owner’s family recipes and other “real italian” fare propel this hylan boulevard trattoria
by Jessica Jones-Gorman • Photos By Robert Nuzzie
Joe Calcagno essentially grew up in the restaurant business, learning the art of pizza making at his father’s eatery when he was just seven years old. So, it was only natural for the industrious entrepreneur to open his own restaurant at the seemingly impossible age of 19, and went on to create a total of seven other dining concepts after that. But when he opened Capizzi in Hell’s Kitchen in 2010, Calcagno went back to basics.
“I gathered all of my grandmother’s recipes and decided to make everything from scratch, just like we used to do at home in her kitchen,” he said. “At some restaurants, you buy powdered ingredients and seasonings; here I wanted to do it differently.”
So, he imported all of his raw materials from Italy and stocked his kitchen with only sea salt and fresh garlic and herbs…nothing dehydrated.
“We also hang the peppers and crush them ourselves,” said Calcagno. “We use only real San Marzano tomatoes because they, well…they just speak for themselves.”
The concept, along with the decor (a mismatched compilation of items from the 1920s, ’30s, ’40s and ’50s that resembled those in Calcagno’s grandmother’s kitchen), was a hit, scoring chef segments on the Travel Channel, CBS News, and The Steve Harvey Show.
After noticing a regular flow of diners migrating from the outer boroughs, Calcagno decided to take his culinary theory to Staten Island.
“For the Island location, I hired a team of four chefs who shared my vision,” the owner said. “I told them not to bring me recipes that they’ve cooked at other restaurants or ones that they researched online. I wanted dishes that come from the heart, that come from their family…comfort food they ate as children.”
Oscar Palaguchi, Nick Sorlano, and Stefy Fiuzelli serve as the restaurant’s executive chefs, Flori Paliri handles pizza, while Margarito Baltazar is the resident pasta maker. Together with Calcagno, they brainstorm and create new dishes daily.
“Most of our menu is vero Italiano (real Italian), not the washed down Italian-American cooking you get at other places in the borough,” Calcagno said. “These are dishes you get in Italy, and in Italy, food isn’t just about taste, it’s about how it affects the body two hours after you eat it. It’s a very purist approach to cooking, using simple, fresh ingredients and a light amount of seasoning.”
Capizzi’s staff of chefs make everything from scratch daily: pasta is rolled and crimped by hand before the lunch rush starts…everything is prepped on site.
“Everyone has their role,” explained Calcagno. “But we come together to collaborate basically every day. Stef ’s mother was here from Italy recently and she made this homemade campanelle with Gorgonzola, walnuts, pear, and ricotta in a spinach sauce that was absolutely out of this world. The orders sold out, and it inspired us. We all started having these mini cook-offs to create dishes that were just as good.”
Chef specialties include a homemade cassarecce with sausage and broccoli rabe and a fennel salad with sea salt, pepper, a fresh squeezed orange, and extra virgin olive oil, the last item produced by a Tuscan-based company which Calcagno owns himself.
“It’s all about the freshness,” he concluded. “We use all of the freshest ingredients and our food is very labor intensive, but that’s what makes it so good.”
Capizzi
4126 Hylan Boulevard / 718.569.3180 / capizzinyc.com