Gianfranco Audieri TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword . 3 Introduction . 5 Acknowledgments . .7 CHAPTER I: The Gold Rush to 1900 . .9 Veal scaloppine . .16 CHAPTER 2: The Fior Presents Its Cuisine . 17 Osso buco . 21 Risotto with saffron . 22 CHAPTER 3: Shaking in 1906 . 23 Pasta and bean soup . .28 CHAPTER 4: From the Depths to the Heights . .29 Brown stock . .36 CHAPTER 5: Red Coffee . .37 Potato croquettes . .42 CHAPTER 6: Prohibition Be Damned. Celebrities Revel. .43 Eva Biagini’s Italian fried cream . .49 CHAPTER 7: The Great Depression . 51 Pavian soup . .56 CHAPTER 8: I Clienti (The Customers) . .57 Poached salmon . .64 CHAPTER 9: Lock the Doors. Lock the Windows. 1940-50 . .65 Prawns wrapped in pancetta . .70 CHAPTER 10: Cold War on a Plate . 71 Duck Fior d’Italia . .74 CHAPTER 11: A Place to Be Seen . .75 Veal cutlet with mushrooms and cream . .79 CHAPTER 12: The New Fior . .81 Crabmeat crepes . .84 CHAPTER 13: The Next Generation . .87 Sweetbreads with mushrooms and cream . .92 CHAPTER 14: Leaving the Family Fold, 1977-90 . .93 Ragù for pasta . .99 CHAPTER 15: Singers and Chefs . 101 Sherbet . 106 CHAPTER 16: Through Rick’s Eyes . 107 Bagna cauda with roasted peppers . 113 CHAPTER 17: The Next Incarnation . 115 Seafood spaghetti . 118 CHAPTER 18: In Search of the Perfect Ravioli . 119 Mariuccia Corassa’s 22-ingredient ravioli . 121 CHAPTER 19: Navy Gravy. Smoking out Joe Camel . 123 Mussels and clams marinara . 125 CHAPTER 20: La Qualità . 127 Risotto Audieri . 130 CHAPTER 21: Little Frankie . 131 Chicken cacciatore and polenta . 132 CHAPTER 22: George Exits . 133 Cabbage and bread soup . 134 CHAPTER 23: Club Pork . 135 Prawns with orange breading . 136 CHAPTER 24: Arrivederci, Achille . 137 Ligurian chicken . 138 CHAPTER 25: The Unsung Little Guys . 139 Panna cotta . 140 CHAPTER 26: The 110thAnniversary . 141 Lemon risotto . 143 CHAPTER 27: Another Break with the Past . 145 Tiramisù mousse . 146 CHAPTER 28: Cadets and Lasagne . 147 Prawns Fior . 148 CHAPTER 29: A Premature Millennium and the Real One . 149 Medallions of veal wrapped in pancetta . 150 CHAPTER 30: Head-to-Head with the IRS . 151 Gnocchi . 156 CHAPTER 31: More Flames . 157 Calamari 1886 . 162 CHAPTER 32: Rockwood Refound . 163 Herbed Pork Chops . 170 CHAPTER 33: The Story of an Old Hotel . 171 Green Beans and Pancetta . 174 EpiLOguE . 175 Scallop salad . 176 APPENDIX: The World according to Chef Gianni . 177 Index . 180 Notes . 182 THE AUTHOR . 185 The Fior d’Italia is in the heart of the Italian district of San Francisco and I should not hesitate to say that it is more Italian than Alfredo’s in Rome. But it is also as authentically San Franciscan and American as the Crocker National Bank. The men who gave it its character will soon be gone – most of them have already gone. In another fifty years its patrons – the Pardinis, the Grazinis, the Martinis, the Gianninis – will be five and six generations removed from the immigrants who first ate there. Men as immigrants will have long since passed away from North Beach. But not their sons and daughters nor minestrone nor vino da pasto nor scaloppine. These will endure as an added grace to the America of tomorrow – these and something of the matrix whence they derive: the magnificent sanity and durability of the Italian people and their will to live and bear life’s burdens gracefully. Americans by Choice Angelo M. Pellegrini, 1956 1 2 Foreword I’ve been writing crime novels set in San Francisco now for the better part of two decades, and in that time many of the bar/restaurant venues in the City have nearly taken on the roles of living characters. John’s Grill on Ellis, The Little Shamrock at 9th and Lincoln, and my own fictional Lou the Greek’s on the very real Bryant Street all seek to capture some elements of the City’s personality and spirit, and hopefully help to infuse the books with a sensibility that is unique to San Francisco. But when I sat down to write Guilt, I felt that I needed to set my opening scene at a restaurant that all by itself encapsulated not just a few elements, but so much of the City’s essence that its