Among his buddies in the business, Dante de Magistris has a
reputation as a party-hearty type, but in person he's the shy chef - sparing
with his words, though not with his food. It's as if when words fail him, he
cooks. The chef/owner of Restaurant Dante has had a lot of media attention
recently, especially since he opened his second spot, Il
Casale in the center of Belmont. The old firehouse space in a sleepy
suburban town was supposed to be home to a neighborhood place with a casual
Italian menu. But that was before all the rocketing reviews hit print. The
slightly socially awkward heart breaker's got a case of the Midas touch that is
putting him on a path that leads to national fame. Until then, see him in
action on November 15 at a ravioli-making competition with his goofy but
über-talented chef friends.
What does it feel like to have your name on the door?
A lot of people come in, and when they meet me, they say, "You can't be Dante,
right? This is your father's place." Maybe because it's an old-fashioned name
for a guy of my age. My two brothers work with me at both restaurants. At Il
Casale, we deliberately chose not to use my name.
Il Casale is good, but did you expect the reaction you got?
No. I hoped for it sure, and knew that the menu was what people wanted to eat.
But honestly, we were very fortunate. And we opened in a time when not so many
other restaurants were opening, and we got a lot of attention. We've had very
positive reviews.
What's it like to work with your brothers? It's
good. As brothers we know each other's strengths and weaknesses. There are
enough headaches in the restaurant business, and problems with my partners is
one thing I don't have to worry about. Theft is still is a huge problem in the
restaurant business, and with the three of us running the two restaurants, we
have our eyes on every angle. My two brothers run the administrative side of
things, and I run the back of the house. Filippo runs the front of the house at
Restaurant Dante and runs our wine program, and Damian runs the front of the
house at Il Casale. Right now, everyone wants to know Damian, hoping that he
can get them a reservation. We've been unbelievably fortunate.
Does anyone ever recognize you on the street?
Yeah, they do. It's a little weird. But a few weeks ago, I was in New York
cooking a James Beard dinner and eating out all over town. It was kind of
amazing that people in the New York restaurants knew me. New Yorkers really
keep up on what's happening on the food scene in Boston.
You did the chili challenge, then the meatball cook-off
- the Ball Brawl - last year. Now you're hosting the Ravioli Rumble at Dante
with 13 of your closest cooking buddies. Can you win? No, I can't
win. I can't even compete. It would feel like I rigged it. The trick is to come
up every year with a different food item that you can eat a lot of. That's why
chili worked and meatballs worked. The funny thing is that we all want to do
wacky stuff, but the traditional things seem to win.
--Louisa Kasdon
Louisa Kasdon can be reached at
louisa@louisakasdon.com.
