Deborah Fulsang | December 13th, 2024
Janet Zuccarini at home in Toronto wearing her sister’s label, Fleur du Mal. Photo: Ake Rosenberg
Fall is a time to embrace structure and bring glamour back to your entertaining game. To create your perfect evening, look no further than restaurateur Janet Zuccarini, the dynamic founder of the Gusto 54 Restaurant Group, which includes Toronto’s Trattoria Nervosa, Gusto 101 and Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen. She’s made a splash in L.A. with celeb hotspot Felix Trattoria and newly opened Stella. Both have become synonymous with swoon-worthy Italian food and boldface patrons, such as Martin Scorsese.
Janet Zuccarini, at Felix Trattoria with (left to right) her late husband Robbie Robertson, Martin Scorsese and chef Evan Funke. Photo: George Pimentel/Getty Images
Scorsese was great friends and a collaborator with her late husband, Canadian rock ‘n’ roll legend Robbie Robertson, who scored his films and was Oscar-nominated for Killers of the Flower Moon. Known for impeccable red-carpet style, Zuccarini often wears her sister Jennifer Zuccarini’s lingerie-inspired and cool-girl favourite Fleur du Mal line – think corsets under suits and knit tube dresses – setting the tone as a powerful force of femininity in a male-dominated food scene. Despite having some of North America’s most successful restaurants, Zuccarini still loves inviting friends over for a home-cooked meal. Read on for her hosting tidbits and go for the ahem gusto.
Like the casalinga (Italian home cooking) style of her L.A. restaurants, Zuccarini loves uncomplicated dishes. “I will usually put out an Italian spread, with some type of pasta – linguine al limone or spaghetti all’amatriciana – fresh salad greens with shaved pecorino romano, ribeye cap, rapini and always homemade gelato,” she says. “I love to create my menus based on the seasons and what’s available from farmer’s markets.” Her recent find: a wood-burning Gozney pizza oven, which she’s using to infuse everything from pizza to steaks with smoky goodness. “Another favourite dinner is Jamaican curry jumbo shrimp with rice and jerk chicken inspired by Chubby’s. I use our
jerk marinade as well as our hot sauces, which are pretty special – I may be biased!”
Felix’s Linguine al Limone. Photo: Courtesy Janet Zuccarini.
Zuccarini has worked with the award-winning Wendy Haworth Design Studio to create the sexy, playful House of Gucci vibe at her L.A. restaurants that has stars like Jessica Biel snapping themselves against a backdrop of lush wallpaper and voluptuous marble lamps, with the hashtag #mobwife. Haworth’s interiors make it feel like you’re wandering through an Italian home that’s been lived in for generations – Gio Ponti inspired woodwork, Fornasetti wallpaper and vintage Italian light fixtures.
The dining room at Stella, in West Hollywood. Photo: Jakob Layman
Creating spaces that make even non-celebrity diners feel like beloved A-listers is a Zuccarini specialty. It’s also the vibe, not coincidentally, when
she entertains at home. Zuccarini describes her style as “nurturing and loving, like a big hug from Nonna.” To sprinkle a little Zuccarini magic on your evening, add warming elements to your tabletop.
She festoons her home with layered lighting and florals. “I always have a big floral arrangement for the entranceway and a smaller one on the dining room table” – making sure guests can talk over, rather than around, the flowers. “I use twinkle lights and candles everywhere – on the table – which should never be scented, as it competes with the food; in the powder room – which can be scented, and large candles on the outside tables,” she says.
Janet’s signature dramatic florals. Photo: Courtesy Janet Zuccarini
For aperitivos, Zuccarini serves Tegronis, which take the ever-popular Negroni and subs in tequila for the standard gin. She customizes it even further with Madre Mezcal, handmade in Oaxaca, which adds a smoky flavour.
Zuccarini knows the importance of a well-curated soundtrack. She creates her playlists in themed categories: for example, songs for early evening, late evening, and late, late evening. “At the beginning, I’ll play very mellow tunes: Brazilian beats by Bodikhuu, reggae classics by Bob Marley, and then throw in some Sade, Fleetwood Mac and Etta James,” she says. “Later, I like to bring up the energy with Prince, Bowie, Amy Winehouse and Beyoncé, and always bring it back down at the end with something from The Band – of course – D’Angelo, Roy Orbison and Jill Scott.”
Famous for having never had a failure in the notoriously fickle restaurant industry, Zuccarini takes the same approach to hosting at home. “It all goes together for me when I entertain, just like an experience at a restaurant: Food, music, lighting, atmosphere have to hit it right on all fronts.” For her, success is hard to quantify. “You feel it while it’s happening,” she says. “It’s an energy thing. It just feels good and I see it reflected back in my guests. Lots of laughter and smiling faces.”
A Tegroni cocktail. Photo: alenaalekseevarudenko/500px/Getty Images
Prep School
Zuccarini reveals how she makes sure she’s ready to host a superb evening, without any last-minute panics. “Schedules, timesheets and lists!” She creates a workback structured at 15-minute intervals for the day of. “I map out the entire menu,” says Zuccarini, “when everything goes in the oven, hits the BBQ or pan … cooking times on every item, internal temperatures of the protein.” She says that three prep days are required when she’s hosting. That gives her enough lead time to relax and enjoy a glass of wine before guests start arriving. “I turn it more into a science when I’m entertaining, just in case I get distracted, which I always do!”
A version of this article appeared in the August/September 2024 issue with the headline ‘Big Night In’, p. 72.
RELATED: