Being a great cook may not be a genetically inherited gift, but having a talented chef as a parent helps. And how help! Just as being the son of a grand maître d’ or a restaurateur ends up developing a taste – and a knack – for people and food.
in honor of the Father’s Day O CNN Travel & Gastronomy talked with parents and children who share the gastronomic priesthood. These are renowned chefs who share their passion for cookware with younger generations, who end up taking a liking to the business.
Tsuyoshi and Jun Murakami from Murakami Restaurant
Tsuyoshi, 54, and Jun Murakami, 20, share one of the most sophisticated counters in São Paulo, the Murakami Restaurant installed since late 2019 in Jardins.
“At the age of 7, I would take the rice and assemble an abstract onigiri. He would put it on the grill with shoyu and wait until it turned golden, roll it in half a sheet of nori and serve. He became my recipe for family barbecues. From there to getting into the kitchen professionally was an organic move, mainly because my father is my biggest inspiration. As an artist, I’ve never met anyone like him,” says Jun.
Honored with the statement, the father confesses: “I am totally proud. He has an entrepreneurial side that I don’t have, he has a sensitivity for the kitchen, for cocktails too. He is my right arm for events. He has vision: he stays grounded and leaves me flying.”
Jefferson and João Pedro Rueda, from A Casa do Porco
Few people know, but Jefferson Rueda, 45, and his oldest son, João Pedro, 16, have spent a lot of time together. Do you know where? in the kitchen ofThe House of the Pig or of 7th best restaurant in the world .
“I started working at A Casa do Porco recently. I really like to understand and follow my father’s work”, says the young man. ”
In addition to staying at least three times a week in the restaurant’s kitchen, I also cook a lot with him when we go to Sítio Rueda. There, in addition to teaching me techniques, he takes me to fish and clean the fish in Rio Pardo, to see the chickens… I like to watch the step-by-step preparation of the dishes. I always learn a lot from him”, explains João.
Jeffinho doesn’t even try to hide his pride: “For a father it is very gratifying to see a son born, grow up and now know that he can follow the day to day of the restaurant, working and understanding my profession. It is a very great happiness. The employees even joke and say that he looks a lot like me, in terms of style, organization and way of working”.
Vo Van Phuoc and Norman Vo from Miss Saigon
It was thanks to the encouragement of his son, Norman Vo, 28, that chef Vo Van Phuoc, 64, opened one of the first Vietnamese restaurants in São Paulo.
“Since he was little, he took his friends over and they loved to eat there, they said we should have a restaurant. As he became more and more interested in the kitchen, he insisted that this was the way,” says Van Phuoc. So, in 2013, the Miss Saigon emerged in Moema.
“Although I always helped, I had never shared the kitchen with my father. In the pandemic, I was at a restaurant in Australia, and he was alone for safety, with delivery orders only increasing. I went back and went to the stove, then I went looking for a bigger place to handle the deliveries and today I spend more time taking care of the salon and the administration”, says Norman, who not only migrated Miss Saigon to Pinheiros, but is about to inaugurate its second unit in Vila Nova Conceição.
Juscelino and Dudu Pereira, from Piselli and Zena
“When I opened the Piselli , in 2004, Dudu studied at Dante Alighieri. I told him: you’re going to get out of school and you’re going to help me. He was 14 and I pushed a little. He started at the cashier. After a couple of years he wanted to go to the kitchen. And it was. He learned to cut onions, had fun with the crowd. He stayed a long time ”, says Juscelino Pereira, 53, who, from being anthological manager of the gender took off solo 18 years ago.
“When I designed the Zena , he was already 18. I demanded a lot from him and after about three years I purposely left there to let him take care of his own business. He took off, went through the pandemic and opened the Il Covo alone. We continue together, exchanging ideas, making cross between businesses. I couldn’t be more proud,” she adds.
A reason for pride, Dudu, 31, guarantees that since he was a little boy, his father showed him all the parts of a restaurant: “Wherever he went, he took me, even on trips. Naturally, he put me to work at Piselli. He was very nice and was consolidating my attachment to the thing. He is a great friend and my biggest reference. Today we import wines together, negotiate suppliers and exchange stickers about customers. All with lots of love and affection.”
Thaddeus and Bella Masano, by Amadeus
More than 30 years ago, Tadeu Masano, 68, and his wife Ana opened the amadeus , the most awarded seafood restaurant in pauliceia. Bella, 41, and her sister grew up there, with the eldest developing a special taste for the family business.
