For generations, many Americans equated Italian cooking with spaghetti and meatballs. Maybe pizza, too. But no longer. And in large part, today’s Italian foodies in the Washington area have executive chef and restaurateur Roberto Donna to thank.
“I had to fight like a dog to change Americans’ perception of Italian food,” he says. “I think I have had a major impact on Italian cooking in a real way.”
For this Torino native, that’s a major achievement. But, after all, cooking has been Donna’s lifelong passion, perhaps his obsession. He remembers picking through salad greens for restaurant chefs at the age of 4. By 5, he peeled potatoes and made simple pastas. By 8, he says, he could already cook. And at the ageof 13, he attended cooking school in Torino. When he was 19, Donna moved to D.C., and local Italian cooking was about to meet its master.
Back then, he remembers, there were possibly only three Italian restaurants in town: Romeo and Juliette on K Street, and nearby, Tiberio and Cantina d’Italia.
“The best Italian restaurants were run by American chefs,” he says, and bringing in a Torino native to cook Italian food puzzled patrons, who didn’t think they were eating authentic Italian cooking. Shaking his head, Donna remembers that the menu was all about ravioli and pizza. He had to start making pizza, but not the Italian way.
“You had to adjust in your fight, or at least go halfway,” he says. “After two weeks, I had to go back to the first menu. … But I kept saying that I was not inventing anything. This is Italian food. Once if I learn all the Italian dishes, maybe then I’ll start inventing.”
Fortunately for us, Donna persisted, recounting how he served pappardelle (wide noodles with rippling edges) with rabbit or with a chocolate sauce.
“I was also the first to serve a grilled rack of veal,” he says. To this day, he refuses to serve risotto for lunch — “It takes too long to cook correctly” — and to serve angel hair pasta at all.
“It sticks together without a lot of sauce,” he says. “In Italy, angel hair is used as pastini en brodo (pasta in broth) for when you are sick.”
By the time he turned 24, Donna opened Galileo, the first of his 15 D.C. restaurants, and set about making his mark in local culinary lore. Guided by the principles of keeping dishes simple and tastes pure, Donna selects the market’s best ingredients.
“I hate mixed tastes,” he says. “I hate techniques that destroy food. It took millions of years to have the meat and fish we have. If something is good, the less you do with it, the more difficult the cooking is.” What, after all, couldsatisfy more than a simple salad of one thin slice of crisp fennel bulb paired with fresh mozzarella, ripe tomatoes and drizzles of earthy olive oil?
Now down to only two restaurants (Galileo and Bebo Trattoria) — “I had no time to cook any more,” he says — Donna can look back over his active career and count up numerous awards: Chef of the Year 1990 and 2004 — Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington; 5 Star Diamond Award — American Academy of Hospitality Sciences, 2001; 2001 Immigrant Achievement Award — The American Immigration Law Foundation; Insegna Del Ristorante Italiano, 1996; The Fine Dining Hall of Fame induction, the Nation’s Restaurant News, 1996; and, among others, winner of The James Beard Award for Best Chef/Mid-Atlantic Region, 1996.
Quite possibly what pleases him most is the way many know him: as the ambassador of Italian cuisine.
In Donna’s own words
Do you cook at home?
I’m always at work, and I never cook at home.
What is your comfort food?
Baked pastas, such as lasagna and cannelloni.
Which ingredients are your must-haves?
Fresh ingredients, salt, pepper, good bread, olive oil, good wine, a good pasta, fresh herbs and from there you can make anything.
What is the key to cooking success?
You have to keep cooking for yourself, not for the public. Then people will like it. That’s what makes a chef successful.
Which is your favorite cuisine?
Italian, then French. But if I go out tonight, it would be between Thai and Japanese.
What is your luckiest moment?
To come here to the United States. That changed my life. I like D.C. and I have never thought about leaving. But I would like to retire to Italy.
Where do you eat out?
I usually go to one of my cheffriend’s restaurants, such as Citronelle, Vidalia, Kaz Sushi Bistro, DC Coast, and Maestro. Late at night, Bistrot du Coin.
What’s in your fridge right now?
I have some marinated vegetables and fruit, but nothing else. Anything else will spoil. If I’m home on Sundays, I will go out to eat.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years’ time?
Still working. Still cooking. And have two, maybe three, restaurants.
Gnocchi In A Sauce Of Eggplant and Mozzarella (Bebo Trattoria da Roberto Donna)
Gnocchi Dough
1 1/2 pounds of potatoes
3 ounces flour
3 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated
2 egg yolks
1 pinch nutmeg
To prepare gnocchi:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake potatoes, with skins, until tender, about 45 minutes. When fully baked, cool and peel. Puree potatoes through food mill or potato ricer. Add 2 ounces of flour, Parmesan cheese, nutmeg, and egg yolks, and knead until a smooth mixture is formed. Sprinkle remaining flour onto work surface and roll dough into long logs. Cut logs into 3/4-inch long portions and roll across the tines of a fork.
Sauce
2 medium eggplants, cubed
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, or less if baking eggplant
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 pounds ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped or canned Italian tomatoes
1 teaspoon peperoncino (crushed red peppers)
1 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves, chopped, or 1/2 tsp dried oregano
3/4 cup diced smoked mozzarella cheese
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Salt to taste
To Prepare Sauce:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Sprinkle cubed eggplant with salt. Place in colander and let stand for an hour or so (if not bitter, omit salting, as salting removes bitterness). Place on paper towels to drain. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Brown eggplant on both sides. Alternatively, brush all sides of cubes with olive oil. Place eggplant on a cookie sheet, and bake at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes, or until nicely browned.
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan. Add onion, and sauté until golden brown. Add garlic and sauté for an additional 1 to 2 minutes. Add tomato, fresh oregano, peperoncino and basil. Increase heat so sauce cooks at a fast bubble. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes; do not allow sauce to dry out.
Bring pot of water, well salted, to boil. Cook gnocchi in boiling water until done; they will float to the surface. Remove gnocchi with a strainer and set aside. Combine sauce and smoked mozzarella, and toss with gnocchi. Add a small amount of cooking water from gnocchi, and combine well. Serve hot.
