Davio's retreat

Coming up in the Davio's empire, owner Steve DiFillippo says to expect a restaurant to open in Chestnut Hill on May 29th, and Manhattan and Lynnfield (Steve's hometown) in August. The cookbook, It’s All About the Guest: Exceeding Expectations in Business and in Life The Davio’s Way, is due to hit the shelves in October, and will be available in all restaurants, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble stores nationwide, and will feature recipes by Julia Child, who was a frequent guest at Davio's as well as mentions from fans Bruce Springsteen and Tom Brady. 

Order this!

Davio’s owner Steve DiFillippo has a few dishes he recommends to new guests: Kobe meatballs ("my nanna's recipe"), homemade potato gnocchi bolognese ("one of my favorite dishes"), angel hair pomodoro ("Julia Child's favorite"). "We use Brandt Beef out of California, and it's the highest-quality beef out there,” he says. “We source vegetables from local purveyors or farms, and our seafood comes from the East Coast."

Sit...

 "Anywhere in the restaurant!” says Davio’s owner Steve DiFillippo. "The design of the restaurant has every guest in mind since it is all about the guest."

Clogs and such

"I love Setting the Table by Danny Meyer. It's one of my favorite books of all time, as well as Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain," says Davio’s owner Steve DiFillippo. "My clogs are Dansko. I have eight pairs, including a special pair for my tuxedo. I buy them at the Tannery. Ask for Sam!"

Iron Chef-in-training

"You need to have mentors in your life that guide your path to success, and you need to work hard every single day," says Davio’s owner Steve DiFillippo. "It's ok to make mistakes, but learn from your mistakes. I recommend studying at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts (where I went)."

Capellini and Clogs

You can't see them in the picture, but Steve DiFillippo is wearing clogs. The telltale sign of a foodie. He says he wears them with his tuxedo at black-tie galas. The telltale sign of a crazy-obsessed foodie. The kind of foodie who frets over the size of gnocchi or redesigns floor plans once, twice, thrice, and more, all to ensure there's no bad seat in his restaurant.  

That restaurant would be Davio’s, which, if you haven't heard of it, means you've not been living in these parts or you don't eat. Because everyone knows about Davio’s. It has outlasted scads of new-big-thing eateries for 28 years. Ask Steve why, and he'll say sure, it's about the tremendous food, but it's mainly about how guests are treated — like royalty. (Joe! We haven't seen you since last month! Your favorite sauvignon blanc is right on the way!) Which is how Steve felt back as a youngster cooking side by side with his mama in Lynnfield, whipping up Portuguese and Italian family recipes. Food was something special to him since the first bite of his nanna's Kobe meatballs. From then on, this captain of the Lynnfield High School football team was taste-testing rare meat and savoring whole lobsters — in secret, thank you. No linebacker stud would do such a thing. 


But a restaurateur and food entrepreneur creating an empire would. And that is what Steve is working on now: two new Davio’s will open in the next few months in Chestnut Hill, Lynnfield and New York City, joining the string in downtown Boston, Foxborough, Atlanta, and Philadelphia. Steve's hand-made spring rolls are sold in 40 states in 3,000 retailers. Finally, this fall, Steve will roll out his first cookbook, It's All About the Guest: Exceeding Expectations in Business and in Life the Davio’s Way, offering family- and guest-annotated recipes as well as words of wisdom on entertaining and hosting. Clogs, sadly, are not included.

 

@SteveDiFillippo 

www.davios.com 

 

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