Mother's Day Is Coming Up
It's never too early to start thinking about Mother's Day. You can be sure that we will have a special menu prepared to pay proper tribute to the 'mom' in your life. Bring her to Laudisio this year for a special treat!
Call to enquire:
303-442-1300
A Conversation With Chef Sakima: Part 1
Nine o’clock in the morning at Laudisio Restaurant and Sakima Isaac is contemplating the contents of the walk-in for the weekend specials. Sakima is now head chef at Laudisio after returning from Italy where he had been helping his friend and former head chef, Cameron Grant, open his own restaurant, Profumo di Vino, (Perfume of Wine) in the town of Tresio near Alba. Sakima’s face is one easily recognized in the restaurant, having started working with the family when he was 20 years old. Today, after the usual ebb and flow of a young man’s life, he has navigated his way to the top of the Laudisio kitchen.
How did you get your start at Laudisio?
A friend came over while I was cooking one night and told me I had to go meet Antonio. I had no idea it was going to be a formal interview with Antonio Laudisio and Mark Kretz [general manager of Laudisio Restaurant], but I got a job as pantry chef. I needed a job, I loved to cook, it seemed like the perfect situation. Then another friend, Brian Lockwood [now a chef at the French Laundry in Napa Valley] encouraged me to go to culinary school…so I enrolled in The American Culinary Federation Apprenticeship Program. I apprenticed while working at Laudisio; I had found my way.
You’ve done a few turns in another Italian restaurant in Treiso, Italy … La Ciau del Tournavento. What are some of the principle differences between American and Italian kitchens?
In Italy a chef lives the restaurant, working somewhere around 90 to 100 hours per week with only one day off. The day you do have off the restaurant is usually closed so everyone gets together for a big lunch, a wine tasting and a big dinner. If you need to buy clothes it might take you over a month to get around to it, there is just no time. We are a little less intense about it here in the United States.
What aspects of the Italian kitchen have you tried to bring back with you?
I try to instill the values of the kitchen; the respect and purity of the ingredient, the use of local seasonal ingredients to bring the best and freshest taste to the people. I try and teach people to slow down and embrace the idea of “slow-food” in our fast paced society. Respect the ingredients, don’t over power them with spices and sauces, take your time and enjoy the ritual of a meal.
- Lucia Laudisio (to be continued)
