Chef/Owner
Vincent Chirico takes time to speak
with Luxury Experience about his new restaurant, The Luke Brasserie * Bar * Café located in New
Haven, Connecticut. Newly opened in
November 2022, Chef Chirico graciously provides a delicious taste of the contemporary
Mediterranean restaurant with his recipe for Mascarpone Enriched
Polenta/soft egg/maitake mushroom/24-month Parmesan and fresh black truffle.
Bon Appetit!
Some chefs
develop a passion for cooking at a very young age; such was the case with Chef
Vincent Chirico who developed a passion from cooking with his grandmother. By
the time he was 13 or 14 years of age he already knew that he wanted to work as
a chef and started researching cooking schools in New York. They all told him
that he needed to first graduate high school, then apply.
Once he
graduated high school, he immediately enrolled in a culinary program at the
Culinary Institute of America, known in the industry as the "CIA." He spent
one-year there learning techniques then left to pursue his dream of working in
a restaurant. His first culinary job was at age 19 at the renowned New York
restaurant Aquavit. He then went on to do stages in Europe, followed by working
in other top restaurants across the country taking him from New York City to
Chicago and to California.
Along the
way he honed his craft working with such notable chefs as Charlie Trotter,
Daniel Boulud, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Marcus Samuelsson, Rocco DiSpirito,
Georges Blanc, Paul Bocuse, Michel Guérard, and Stephen Starr before going out
on his own. His advice to those seeking
to pursue a culinary career is that it takes a bit of luck, passion, and it is
important to work with the right people from whom you can learn.

Chef/Owner Vincent Chirico
An
experienced restaurateur, Chef Vincent Chirico owned other well-received
restaurants in New York City before opening The Luke Brasserie * Bar * Café in
New Haven, Connecticut, which had its official ribbon-cutting on November 15,
2022. We had a wonderful dinner at The Luke on Saturday, November 26, 2022,
where the culinary focus is contemporary Mediterranean cuisine and the ambience
and service perfectly complement the quality of the food. The menu is designed
for sharing, tapas style with a nice selection of wines offered by the glass as
well as by the bottle, as well as creative, innovative cocktails that can stand
alone or pair well with the food.
The
152-seat, two-level restaurant is stunning with rich architectural details,
fluted square columns, soaring coffered ceiling with elaborate medallions,
which is what attracted Chef Vincent Chirico to the space. He initially had
seen the property around 8 years ago, but the timing was not right until now.
Moving to
Connecticut allowed him to have a much larger restaurant than those he had previously
owned in New York City. The Luke is a large and gorgeous restaurant that
provides him with the ability to offer his guests different dining options from
an intimate fine dining experience in the dining room, to well-crafted
cocktails with interesting snacks at the intimate and inviting bar for those
desiring a more casual ambience, as well as the opportunity to host large parties
and events.
Chef
Vincent Chirico graciously provides a delicious taste from The Luke Brasserie *
Bar * Café with his recipe for Mascarpone enriched white polenta/soft
egg/maitake mushroom/24-month Parmesan /fresh black truffle to tempt
your palate into making a reservation at the restaurant.
Mascarpone
enriched white polenta /soft egg /maitake mushroom /24-month Parmesan /fresh
black truffle
Recipe
serves 4
Ingredients:
1
|
Cup
|
White Polenta
|
1
|
Cup
|
Cream
|
1
|
Cup
|
Water
|
4
|
Ounces
|
Maitake Mushrooms
|
2
|
Large
|
Eggs
|
1
|
Ounce
|
Parmesan Shavings
|
2
|
Tablespoons
|
Mascarpone
|
1
|
Ounce
|
Fresh Black Truffle, shaved
|
Method: Cook polenta in water and cream until creamy and tender. Fold in the
mascarpone to finish. Poach eggs until soft. Sauté maitake mushrooms.
Presentation: Spoon polenta into a deep bowl. Top with sauteed maitake mushrooms.
Add poached soft eggs in the middle. Finish by shaving Parmesan cheese and
fresh black truffle.
Until next
time, Bon Appetit!
Restaurant
Location
Location,
location, location! The Luke is perfectly positioned near the corner of College
and Chapel Streets, next door to the Shubert Theatre, and across the street
from the College Street Music Hall, the restaurant is easily accessible by car
with on-street (metered) parking as well as in nearby parking garages. It is
also easily accessible by Metro-North
train (to New Haven's Union Station) as
it is only 1-mile from the station to the restaurant.
You might
also like to read about our dining experience at The Luke Brasserie * Bar *
Café in the Restaurants section.
For more
information on The Luke Brasserie * Bar * Café please visit their website: www.thelukebrasserie.com.
The Luke
Brasserie * Bar *Café (located in the Taft Building)
261 College
Street
New Haven,
Connecticut 06510
United
States
Telephone:
+1-475-666-8001
Email:
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Website: www.thelukebrasserie.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lukebrasserie
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2022. Luxury Experience www.LuxuryExperience.com. All rights reserved.
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