Who owns il buco

As a single mom living above the restaurant in NYC and working so hard each day, I am usually inclined to order food for my son and myself and the number of cooked meals diminishes. My beach house is my cooking and entertaining haven, so Joaquin and I spent the first several months of the pandemic eating every meal at home, baking bread, playing with whatever ingredients were on hand, enjoying fireside meals in March and April and slowly moving outdoors as the summer arrived.

Once the warm weather came we opened our doors first to family and eventually small groups of friends, mostly grilling and enjoying the company. Love using my Vita ware and great farmers market wildflowers, candles and the like to set the mood.

A little goes a long way in creating a warm and inviting feeling. Dressing things up a bit feels great after being isolated in sweats for months, though even in the beginning my son and I were sure to make a nice table setting, often in front of the fireplace.

IBV: Has cooking more meals in your home caused you to rethink the design of your kitchen or your home in general? DL: Yes! A large island to sit around while the prep happens! I would go to Union Square Market but I get everything here. Your perfect meal? Buckwheat bread, homemade turned butter, and our anchovies.

I am also a big fish eater, I love our branzino al sale branzino baked in a salted crust. Close to our table, balsamic vinegar started dripping from the suspended wood barrels.

She picked some with her fork, offered it, and I obliged. La Cucina Italiana edition:. Menu Authentic Italian Cooking since the s Search. Italian food All Menu Italian dishes How to cook hacks. Good Mood. Newsletter subscription. Donna Lennard ph Emanuele Ceramics. Get fresh Italian recipes and food news every day!

Daily La Cucina Italiana Newsletter. We needed to do these kinds of numbers. In some ways, Justin was prepared because that's what he wanted to do.

But it's one thing to dream the dream and actually having it arrive on your doorstep the minute you wake up the next day. I got on a plane the next day and flew to Thailand for two weeks, so I came back to an entirely different business.

People had to be hired. We had to quickly get up to speed, get people trained, and figure out payroll on the fly as this was happening. Did you have to bulk up the kitchen staff after that? Justin : Yeah, I mean, the first three months, we worked seven days a week with a very small crew.

And the funny thing is that once you do have this business and you have this small crew, the people who come in are terrified because you are doing so much business with so few people. That was the scary thing for us, but it all worked out. Sometimes, hot restaurants slow down a few months after a great review, because the foodie set moves on to the next thing. Was that your experience? Has business stayed strong ever since?

Donna : Il Buco was never that kind of a restaurant. We're not appealing to a trend. This place has a little more modern edge, so someone might say that.

But the base is about something that I think is really solid. The foundation here is about the ingredients and the food and a commitment to a certain way of presenting it. And I really believe in that, and I don't compare myself to a restaurateur in a classic way. It's about really creating a place for people to feel good and eat well and know they can count on a certain quality or an experience when they come in.

And it's about getting that experience to be consistent. We have a lot of new people that have come here, but all of our customers at Il Buco have been here or come here, and they're still creating part of that strong warm base of support. The summer slacked off a little bit, for sure. It's always a little quieter and we had that moment of, "Are we losing it?

Is this a bad sign? It's been super busy, and we're back to really strong numbers. Obviously, after the hurricane, then the election, things were a little quiet.

But last night, we were back to business as usual and hopefully we can keep that up. The short rib dish has gotten a lot of attention. Is that the number one dish that people order these days? Justin : We sell a lot of short ribs. Like plates a week. What else are you really excited about on the menu right now?

Justin : I love the porchetta. I love it all. Also, we were doing a spit-roasted duck a couple of weeks ago on the rotisserie. The baccala carpaccio right now. I'm happy the old quail is back. We're playing around with smoking some sausages right now.

What's next for you guys?