2011 2 0 1 altamarea group 1 ai fiori THE RIVIERA BLOOMS IN NEW YORK: AI FIORI IN THE GROOVE: FRENCH SERVICE, ITALIAN HEART Private DINING: have IT YOUR way MEDITERRANEAN INSPIRATION: PLATING THE RIVIERA FROM PROVENCE TO LIGURIA: MICHAEL WHITE’S TRAVELS Terroir -“The total natural environment of any viticultural site, as defined in terms of climate, sunlight, geography, wind and soil/water relations.”—Dino Tantawi www.vignaioliamerica.com VignaioliAdFINAL.indd 1 5/31/11 3:01 PM AI FIORI IS BLOSSOMING When Michael and I first met, our personalities and our food vision instantly clicked. I am a businessman with a passion for food, and he is a great culinary mind with a passion for business. —Ahmass Fakahany So when we started to come up with the concept about a menu that could create a bit of excitement lot of research to convey this theme of accessible for Ai Fiori, we looked at it from both a culinary and still be original and different from what is elegance, bearing in mind that you have a New and business perspective. Because the space already available and done so well in other New York palate to please and a Michael White clientele. was in a hotel, the new Setai Fifth Avenue, whose York establishments. We came up with our own We have a deep pasta section on the menu for this clientele is decidedly European, we felt this alone niche—for example, including vichyssoise and reason. It is a reminder of our roots and gives all would mean we weren’t confined to just Italian bouillabaisse, but with a little twist to them. And the restaurants something in common—fabulous food—that it might just be the perfect opportunity wonderful main dishes—to create that feeling, if Chef White pastas! As a group, we want to stress to break out and try something new. possible in New York City, of coming straight from quality and consistency at all price points, but la plage for seasonal food. Our first love is Italian food, that is a given. But we also create places to which anyone can come, also have a strong connection with food from the We also had to keep in mind the hotel’s five-star be themselves, and enjoy an exceptional meal. South of France, where Michael trained for several ambiance. Ai Fiori couldn’t be a rustic bistro. But Our menu is not complicated; its strength lies in years and I have traveled extensively and even a Riviera theme, with its romance and accessible simplicity and quality. have a home. We are both drawn to the simplicity elegance, was the perfect compliment. We I think this has been a great experience for of the food—it’s not old-school Parisian, but also thought about our Marea guests—who Michael too. He had to retune his French cooking very accessible French that is also not brasserie. would hopefully see this as a “sister” restaurant skills, bringing back his taste memory. Right But for Michael to move beyond the common destination. And so it made sense on all counts. before we had finished our proposal for Ai Fiori, Plus, given the space, we now had a bar where perception of the Italian chef, how could we make we were in the South of France thinking it through the transition to a credible French menu? That’s guests could really enjoy an aperitif or cocktail and discussing it carefully. We just knew that we when we both moved toward our second love: the first, which is very la Riviera. What’s the hurry?! were ready to do it for all the right reasons­­­­­­­—not French Riviera. Ai fiori is Italian for “with the flowers,” but it also just because it was a good idea but also because it We started talking about the places we had been speaks to the flowers of the Riviera. There is a lot felt right. We thought: we love it here, we love this to, the villages we had visited, the hotels on the of marble in the restaurant, so we included flowers food, and, most important, people will really enjoy Riviera in which we had eaten. Then we thought and now new curtains to add warmth. We did a this kind of food too. ALTAMAREA GROUP: OUR RESTAURANT LOCATIONS Osteria Morini Marea Ai Fiori Due Terre Due Mari Al Molo 218 Lafayette Street 240 Central Park South 400 Fifth Avenue 107 Morristown Road 78 Albany Street Shop G63, G/F New York, NY New York, NY New York, NY Bernardsville, NJ New Brunswick, NJ Harbour City, Hong Kong 10012 10019 10018 07924 08901 t. 212.965.8777 t. 212.582.5100 t. 212.613.8660 t. 908.221.0040 t. 732.296.1600 t. +852 2525 9300 altamarea group:ai