Photo via Coco Pazzo
What family traditions or recipes do you showcase at your restaurant?
Executive Chef Federico Comacchio of Coco Pazzo {300 West Hubbard Street, Chicago; 312.836.0900}
It’s an Italian family tradition to spend a lot of time at the table, especially on the weekend. No matter the season, we use all types of fruits and vegetables that are being grown fresh, but in my family we especially love game season. My mother would prepare everything we hunted and brought her, like pheasant, Guinea Hen, wild boar, and rabbit. I made a wild boar stew with polenta that became these beautiful ravioli that we now feature at Coco Pazzo. Buon appetito.
Mussaman Beef Curry
Chef Arun Sampanthavitat of Arun’s Thai Restaurant {4156 North Kedzie Avenue, Chicago; 773.539.1909}
My favorite dish was taught to me by my mother—various forms of southern Thai curry, either red snapper curry or three-combination curry. These curry dishes are based on the same recipe and are served from time to time at the restaurant or upon request. My mother’s recipe is a yellow curry cooked with a well-balanced mixture of coconut milk and light chicken broth. Its overall flavor is spicy, peppery, not too hot and quite delicate, clean, and refreshing.
Executive Chef Matt Ayala of Cochon Volant Brasserie {100 West Monroe Street, Chicago; 312.754;6560}
The Chicken Paillard from our lunch menu is a dish that I make for my three-year-old son Hank at home. He kept asking for it again and again…so I thought why not put it on Cochon Volant’s menu? I added a bed of kale, roasted tomatoes, and black truffle to appeal to our guests. Thanks Hank for the menu addition, and for not asking for black truffle at home!
Executive Pastry Chef Christina Bufalino Hendrickson of Primehouse {616 North Rush Street, Chicago; 312.660.6000}
Mine is a cake that my grandmother has been making for birthdays and other special occasions for the last 50 years. Her version uses a box cake with canned diced pineapple, vanilla pudding, pecans, and Cool Whip. I tried to elevate this dish by making my own Vanilla Pineapple Cake with roasted pineapple, a pecan streusel, coconut whipped cream, cream cheese pastry cream, and pineapple chip.
Interviews by J’nai Gaither
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