The Culinary Adventures of Chef Celestino Drago

Do you remember the first dish you made on your own?

I remember I was getting bored of my mom's food because she was making the same things all the time. The pasta with bits of basil was done one way. The baked pasta was always done the same. She made a lot of soups. When it was fava bean season. We would eat a lot of fava beans. I thought, "Why doesn't she make something else?" So when she wasn't looking, I would slice some sausage and I would throw it in the tomato sauce. I would chop little cubes of a hard cheese and I would put it inside. She would ask, "Why are you doing that?" I guess it was in my blood, to create.

Everybody had to learn to do everything. Cooking was a big part of the day. I am the oldest of eight kids. I got a lot of attention from my mom. She taught me how to make a bed. She taught me to do all the things around the house. My father gave me a little piece of land to garden and he taught me how to plant tomatoes and basil. Then I was responsible for that part of the yard. I learned when to water, where to put the poles, and how to tie up the plant. He would say, "You need to know how to do everything."

I remember in the time of war the people with money who lived in town, they were coming to us. They can not eat their money. We knew how to grow wheat, how to make the bread, and how to make everything. It had a big influence on me. My brothers and sister grew up with he same thing. I have known since I was a little kid how to get the milk out of a goat. I went there with my daughter and showed her how to do it. I know how to make wine.

Growing up, the only thing we would buy was salt and sugar. Every other thing was made at the house. Then you learn the importance of ingredients.

What made you decide to move to LA?

From Sicily I went to Pisa and Tuscany. I was studying to become a mechanical engineer. I went to school from nine in the morning until five in the afternoon. I wasn't happy with the campus, but I didn't want to disappoint my parents. We had an agreement.

I met people in a restaurant and I told them, "I want to do something at night." I didn't want to be on the campus and go around with the guys and get in trouble. At the restaurant, I started by peeling potatoes, washing the dishes, whatever I could do to help. By the time school was done, I was the pasta chef for the restaurant.

When I finished school, I was one of the best students. I got a job offer to work at Piaggio, the scooter company. I turned it down to stay at the restaurant. The chef and the owner of the restaurant took me under their wing. They could see that I really wanted to be in this business. The chef started to buy me books to learn the basics. I started to learn what I would have to know to become a chef.

I was 21 years old when I became the chef of the restaurant. I would go there from seven in the morning until two at night. After a while they had to sell the restaurant and I went to work at another place about 30 minute drive from Pisa. One of our friends was working late at night. I went to pick him up. We had an accident. I broke my arm and my leg. I didn't tell my parents. They didn't want me to even be away from Sicily.

While I was recuperating with casts all over my body, this guy came to me and said, "We heard about you. We have a friend in Los Angeles who is looking for a young chef from Tuscany, that can cook Tuscan food." They were from Rome. The name of the restaurant was Osteria Romana Orsini on Pico. I went to the doctor and said, "Take this cast off." I got my passport in two days and came here with some bandages all over my arm and leg. I was not really to stay. I thought I would be here for a couple weeks to visit California, but once you come here you want to stay.

Drago in Santa Monica opened in 1991. And since then have opened several other restaurants. In that time, what have you done to honor the traditional food you grew up with, while staying relevant to how the taste of your customers changes?

You've got to have passion. You have to keep up. I always love the idea of having authentic Italian food with little variations with the ingredients or presentation. This is a contemporary looking dish (Chef Drago points to a pasta dish on the table.), but the ingredients are traditional. In Sicily all the ingredients are tossed in. For this dish I put the basil in the noodles, then toss the noodles with a little of the pesto sauce, and add the tomato and the almonds separately. We put the red sauce in the bottom of the plate with a beautiful green nest on top. It is garnished with ingredients that are inside the dish: almonds, crispy tomato skin, and some shaved parmesan cheese. It's a traditional dish with a beautiful presentation.

And then there are old recipes that people don't make anymore even in Italy. I love to dig for that and bring them back to the dining room table. I make it a little different, a little lighter, the way people want to eat now.

Your home in Sherman Oaks has a large fruit and vegetable garden. What are you growing now?