mention alone would conjure up for my readers an immediate identification with San Francisco. There was no question that only one restaurant in this town of great restaurants could fit this bill -- the Fior d’Italia. You’re in North Beach, after all, and the smell of roasting coffee beans infuses the air. Washington Square, with its tai chi classes and frisbee games, is just across the street, beneath the twin towers of Sts. Peter and Paul Church. You’re sitting at the bar of the Fior d’Italia, maybe sipping a negroni, an early afternoon martini, or a perfect espresso. Outside there’s a light breeze and the sun is shining and in five minutes you’ll be ordering veal or calamari from a waiter who’s been here forever and knows exactly what he’s doing. When the food arrives, you may be surprised at how beautifully it’s prepared, how flawlessly it’s served, how delicious it tastes. After all, the Fior has been here for over a century; it’s the oldest Italian restaurant in the country. It’s a tourist place, right? Well, yes and no. Tourists come here, to be sure, and who can blame them? But it wouldn’t be a destination for long if it didn’t deliver the goods, the goods in this case being authentic, carefully-prepared, fantastic tasting Italian food. A restaurant can boast of all the tradition in the world, but in the Mecca of haute cuisine that is San Francisco today, if the kitchen doesn’t hold up its end of the quality spectrum, nobody’s going to go there to eat. But look around you. The Fior d’Italia is packed today. It’s packed every day. Why? Because it’s a great place with terrific food. That’s what it’s always been, and what it remains today. 3 I’ve been eating regularly at the Fior since my very first trip to San Francisco. It’s where my dad took me for the first dinner I ever ate out in the City. Back in the late 1960s, when I was a student at the University of San Francisco and later at the University of California, Berkeley, for me it became the ultimate place for a super-fancy dinner date. Although the waiters were never anything but perfectly professional, I remember as a college student being a little terrified by the gentlemen in tuxedoes, the Italian language all over the menu, the simple sophistication of the adult dining experience. I didn’t suspect back then that one day the formal, traditional, somewhat intimidating Fior d’Italia of my youth would become a comfort spot for me and my friends, that thiry-five years or so after my first dining experience here, I would reserve the Tony Bennett room for my fiftieth birthday party. The restaurant didn’t change. I did. But through all the ages of my life, the Fior d’Italia has retained its ambience, its glamour, and its magic. That’s why I feel so privileged to be a small part of The Fabulous Fior – Over 100 Years In An Italian Kitchen. This is a wonderful book with a great story to tell. Sit down with it and enjoy a well-told tale of one of the City’s true treasures. Then sit back, order another glass of Pinot Grigio, and raise a glass to the next hundred years of San Francisco’s premier Italian restaurant, the Fior d’Italia. John T. Lescroart September 18, 2004 4 Introduction At Oakland, California’s train station in the mid-19th century, frightened Italian immigrants jump tentatively from the boxcars that had carried them from the East Coast after they made the cruel passage across the Atlantic. Nervously, their eyes dart about for any loved ones who have come to meet them. There are many arriving for whom no one waits. They all seek an end to poverty. Meanwhile in San Francisco, more weathered groups of Italians alight from large sailing ships from South America. These men had already sought their fortunes in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Disappointed or intrigued by the possibility of further success, they now turn their sights on North America and California’s goldmines. Or, if they’ve given up on quick riches, they look to California’s kitchens. The opportunity to take on the story of Italian immigrants to San Francisco and the cooking they brought with them was too compelling for me to resist.