“It was my father who planted in me the pleasure of eating and cooking, who taught me to make the table the center of the house. We created and continue to create dishes together, many of these improvisations that end up at Amadeus. An example is Engineer Schmidt’s Banana da Fazenda, a banana prepared in the oven with tamarind syrup, coffee liqueur and chocolate ice cream”, explains the chef.
Her father, who still takes over the stove at lunches with family and friends, confesses: “From an early age, she was my companion in my gastronomic adventures. At age 5, Bella asked for olive oil for Christmas, at 7 we made our first recipe together, a mango flambé. She jokes that the restaurant was her big playground. Today I see that it is already one of her children!”.
Angelo, Laisa and Rafael Lorenti, from Basilicata
In 1914, the Ponzio family opened the Basilicata , in Bixiga, in honor of his native region, in southern Italy. Relatives of the Laurenti and Lorenti families ended up joining the society – and never left.
So much so that Angelo, 60, of the fourth generation of the Lorenti, proposed to the other partners to open a trattoria with recipes from the clans made by his son, Rafael, 33.
“He has always liked gastronomy, since high school he has held events and courses. Sometimes he didn’t attend class because of that, which worried me. In the end, he went to college, went to Italy and today I am proud of his competence”.
That’s how the canteen on the top floor of the century-old paddock came about, and then the Basilicata Cucina in Pinheiros.
“We started to choose and buy equipment for the restaurant together. In 2017, when it opened, we got even closer. Although he is not a cook, my father has always been the reference of dedication to work. Today it’s funny, he tells me to take it easy, but he doesn’t!”.
As if his son weren’t enough, Angelo also has his daughter, Laisa, 35, on the sidelines.
“In 2017 she took my place and implemented new administration and production systems in the stores [Padaria 13 de Maio , Basilicata e Basilicata Cucina] . She is very hardworking. She sometimes brings problems home, but we try to avoid it”.
Without disagreeing, she confesses: “I love it when I hear the employees who have been in the houses for years say ‘working with Laisa is the same as working with Seu Angelo’”.
Renato and Leonardo Carioni, from Così
“At home, the kitchen has always been a very lively place, full of games like flaming things just for the mess or running after the boys with a whole chicken in hand. Today, they have grown up, but I remember the time when I used to make the baby food trying to vary as much as possible to train their palates”, says Renato Carioni, 46, chef and owner of the restaurant. Così .
“Now, when Léo cooks, I see a lot of my influence, but I also see his style growing up”, admits his father.
For his middle son, Léo, 21, who was an intern at the popular house at Haddock Lobo and is now perfecting himself in Italy, “the kitchen is the place where I like to be the most, probably because I’ve been following my father since I was little”.
“Cooking with him is great, because we understand quickly what the other wants and he has the freedom to advise me, to say both what he liked and what is wrong without hesitation”.
Claude and Thomas Troisgros, from the Quartier Troisgros
Claude has been breathing gastronomy for as long as he can remember. Restoration aside, he has been on television for more than a decade. Thomas, much more low profilein addition to running restaurants, loves to create brands, such as TT Burger , Three Fats , Tom Ticken and ripple .
In São Paulo, more than father and son, the duo are partners in Quartier Troisgros in Itaim Bibi, which today has Chez Claude , boucherie , Bar du Quartier and the works on a Mediterranean restaurant that will open until the end of the year.
“I was born in a restaurant, the day-to-day games were in the kitchen, where my father, Pierre, and my uncle, Jean, were the two chefs responsible for the new French cuisine. When we were four years old, we were already cutting onions”, recalls Claude, 66.
He has been in Rio for 43 years, he admits: “I grew up professionally in Brazil and today my son is my right-hand man, as well as my partner in São Paulo”.
“I was never tense in my father’s kitchen. I’ve always looked for constructive feedback, knowing that sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m wrong,” says his eldest son, Thomas, 40.
“We have similar tastes and different styles. It is a very pleasant exchange of energy with mutual respect and growth on both sides”.
“He worked in New York with chefs like Jean-Georges and Daniel Boulud and spent a lot of time at 66 Bistro before becoming my sous-chef at olympe . Seeing your son not only grow up but define his gastronomic character within a profession is an extraordinary pride”, confesses the M. Marravilha .
“Nowadays we know each other very well as father and son and as cooks. This generates a very true gastronomy”, she believes.
Source: CNN Brasil
