Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/660157
92 PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANTHONY MAIR (FEBBRARO, DISH); SABIN ORR (CLOSE-UP) describes where it hits on your tongue with the poetry of a master sommelier. When you are eating with Enzo Febbraro, you have to make a concerted effort to distin- guish his charm from the food. Is this plate really so seductive or is it Enzo's exuberance that attracts 270,000 diners to this 160 -seat restaurant each year, hoping to dive headfirst into his lasagna Napoletana? Since he isn't dining with all those clients, it must be the food. Febbraro may have picked up t he g randmot herly u rg i ng f rom h is ow n, whose k it chen i n Naples he began cooking in as a child. At 13, he was working in a Neapolitan pizzeria. "I'm a cliché!" he laughs. By 15 he was laboring in a restaurant kitchen in the Adriatic coastal town of Cattolica in Emilia-Romagna, and at 16 he had g raduated from culinar y school and was embarking on apprenticeships across Europe. Cooking t ook h i m t h rough Pa r is, Nice, Mu n ich, Ga r m isch- Partenkirchen, Madrid, Milan, and London. But Chef Gi no A ngel i n i, for whom Febbra ro worked at t he Grand Hotel des Bains in R iccione, south of R imini on Italy's Adriatic coast, was the mentor who not only taught him about fine dining, but also brought him to the United States. Angelini had decamped to the land- mark Rex il Ristorante, credited with introducing Los Angeles to grand Italian dining. "He brought me over for a quick job to cook for t he Grammys," Febbraro recalls. "That was 20 years ago, and I never left." His tour of the US was no less extensive, winding through Philadelphia, New York, Las Vegas, and Washington, DC, where he was recruited by Steve Wynn, for whom he'd cooked at an event a decade earlier as chef of the famed Filomena Ristorante in Georgetown. When he came to the US, Febbraro says, he was at a philosophical crossroads: "You can end up on this campaign to collect Michelin stars, or you can do what is true to your heart. Of course there is a place for that exa lted a nd complicated food, but I wa nt people to come here a nd get t hei r sou l f i l led—a nd rem i n isce about some wonderful place in Italy they traveled to." To that end, dishes from grandmother and mama are on the menu, tweaked and perfected over time: lasa- g na w it h "Su nday Mea t R a g u Sauce" a nd smoked mozzarella, and seafood risotto studded with shrimp, scallops, calamari, mussels, and clams. Febbraro and his team begin making burrata at 4 PM each day, tempering the mozzarella curd in a pot of hot water, melting it in a hotter pot so it can be shaped into a ball, then stretching it into a paper-thin sheet and cutting it into precise little squares. In one quick motion, he fills each square with a mixture of mascar- pone cheese, mozzarella, heav y cream, and salt and pepper, then quickly wraps it in plastic, twisting it into a perfectly round little purse. It takes his kitchen crew only 45 minutes to make the 50 or so they'll need for the evening. "You have to eat it within the evening," he says firmly. The fresh burst of cream just isn't the same on day two. On some days, the burrata is filled with lobster or crab as a menu special. "You know, I've traveled a lot and I love the inter- nat iona l i n f luences," Febbra ro says, but a cu l i na r y life spent a ll over t he world has only conf ir med his love for his rich Italian heritage. "The greatest Italian cuisine is the simplest. You know that you can't fake it. You choose a great olive oil, and a great tomato, and you can't find a surrogate for good quality." If this is a cliché, I'll have another. "The greatest Italian cuisine is the simplest. You can't fi nd a surrogate for good quality." — ENZO FEBBRARO CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Febbraro stretches hot mozzarella curd; mozzarella lovers can also order this burrata as part of a larger mozzarella platter, which includes stracchino, mozzarella di bufala, and fried stracciatella; the curds are tempered in a hot bath.