Valeriano Chiella grew up in a family in the restaurant business in Italy’s Tuscany region. A decade ago, he moved to New Orleans and worked in fine dining and pizza restaurants, including Domenica, Shaya, August and Pizza Domenica. In spring, he started his pop-up Fico Cucina, focusing on casual Italian dishes. In September, Fico is at Second Line Brewing on Wednesdays, Parleaux Beer Lab on Fridays, Swirl Wine Bar & Market on Sundays with wine tastings, as well as doing pop-ups at Miel Brewery & Taproom, Abita New Orleans and Skeeta Hawk Brewing. Find information at @fico_cucina on Instagram.
Gambit: How did you get into the restaurant world?
Valeriano Chiella: My dad owned restaurants, and my brother was very interested in that. I wanted to do something else. I got into office work, and I remember I was watching the clock. The days were so long.
I hadn’t worked in a restaurant full time before. It was like helping out. I told my dad that I’d like to try it again.
My brother went to culinary school and did stages around Tuscany mostly. He was back in my dad’s restaurants and then in something a little bigger in fine dining. Then he wanted to do something for himself. My dad said, “Why don’t you go with your brother so you can help him?”
We started a casual place, and I was like support for him. He made the menu. It was like pizza and pasta and express lunches. We’d have the Tuscan thing, big sliced steak, and seafood. I’d work the line and handle the pizza station. We had the restaurant for about two years. I was about 21. We didn’t realize how much work it was.
Photo provided by Valeriano Chiella
Gambit: How did you get to New Orleans?
Chiella: I met a girl from New Orleans. She was studying abroad. She was thinking about coming back and living there. Then she said, “Let’s go to New Orleans. I want to show you where I come from.” Then we came to New Orleans, and a restaurant offered me a job.
Ancora Pizza was just opening. I was just visiting, but they offered me a job. I came back three months later and started working there. Then, there was this restaurant in Mandeville, Carmelo’s. I was living in Mandeville then. It was kind of difficult to work in New Orleans, going back and forth each day. Carmelo’s asked me to come work there as a chef. I worked there for about six months.
Then I applied to Domenica and started working there as a line cook. Then Pizza Domenica was opening, and I moved there as a sous chef. Then Shaya opened. I had the opportunity to go there when we were in the running for a best new restaurant James Beard Award. I was there for a little bit. Then I realized what was going on at August, and I had really never done fine dining.
At Domenica, I did Italian food for a while. But I wanted to explore different cultures, so I went to Shaya and August. I was sous chef at August for two years. Then I went back to Domenica.
Then people were asking me to do private dinners. I did a little bit of that.
I have been lucky to be in a city with a food culture that could stand with a city like New York, as far as flavors and restaurants.
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Gambit: How did you start your pop-up?
Chiella: Being in New Orleans for 11 years, I was seeing all of these pop-ups. It’s a big culture here. It’s the base for many restaurants that exist right now. So I was like, sure, let me try that. I did one at Skeeta Hawk. From there, it really took off. The first one was in April, and now I have a full schedule and am doing private dinners. It really went great.
My idea was to bring an as authentic-as-it-can-be Italian pop-up. It also has to relate to a mostly brewery crowd. You might find baked gnocchi Sorrentina, like you would find on the Amalfi coast. I make the gnocchi myself, rolling them one by one. With the chicken Milanese (sandwich), my goal was to bring Italian street food. I have a sausage and peppers sandwich with shredded mozzarella and salsa verde. It’s like a little Italian picnic brought together in one sandwich. With arancini cacio e pepe, I wanted something authentic with simple flavors.
I also do private dinners. That is more like a four or five course menu. I have a catering menu which is authentic and more contemporary with seasonal local ingredients. There also may be things that come from my background that are not Italian.
A few weeks ago, I did eight courses for a couple from Texas. It was all small bites. That menu had tuna crudo with Calabrian chili crunch, which is more like an Asian-style chili crunch with Italian Calabrian peppers, garlic, shallots, lemon and olive oil. We had New Orleans influence with fried green tomatoes with crabmeat. We had heirloom tomato salad that was like a Caprese salad with stracciatella cheese. There was gnocchi with royal red shrimp, basil pesto, a little pistachio and stracciatella cheese.
To me it was a learning curve doing (pop-ups). It gave me so much having a direct line with the customer, talking to them and cooking in front of them. There are so many stories that you learn. You never get that cooking behind a wall in a restaurant. You get all this love and support that people give to the pop-ups in this city. It’s incredible. You’re building something, and people are there ready to help you.
Richard and Angelina Boudreaux told us about starting their pop-up NOLA Choripan.
Dining and Cooking