Chef Angelo Auriana is in search of a feeling—the one you get when you’ve walked the cobbled streets of Trastevere, tasted the silky strands of pasta in Bologna, or indulged with the green pesto gods of Genoa. “I want to recreate for you the same emotions you would have in Italy,” says the Bergamo-born chef. “Words like ‘authentic’ are being overused. I’m more interested in creating that emotion.”
Auriana has been helping diners tap into those feelings ever since he took the reigns as head chef of Los Angeles’ famed Valentino restaurant in 1985. Today, Auriana presides over a growing tally of Italian gems in both Los Angeles and Las Vegas, each of which transports customers back to Italy on a daily basis. We chatted with the esteemed chef about his history, what inspires him, and why every pasta has its own perfect sauce.
Tell us a bit about your background, and how you got your start.
When I was 8 or 9, whenever my father would take us to a restaurant, my eyes would get bigger and I would get so interested in everything and I would savor my food, and my mother would say, “Why are you eating so slow?” Around age 13 or 14, I had to make a decision to go into school or start working, so my father wanted to know if I would be interested in going to a culinary institute. He was thinking I would be something like a server, but I said, “No, no, no, I want to make the food.” And that’s how I started. I graduated from professional school at 17 and started working my butt off, and here I am some 40 years later.
(ph. Nikki Neu)
When did Factory Kitchen start?
I came to L.A. in 1985 and became the head chef of Primi Ristorante. which was the second restaurant of Piero Selvaggio of Valentino. After nine months, the chef of Valentino decided to open his own restaurant, so Piero asked me if I would fill that position—and it was the best thing that ever happened to me, as I was there for 18 years. In 2013, I decided to see if I could stand on my own and do something different, so with Matteo Ferdinandi, we opened Factory Kitchen in L.A. And now we have three places in Los Angeles—Factory Kitchen, Brera Ristorante, and Sixth + Mill—and two in Vegas (a second Sixth + Mill and Matteo’s Ristorante Italiano.)
When you’re cooking, what’s your personal favorite thing to make?
You know, it’s interesting that you ask that, because a lot of people look at a chef and think we go home and make, like, seven-hour meals. But I have to say that I have a lot of fellow chefs as friends, and we like simple, very clean stuff. But in the restaurant, I would say I get the most satisfaction from making pasta. I was in Factory Kitchen in Vegas recently, making linguini and bucatini for service, and just mixing the flour and water and pulling out the pasta is like meditation for me. To see it happen in front of your eyes still gets me as excited as the first time I saw it.
(ph. Nikki Neu)
Can you talk about what makes your pesto so special?
You know, what makes it unique is the execution. The recipe is still the five main ingredients [ED NOTE: Auriana uses almonds instead of pine nuts], so the only thing that is different there is a little step where we like to emulsify. But I really think each pasta has its own sauce, so by using the mandilli pasta, which is like a handkerchief, it’s the consistency of the pasta that also makes the sauce.
As another example, if you take linguini with clams, it’s the way the long pasta interacts with the slippery sauce [that makes the dish]—but if you have the same sauce with another pasta, like penne, you won’t be able to slurp it up. You’ll have too much pasta and the sauce will be diluted and you won’t get the same effect. So, this is my concept—the recipe is a traditional recipe, but it’s really emulsified, and it interacts with the pasta to give you that silky sensation that we want to achieve.