Food and Beverage Magazine Q&A With Chef Carla
- Why did you choose to become a Chef?
- I guess the Chef has become ME. I started early working with my mom in her catering business, I was 10 at the time; it was a natural process, never planned, I just love to feed people period!
- Is there an advantage as a woman chef?
- No, it’s actually harder; since it’s considered a heavy-duty work there is a tendency of prejudging that a male would do the job better and easily
- What do you do to stay educated about new trends?
- It’s almost an obligation to do it so; I wish I didn’t have to, within all these back and forward culinary trends (good only to make better TV); I haven’t looked into anything that could possibly get near in flavor, texture and aroma to a real old school fashioned meal!
- What do you do to insure the quality of the food going out to customers
- Just constantly use my 5 (sometimes 6) senses and make of always using fresh ingredients
- What is your favorite cuisine to cook? Why? (Looking for use of ingredients)
- Italian, of course! The simplicity of the ingredients and the unique match of them make it irresistible.
- How do you insure/test the quality of your ingredients?
- Picking accurately my suppliers, ordering daily, prepping daily and in small batches, using seasonal ingredients, know where they’re coming from.
- 3. Favorite ingredient to work with?
- Rosemary, Veal and polenta
- How do you take ownership in your position there at Meatball Spot (looking for guest interaction, financials, organization, cleanliness, quality)
- As I have always done with each and everyone of my restaurants, I am involved in every aspect of them, not only food. The starting point is the GUEST! That’s my first priority and focus; thinking in this way it became easier to move between all the restaurant’s tasks; if we communicate with our guests we get from them the very first tool to be successful, it calls the “feedback”; give to your guest what he’s expecting from, exceed his expectations if you can, but never fall short.
- How involved are you with the menu development and overall design? Who do you feel should be involved in the decision?
100% on m menus, I am VERY territorial when it comes to my food, and very much on everything else, with common sense of course, I realize that I’m not an expert in some of these aspects and I always respect different views, even because they help me to make the final decisions.
- Tell me 3 things that you consider to be your strengths
- Hard worker, early bird, non-pretentious
- Tell me something you would like to learn or improve upon.
- My computer skills, I’m a slow tipper and hate Excel; now, how can you be a Chef and hate Excel program…. You can’t! I’m working on it!
- Tell me about an accomplishment that you are most proud of in your career.
- Bratalian, my Henderson Gem! Every time I step inside that place, I feel that I am home and the crowd feels like family to me; everyone in that room is a regular customer, and that says something about what I have done with my gift of cooking! It’s enchanting!
- Most embarrassing cooking moment?
- At my judging table at Top Chef 10, episode 5 listening to Tom Coliccho’s words
- What are you most excited about right now?
- What I always have been excited… Life itself! I love life!
- First word that comes to mind when I say foodie?
- Risotto.
