That’s Amore

Chef Phillip F. Iannuccilli is new to Jakarta, having arrived in the city last year with his Indonesian-born wife. The native New Yorker is intent on introducing Jakarta diners to Italian cuisine with his own American twist. Andrea Booth finds it’s not just spaghetti and meatballs.

Italian-American cuisine. What is that? Thick-crust pizza with five cheeses? Make that jumbo size?

Phillip F. Iannuccilli, head chef of the Bruschetta Italian Restaurant at Jakarta’s Hotel Borobudur, strongly disagrees with the stereotype of American cuisine being limited to junk food in gargantuan portions.

“New York is one of the most culturally diverse cities on Earth,” he says. “I was shocked when I heard that people’s perceptions of American food were hamburgers and McDonalds.”

Italian culture, particularly through its cuisine, says the Italian-American, is one of the most prominent in the city. But he adds that often the most authentic Italian reminders in the States are criticized for being “too American”.

It’s a case of something getting lost in translation, or in the voyage across the Atlantic.

“In an average Italian restaurant, you’ll find espresso served with a piece of lemon rind,” he says.

“Italians are known to berate this, saying, ‘We don’t do that in Italy, real espresso comes on its own – that’s an American thing.’”

He points out that this cultural misunderstanding comes from the fact that espresso was once sold from pushcarts in Italy.

“After customers drank their espresso, the cups needed cleaning for reuse. But water was impractical to carry and because lemons were plentiful, workers would stock their carts with them and use lemon juice to rinse the cups instead.

“When Italians migrated to America, they paired lemon rind with espresso in cafes for a sense of familiarity. It’s not Americanized – it’s a case of Italians preserving their history.”

Iannuccilli acknowledges that in most cases, Italian food in America is different from its home version. It’s not because of problems in sourcing produce, which is readily available in the United States.

It’s more that original dishes have been appropriated and altered slightly because if a dish was taken straight out of Italy, it might not make the culinary transition as well.

He explains it’s also partly due to the fact that food is constantly evolving.

“People grow wings when they’re removed from their country of origin. There’s more freedom for interpretation.”

He uses the example of lasagna.

“In Italy, lasagna is made of creamy sauce, Bolognese and ground meat. But let me tell you about the lasagna passed down to me from my mother,” he says, listing her ingredients of tomato sauce, dollops of fresh ricotta and mozzarella, and meatballs.

“When you’re eating it, you get a rich tomato experience, and instead of the creamy sauce, you taste spots of ricotta and mozzarella, as well as meatballs.

“This variation better allows you to decipher each flavor as you eat,” he says of the dish, to be found on the new menu at Bruschetta.

Born and raised in New York, Iannuccilli developed a passion for cooking when he realized he didn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps in law enforcement.

Instead, he worked in the hospitality sector while at school, before enrolling in a culinary course.

“Here I was, in a classroom listening to my teacher being hardball about salad dressing,” he laughs. “I found this experience liberating, that food can be a career and serious. It was a revelation.”

Bit by the culinary bug, he worked his way up to work in some of the most revered restaurants in America, including Square One in San Francisco and Coyote Grill and Two if by Sea in New York. Last October, he made the move to Indonesia, where his wife is from, to front up Bruschetta.

After a long time in the food industry, Iannuccilli thinks he has a pretty good idea about how to seamlessly appropriate Italian cuisine, not just for America but for other countries too.

One such Italian dish he wants to adapt for Indonesia is one he describes as the signature dish of his menu, Pesce Crudo.

Composed of raw sliced yellowtail, the dish is dressed in citrus olive oil with finely sliced local shallots and Bali sea salt. It’s accompanied by micro greens dressed in white wine vinegar, shallots, red chili and a touch of sugar.

Using local ingredients and creating a conglomeration of the sweet, savory, sour tastes, plus the zest of chili, there’s a distinct Asian feel to it.

“But even though it incorporates different influences, it fits on an Italian menu so people aren’t going to say, ‘That doesn’t belong there!’ ”

Iannuccilli has also incorporated local ingredients into an eggplant caponata dressed with reduced balsamic vinegar.

“Usually brown sugar is used in the reduction, but since I’ve arrived in Indonesia, I’ve been using palm sugar.”

Although he makes it sounds easy, he emphasizes a chef must know their market before they start playing too much with ingredients.

“You need a foundation of ingredients that aren’t too far from people’s plane of association. Anyone who says they can ‘educate’ the public is fooling themselves; you can’t educate people, it’s like fighting a tidal wave,” he says.

“You have to give people what they want. But if you want to introduce new things, create a dish people know and do something different with it.”

He provides the example of his tiramisu, a variant of the classic using the added ingredient of hazelnut.

He creates a hole in its center and pours a coffee hazelnut crema inside.

“So it’s tiramisu – people know the word – but people are more likely to try new things with dishes they can relate to.”

In short, Iannuccilli says, the key is that American chefs are trained to be versatile. It’s not so much a defense of the American chef, but setting the record straight.

“I can’t claim to be a regional expert, but when you’re trained as a chef in the US, you’re trained to cook many different cuisines,” he says.

“For Italian cuisine, you’re given the techniques to cook everything from risotto to polenta, from the north to the south of the country. People who say you can’t cook Italian food because you’re American don’t make sense.”

Interest in food crossing cultures has instilled in him a fascination for history, Iannuccilli says, because one learns about a country’s culture and its history through its cuisine.

“Everyone can relate to food. I can have a conversation with my mother-in-law about food and we don’t even speak the same language,” he says. “You can find something in common with anyone through food.”

Bruschetta Italian Restaurant

Hotel Borobudur, 3rd Floor
Jl. Lapangan Banteng Selatan No. 1
Central Jakarta
Phone: +62-21-3805555 ext. 73300
• Open Monday to Saturday
• Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
• Dinner 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

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