Owner Brings World of Experience to Pasticcio
Antonio Capuano came to Annapolis by way of Italy, Ireland, Germany, and New Jersey.
The Italian-born Capuano worked overseas as a chef for six years before opening two restaurants in the Garden State. The 34-year-old now owns Pasticcio Italian Kitchen, which he opened in May.
But it was love that brought him to Annapolis and prompted him to sell his New Jersey restaurants. He met his fiancé, Annapolis resident Guen Assante, 15 years ago while she vacationed in Italy. He was working there as a chef at the time.
Back in Italy, Capuano was practically born into the restaurant business. He started washing dishes at age 12 at a restaurant where his father worked.
It was only a few years later that he went to “one of the top” culinary schools in Italy.
“Some holidays or days off, I used to go with my dad to his work when I was seven,” says Capuano, who is from Montedi di Procida in southern Italy. “He was a chef. He still works. I remember going into the kitchen and seeing the smoke of the big pots and the noise of all the stuff. It was like going to the park for me. That’s when I knew what I wanted to do.”
Capuano is proud of the fact that he continued the family tradition as a chef along with his father, uncle, and cousin. He says one of the things that sets his restaurant apart is that he uses family recipes that go back nearly 70 years. He also takes pride in his growing catering service.
What’s Up? Media recently spoke with Capuano, whose restaurant specializes in fresh and made-to-order food, about the roads that led him to Annapolis, and what sets Pasticcio Italian Kitchen apart.
There’s a lot of Italian restaurants in Annapolis and the surrounding area. What makes your place different?
I don’t see another Italian restaurant like this one. We keep our quality high, even if the food costs are very high. We want the best ingredients on the market. If you choose us, you can always find a consistency in the food. It’s the key.
What do you want your restaurant to be known for? What is your most popular item?
We sell a lot of salads, gourmet pizza by the slice, and pasta. With the salads, we try to make some new and different combinations of things. We try to balance the sweetness and the acid. We have some salads made with fresh fruit. We have salads with spring mix lettuce, green apples, red onions, caramelized walnuts, and goat cheese. That’s one I sell the most. Another one has fresh spinach, pears, cheese, and caramelized walnuts. The contrasts that we have in flavors—the sweet with bitter, the acid with sweet— it’s like an explosion in your mouth. We are also known for our friendly service, quality food, and catering.
What dish are you most hands-on with?
Probably the lasagna. It’s made from an old family recipe from my grandparents. It’s popular because of the way we cook the ground beef, the layers of pasta, and the cheeses in the middle. When I went into a new kitchen as a chef, and we decided to make the lasagna, I always proposed this recipe. The owners always loved it.
What kind of customers do you want to cater to?
I had something in mind for lunchtime with the hospital, the mall, and a lot of offices around here. We can provide quick service for someone that is in a rush. They can have a slice of pizza, a big salad, or a sandwich.
Can you talk about your catering service?
The quality of ingredients and the love we put into it is the secret to our catering. We specialize in offices and private parties. We also do a lot of catering for the hospital.
Tell me about your culinary background.
I went to one of the top schools in Italy, Celluetti Culinary School. It was close to Rome and 200 miles from home. It was like a college. I learned so many different techniques and recipes. The school would send the best students to Germany and Ireland for a summer. I was 16 when I went to Germany and 17 when I went to Ireland [for the first time]. You shouldn’t get paid because you are learning. After a week in Germany, they paid me to work more hours. I was getting more money than my father.
Besides Italy, you spent a lot of your time working in Ireland as a chef. Tell me about your experience and what you learned.
I was 21 years old and had a lot of responsibility as a chef at Vesuvius. After a month or two in the restaurant, I was in charge of the kitchen. It was a very good experience for me. I learned a lot in two years.
Talk about how much you enjoyed working with your father.
One time, I went with him for a lunch shift. After lunch, he would go home for a break and go back for dinner shift. One time, I was fighting with my parents because I wanted to go back to work with him because I really enjoyed it. My mother started to scream at me, saying it takes me away from the family.
I can imagine you are here all the time. Is that true?
I just recently got a full day off. Before, it was an hour here, an hour there. For the first four or five months, it was seven days a week, 12 hours a day because the business was new and everything was hard. I was checking each order of French fries that was coming from the kitchen to make sure we are giving people food the way that I wanted.
