La Cucina Italia Magazine, October 2001

Lisa Merlini

    It was none too soon when Frank De Carlo invited me down to Peasant, his Elizabeth Street restaurant, for dinner. He wanted to show me his charcoal- and wood-burning ovens, his rotisserie, his stove. He was proud of their design – his design – and the sound of excitement in his voice had me more than a little intrigued. A buzz has been surrounding his restaurant for months: culinary luminaries stopping in on their nights off, a dining room where “simple” fare reminded people what their taste buds were for. It was time to see for myself

    We Nearly passed the restaurant on the street, my dinner companions and I, a black sign hanging demurely over the door from metal hooks like one above a turn-of-the-century inn. A facade of glass opens onto an interior of whitewashed walls, exposed brick, and stone. The scent of burning wood hits me. Living in New York City, I had almost forgotten how good it smells.

    We’re greeted, first, not by people but by fire. Through the three archways of the open kitchen, I spy flames leaping up to lick rabbits as they spin on a rotisserie. To the right, the pizza oven is glowing from the inside out, its wood-fed flames encircling a Pizza Margherita even before the pizzaiolo gets it fully into the oven. I head into the kitchen to greet Frank, who is quartering a live lobster for his Bucatini with Lobster. The heat from the charcoal stove is vicious, and the lobster, tomatoes, and shallots form a sauce within moments.

     “IT’S COMMONPLACE in Apulia, cooking over a raw, open fire,” Frank tells me as he hands me a piece of the lobster he has just sautéed. Frank’s love of Apulian cuisine stems from his years spent in Mola di Bari, Apulia, a place he travels to often. “The intense flavor of the food, the purity it retains, was what inspired my wife Dulcinea and I to base our restaurant on Apulian cooking techniques. We searched for over 5 years for the perfect place to create Peasant.”

    What Frank loves most about Apulian cuisine is its simplicity: the breads and pastas, the vegetables and fruits, the seafood, the redolent cheeses are barely manipulated so they taste purely of themselves. “Apulians have mastered the art of taking the freshest ingredients and preparing them in such a way that they emerge from the flames with the same integrity, the same purity, as when they went in,” he says poetically as he guides me around his kitchen. I take in the colors of the evening’s ingredients, the stacks of wood and charcoal waiting to be consumed against the back wall.

    Soon a banquet is set before us: rustic bread with a creamy ricotta spread; sautéed artichokes and Bresaola; roasted baby cuttle-fish with peas; pizza sizzling from its fire bath, a hint of tanginess from the fresh buffalo's milk mozzarella playing off the tomatoes’ sweetness. Rabbit with fava beans and pearl onions is next, so savory that it reminds me of wild hare. Succulent roasted quail is paired with farro and sautéed radicchio, and the lamb is so tender it melts into the bed of creamy yellow polenta it rests on.

    WE SAVOR EVERY BITE and sit back, satisfied and happy. A waitress catches me as I stand, ready to wander back to the kitchen and give Frank my humble, dreamy thanks. In her hands is a Panama Cotta; surrounded by berries, it looks like a still life of summer. Before we finish, Frank joins us at the table.

    “Chefs in the best restaurants in New York are working very hard to make their cuisine, the food that comes out of their kitchen, fresh and new,” he tells me. “I love what many of them are doing – but with my dishes, instead of constantly moving forward, I've chosen to go backwards. To me, and maybe to the chefs who come here to eat on their night off, the best food is the food which still has its soul intact. It may not be as pretty, but freshness and flavor leave you more satisfied than a good-looking sculpture made out of food,” he adds.

    The chefs who come to eat at Peasant – the ones Frank is referring to off-handedly – are world-class stars like Paul Bocuse, Eric Ripert, Jean-Louis Palladin, Alain Ducasse, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Bobby Flay, and Mario Batali. Interestingly, many of his fans have been French-trained chefs; I guess they’re looking to Italian comfort food for – well, comfort. Considering how Frank cooks, who could blame them?