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Judd Grisanti is chef/owner of Judd Grisanti's Trattoria.
Title: Chef/owner, Judd Grisanti’s Trattoria
Age: 42
Hometown: Memphis
Who or what was your first cooking influence? The treasures that are in my head are of my grandfather (Elfo Grisanti) cooking with my dad (Ronnie Grisanti) at my parents’ house. ... They would, of course, make Bolognese sauce ... all day long, and you would smell it the time you woke up till you ate it that night.
What was the first thing you ever cooked or baked? (Helping make) chocolate cheesecakes with my mom. ... From there I was probably 10 or 11, and we were all making raviolis on Saturday afternoons at (the Original) Grisanti’s Restaurant) on Airways. There was a room upstairs and they called it ‘The Ravioli Room.’ ... Me, my cousins, my dad, Big John. And, literally, we were all covered with flour head to toe.
What made you decide to become a chef, and when was that? I always waited tables for Dad at the restaurant and had jobs on the weekend doing certain things. ... I came home (from college) one summer and I realized this is what I’m supposed to be doing. And then I left for New York to go to culinary school.
What was your first food-related job? Big John’s (John Grisanti’s Original Grisanti’s Restaurant on Airways).
What was something important that a fellow chef taught you? I remember my dad preaching this: The show must go on regardless. Meaning, air-conditioning’s out, no this, no that. Guess what? We do whatever it takes to be open.
What is the Judd Grisanti style? The Old World meets the New World. ... My favorite thing in the world to do is take old recipes and bring them to the New World.
Describe a dish you created. Lobster pizza. ... It’s (also topped with) a tomato sauce. There’s bacon there, fresh basil, there’s fresh tomatoes, there’s ricotta salata cheese and fresh basil put on top at the end.
What do you cook or bake at home, if anything? I love the freshness of Asian-style foods. I love the bold flavors but simple ingredients.
What’s your least favorite ingredient? Anchovies. The saltiness of them. I’m very salt-sensitive. ... I use a lot of anchovies in cooking, though. As in a puttanesca sauce. One of the hidden ingredients in that is rendering down anchovies in that sauce, which I love. But I just couldn’t pick one up and put it in my mouth and eat it.
Judd Grisanti’s Trattoria, 2855 Poplar; 552-3050
Contact Michael Donahue at 529-2797, or e-mail donahue@commercialappeal.com.
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