INTERVIEW: Joey Baldino
Chef and restaurateur Joey Baldino on work, travel, doing the right thing, and making people happy.
By Michael Ferrence
October 23, 2018
MF: I’m psyched to finally talk with you. I started interviewing Philly chefs and restaurateurs back in the spring, and every one spoke so highly of you, not only as a chef, but as a person.
I’ve since been to Zeppoli, and it was incredible. We even saw a celebrity, Mayor Jim Kenney. The food was amazing, the vibe was laid back, friendly, old timey, cozy, and cool.
When I originally reached out to you back in August you were out of the country for a few weeks. Was that work related or just for fun? Can you talk a little about that?
JB: No that was just kind of vacation. I always take a 2 week vacation at the end of August and try to recalibrate, relax, and get back to business when I get back. It was just a normal summer vacation.
MF: Where’d you go?
JB: I went to Greece and Spain. Never been to either one of those places. I was kind of excited to check it out. I met a bunch of Zeppoli employees there, and we had a good time. Everybody was kind of vacationing in different parts of Europe, and we met up in Barcelona.
MF: When you travel, is food a big part of it?
JB: Yeah, it’s like the main part. I love checking out different cultures and seeing different types of cuisines. It’s basically an eating tour. Eat, sleep, and relax.
MF: Can you do a brief history of Joey Baldino?
JB: Born and raised in South Philadelphia. I’m a 3rd generation Italian-American. I’m a product of the Philadelphia school system and Temple University. After I graduated Temple with a business degree, I moved to New York and I went to culinary school.
MF: Where’d you go?
JB: I went to the French Culinary Institute. I worked in the business for a really long time, my grandparents had a little bar and grill. I worked throughout my entire college career. I graduated culinary school, and moved back to Philly and I got a job for Marc, Marc Vetri. Actually, I got a job for George Perrier first, that’s where I met Scott Schroeder and Nick Elmi. We all kind of worked together.
MF: How’d you get in there?
JB: Actually, it’s funny, because when I was at Temple, I studied abroad in Rome, and when I was in Rome I realized I don’t really want to be behind a desk, I don’t want to be accounting all day, I think I want to own my own restaurant. I did an internship in 1999, I think, with Jeff Benjamin, who was the manager at the time at Vetri. So, I just became really good friends with him, and told him I was interested in going to cooking school in New York, and when I got back to Philly he gave me pretty much my first cooking job.
So I was an intern first, and then I became chef, from busboy to chef at Vetri. And then I worked around Philadelphia for a little bit. Worked really hard, saved my money and, I always had the desire to open my own spot, and I finally became chef de cuisine at Vetri. After that was done I was like it’s time for me to do my own thing. I went to Sicily for a while, explored my culture, where my family was from, and got some real inspiration for the cuisine of Sicily and opened my little Sicilian place in Collingswood, NJ.
MF: How long were you at Vetri, how long did it take to go from busboy to chef?
JB: That’s about a 10 year process. I kind of worked through all of the stations, and then when he opened Osteria on North Broad, I was the sous chef over there. And like I said I left and went to Sicily for a while…
MF: For how long?
JB: It was a little less than a year. Close to that.
MF: Where’d you stay?
JB: I stayed at a really famous chef, she’s passed now, a Sicilian chef named Anna Tasca Lanza. She has a bunch of Sicilian cookbooks, and I reached out to her, and she welcomed me with open arms and let me stay on her estate, so it was kind of an amazing learning experience, on the farm, picking fennel, milking goats, so it was really a great experience.
MF: Sounds tremendous. I could probably spend 2 hours just talking to you about that.
JB: Just that, yeah!
MF: Does the food at Palizzi actually come from your mom and grandmother’s recipe books?
JB: Yeah. It does. So the food at Palizzi is more Italian-American, real everyday food that we’d have at our house, my mom’s house, my grandmother’s house. It’s the food that they eat in the neighborhood. Stromboli, tomato pie, veal cutlets, calamari with peas, crabs and spaghetti, (I’m salivating) all of those things that I just wanted to let people experience, my culture, and how I was raised, and what I was raised on.
MF: How’d your mom and grandmother learn to cook so well? Were they trained?
JB: No, no. This is home food. This is just the way they cook, and it was a huge inspiration to me. I could work for the best chefs in the world, but then coming home and having the food from my neighborhood and my culture is just as special as that. It’s about everything. When you’re growing into this industry, you learn so many things from so many different people, but you really can’t forget where you came from, and that’s what Palizzi is to me.
