Page 10 - Italian American Herald - April 2020

10 ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM | APRIL2020 ITALIAN-AMERICANHERALD
CHEF SPOTLIGHT
Restaurateur Joey Baldino puts his passion on every plate
By Frank Cipparone
If it’s true that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, that first one may start you
on a long path that
takes you back where you belong. For Joey Baldino, it meant traveling to California, Manhattan and Sicily to sharpen the skills that brought him home to his roots.
There were a lot of ingredients that turned a guy from South Philly into a nationally acclaimed chef who operates two restaurants – the award-winning Zeppoli
in Collingswood, New Jersey, and Palizzi Social Club around the corner from his childhood house. Baldino’s recipe mixed one part perspiration, two parts determination seasoned with humility, and a generous dose of traditional values.
As a boy, Baldino hung out in his grandparents’ restaurant, a real family affair where his older cousins worked. In his teens, he bussed tables and served at a nearby mom-and-pop trattoria whose owners became lifelong friends and mentors, starting him on his professional course.
It was during a semester in Rome while a student at Temple that the light went on. It was a revelation of sorts, a moment when he understood the deep connection between his family’s old-school work ethic and the Italian approach to life. As he recalls, “I saw that food was taken seriously, there was a sense of purpose and pride in doing things well.” For Baldino it was a personal Rubicon, a casting of the dice that would roll him into the culinary life.
After learning on the job in the kitchens of well-established chefs, he set off for Sicily to immerse himself in the food culture of his ancestors at the Anna Lanza Cooking School. Time spent in the island’s interior among
the estate’s gardens and the green hills at the edge of the Nebrodie Mountains became the inspiration for Zeppoli. From the woman regarded as Sicily’s cooking ambassador to the world he learned that good food, like good wine, can only come from the best prime material, from fresh products of the highest quality. Which is why he makes
daily trips to produce markets, butchers and seafood purveyors to source what he’ll be cooking up that night.
Zeppoli is the culmination of lessons well learned. Baldino conducts a tour of Sicily plate by plate, the menu reflecting the influence on Sicily’s culture of Greeks, Moors, Spaniards and Normans. Having traveled to all its regions I can say without hesitation that a meal at this small BYOB is as close to dining in Sicily as you’ll find in the Philadelphia area.
Antipasti such as Panzanella Catania, shrimp with cannellini beans, and grilled octopus set the stage for primi. Spinach and ricotta gnocchi with caciacavallo cheese, lemony tagliatelle sprinkled with bottarga, and fusilli in a Trapanesi almond- pistachio pesto might have you asking for seconds. A savory fisherman’s stew with cous-cous or grilled, marinated swordfish segues into the restaurant’s namesake dessert, or maybe a crostate limone or biancomangiare.
The Palizzi Social Club, a few doors down from the family’s restaurant, was founded a century ago by immigrants from the coastal Abruzzo town of Vasto, and named for one of its prominent Abruzzese citizens. When the lone surviving member, Baldino’s Uncle Ernie, passed, he felt an obligation to “keep alive the legacy of Italian food.”
The irony is that as South Philly, like similar Italian enclaves around the country, has grown literally and figuratively less Italian, he has created a mecca for what he describes as “cooking that is honest and real. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel. I cook with my heart. My life’s story is in the menu and the food.”
The Club, as it’s known, is still members only. It’s an homage, a nod to simpler times and unpretentious Italian food, a place where longtime locals and a wave of neighborhood newcomers eat, drink and socialize in a time-warp ambience of original fading photos, 1950s- style chairs, Formica-topped tables, and refurbished bar stools. Baldino grasps that time together at table is what it’s all about. What comes out of the kitchen
is a labor of love, his way of “honoring
past generations, who they were, where
they came from and how they made their
Joey Baldino
“I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel. I cook with my heart. My life’s story is in the menu and the food.”
– Joey Baldino
way in America. My cooking is a tribute to their ability to blend what they brought from the old country with what was available to them here.”
The offerings at The Club are more a soulful Sunday at Nonna’s than Zeppoli’s singular approach. Spaghetti and crabs, pasta and ceci, arancini, braciola, and veal cutlets are familiar and comforting. To be honest, most restaurants and Nonna would have
a hard time competing with Baldino’s take on updating and elevating old standards. If
you don’t have membership, try and hook up with someone who does. If that doesn’t work, go to Zeppoli’s website where you can order “Dinner At The Club,” a book with then-and-now photos of the place, and his recipes accompanied by visuals that will have you salivating.
As for the future, he feels no pressure to succeed or compete, to open Zeppoli 2.0. He’s not in it for the accolades. As he told me,
“all I want to do is put a smile on people’s faces.” Mission accomplished, Joey. IAH