One of the most nerve-racking restaurant experiences of my life was on May 6th, 2019. It was lunch at Little Prince, a small French bistro named for its location on Prince Street in Manhattan, and the eponymous children’s book. My companion that afternoon wasn’t a date, a partner, or even a friend. It was my father, Tony Crocitto. My father has spent over 30 years working in all areas of food. Tony’s restaurant expertise follows him everywhere he goes. On one hand, you’re guaranteed to love any restaurant of his choice. On the other hand, you’re going to get a lecture on the restaurant’s operations; if anything goes wrong, you may want to order a double espresso after dinner and settle in for a night of critiques.

Tony and I often dined at Asian restaurants, and I insisted on a change of pace. Little Prince lies in a quieter part of Soho, with a modest atmosphere to match. The food was authentic and adjacent to the simple bistros I went to in Paris several years prior. We ordered a little of everything – French onion soup and olives to start, followed by skirt steak and roasted salmon for main courses. My father and his mother often lamented for a time when skirt steak was much cheaper and a dinnertime staple for them. When I suggested making some for this feature, he was quick to remind me how expensive it is; I rarely had it growing up due to my family protesting its new value, so it became one of my favorite cuts. It was the carrot cake, however, paired with cinnamon gelato and a caramel drizzle that stood out as my favorite. The whole meal was perfect, and my father approved as well.

Though I sometimes tease my father for his restaurant analyses, I credit him for teaching me proper etiquette, respect for servers and waiters, and to love food. For all of those things, and more, I am eternally thankful. Tony is about a decade removed from the grind of cooking in a restaurant, but still works in a kitchen full time. I spoke with him to hear more about his career, how he continues to find joy in food, and to find out what he’s cooking up next.

Vincent Wong-Crocitto: Talk to me a little bit about your earliest memories of food? Do you remember what you ate at home?

Tony Crocitto: I have always been interested in food since the earliest days. I remember being allowed to help my mother bread the veal cutlets when I was a youngin’ and being the official pasta taster for most of my life. From there, I sought interesting food–I like to find a good restaurant no matter what the food was. I always said a good restaurant was a good restaurant and that’s where I would go, no matter what the food was.

VWC: When did you start really cooking meals?

TC: I got the first inkling that I might like this whole thing with food when I was in the Coast Guard, and I had kitchen duty. I learned the difference between cooking at home and cooking professionally when I nearly dropped the steamship round [an enormous cut of beef], which weighed about 80 pounds, on my foot. I started reading the New York Times food section after I got out of the Coast Guard, which changed my life. It put me into a different place with food, it made me think of food in a different way. Eventually, it led me to go to cooking school.

VWC: How did the transition into culinary school happen for you?

TC: I was still working full time from 8AM to 4PM and then I went to school at night from 4:30PM to about 11PM. I loved cooking school, I fell right into it. I always had some knife skills from my fish handling days so that’s how I started to feel comfortable. [We learned] general cuisine. Mechanical skills, butchery, things like that. It was also the business side. It taught you the basics of running a kitchen, a dining room, and a restaurant–how to pay the bills, and the outstanding fact that 90% of restaurants fail after five years.

VWC: After completing the six months at culinary school, did the way that you started eating and cooking change?

TC: You have to remember; I came away with more than just a food education from cooking school–that’s where I met your mother. I got a job right away out of school at a restaurant in Manhattan, The Brighton Grill, which is no longer around–not a single restaurant I ever worked at is still in existence. I started right on the line as the middleman, the guy who cooked the vegetables for the different dishes, then I moved over to sauté cook. Your mother worked there on the salad station, and she used to give me cold towels to cool me off. It was a good first job–it threw me into the fire, got me over the nerves.

VWC: What are some misinterpretations that people have about your profession?

TC: The worst thing that ever happened to the cooking profession was televised restaurant TV shows. It has glamorized it and has shown the tippity top of the iceberg of what working in a restaurant is really like. However, when you first start, you make no money, you work like a dog, you have to prove yourself everyday - you’re either going to self-improve, or you’re not going to make it. You see this upper echelon on TV of restaurants and chefs with super fine dining restaurants, and it’s not the same as the grill on the corner. There are a lot more cooks at those grills on the corner than at top restaurants. I always said the best place to work was the place you couldn’t afford to eat in, because there you’re going to learn something.

VWC: You worked at the restaurant Stars in San Francisco back when Stars set the tone for fine dining in San Francisco. What kinds of positions did you have there, and how did you handle working at such a high profile place?

TC: I worked at Stars from 1986-1990. I started at $7.50/hour chopping tomatoes, garlic, and anything else that came my way I made a good impression on the owner, Jeremiah Tower, and that started me on my way up the ladder. I worked nights for quite a while and when the lunch chef left, I was promoted to that position for 18 months which suited me perfectly. Working lunch was seen by a lot of people as a step backwards because dinnertime has the prestige. But at Stars, we had the power brokers from city hall, a lot of arts people, and a lot of socialites would come in to have their lunch. My position also made me the trainer of waiters. Since I had to train the waiters as the liaison to the kitchen, I had to understand their job and what they were doing.

