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[title]Nostalgia is a theme that PJ Calapa often returns to with his cooking. The chef and owner of Scampi in the Flatiron District even went so far as to name that restaurant after a beloved dining establishment from his childhood in Texas. Partially, that’s because he believes that such a feeling can elevate a dish from good to amazing. “A super memorable dish has to hit more than just the tongue,” he explains. “Being delicious is the most important thing, but it has to be somewhat nostalgic and create a memory.”
After growing up in the Mexican border town of Brownsville, Calapa moved to New York to attend the Culinary Institute of America. From there, he went on to work at Eleven Madison Park, Bouley and Nobu 57, before joining Michael White’s Altamarea Group to help launch Ai Fiori. In 2017, he opened his own establishment, The Spaniard, which was then followed by Scampi, inspired by the cuisine of Southern Italy.
We caught up with Calapa to discuss authenticity in the culinary world, family recipes and tips on how to source the absolute best seafood. He also shares the worst thing at-home cooks can do to alter a dish. (Hint: it involves seasoning.)
Scampi is named for one of your favorite restaurants from your childhood. Why did you want to do that specific tribute?
When we were naming it, we were looking for something that was going to be sort of memorable. I'm a nostalgic kind of guy, and I wanted something that had a bit of a story. Also, the restaurant that I grew up going to no longer exists, so there's no conflict. I just wanted to pay a little bit of tribute to my roots, which I'm proud of.
Speaking of nostalgia and your roots, are there other ways that your childhood influences your cooking now?
Yeah, very much so. Growing up on the Mexican border in Texas with a Spanish family and an Italian family, I was always very influenced by food. My grandfather had a fish business, where he had boats and they would catch the fish and sell them all over the United States. It was kind of just always in the back of my mind.
Do you have certain guiding principles behind your cooking that you return to often, in terms of things you place an importance on?
Piggybacking on this whole mentality of staying true to my roots, authenticity is important to me. I don't like to change the classics too much, but I do like to sort of put my own spin on it while paying tribute to things that are real and don't need to be changed. If you're going to say you're Italian, then you stick to that. We say Scampi is Southern Italian, so I try to stay as true and authentic to that as I can.
When you say you're going for authenticity, is that in terms of recipes and ingredients?
Yeah. It’s what you would eat if you were in Sicily, right? It's kind of doing as much as we can as a tribute to that, or Calabria. As much as you possibly can without actually being there, but not making it too precious and actually having some sort of guidelines.
What do you think makes a super memorable dish?
You have to create a craving so that people say: "Well, I don't know where I want to go tonight, but I definitely want to eat that." If you can make a few of these dishes along the way, people sort of remember them. There are definitely dishes I've created where I'm like: This is one that people are going to love and remember, and it's unique enough that they want it over someone else's but also not too precious or over-the-top.
You really balance the land and the sea on Scampi’s menu. Do you have any tips for at-home chefs on sourcing great seafood?
I feel like the number one thing is to go to a place that is selling a lot of seafood, which means that it’s always moving. With seafood, freshness is everything, right? I would always shop somewhere that specializes in selling seafood. Also, don’t be afraid to speak to whoever's behind the counter and tell them what you like or don't like. In New York City, I always direct people to Lobster Place just because it's accessible for non-chefs.
What attracts you to Southern Italian cuisine?
After five years at Nobu, I fell in love with handling raw fish and understanding what that’s like. I discovered that from a young age after learning it from my grandfather. And then I really fell in love with making pasta. My father's side of the family is Sicilian. After traveling, I realized that Southern Italian cuisine actually has less dairy and it’s lighter, and has a lot of seafood. It’s just all of my favorite things in the world. So it just kind of clicked that those would be the bookends of what Scampi is.
There's a large section of Scampi’s menu dedicated to crudo. What draws you to that dish? The raw fish?
Yeah, I love raw fish. I love to fish as a pastime, and I fell in love with the idea of composing crudo. It's not just a slice of fish with nothing else on it. I wanted people to still always taste the fish, but also understand how we elevate it and make people excited about it. Growing up on the Mexican border, there was a lot of ceviche and stuff like that, so I was always sort of drawn to what it means to take a piece of fish and take it to the next level. I just expanded on that and decided I wanted a whole section focused on it.
Do you remember the first thing you ever learned to cook?
I learned a lot in my grandmother's kitchen. I remember making chicken and rice, arroz con pollo, with her and understanding that it's not easy and that you're actually cooking two things at the same time. I love that sort of understanding of how to make things come out perfectly at the same time, you know?
Do you have a favorite family recipe you've yet to master?
I would say it’s the chicken and rice, but I have mastered it. My grandmother will even attest to that. Nothing that I haven't mastered, but I’m always inspired by those early recipes.
What’s the worst thing a diner can do to alter a dish while cooking?
Season it before tasting it.
What do you think is the best food and drink pairing in the world?
Oh, that's good. All my answers come back to the same thing: white wine and raw fish.