Prato’s Chefs Make Old Country Cuisine Taste Like New Again

Executive Chef Brandon McGlamery makes use of a burning ring of fire in one of Prato’s two wood-burning ovens, appropriately dubbed “Johnny Cash.” The other oven is named “June Cash,” because together they make music – at least of the culinary kind.

By Rona Gindin • photographs by Rafael Tongol

At Prato, you won’t demurely nibble at a salad or twirl polite forkfuls of pasta. You’ll eat with gusto at this Winter Park newcomer, eagerly scarfing the last bites of an arugula-radicchio-crispy pancetta toss, sizzling fried clams and hearty crostinis. A simple Italian meal is that satisfying at this rising star, which is run by the same folks who brought us neighboring Luma on Park.

Prato is nothing like the other Italian restaurants in town. It looks like a tavern, with wood, brick and slate as its decorative palette. Dominating the center of the room is a long, U-shaped bar, which is often packed with revelers downing boutique beer while watching football on one of several televisions. Servers wear plaid shirts, as they might in a barbecue joint.

And the food? Don’t expect lasagna and chicken parmigiana. Some menu items are traditionally Italian, but many others are less familiar. “This is foodie food,” says Matthew Cargo, the restaurant’s chef di cucina. “It’s foodie food in an approachable way,” adds Brandon McGlamery, the innovative executive chef who oversees the culinary teams at both Luma and Prato. “We cook in an Italian style with an American mindset. We’re not in any way disrespectful to Italian cuisine, but our food isn’t 100 percent by the book. It’s progressive.”

At Prato’s heart are two wood-burning ovens imported from Italy, made by a third-generation manufacturer who produces only a hundred or so units per year. Dubbed “Johnny Cash” and ”June Cash” (“They make music,” McGlamery explains), the ovens char not only hand-tossed pizzas but also meats and even vegetables used in sauces, soups and pastas. “The food [from the ovens] is more soulful,” Cargo notes.

Prato’s Widow Maker pizza (top) is topped with salumi and sausage plus kale, egg and romesco sauce. The saffron conchiglie (above) is a new dish on the menu featuring spicy Florida lobster and peekytoe crab.

Prato’s kitchen crew tests every element of each dish: Brian Cernell, the pastry chef, tried 50 ladyfinger recipes before hitting upon just the right one for tiramisu. The eggs are produced locally and holistically, as are most meats and vegetables.

In fact, the salumi begins as a pig; the culinary team turns a whole hog into prosciutto, pepperoni and fennel sausage. Even the cocktails have homemade elements; the vermouth (try it in a Negroni), amaretto and limoncello are made in house.

So what should you order? You must start with the Campagna salad, in which rosemary-garlic-Parmesan almonds and sizzling pancetta cubes are tossed with greens in an ideally balanced balsamic dressing. Split it, though, because you’ll also want to have the meatballs, possibly the most flavorful you’ll ever try.

Add the chicken liver Toscana, consisting of creamy sautéed livers hand-chopped with garlic, capers and lemon zest, then spread onto grilled ciabatta bread and topped with pickled shallots and red sorrel.

And then there’s the clams fritto, a better-than version of typical fried calamari. Here the batter is made with seasoned, finely milled farina. A lemon-piccante aioli with pickled chili pepper is the dip. The mussels are splendid-looking, with their sun-dried tomato cioppino, crostini slathered in garlic cream and ample sprigs of dill – though the flavor’s a bit mild compared to the others.

Even if you’re stuffed, you have to try the pasta, the varieties of which change regularly. You might be devastated to find that a favorite is gone, but thankful after sampling its replacement. Don’t be put off by the rabbit in the cacciatore; it’s shredded (think: tastes like chicken). The tender meat is tossed with rigatoni, toasted almonds and castelvetrano olives; a bit of orange zest brightens the dish in an intriguing way.

Although shrimp ravioli may sound bland, it’s anything but. Perhaps that’s because the shellfish is cooked with garlic and Meyer lemon, mascarpone cheese, wine and farm-fresh eggs, then enhanced with a garlicky scampi sauce and breadcrumb bits.

