Nancy Silverton never set out to make pizza. Although it was on her to-do list, she started off her culinary career as a pastry chef because it was the “fastest route to the kitchen,” as she says. That skill took her from Wolfgang Puck’s Spago to co-owning, with her then-husband chef Mark Peel, Campanile.
First, though, came her bread. She opened La Brea Bakery next to Campanile at a time when most people were still buying bread at the supermarket. Her loaves, the recipe that she obsessed over for months, would often sell out before lunchtime. Living above the bakery was helpful. “I had two young kids then and I baked all night. It was easy for me to run upstairs to wake them up and then come back downstairs. I had always had a fantasy of living upstairs from the shop,” she says. Silverton also had a knack for getting people to line up around the block or three deep at the bar for her “grilled cheese nights,” when customers eagerly waited for sourdough bread spread with marinated peppers and caramelized onions and cheese.
In hindsight, it seems obvious that she’d put innate instinct for the good things in life—especially bread and cheese—all together and create a mini empire of Italian restaurants. After all, Silverton knows her California customers crave “simplicity, seasonality, and wine-friendly dishes,” as she puts it, which is why her pizzas feature Fresno chilies and preserved lemons alongside salame and guanciale and cheese.
Italy has been an inspiration for Silverton forever—it’s the place where she goes when she leaves one restaurant for another, opens up a new establishment, or, once, after her divorce. Why Italy? “Everyone was going to Provence, or if they went to Italy they went to Tuscany,” she explains. “So we went to Umbria. It was a lot less expensive.” Silverton even bought a house in the Umbrian countryside so she could search out local bread makers, the best tomatoes, olive oil, and anchovies for her restaurant.
If she has a mantra, it’s this: “I know what I like to eat, and apparently it’s what a lot of other people want to eat too.” It’s the same approach she takes to her restaurants and the backyard entertaining she does. When she recently got a new refrigerator—a high-tech smart one by Samsung—she knew that she had to hold on to the old one too: “Growing up, my friends’ parents often had a refrigerator in the garage and that was their drink refrigerator.” So she did the same thing and stocked it with beer.
The one in her homey kitchen, which is decorated with her prolific collection of rolling pins and whisks, is a shrine to condiments, which is fitting: Silverton wrote a cookbook with recipes that showcased canned and jarred items. Upgrading simple condiments is a favorite trick of hers—“often chefs I know give me tips about a certain item, and then I test it at home.”
CURRENT HOMETOWN: Los Angeles, California
RESTAURANTS THAT MADE HER NAME: Campanile and La Brea Bakery, Los Angeles
SIGNATURE STYLE: Italian-Californian
BEST KNOWN FOR: Her artisanal breads; multiple James Beard Awards, including Outstanding Chef (2014); cookbooks; and her current ventures, Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza
FRIDGE: Samsung
- JARRED PEPPERS
- CALABRIAN CHILIES
- MEZETTA ROASTED BELL PEPPERS
- RETINOL ANTI-AGING SERUM, ANTI-WRINKLE CREAM
- RODOLPHE LE MEUNIER BUTTER
- CALABRIAN CHERRY PEPPERS
- HEINZ KETCHUP—“I always use Heinz.”
- LEFTOVER CHICKEN—“It’s from ‘chicken time,’ the staff lunch meal at Osteria Mozza. We call it chicken time because 95 percent of the time it’s chicken thighs, which is just fine with me. I love chicken thighs.”
- CHIPOTLE PEPPERS
- OLIVES, from her restaurant chi SPACCA
- ANCHOVIES IN CHILI OIL
- OLIVES, from chi SPACCA
- HOMEMADE PEANUT BUTTER
- SQIRL STRAWBERRY JAM—“It’s so good, I like to eat it straight from the jar.”