VWC: In recent years you’ve phased out of working in restaurants but you’re still cooking. What is your work now, and how does that relate to the rest of your career?

TC: I cook food for people to eat, and that hasn’t changed. I cook different kinds of food for different kinds of people, so that’s what’s changed. Right now, I cook at an assisted living facility. We call the assisted living facilities “the retirement home for old cooks”, too. A couple of people I worked with have done the same thing, we were tired of the restaurant grind. But cooking is cooking and food is food. I don’t believe that a lot of the modern trends in restaurants would have suited me. I’m not a fan of this scientific cooking at all, whether to eat it or do it. The joy and reward you get from cooking is to see and hear people enjoying your food because you ain’t making good money doing it.

VWC: Do you think that good food is objective or subjective? What does “good food” mean to you?

TC: There is a term that has served me well in my business and that is called perceived value. Cost enters into it. But good food is something that makes you feel better after you eat it. Not full, just makes you feel better. There are many places you can go and fill up your belly. But when you take a bite of something and it puts a smile on your face, that to me is the difference. Or when you eat something, and you just go “Yes.” Food doesn’t have to be that way every meal; not every meal is going to blow your mind. I think that’s a problem a lot of people in the restaurant business have, they think every meal has to be that way.

VWC: I have a couple more questions before we finish up. First, what are some of your favorite things to cook now, whether at home or at work?

TC: At work, I have my name attached to fish and chips. It’s a batter that I developed, nothing exotic, but it’s really good. I make that all the time with basa fish, it’s outstanding. I’m very proud of it. At home, I eat very simply. I rarely cook anything exotic because I look forward to having simple things to eat. Pastas, barbecue stuff.

VWC: What would your last meal be?

TC: Italian sausage. One of my favorite food groups is sausage.

VWC: Give me a full plate, a full dish. You’ve got anything you want at your disposal

TC: Polenta, Italian sausage, and a glass of wine.

I asked Tony to prepare a meal suited for warm weather as we approach what is guaranteed to be a great summer. He drew inspiration from our lunch at Little Prince by using skirt steak but instead paired it with a fresh mango salsa. For an anytime, anywhere side dish, Tony made a roasted onion seasoned with balsamic vinaigrette that you can throw on the grill or in the oven. He prepared the mango salsa while waiting for the grill to heat and the onion to cook - everything was ready in 30 minutes. It had been ages since I ate anything my father cooked, and I savored every bite. The spices of the skirt steak were perfectly balanced by the tangy salsa. But I was even more impressed watching my father cook; while talking to me, his knife control and motions were fluid. Even as I hovered over his shoulder with my camera, his precision didn’t waver. It is truly an art to behold. Over the years of my father’s storied career, thousands of people have gotten to enjoy his cooking and now you can, too.

MANGO SALSA

1 ripe mango
1 red onion
1 chili pepper - serrano or jalapeño
2 limes
1 bunch cilantro

METHOD:

1. Peel and dice mango and onion (optional: sauté onions before mixing with other ingredients)

2. Chop chili pepper (optional - discard seeds)

3. Finely chop cilantro

4. Toss all ingredients in mixing bowl

5. Squeeze juice from both limes

6. Mix in bowl and enjoy (optional: add salt and pepper to taste)

FIRE ROASTED ONION

1 red onion, peeled/whole
1 slice bacon or pancetta, cut in thirds
1 oz balsamic vinaigrette dressing
Aluminum foil

METHOD:

1. Preheat grill (or oven to 400ºF)

2. Slice peeled onion 2/3rds of the way across the rings, making three slits. Place bacon or pancetta in the slits

3. Place the onion into a sheet of aluminum foil

4. Form a pouch around and above the onion with the foil

5. Pour vinegar over the onion, through the slits and soaking the entire onion

6. Twist and seal the foil pouch

7. Cook until onion is soft (approximately 15-20 minutes if grilling, 30 minutes if using oven)

8. Remove from foil and let cool before eating (careful - foil will be hot)

SKIRT STEAK

1 lb skirt steak
Chili powder
Cumin
Salt

METHOD:

1. Coat skirt steak with cumin and chili powder, cover and let sit overnight

2. Add salt to taste

3. Preheat grill as hot as possible (at least 15-20 minutes)

4. Cook time will vary depending on the thickness of meat and desired preparation (Tony recommends medium rare)

5. For best preparation, cut the skirt steak across the grain (as shown in photos)

Vincent Wong-Crocitto is a sneaker and college admissions expert based in Sunset Park. When he’s not eating, he enjoys photography and finding vanity license plates. When he is eating, some favorites include dim sum and his grandmother’s leftovers. Follow him on Instagram: @anorderofdumplings

WHEN IT’S GOOD IT’S GREAT

MANGO SALSA

FIRE ROASTED ONION

SKIRT STEAK

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