Michael Berardino

EXECUTIVE CHEF—FABBRICA, BROOKLYN, NY

“I’m very into the Kustom Kulture art that sprang up around the California hot rod scene in the late ’50s, early ’60s. Artists like Ed Roth, Robert Williams, Kenny Howard, Crumb.”

—Michael Berardino

Michael Berardino started his culinary career in Detroit, Michigan. Starting as a dishwasher, he advanced his career the old-school way, by working his way up the kitchen ranks, learning every station along the way. After moving to New York City for the first time, he was exposed to a more traditional type of Italian cuisine—simple, rustic foods that grabbed his attention and remain his culinary passion to this day.

After working at a variety of positions in Ann Arbor, MI, and Boston, MA, where he continued to hone his Italian cooking skills, Michael eventually returned to NYC. He was hired as sous-chef at ‘inoteca, the well-known Lower East Side wine bar, and began to work closely with owner Jason Denton and chef Eric Kleinman on their new fine-dining Italian concept, the now-closed Bar Milano. After leaving Bar Milano, he moved to dell’anima, a small Italian restaurant in the West Village where he worked closely with rising restaurateur star Joe Campanale. Michael and Joe worked hard to make dell’anima a restaurant industry hot spot by keeping the kitchen open late, and it worked. dell’anima was and still is one of the best places in the West Village to get great Italian food at 2:00 A.M.

After leaving dell’anima, Michael consulted with a few smaller Italian restaurants before taking the executive chef position in 2011 at the Cannibal. The small restaurant on East 29th, with a beer-centric bar and a focus on whole-animal cooking, gave Michael a chance to explore the world of craft beer and practice his butchery. Michael acted both as butcher as well as chef and reaped positive press from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. In 2012, he left the Cannibal, deciding he wanted to cook Italian food again, and became the executive chef of Angolo SoHo, a modern Italian restaurant in SoHo.

Michael’s tattoos reflect his Motor City roots, and he is covered in pinup girls and a hot rod motif. Michael says, “My first tattoo was of the dead man’s hand, aces and eights, spades and clubs.” As he continued to get ink, he found inspiration in Kustom Kulture, a name used to describe the group of modern-day admirers of the hotrod and custom car culture of the 1950s.

The bulk of Michael’s work was done by fellow Kustom Kulture enthusiast Jeff Shea of Wholeshot Tattoo in Detroit. Michael says, “He would always be striping or screen printing when he wasn’t tattooing. He’s only doing custom work and wouldn’t deal with flash pieces, so any time we would talk about doing a piece, there would be a discussion, he would draft something up, if we both liked it, we went with it. He’s a very talented artist. I had seen someone with a relatively fresh piece he had done and knew I’d like his style.”

And Michael does have his own sense of style, whether you’re talking ink or food. Today, Michael continues his love of Italian cooking. Most recently as executive chef for Fabbrica, which is Italian for “the factory.” The large industrial-looking restaurant in North Williamsburg, Brooklyn is his focus as he overhauls the kitchen and puts his own brand of traditional rustic Italian dishes on the menu. While Michael continues to make his mark helping restaurants establish themselves with authentic Italian cooking, he admits that opening his own place is likely in the near future.

Malloreddus

SERVES 8–12

FOR BRINE:

1⁄2 teaspoon coriander

1 cardamom pod, crushed

11⁄2 sprigs rosemary

3⁄4 cup salt

1⁄3 cup sugar

21⁄2 gallons water, divided

FOR MIREPOIX:

1 carrot

1 onion

3 stalks celery

FOR GOAT:

5 pounds goat shoulder and neck

1 carrot

1 onion

2 stalks celery

1 cup tomato paste

1⁄4 cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups red wine

1⁄2 lemon

1⁄2 orange

2 red jalapeños

1 tablespoon rosemary

3 bay leaves

3 quarts water, to cover

FOR MALLOREDDUS:

21⁄2 cups semolina flour

11⁄2 cups 00 flour

1 cup hot water

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

TO COMPLETE:

Pecorino Romano, grated, for garnish

Extra-virgin olive oil, for garnish

  1. For Brine: Bruise the coriander, cardamom, and rosemary and combine with the salt and sugar in 11⁄2 gallons of water. Bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar and salt. Back out the brine with remaining gallon of cold water.
  2. For Mirepoix: Chop all ingredients into a small dice and combine. Set aside.
  3. For Goat: Add the goat to the Brine, making sure that the meat is completely covered. Brine for 1 to 2 days covered in refrigerator. Remove the goat from the brine. Preheat oven to 325°F. Roughly cut all vegetables and place in a deep hotel pan. Cook the tomato paste in 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat until it develops a rusty color; then add the red wine. Leave the pan on medium heat and slowly reduce the wine by half, about 25 to 30 minutes; then transfer it to the hotel pan. Place the goat on the vegetables, add the citrus fruit, jalapeños, rosemary, and bay leaves to the pan, and then add 3 quarts of water to cover the vegetables. Cover and cook in oven for about 3 hours, or until tender. Remove from the oven and allow to rest uncovered at room temperature until cool; then cover and refrigerate overnight in the braising liquid.
  4. The next morning, remove the goat from the cooking liquid. Pick all of the meat off of the bones. Strain the cooking liquid through a China cap and reserve. In a large rondeau over medium heat, warm 1⁄4 cup olive oil. Add the Mirepoix to the rondeau and sweat until soft. Add the goat and cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the braising liquid and lower the heat to maintain a light simmer. Cook for 45 minutes to an hour, or until tender.
  5. For Malloreddus: Combine both flours, water, and salt in a bowl and mix by hand or with a mixer until a smooth, firm dough is formed. Cut the dough into a few pieces, wrap with plastic, and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Roll the dough into pencil-thick logs, cut those into 1" segments, and form Malloreddus with fingers or take the logs of dough and run them through a cavatelli maker.
  6. To Complete: Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add the Malloreddus to the boiling water and stir vigorously. Cook the Malloreddus until tender, approximately 6 minutes. Drain the pasta, combine with the braised goat, and allow to simmer in the sauce for 1 to 2 minutes. Portion the pasta onto plates, and top with grated Pecorino Romano and a few drops of extra-virgin olive oil.

NOTES FROM THE CHEF

“00 flour” is a very finely milled flour commonly used in Italy.