- MEYER LEMON JAM
- CYPRESS GROVE’S PURPLE HAZE GOAT CHEESE WITH LAVENDER AND FENNEL POLLEN
- FRESH GOAT CHEESE
- VERMONT BUTTER
- PICKLED GREEN TOMATOES
- CHILI PICKLES
- TACO TRUCK PICKLED PEPPERS, a gift
- CAPERS
- HOMEMADE TAHINI
- SALT-PICKLED ANCHOVIES
- PARMESAN
- BACON
- CHILI SAUCE
- MUSTARD
- STRAUS BARISTA MILK—“It comes from Sonoma County. I like it with a Not Nutter cookie from La Brea Bakery.”
- MEYER LEMON MARMALADE
- KUMQUAT MOSTARDA
- KROGER MUSTARD, something a houseguest left
- ORANGE MARMALADE
- SNAKE OIL HOT SAUCE
- SALT-PACKED CAPERS
- CAPERS IN BRINE
- GREEN PEPPERCORN
- PICKLED GREEN BEANS
- BLACK OLIVE PASTE
- PINOT NOIR MUSTARD
- TARRAGON MUSTARD
- VANILLA EXTRACT—“I’m using these for some recipe testing.”
- COFFEE EXTRACT
- TOMATO PASTE
- SMOKED SOY SAUCE
- HOT SAUCE
- PISTACHIO OIL
- PERSONALIZED VODKA BOTTLE FILLED WITH WATER
Q & A
Does your refrigerator tell you things like, don’t buy more mayonnaise because you already have two bottles? I’ll show you on my phone if I can figure out how to do it. Supposedly I have an app. . . . There is a camera that can show me what’s in there. Aside from listening to music and watching TV on the screen there is a thing for notes, for like a housekeeper or kids. And you can put photos on it.
So gone are the days of putting up pictures with magnets? I put my magnets on my old refrigerator in the garage.
The first things I see in the refrigerator are condiments. Why so many? Condiments last—I have three grown kids but they no longer live with me, so I no longer have the responsibility of keeping food with a short shelf-life. When I’m home and ready to entertain, then I’ll go out to shop for those items. I host half a dozen big parties here a year, and good condiments give you flavor with little effort. I often doctor things up and reseason. I use simple mayonnaise and then flavor it with chipotle to make a spicy mayo or use some fresh grated garlic, olive oil, and lemon to make an aioli. I use the condiments as a base.
When you have a food craving do you reach for savory or sweet? Savory.
What is your eating style at home? Snacking on anchovies and small plates? Sometimes after a shift at Mozza, I’ll stand by the sink and eat a snack. Maybe some pistachios from Syria. Maybe some bread and Rodolphe butter. That with red wine? Heaven.
Something we’d never find in your fridge? I never have takeout containers. Don’t get me wrong, I love leftovers, but as soon as I come home from a restaurant, I take them and put them in a home container.
Anything else? Margarine. The French butter I have always in the fridge—Rodolphe le Meunier beurre de baratte with fleur de sel—would kick the margarine’s ass. And would kick other butters’ asses as well.
Have you ever had your own chickens? We used to have chickens in our backyard and then I put in a pool. That coincided with the dog eating the last chicken and my getting divorced. My youngest loved the chickens. They were heritage breeds and laid a gamut of different colored eggs. It was great, we would be baking and realize we needed eggs and we would just run out back to get some.
Do you enjoy shopping for food? I love going to grocery stores in Italy. It’s an adventure. Half the stuff I don’t know what it is. It’s less fun here.
Do you bring back condiments from Italy? When I travel I bring back condiments, crackers, and cheese. I’m an anchovy fanatic. I love cured anchovies. But I can’t bring those fantastic cured meats back. On the record I can’t say I’ve ever smuggled back a large ham in my suitcase—I will leave that answer open-ended.
And your hot sauce collection? Lots of those are gifts.
There is also a vinegar theme here, between pickles and capers. Are you drawn to acidity? Definitely.
Would we ever find bread in your fridge? No, just bagels in the freezer.