How chef esposito at Da Nico Ristorante makes a minor obsession of his daily specials—to the betterment of us all
by Susan Lunny Keag • Photos By Alex Barreto
After a few minutes talking to Chef Mario Esposito, two things are clear: food is everything to him, and his infatuation with it is poetically linked to his childhood. When one grows up in
Naples, he explained, food isn’t just something people take a casual interest in—it’s a serious matter, and sitting down to a homemade multi-course meal is just part of a daily routine.
“My mom never put food on the table if she was missing someone. We waited for everyone in the family to be there and then we ate,” said Esposito, nostalgically recalling a freshly-prepared lunch anywhere from 1:30 to 2 p.m. each day with the family before returning to work. “I like to cook but I love the food…I respect the food.”
That love began in his mother’s kitchen in Italy. He can’t remember the exact age he started cooking, but recalled that “I could barely reach the table.” It was in that kitchen where he learned to make gnocchi and a host of other pasta dishes that he still makes from scratch as executive chef at Da Nico Ristorante, which opened last year in Tottenville.
The restaurant is the second location for the family-owned Da Nico of Mulberry Street, a Little Italy fixture since 1993, and it couldn’t have been just anyone Nick Criscitelli (who has run Da Nico for more than two decades) allowed into the new kitchen of his Staten Island location.
“Finding the right chef was extremely important,” said Criscitelli. “I have a very good reputation that follows me from New York.” The owner wanted to maintain the same menu as his flagship restaurant, too, which includes homemade pasta, more than a dozen varieties of homemade brick oven pizza, double-cut
veal chops, and seafood—he just needed the right chef in charge.
Esposito’s experience certainly helped secure the position; he began his five-year culinary arts training in Italy at the age of 18.
“In Italy, the minimum a chef goes to school is five years. Some even go up to eight,” he explained, adding that when he came to New York more than a decade ago, he further honed his skills at restaurants throughout Manhattan. Esposito then worked at Bistro 1051, a
Recalling daily and freshly-prepared family lunches in Naples Esposito offered that “I like to cook but I love the food… I respect the food.”
well-known local Italian eatery in Clark, NJ for seven years. He began at Da Nico Ristorante just a year ago. In fact, he celebrates his one-year anniversary on December 22, a date he can’t forget for two reasons.
“I started here on my birthday,” he fondly recalled, noting they needed him to start right away. “We were very busy!”
The business is still booming a year later, thanks in part to some well-thought out specials. (“We have our regular traditional menu and then I create new specials every week,” Esposito explained.) They run the gamut from a brick oven pie topped with speck and Porcini mushrooms to a meat ravioli filled with ground veal, filet mignon, and New York Strip to a grilled Romaine salad with smoked salmon and Esposito’s special Caesar dressing.
The chef admitted he spends considerable time conjuring those specials, as they typically involve putting a new twist on a traditional dish. (“I think about them day and night,” he said with a grin.)
And just how can he tell if the special is a hit or needs to be recreated? “I look at the dishes they bring back to the kitchen. If they are empty, I know it was good!” If they aren’t, the inventor tweaks, and re-tweaks—perhaps “adding a different ingredient or more cheese…maybe less salt.”
As for Esposito, he always clears his plate when it’s homemade pasta being served.
“I’m just that type of guy,” he said. “I can eat pasta three or four times a day and be happy.”
Da Nico Ristorante
7324 Amboy Road
718.227.7200 / danicoristorante.com