“Junk” food for chefs

Anthony Susi

Last Monday, Anthony Susi of Sage and Dante deMagistris of Restaurant Dante and the soon-to-open Il Casale taught a cooking class together for an Elderhostel

Dante deMagistris

Days of Discovery program I led called “Cooking with Friends.” The two were great at demonstrating how to make caponata and salmon,  and a hearty Bolognese sauce with homemade tagliatelle. Then 20 participants got to eat it all, plus a delicate orange panna cotta.  The food was delicious and the chefs were so much fun, bantering back and forth, exchanging kitchen stories, and insider tales of how a restaurant works. After lunch, there were lots of questions.

One of the participants asked them whether chefs ever ate junk food, and what was their secret vice. Susi, who grew up in the North End with his mother cooking every day, revealed that the closest he comes to junk food is picking up a Vietnamese sandwich, a bahn mi, in Chinatown on the way into work. DeMagistris,who learned under his Italian grandmother, is fond of the burritos dished out at Villa Mexico, part of Grampy’s Gulf (yes, a gas station) on Beacon Hill. Wonder what other chefs fall for when they’re in a rush?

There are two more “Cooking with Friends” days, April 1 and April 7. The latter is full but there are a few spaces left for April 1. See www.elderyofdiscoveryhostel.org/dayofdiscovery