20
MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2014
I
may be one of the few Italians who
can’t cook. My husband, Jason, and
I have always loved to eat out, but up
until about six years ago, when we moved
to St. Tammany, our dinner destinations
included mainly chain restaurants. Living
on the Northshore, we acquired a liking for
small cafés, and locally owned restaurants.
The food was just so much better. It seemed
like the people behind the scenes at these
locally owned places had more of a passion
for what they were doing.
Jason and I decided to try Del Porto after
numerous friends suggested it, and we weren’t
disappointed – the atmosphere was romantic,
and the food was delicious. To be honest, we
weren’t surprised that it was so good — our
friends have good taste! — and when chefs
have such passion for food, the end product
is sure to be amazing.What makes Del Porto
even more special is that the chefs not only
love food, they love each other.
Q:
Straight off the bat, I have a thing about
people who don’t like to share their food.
We can be acquaintances, but we’ll never be
true friends. I think it’s the Italian in me.
One of the things I love about your menu
is how easy it is to share antipasti, pastas
and sides, and then get individual entrées.
Is that the Italian in you?
Torre:
Well I think that is more the big
family in both of us. David comes from a
big Italian family with 4 siblings and I come
from a big Jewish family with 4 siblings.
Our cultural backgrounds and where we
both grew up definitely add to our desire
to make Del Porto’s food and the customer
experience a celebration. In both of our
large families food was always the focus,
whether it was a wedding, a funeral or
anything in between.
Q:
Husband-and-wife chef teams aren’t
actually that uncommon. Keith and Nealy
Frentz own LOLA up the street from you
in Covington. Slade Rushing and Allison
Vines-Rushing own MiLa in downtown
New Orleans. How did you two meet?
Torre:
We met working together in the
kitchen of Tra Vigne restaurant in Napa
Valley. David had been working there
for a year when I started. It was a very
intimidating environment, especially since
only one other girl had worked in that
kitchen in a decade. David was the only
cook that would talk to me. I think he
sensed my panic! I latched on to him, to say
the least, and the rest is history. We have
worked together ever since. We both had
degrees in different subjects, both went to
culinary school later in life and both share
a passion for food and cooking. We had so
much in common. We always laugh that
I am from New Orleans, he is from New
York and we met in California.
Q:
When did you know it was time to open
your own restaurant?
Torre:
Each of us has our own version of
this answer. David will say “when Torre
said “let’s open a restaurant”.He thinks I
had it planned ever since we met. I would
argue that I always wanted to own my own
restaurant, but it wasn’t until the moment
we looked into the window of Del Porto’s
original location, that I knew it was going
to be a reality. A co-worker at Artesia told
us that the owner of the original Del Porto
was looking to sell her business as a turnkey
and I thought…we could really do this. We
started the talks with the original owner in
March 2002 and opened our doors with the
same name by June 2002. We stayed there,
a block down the street from where we are
now, for 4 ½ years. We outgrew our space in
2006 and moved to our new location. We
just celebrated an 11-year anniversary of the
original opening. I don’t think either of us
ever thought we would have lasted as long
as we have. We are truly grateful.
Q:
Give me an idea about how the two of
you work together in the kitchen.
Torre:
We’ve been working together so
long that we don’t always have to talk to
communicate. We automatically get into
our roles when we need to accomplish
something. David is the backbone of
the operation and I am the coordinator.
Chefs Torre Bagalman & David Solazzo,
Del Porto Ristorante, Covington
by
Mandy Rouse Martinolich +
photos by
Frank Aymami
Falling in Love With:
VALENTINE’S
day
