Meet the Chef: Nicola Cristiani of Lusardi's

Chef Nicola Cristiani graduated from Scuola Alberghiera Amerigo Vespucci, a distinguished hospitality school in Milan, in 1993. He gathered some restaurant experience and in 1996, at the age of 24, joined a catering company as a cook.  

After three years, Cristiani felt it was time to open his own restaurant and he decided to try his luck in Brazil. Why Brazil? "Why not," he says. "Everyone in Italy knows how to cook."

He arrived in Brazil in 1999 and stayed for close to seven years. He opened a small restaurant and cooked Brazilian food. It had only a few tables and was open only for lunch - much of its business was take-out.  "It was a good learning experience," he recalls. But within a year he sold the business. His next restaurant, called La Vecchia Milano, was considerably larger and served Italian food. After nearly three years, he sold it too.

Next, joined by a non-cooking Brazilian partner, he opened a 120-seat Italian restaurant named Abbuffata in Belo Horizonte, a region of Brazil with a population of nearly five million - 30 percent of which is of Italian origin. But after about three years, ready for still another challenge; he sold his share to the partner and headed for the U.S.

Cristiani arrives in America

He came to Washington, D.C. and diligently began calling on restaurants. It was slow going at first. He had no references, restaurants weren't aware of the places where he had worked and few openings existed. But one day during the lull between lunch and dinner, a chef/owner invited him in for a tryout. Cristiani prepared a few of his specialties and a job was offered on the spot; he started the next day.

The chef/owner was an esteemed restaurateur named Roberto Donna whose restaurant, Galileo, had been named one of the "Best Ten Italian Restaurants in America" by the magazine Wine Spectator and one of the finest twenty Italian restaurants in the world by the president of Italy in 1996. (The original Galileo is now closed. However, chef Donna will open Galileo III in D.C. in August 2010.)

When Cristiani reported for work he was in for a bit of a surprise. He had worked mostly in small kitchens with limited facilities and staff. Now he was a member of a kitchen crew of 20 - and given responsibility for preparing fresh pasta from scratch.

Still possessing a keen sense for adventure, he hoped eventually to join a restaurant in New York City. An opportunity arose quickly when a Manhattan restaurant named Brocolino, owned by a native Brazilian, had an opening for a chef. Cristiani joined Brocolino (now out of business) but stayed only six months.

One of his regular customers, a chef at an upscale west side restaurant called Puttanesca, had resigned and recommended Cristiani as his  replacement. Cristiani was promised a say on what appeared on the menu and assured he could create some of his own dishes. That was a powerful inducement. But soon he would receive an even better one.

Cristiani joins Lusardi's

Four years ago, Cristiani learned from a friend at Lusardi's on New York City's upper east side that a restaurant in Larchmont having the same name and operated by relatives of the Manhattan restaurant owner sought an executive chef. Working in Westchester County would require serious thought as he lived in Brooklyn and Larchmont represented a long and difficult commute.

But Lusardi's in Larchmont, so elegant and upscale, was about as far as he could get from his first venture in Brazil. At Lusardi's, he would run a kitchen that served nearly 40 tables and he could cook creatively. In his first year, he added branzino (Mediterranean sea bass) to the menu cooked on a crest of salt (once out of the oven, the salt is removed); he also had the servers present the fish to the customer before cooking it.

The pasta section of the menu has 15 selections including the Lusardi's classic Rollatine Montanara - sheets of pasta filled with spinach, porcini and ricotta topped with pink sauce and parmigiano ($19), and two dishes that Cristiani says are becoming especially popular: Orecchiette con Stufatino - orecchiette with stewed short ribs and mint sauce ($22) and Mezzelune Notturne - ravioli filled with short ribs in Madeira sauce ($21).

An appetizer relatively new to the menu is Insalata di Cavoletti - Brussel sprout salad with olives, mushrooms, artichokes, sundried tomatoes and feta cheese in a raspberry vinegar dressing ($13). Favorites among the entrees are the classic Vitello Martini - veal scaloppine crested with parmigiano, white wine and lemon over French beans ($24) and salmon glazed with orange and balsamic vinegar and served over mushrooms, tomatoes and Cannellini beans ($26).

Mario Fava and his dad Umberto, who passed away about 18 months ago, first began welcoming patrons to Lusardi's 15 years ago. Umberto had devoted 40 years to the restaurant business.

One of four restaurants in Westchester County owned by the Fava family, Lusardi's bakes bread and pasta and prepares desserts for the other three: Chat 19 in Larchmont and Chat American Grill and Moscato in Scarsdale. Lusardi's plans to add lighter fare and more pastas to the lunch menu next month. It will also begin renovation to enlarge the bar area soon. The hours the restaurant is open will not be affected by the construction work.

Lusardi's, is located at 1885 Palmer Ave. in Larchmont and is open seven days a week for lunch (11:30am to 3pm), dinner (3pm to 10:30pm, Sunday through Thursday; 3pm to 11:30pm, Friday and Saturday) and it serves brunch on Saturday and Sunday (11am to 3pm). 914-834-5555, www.lusardislarchmont.com.