At the age of 17, he left his hometown, Naples, because his desire was to travel the world, and cooking gave him the opportunity. “I learned many things in Naples and from there I put it into practice; I started collaborating with one of the biggest Italian franchises”, says chef Daniele Gagliotta, who this month was in Guayaquil and Samborondón, and gave his classes at the La Spiga artisanal bakery.
When he talks about the franchise in which he started, he refers to FLB Fratelli La Bufalawhich has restaurants in Rome, Naples, Milan, Genoa, Turin, Venice, Miami, Mexico City, London, Dubai and Barcelona, among other cities.
“The owner of the company, who is from my neighborhood, always focused a lot on us; and he told me that, if he paid attention, he could travel the whole world”. So it was. “This job changes your life when you give everything; keeping this pace is hard, but I’m a perfectionist”, assures Gagliotta. “To do a good job, you have to learn a lot; And if you don’t study, if you don’t do your homework, you won’t make it.”
Gagliotta’s traveling soul now resides in Miami, but continues to fly to serve his clients. “I haven’t been to Italy for five years, but in December I’ll be there, because I have several commitments. It is important to have your malaise ready”, he explains of his profession, “and to innovate all the time”.
He defines himself as an emotional person, who seeks to return the passion for gastronomy to anyone in any country in the world. He has consultancies scheduled until 2023, with the support of the Marra Forni company, from Washington DC, and the Pizza University Culinary Arts Center. “The next one will be in Mexico; and then, in Washington, in Miami; and in December I will be in Italy”.
What do the consultancies consist of? It depends on the needs of each restaurant, says Gagliotta. Some ask for a total renovation of the menu. Others want to offer dishes from all over the world. And there are those who want to develop cuisine in the Italian style, especially Pizza (among the most popular are the Roman, Neapolitan, Sicilian and American), bakery and desserts.
The chef brings together groups of between 15 and 25 people to give a theoretical and practical workshop. “I am satisfied, because, instead of five hours, I dedicate nine or ten a day to it; if the class is at 10, I prepare from 3 in the morning. I want everyone to know how to do things in the best way, training the kitchen staff on Italian food”.
One of the most difficult things, he observes, is organizing a restaurant team. “Some work with 40 or 50 people, and serve 300 to 500 people a day; that’s complicated”, says Gagliotta, who defines himself as an addict to cleanliness and order. “Always attentive to taking care of the place where we are working.”
The 30-year-old chef feels he has done little, though has opened restaurants in Mexico City, El Salvador, Miami, New York, Washington. “I have worked in Spain and the United Kingdom. I am working in Colombia. I have cooked for many famous people, such as Luis Fonsi, the family of Eros Ramazzoti, Rafael Nadal, Diego Armando Maradona…”. Also has been able to meet one of his idols, the master pastry chef Buddy Valastro, with whom he met a few days ago at Pizza Expo Las Vegas.
One of Gagliotta’s teaching habits is to prevent mistakes. That is why his day can start at dawn, to prepare several alternatives for his students, in case the first option does not work for them. “I give you three or four examples of how to do something, because I love this job, it changed my life.”
Your next destination is Abastur gastronomic festival, which will take place in Mexico City from August 31 to September 2, an event created for professionals from hotels, restaurants, banquets and cafeterias from all over Latin America. Gagliotta comments that he thought they were inviting him “to study”, but in reality they were inviting him to an award ceremony. This time of events surprises him and makes him land.
“When you achieve (success) and you do it very often, you can think of yourself as the great blue prince, and you really are not. What makes you a pro is taking this where you’re very productive and envisioning it for the long term.” Thus, she asserts, has created more than 129 menus for restaurants in various parts of the planet, menus that take months to create. But his greatest wish, she says, is simpler. “Having a product of mine in any supermarket in the world. I would love to, I’m on it.”
He considers himself a great admirer of Latin American culture. He speaks Spanish with a Caribbean accent, and accompanies his videos on Instagram with music by artists from the region. “Latin people are charismatic, they make you smile without the need for big hotels or big clothing brands. I arrived in Ecuador and found that it is one of the countries with the most holidays (11, with a total of 29 days). Please! Imagine! A holiday to get the whole family together, to eat”.
In Ecuador he has also been able to carry out one of his favorite activities. The Sunday following her counseling at La Spiga, she visited a family to cook for them free of charge (she calculates that it is around seven hours of work). “You know why? Because I saw happiness in the eyes of these people from Guayaquil. I love taking these experiences from Ecuador with me.” His only condition: “Don’t distract me; I love working under pressure, but I don’t like distractions.”
Another of his memories is one of his first consultancies in Guayaquil, which he did for the Pizza Libre restaurant, in Urdesa. Proud of this collaboration, he is able to quickly locate the premises on the virtual map.
Free pizza, highly recommended
Among Gagliotta’s professional commitments is offering opportunities to cooks. “I always post on Instagram when I need someone, be it in Atlanta, in Mexico, in Miami. It was precisely in that city that a guy from Guayaquil asked me for a job.. I was out of uniform, not even in a restaurant, and I approached him to ask for information on a street. He was desperate, he wanted to learn and get hired. Today he works there”.
Something I wish I could do in Ecuador is an Italian cooking event. “I would be fascinated if Ecuador could have a festival of the Pizza, with world champions from Italy”. Why Pizza? “It is the most consumed product on the planet, the most common, and Italian cuisine is the most replicated in the world.” And yet the Pizza It is not an easy dish. “I also thought so before, but when you get to see it in a gastronomic studio, the easy thing is to eat it, not make it”.
You don’t even have to be Italian to make a good Pizza, it states. “It is a matter of informing yourself, studying and putting it into practice to obtain good results.” With those requirements, “anyone can,” promises Gagliotta. (AND)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
