Chef Wants Diners to Sop Up Food With Bread

Chef Scott Conant says his New England roots inspire his cooking.

ByABC News
August 27, 2008, 5:17 PM

Aug. 29, 2008— -- At the end of a meal, when the food is that good, it's not unusual to see diners scooping up the last delicious mouthfuls of a meal in order not to leave one bit behind.

That's what chef Scott Conant strives for. So much so that he named his new New York City restaurant Scarpetta.

"You know, when the food is really good, especially for some reason Italian food, it kind of inspires you to grab a piece of bread and sop up what is on the plate," he said. "And the Italians, God bless them, have a word for it. Sopping up is called scarpetta."

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"So the idea and the intention for this restaurant is to be able to just have an environment where it kind of invites," he said. The food is so good and you feel comfortable inside of it enough to make a scarpetta."

Scarpetta is the third Manhattan restaurant opened by Conant, a beloved and award-winning chef whose Italian dishes have dazzled many. He was named Best New Chef in 2004 by Food & Wine and has appeared on numerous television shows, including Bravo's "Top Chef."

He's published two cookbooks, 2005's "New Italian Cooking" followed by "Bold Italian," released in April.

And last month, the New York Times reviewer Frank Bruni gave Scarpetta three out of four stars and said no one was better with a tomato than Conant.

His passion for the kitchen began at 11, when the Waterbury, Conn., native found himself in a community cooking class.

"I didn't think much of it at the time, you know," the 37-year-old said.

"I learned how to make a three-to-one dough," he recalled. "So like pie crust, and I remember making it later, you know, nice and simple. I made a great apple pie. I still make a good apple pie actually."

Conant enrolled in vocational school in hopes of getting into the plumbing business, but when that program was full it was his second choice -- culinary art s -- that stuck.

"I started working in a family friend's restaurant, and I was working like 60 hours a week, plus going to school," he said. "I was really, I was never home. I would leave for school at 7 o'clock in the morning and get home around 1 a.m., and I would be back at school the next morning. I loved it. I really loved it."

It was something different from what he'd ever done, and he enjoyed the camaraderie even though at 15 he was the youngest employee in the restaurant's kitchen.