Eleven years in the past this month, Luca Della Casa stepped to the sting of culinary stardom, chopping and filleting his technique to the finals of “Meals Community Star.”
With huge dimples, a muscled physique and an Italian accent, Della Casa gained a legion of followers. Together with his knife and method, he impressed judges Bobby Flay, Alton Brown and Giada De Laurentiis.
Profitable the competitors, he believed, can be like hitting the lottery.
“My thought was to get in style and get wealthy and cease work,” Della Casa recalled lately. “So simple as a plan might be.”
Viewers vetoed the plan, voting as a substitute for Lenny McNab, the “Connoisseur Cowboy.” The outcome despatched Della Casa again to the kitchen at Silo Alamo Heights and Nosh, an informal eating spot that later closed.
“I received a present,” stated Silo proprietor Patrick Richardson. “However Luca was heartbroken.”
Della Casa turned heartbreak into a giant break. He partnered with Richardson to open Nonna Osteria on the Fairmount Resort in 2017. Eight years later, Della Casa stays govt chef and helps handle the resort, which incorporates Silo Prime and the Rooftop Oyster Bar.
“Our objective is to make the resort Michelin stage,” Richardson stated, “and convey it again to its storied historical past.”
The Fairmount made Guinness World Data historical past in 1985, 79 years after it was constructed. The three-story, 3.2 million pound construction was transported half a mile on wheels from East Commerce to its current location on South Alamo, an engineering feat that took six days to perform.
Chef Bruce Auden later turned Polo’s on the Fairmount into an upscale, vacation spot restaurant.
Ultimately, when Auden left to launch Biga, the Fairmount fell into disrepair and the restaurant house lay empty till Richardson launched Nonna Osteria.
Right now, pure mild pours into the restaurant via large home windows, giving the house the texture of contemporary, promising life, a contrasting vibe to the mud and rumble of building on South Alamo.
“The Nonna Osteria is a really thrilling venture for us,” Della Casa stated. “We’re in a tremendous place on the town. A whole lot of vitality is going on round this location.”
Richardson expects a clear view of South Alamo by the tip of October with beautification to comply with. When accomplished, the Fairmount will sit in a park-like setting. Resort, restaurant and web site will eclipse something Della Casa might have imagined in his youth.
Della Casa grew up in Torino, Italy, enjoying working again within the Italian Soccer League and finding out English. He discovered work as a dishwasher and loved the cooking of his maternal grandmother, Norma Mengotti, a one-time restaurateur who ready family-style dinners each Sunday.
“Gnocchi e coniglio was undoubtedly the specialty,” Della Casa stated. “She additionally made mild potato gnocchi on this wealthy rabbit sauce and tiramisu.”
In his early 20s, Della Casa moved to the Canary Islands and have become a line cook dinner at a bustling Spanish grill. He realized to make hen, steak and pork chops and handle the kitchen.
“At that time, I used to be not in search of what I needed to do,” he stated. “I knew I needed to develop into superb as a cook dinner.”
After just a few years on the grill, Della Casa adopted two pals to the U.S., the place he turned a sous chef in San Antonio on the since-closed Sage, in the identical resort house that Nonna Osteria occupies.
With no formal culinary coaching, he left to work for Andrew Weissman at Le Reve (French for “The Dream”) and later at Il Sogno (Italian for “The Dream”), the place he served as govt chef.
“Andrew was undoubtedly one of the best mentor when it got here to cooking strategies and dedication to perfection and to pursue the proper chunk on the excellent time,” Della Casa stated. “He was very profitable in a really small restaurant.”
The following flip in life took Della Casa into consulting after which to Nosh, Richardson’s Austin Freeway eatery on the underside flooring of Silo. That’s when the door opened to “Meals Community Star.” A casting director invited Della Casa to audition. The catch: The present required Della Casa to overlook three months of labor. Would he must give up Nosh?
A coronary heart to coronary heart along with his boss left him shocked. Richardson stated he would pay Della Casa’s wage for the three months he was away.
Della Casa failed to attach with the viewers after the second episode and received reduce. He was redirected to a different present, “Star Salvation,” the place he excelled after enrolling in Toastmasters. His supply and presentation improved and Della Casa was invited again to “Meals Community Star.” To summarize: He appeared on the present, was eliminated, introduced again and completed second.
“It was an awesome expertise,” he stated.
Again in San Antonio, Della Casa and Richardson made plans for a brand new idea. In homage to Norma Mengotti, they agreed to mix two names: Nonna, Italian for “grandmother,” and Osteria, an Italian eatery that serves easy meals and wine.
Eight years since opening, Della Casa takes pleasure within the menu’s hottest dish: tartufo.
“It’s our table-side preparation,” he stated. “Recent tagliatelle tossed in a parmigiano reggiano wheel to create a creamy sauce. After which, as we place it on the plate, we prime it with jumbo lump crab and shave some contemporary bagnoli black truffle.”
Della Casa seems across the eating room, pure mild illuminating tables, flooring and kitchen. Recollections flicker. A childhood house in Italy. That first restaurant on the Fairmount. Competing on the Meals Community.
What would his grandmother make of this journey?
Della Casa smiles. Norma Mengotti may suppose her grandson has achieved nicely.