MF: Do you have anything in the works? What’s next?
(There is something, but it’s top secret. He told me. I know! Pretty rad. I’m not saying a word, so please don’t ask. You’ll have to wait and see.)
MF: What are you reading?
JB: I love reading cookbooks. I’m really kind of into, the reason I went to Greece was because of the food. I’m kind of into that Middle Eastern, messing around with southern Mediterranean dishes, I really gravitate towards. The news. I’m huge on the news. Wall Street Journal, New York Times. Mostly cookbooks.
MF: So that’s your thing. You love it.
JB: Yeah. (Laughs) Yeah.
MF: That’s so great. So, when we were at Zeppoli I had the fisherman’s stew, with Mediterranean couscous. Is that a straight-up Italian thing or is that an example of bringing in influences from somewhere else?
JB: The funny thing about Sicily is, and that’s why I’m really gravitating toward the southern Mediterranean, Sicily was basically the first melting pot of Europe. It had all these cultures: The Moors, and the Arabs, and the French, and naturally Italians and Greeks, and they all took over the island, so the cuisine of Sicily has all these different influences from all these different cultures. The fisherman’s stew for example is very Arabic. It has notes of cinnamon, couscous, and fennel, and saffron, and all these different spices that came from the Middle East, and that’s what really struck me as so special about Sicilian cuisine. It’s not only Italian, but then you have all these really different, great influences from all these amazing cultures you can play with. The fisherman’s stew is a really great example of that.
MF: You don’t have much of a social media presence and you try to limit, if not eliminate social media, at Palizzi. That’s rare. It’s actually pretty badass. Most people are (addicted) really into social media, and businesses tend to find it useful. Why don’t you use it? Do you consider yourself anti social media?
JB: Personally, I’m not interested in it. I kind of feel like on a personal level I like to keep what I do to myself. However, with that said, it is useful for businesses. The 2 restaurants that I have are more hole-in-the-wall type places. If I had a bigger place, that’s where I think it really would come in handy because you need to get the word out to a younger crowd. I think, for us, it’s not as important, but for most, it is.
MF: The cool thing is you can be successful with or without it. If it doesn’t fit what you want to do, you don’t have to use it. If it’s your thing, you can let it rip.
JB: Exactly.
MF: Favorite Philly restaurant?
JB: I love Friday Saturday Sunday. It’s great. I worked wit Chad over at Amada for a while, and I think he’s one of the most talented guys that I’ve ever worked with. That’s at the top of the list. That’s my spot.
MF: You’ve been nominated, but have never won a James Beard Award. Does that matter to you? Would that be a big honor to be recognized in that way?
JB: Absolutely not. It does not matter at all.
(Laughs)
JB: I appreciate the fact that I’m being recognized by my peers, which is great. But I do what I do, and if people like it, great, and if they don’t, they don’t, and that’s basically what it is. I’m honored by it, I think it’s great. But it doesn’t matter, and it’s not going to change anything that I do.
MF: People are always saying, ‘be yourself’, ‘be you’, but I don’t think many people actually know what that means, or have a good sense of self, or what they want to do or should do, or who they are. It sounds like you do…
JB: It takes time. It takes time to figure it out. And I think it always changes too.
MF: Who are you?
JB: Uhh… I have no clue. That’s tough.
Sigh. Groan. Silence.
JB: Who am I?
That lip flapping, kind of mellow motorboat sound that happens when you deeply, loosely exhale. Sigh. Silence.
JB: I guess I’m a kid from South Philly who likes to cook, and likes to make people happy. I like to make people happy through the cooking. That’s who I am. That’s a hard one.
MF: That’s who you are, dude. That actually made me feel like Oprah when I asked that one.
JB: Yeah, that was kind of Oprah.
Laughs.
MF: What makes your restaurants successful?
JB: That’s a hard question, too. I think my restaurants kind of make people feel a certain way when they go in there. They feel at home. You’re in a spot where you feel comfortable. And, I hope the food tastes good and that’s why it’s successful, and that I’m doing the right thing.
Full disclosure: My wife and I were at Palizzi the other night, for the first time, and the staff sent out a complimentary piece of cheese pie. But, that has (very little) NOTHING to do with what I am about to say. Joey Baldino is a cool dude, a kind, welcoming, generous, hard working chef. His restaurants deliver a wonderful, unique experience in every way. The food is as good as it gets, service is just right, the vibe is all you could ask for, and everything else is what you make of it.
