Classically trained, simply delicious

There’s no doubt about it: Pasquale Esposito, executive chef and owner of McLean’s long-time favorite, Café Oggi, is an old-school kind of cook. Reared in the classic, work-hard tradition of Naples, Italy, and the son and the grandson of two chefs, Esposito comes to this field by dint of hard work and an ingrained and enduring passion for cooking.

“I tell my son,” he says of his becoming a chef, “Do it only if you love it … If you become a chef and you think it is just a job, do something else.”

A lesson learned from his family perhaps, and as he reminisces about his granddad, he remembers how his grandfather nailed crates together so the young boy could stand up and watch him cook.

“I used to pester my grandfather,” he says about his getting hands-on experience at an early age.

His father also acted as teacher, providing rigorous training for young Esposito.

“When I was brought up, I had to learn the basics. Now [young] chefs just open packages with cut-up meat. We had to learn what it was to take down an animal and to make cured meats, even to curdle milk to make cheese,” he says. “When I was brought up in Italy, tomatoes came straight from the farm, and we had to learn how to can them.”

When the family moved from Italy to the United States in the mid-1960s, the elder Esposito opened a restaurant in Fort Belvoir, the only Italian restaurant there. Of course, his son worked with him.

“We used to go shopping in a van to New York City every two weeks,” he says, explaining that at that time there were no markets in the metro area that sold Italian provisions, not even such basic cheeses as mozzarella and provolone. “Now we can get food from all over the world all day, every day.”

Years later, Esposito works his own restaurant, which has been doing a bustling business for nearly 20 years. To the uninitiated — or perhaps the non-Italian — the name has little meaning. But, he explains, Café Oggi really means “café today,” or “café that is fresh,” he says, adding that he almost named it “my first love.”

But the word “fresh” underscores his Italian — and classic — approach to cooking.

“Everything I use is fresh,” he says, “because that’s how I was brought up É I know what it means to take a piece of fish and know it’s fresh. If it’s not, you are not a good chef.”

He adds that he makes all his pastas from scratch: “I learned that from my granddad.” And he shrugs at the current national obsession with “organic” foods, noting that back in Italy, that’s how everyone ate anyway.

Noting his father loved that he had become a chef, even though they had kitchen disagreements, Esposito will probably love that one of his own sons follows in his footsteps. Indeed, his youngest son already has studied under Esposito for two years, he cooks at home and on the weekends, he works at Café Oggi. So he may well be on his way to kitchen duty after high school — that would make four generations of Esposito chefs carrying on a culinary tradition.

Q&A with Chef Pasquale Esposito

What is your comfort food?

My wife makes the most wonderful meatloaf, and that and a good glass of Barolo wine.

What is your signature dish?

Fish and spaghetti Diavolo with lobster [see recipe]. That’s my classic, and also, spaghetti with clams. Oh, man. And sea bream with rosemary just roasted and served with lemon. And braciola (Italian version of roulade), covered for 5 to 6 hours. That was my mom’s recipe, but now my wife makes it.

Which is your favorite restaurant?

I love sushi, so I go to Endo Sushi in McLean. I have never had a bad meal there. We have a family meal on Sundays and my wife does the cooking.

Where do you go on vacation?

I go fishing on the Outer Banks. My son fishes and we cook and eat it.

What’s in your fridge?

Milk, water and red wine. Cheeses such as dry and fresh pecorino, goat cheese. A jar of roasted peppers. Fruit and ice cream for the boys.

From the Chef’s Kitchen

Spaghetti with Lobster Fra Diavolo

Serves 4

1 pound dry spaghetti

4 (1-pound) lobsters, cut in half and cleaned

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 cup olive oil

1 (24-oz.) can Italian tomatoes, whole, preferably Pomadoro Palati

2 tsp crushed red pepper

1 cup white wine

1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Salt to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for cooking the spaghetti.

Meanwhile, heat 3 Tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and sauté the garlic until aromatic. Remove and add the crushed red pepper. Add the lobsters, meat side down, and sauté 3 minutes. Add the wine, and cook until the wine reduces by half. Crush the tomatoes by hand until coarse textured, and stir them into the lobsters. Add salt to taste.

Cook the spaghetti in the boiling water until al dente. Drain, and return to the pot. Add the sauce without the lobsters, and the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Divide the spaghetti into 4 individual servings and put into large bowl. Place a lobster on top of each serving, and garnish with the parsley.