Francesco Panella is a familiar face on Italian TV because of his more famous programs like Little Big Italy in which he follows Italian expats in various cities like Paris or New York to judge restaurants, or Brooklyn Man, a similar exploratory foray into the food world. He’s the fourth-generation owner of the historic Roman restaurant Antica Pesa, which he and his brother Simone exported to Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood, winning over American gourmands and Hollywood stars. TV-friendly face, successful entrepreneur, expat advocate of everything Italian: Francesco Panella is all this and much more. Once he left his ancestral land, Panella wasted no time leveraging his Italian creativity and intelligence, sinking his fangs into Marriott International’s Moxy Hotels project with total management of the culinary offerings at the Moxy Chelsea, where he launched Feroce.
The ferocious trifecta at Feroce
Francesco Panella pounced on New York like a lion and he shows no sign of letting go any time soon. This spring, he introduced a new food and beverage concept in the 35-story hotel Moxy NYC Chelsea, launched in partnership with the international colossus TAO Group. Feroce Ristorante became his den, and along with the Feroce Caffè and Bar Feroce. All three help the city that never sleeps enjoy the best of Italian cuisine from morning until late at night. This was hardly an easy conquest, as the restaurateur told us with confident enthusiasm. “What I’m proudest of is that we are in partnership with TAO Group, the most important food and beverage corporation in the world. I told them all about Italy, and because of who we are we beat out the Germans,” he said. “This is the largest investment an American corporation has made in an Italian project. What’s more, this is the first time that the whole management team is Italian.” The Brooklyn Man goes back to being the enthusiastic kid from Rome when he explains his new American venture, and it’s just this burst of warmth and life that you’ll experience in the food at Feroce. This warmth, along with his open gaze, looking out into infinity, has helped him achieve significant results for himself and his family, not to mention for Italy. Stars like Leonardo Di Caprio and Russell Crowe gladly come in to twirl their forks at Brooklyn Man’s place.
A contemporary slant on the flavors of the past
Some experiences bowl you over so positively that you have to meditate on them for a while. Then, when the enthusiasm of the moment fades, the passage of time will restore some objectivity, and you realize that it wasn’t all that great. This was not the case with Feroce. The dinner I had there remains unforgettable not only because of the excitement of the trip, but because the food made such an impression on my palate. Those memories have stood the test of time.
The meal started strong with the quality of the ingredients, a perfect combination of fresh imports from Italy and local seasonal products from trusted farmers and butchers. Then some uniquely Italian food pairings that didn’t make me homesick so much as inspire a healthy patriotism by reminding me how lucky Italy is to have such richness and beauty. The simplicity of the execution is another feature I noticed. Because when things are simple, it can be easy to make a mistake. The room-temperature Gnocco Fritto with pistachio-studded mortadella and DOP Nuvola di Parmigiano Reggiano cheese aged 24 months felt like a dream, even with skyscrapers and yellow taxicabs right outside in real life. Our friendly waiter, Manuel, presented us with the first course: paccheri pasta made by the Mancini family in Marche with DOP Piennolo tomatoes and Ligurian basil... enough said. The competition was tough between the cheerful Fritto Paranza (served in a striking wooden box, this is a joyful profusion of shrimp, squid, eggplant and zucchini breaded in rice flour and fried) and the surprising veal Cotoletta Milanese (with chamomile-laced breading, cooked in clarified butter and so tender I could cut it with a spoon). I capped off the meal with a classic Sgroppino (vodka, Prosecco and Amalfi lemon sorbet), expertly prepared right in front of me on a special cart. The success of all this lies in the philosophy behind the offerings, the fierce determination of the restaurant (and restaurateur) and the sincere passion for sharing the art of cooking and the wonders of his Italian culture. “Each dish becomes a fine-tuned symphony of technique, memory, tradition and regional pride, inspired by Italy’s traditional recipes,” is how Feroce describes itself. We couldn’t say it better.
Even the interior of Feroce Ristorante is a full reflection of the best contemporary Italian style, driving out all thoughts of the trite “red sauce restaurants” that have made the more traditional Italian restaurant a bit of a cliché. No red-and-white-checked tablecloths here. Bare wooden tables are paired with chairs upholstered from the seats of vintage Ferraris, and the typical waiter’s apron tied at the waist has been upgraded to genuine Brooks Brothers uniforms. The walls don’t have photographs of Toto Cutugno or the Colosseum, but rather a large poster ad for the Ammazzasete bitters. Francesco Panella and the award-winning American architect and designer David Rockwell have created a warm, welcoming restaurant in a palette of yellows and Cognac browns illuminated with soft lights, evoking the quintessence of authentic Italian hospitality. Feroce is exactly the place to go to find the Italy of your dreams, whether you are Italian or just hungry.