Right now I am pulling a lot of stuff out. I grow six or seven types of heirloom tomatoes. I grew so many this year that I was bringing them to the restaurant everyday. I grow green, red, and yellow bell peppers and a lot of spicy peppers: jalapeno, habanero, and Thai chile. Japanese eggplant, purple eggplant, and miniature baby eggplants. Three kinds of green beans.

How large is the plot you're working on?

I have a nice space. I can grow many things. Now squash. Three different kinds of zucchini, zucchini flowers. Arugula. All of the herbs. You name it. They are all there. Japanese cucumbers. I have grape vines. This year was not a very good year for our grapes.

And very year you go on a hunting trip in North Dakota. How do you feel that hunting influences your work as a chef?

In Sicily, I used to go with my uncle who was a hunter. When I came to this country, I was 22. In Italy you cannot get a gun license before 21. I never had my license to hunt in Italy. I always went along as a spectator. I love getting up in the morning, the walking, being in nature, and the cold. The first thing I did when I came here, I got a hunting license. I bought a shotgun and went with a friend of mine who was a chef at the restaurants where I worked. That was my introduction to hunting in the United States. At the time, we used to hunt right next to Magic Mountain. Just outside the park there were quail. There was everything. Now you have to go father away.

In North Dakota, I go with a a bunch of friends. I love every single thing about the trip- from eating to walking miles and miles and seeing the sunrise and the sunset. When we hunt we don't hear anything. You hear the wind. You don't hear the dog walking. You've got to be ready.

At the end of the day we get back to the lodge. We have cigars and we bring our wine. Where we stay in North Dakota, they do the cooking. The food is very homey, a lot of beef and short ribs. The night before we leave I cook a big dinner. I like to cook some of the things that we bagged: pheasants, geese, partridge, and grouse. It is so different that when you cook at the restaurant.

You have worked for many years with the National Kidney Foundation.

They started about 20 years ago. They invited me to be one of the restaurants at their event. I did it. I was working at the time at Chianti on Melrose. I have been participating every year since then. It is important to help raise money- for people dealing with health issues. With some charities it becomes more personal. The Kidney Foundation is one of them for me. I have a friend who had a kidney transplant.

What is next for the Drago company?

Try to pay the bills. Drago Centro has been here a year. Drago Santa Monica has been there 19 years. Enoteca Beverly Hills five years. It Pastaio 14. Celestino in Pasadena, which I sold to my brother has been there for 10 years. A few years ago I opened a bakery in Culver City called Dolce Forno. I have been doing food for Qantas Airline for six years. I make all the breads and breakfast pastries. Last year I started making all of the first class and business class entrees for United Airlines. I am enlarging the bakery. The next project is going to be a small place called Osteria Drago in Fashion Island, Newport Beach. We plan to open in the spring.

Is there an ingredient that is your new favorite?

I like to use a lot of spices. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I love cooking game. I love star anise, cinnamon, and cloves. For fresh herbs, basil is still my favorite.

I will tell you a little story about basil. When I can to this country in 1979, I was frustrated with the ingredients. Where I started working, they made risotto with Uncle Ben's rice. There was no radicchio. The first case of radicchio that came into the kitchen was like gold. We would cut it leaf by leaf with scissors. There was a dish in the main room called spaghetti checca: spaghetti with chopped fresh tomatoes, garlic, and basil. You don't cook the sauce. Then when we got to October that same dish became checole- that means no more basil and add black olives. Basil was only available in the summer months. I used to freeze basil. I would put some in oil trying to get it to last longer. Then I started to plant basil in pots in my window and it was there all the time.

In 1983, the region of Liguria in Italy they did a promotion here to promote the region: the food, the wine, and tourism. They brought some chefs to LA and had a pesto contest. There were over 80 chefs competing from all over California with over 40 kinds of basil from all year round. Three years before, there was almost no fresh basil. That day we had 40 different kinds. I won the contest.

Chefs began opening up a dialogue with the farmers. I was bringing seeds from Italy asking can you plant this eggplant for us, "Can you plant this arugula?" Now we have everything available in California all year round.

Drago Centro is located downtown at 525 South Flower Street. A full listing of Chef Drago's restaurant locations: here.