Joey DeCuffa is
no stranger to locals who, for the past 26 years, have dined at his
restaurants, Joey’s Classic Italian Dining and Pronto Joey’s, both at
6594 Thompson Road at Carrier Circle (432-0315 and 432-0620,
respectively), and up north at Joey’s Thousand Islands Club, 21052 Club
Road, Wellesley Island (482-9999). His ardent fans will be happy to
know that the latest accomplishment for the restaurateur and cook
extraordinaire (and there have been many) is his new cookbook, Joey’s Italian: Favorite Recipes from Central New York’s Celebrated Restaurant (DeCuffa Publishing, Syracuse; hardcover, 208 pages; $29.95), part memoir and part recipe collection.
The book, which DeCuffa published in
October, boasts more than 125 recipes created and served since 1982,
when he opened his first restaurant. “I don’t consider myself a chef,”
he says. “I am a cook, just part of the line in the kitchen, putting
together the best food for my customers. I don’t ask my staff to do
something that I wouldn’t do myself. If the floor needs mopping I’ll do
that, too.”
Just take a look at the book cover and
you will see one happy paisan. There is DeCuffa’s happy face, in full
glory, with a halo of silver gray hair, sparkling brown eyes and
porcelain-white smile, clad in a signature chef’s coat as he lords over
a bountiful bowl of rigatoni with marinara sauce.
That man has not forgotten his roots or
those who inspired him on the way. DeCuffa dedicates his book to his
entire family, followed by another page of acknowledgments listing and
thanking his many loyal customers (more than 150), including Syracuse
University basketball coach Jim Boeheim and his wife Juli, Onondaga
County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick, Syracuse Mayor Matt
Driscoll, former County Executive Nick Pirro, auto kingpin Billy
Fuccillo and show-biz legend Mickey Rooney.
The entire Baldwin family—matriarch
Carol, Beth, Alec, Danny, Billy and Stephen—is also on the list. In
fact, Alec Baldwin is such a fan that he penned the foreword for the
book. “In Joey’s,” the 30 Rock star fondly writes, “the magic happens from the moment you sit down and lasts until you get up to leave.”
DeCuffa also acknowledges his suppliers,
staff and the cookbook team: photographer Jim Scherzi; designer Holly
Scherzi; writer Denise Owen Harrigan; his wife, Janice DeCuffa,
promotions and marketing; Kathy Bahn, Joey’s pastry chef; and recipe
tasters (tough job!) Erin Harrigan and Lorrie Smith.
While recipes are the centerpiece of the
book, stories of growing up in a single-parent household in Utica with
five siblings (his father died at age 42 when Joey was 6) are a
testament to DeCuffa’s work ethic and love of food. Although his mother
Eunice Wicks was not Italian, she learned how to prepare every Italian
dish like a native. Joey’s Mother’s Sunday Sauce lives on to this day,
and is included in the book.
He was always cooking as a kid, and by
age 16 was working at Grimaldi’s Syracuse, where his mother worked as a
waitress. Freddie Grimaldi Sr. became a kind of mentor, as was
Angelina, the pasta-maker at Grimaldi’s. “There were no recipes, and no
one had the time or inclination to teach me,” DeCuffa recounts in the
book. “I learned to cook by imitating the cooks on the line at
Grimaldi’s.” One of his culinary gifts is his eschewing stirring spoons
and spatulas in favor of grabbing panhandles to shake, swirl and flip
away. It is a technique he uses today.
DeCuffa wanted to learn firsthand about
ingredients he had used lovingly in his culinary creations, like
prosciuto di Parma, Parmigiano Reggiano, balsamic vinegar and San
Marzano tomatoes, so the team traveled to Tuscany. Scherzi photographed
the chef engaging with local tradesman and also took amazing photos of
the Tuscan countryside, many of which appear in the book.
The book’s first printing included
10,000 copies, 1,000 of which have been sold. DeCuffa wants it known
that the book was conceived, created, produced and printed entirely in
New York state, with Rochester-based Monroe Litho as printer, one of
the first commercial printers in the country to operate using 100
percent wind power.
The book is divided into appetizers;
soups, salads and sides; sauces; pasta; meats; chicken; seafood;
desserts; and pantry, which outlines Italian ingredients in
encyclopedia form. You will probably recognize most of the recipes here
as favorites, like minestrone, Utica greens, lasagna, meatballs, veal
Parmigiana, hot seafood antipasto and tiramisu. In his escargot recipe,
DeCuffa adds some levity, explaining that babbalucci is the name for
snails in Italian. “It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the
French word, escargot, would be more elegant on our menu.”
Along with recipes there are “Tips from
Joey,” valuable pointers on ensuring the best result when preparing a
particular dish. Take his tip for making sauce: “You may be tempted to
control the splatter by covering your sauce as it simmers. But all that
trapped heat turns the sauce a dark red color and gives it a burnt
taste. Better to wipe up the mess than spoil the sauce. Or purchase a
splatter screen, which allows the heat to escape and catches most of
the splatter. Better yet, use a really large stockpot, capable of
holding 2 to 3 gallons or more; keep your heat consistently low, and
stir the sauce every chance you get.”
Three of DeCuffa’s 15 sauces, marinara,
cacciatore and fra diavolo, have been available for 15 years in local
grocery stores, but you might want to try your own hand at his marinara
sauce (recipe on facing page). When asked why he is divulging all his
recipes, Joey says with a smile, “I’ll still make money.”
Joey’s Italian: Favorite Recipes from Central New York’s Celebrated Restaurant
is available at DeCuffa’s three restaurants, all nine area Wegmans
stores, Borders Books & Music at Carousel Center, and Barnes &
Noble in DeWitt and Clay. For more information, visit joeysitalianrestaurant.com.