Then again, you might want to sample the robust trenne Amatriciana, with smoked pancetta and caramelized onion; the veal agnolotto with toasted fennel and Meyer lemon; or the hearty bigoli Bolognese, its sauce a rich ragu made with duck, Barolo wine and foie gras butter.

Those brilliant appetizers, fresh salads and handcrafted pastas are enough for a dinner, and the prices aren’t bad: appetizers are around $10, pastas $8 for a half portion, $15 for a full portion.
And then there are the entrées and pizzas. Prato’s pizzas are crafted using crusts made with flour imported from Italy. The Americano, a veggie delight, features broccoli rabe, eggplant, tomato and provolone. The ominously named Widow Maker is loaded with salumi, sausage, kale, egg and romesco – a sauce made with garlicky roasted peppers and ground almonds.

During a quartet of visits, I tasted only one entrée, and then only because I knew I’d be writing this review. The starters, pastas and pizzas are so wonderful, and so affordable, that I’d seen no reason to splurge on the five “secondi,” which range in price from $18 to $26.

But in the name of research, I splurged and went for the veal scaloppini, a generous plateful of tender veal, breaded and pan-fried, with pole beans, carrots and capers. The menu says that Meyer lemon is used, too: The dish needed more, as it cried for a dash of zing. Roasted chicken, slow-roasted pork, oven-roasted bronzini (fish) and braised beef short rib are other options.

A small, smart wine selection complements the menu. The wines are Italian and divided by color and region.

Don’t consider leaving before dessert. First of all, that tiramisu with the house-baked ladyfingers is a creamy bit of heaven. Then there’s the chocolate budino, a rich pudding made with olive oil. I like it best plain, while my prime dining buddy prefers the version infused with mint. Order whichever is available during your visit. The salted caramel gelato is also a sure bet. One simple scoop is enough to send you home smiling.

Prato accepts reservations, and I suggest you make them for dinner. The place is packed most evenings. I can see why.

The Magical Mystery Meatball

On one of many scouting expeditions they took while developing Prato, chefs Brandon McGlamery and Matthew Cargo sat down to eat at New York City’s Ciano and asked the server for recommendations. When she suggested meatballs, the chefs thought, “Meatballs? We didn’t come to Ciano to try meatballs!”

“By the first bite, we knew they were the best damn meatballs we’d ever had,” McGlamery recalls. “Then we had to figure out how to re-create them.”

The recipe for these flavor-packed orbs is highly guarded. That, however, didn’t stop the two culinary detectives.

After much obsessing, they discovered that a friend of a friend worked at Ciano. From him they learned enough to get started. “It’s all about the technique,” Cargo says.

After much trial and error, McGlamery and Cargo developed their own recipe. Here’s what they’ll share: The appetizer is made mostly of veal with some beef and pork mixed in, all of it ground in Prato’s kitchen. Onions, garlic, bread crumbs and egg are also involved.

The magic, however, involves not only the technique but also the braising liquid. Prato’s includes red wine and tomato juice – but not just any tomato juice. This is what’s left over after the chefs crush canned tomatoes while making pizza sauce.

And not just any canned tomatoes. The pair tasted more than 70 brands before making their selection. “If I saw a picture of canned tomatoes in a magazine or a cookbook, I’d ask my suppliers to find it,” McGlamery says. “When I flew out of Rome, I took pictures of every tomato can in the duty-free shop and later got my hands on it.”

At first, the chefs chose a prestigious San Marzano variety. But in the end, they found that a combination of two brands of California canned tomatoes – one from Salinas, the other from Central Valley – tasted best for their use. “They have the right acidity balance, which is important because the sauce is raw; we don’t cook it,” Cargo explains.

The pizza is a hit; Prato sells about 145 a day. Its tomato juice works swimmingly in the meatball recipe.

When you taste Prato’s meatballs, you may wonder why they have so many more levels of flavor than the version you make for an easy weekday dinner. Now you know. At least, you know as much as Prato’s chefs will tell.