fiori • 2011 3 CAPOSALDO PROSECCO. www.kobrandwineandspirits.com www.kobrandwineandspirits.com BUBBLY, ITALIAN STYLE! ©2010 Kobrand Corporation, New York, NY cap_ad_Bubbly_Sapori_0410r2.indd 1 5/6/10 9:28:56 AM Three stars from The New York Times One Michelin star Zagat 2012’s Best New Restaurant—New York Esquire’s Best New Restaurant 2011—New York Chef Michael White wants everyone to know that he really loves French food too. At Ai Fiori, he gets to do what he does best: present the food he is passionate about from regions in which he has lived and cooked. It’s about reinventing the classics with a dazzling display of Mediterranean luxe, Provençal kitchen flavors, and Italian heart. I like to say I went to Italy to learn flavor and to fraîche instead of mayonnaise. Using butter and I really want people to know I love French France to learn technique, and here at Ai Fiori I bone marrow in a different way, with red wine; food, in its purest sense. I feel food needs have the opportunity to apply these two together. offering a caviar service; taking a spice like to be respected, and part of that respect is During my time in France, I worked at Roger coriander, which is not common in Italy; making representing the classics that are slowly going Vergé’s Le Moulin de Mougins, right outside of a broth with Serrano ham, which is not French— away. French or Italian—it’s easy as a chef to Cannes; Jacques Chibois’s Michelin-starred La all of this really opens up the playbook. Even the get tired of the cuisine, continually searching for Bastide Saint Antoine, in Grasse; and Christian lamb en crepinette, another classic Italian dish, something exotic. And that’s fine, but then where Morisset’s La Terrasse, in Juan les Pins. As I takes on some Moroccan influences with our do you find something authentic, like a lobster traveled throughout the region, what I noticed spice rub before being ramped up with French bisque or a duck on a rotisserie in front of a fire was this amazing connection between the technique. with Armagnac and prunes? What we have done cuisine of the Riviera and the cuisine of Sicily— at Morini is really represent the Italian trattoria olive oil–based with plenty of olives, tomatoes, The Riviera is all about ultraluxe, and this and hold on to those defining dishes—and that’s and capers. You can trace it back to trading extends into our dining room, which, given the my goal here. I love what I do, I have a lot more to routes and the waves of European invaders. space we have to play with, rare in New York, do, and, bottom line, I feel that food really needs Looking beyond Sicily, you see Morocco, and sets the tone with spacious tables placed well to be respected. And that’s what we do at Ai Fiori. then you can put your finger on how the use apart. And in the kitchen, this “anything goes” of spices or the importance of lamb moved to attitude in the South of France—the excesses of specific parts of Italy and the French ports, like caviar, sea urchins, and oysters—finds its place Nice and Marseille. Take the olive, for example, between the Provençal flavors and the Italian and the connection between the Niçoise from technique of making really great pastas. When Nice and the Taggiasca from Liguria. Suddenly, I worked in France, we used cream, tomatoes, the livornese dishes from the port town of Livorno and Sauternes with lobster shells to make a share the same flavors as à la Provençal. And so delicious lobster bisque; here, we apply thin I started looking at the cooking of the South of slices of raw lobster with hot cream and really France through an Italian lens. take things to the next level, at the same time When I first came back to the States, I was able using ingredients from Liguria. Traditional pasta to use the French techniques I had learned, but shapes like trofie, which is usually cooked with not necessarily the ingredients. Here I get a pesto or string beans, is paired here with squid chance to really open up my canvas. Avocado ink, grated lemon, and bread crumbs to reflect is not classically Italian but crabe à l’avocat is a the importance of the lemons of Menton. Oysters staple in the Riviera, and so we do an interesting are poached in a lemon beurre blanc, where the version of that, slicing the avocado very thin and butter has been infused with seaweed to more mixing the crab with olive oil and a bit of crème strongly take on the flavors of the sea.