With The Michelin Awards About To Drop, Newport Beach’s Chef Sandro Nardone Dreams Of Stars

Every chef or cook dreams of someday being recognized by the Michelin Guide for their cooking.

Speaking with Chef Sandro Nardone, chef and owner of Bello Chef’s Table in Newport Beach, he’ll tell you something similar, although he’ll also say that you’re usually working so hard it often falls off the radar.

His restaurant has been included in the famed restaurant guide for the past two years but has not yet been awarded a star. This year’s guide will be announced Tuesday evening.

“Do I wanna star? Who doesn't wanna star?" he laughs.

But just being included in the California Restaurant category for 2021 and 2022 was remarkable to him.

"It's something that you never think is gonna happen to you,” he says.

He recalls being awoken early in the morning, surprised by a phone call informing him that he’d been recognized. He thought someone was playing a prank on him, so he turned off his phone so as not to disturb his slumber any further.

But as the text messages continued to pour in, Nardone realized this was, in fact, real life.

When he got to the restaurant that day, the staff were celebrating by drinking champagne.

Pasta all'Amatriciana, Bello Chef's Table

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Courtesy of Bello Chef's Table

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The sense of achievement, he says, trickled down to his entire team, serving as an instant morale booster.

“It was a big achievement that made everybody happy, because then you see the hard work that you put into the restaurant," he says.

As word spread, Nardone says reservations poured in at the restaurant, located in a large shopping area in Newport Beach hills, bringing in locals and people willing to travel.

“People say that they never knew about us because we are a neighborhood restaurant. Some people live close by and have never been. But then people travel from different parts of Los Angeles and San Diego."

Culinary pyrotechnics

Nardone was born in Italy in the town Atina, located 50 minutes north of Naples and an hour and 20 minutes south of Rome, “basically in between,” he says.

His background is reflected in the food he serves. “The core is always Italian, but we play around with different kinds of ingredients,” Nardone explains. Informed by seasonality and relying on purveyors who source from local farmers' markets, guests can choose between a regular set menu and a prix-fixe Chef’s table omakase experience.

Currently run by Chef de Cuisine Zach Scherer, the current set menu reflects a series of signature dishes along with a rotating weekly menu highlighting different aspects of Italian cooking. Items such as the crudo (raw Italian fish similar to ceviche) and their house-made gelato are both repurposed based on seasonal availability and remain on the menu throughout the year.

Bello Chef's Table, Newport Beach.

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Derek Van Oss

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Courtesy of Bello's Chef Table

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“Italian food is very simple. We work with the best ingredients. We then incorporate those ingredients and techniques to achieve certain results. That’s where they're transformed,” Nardone says.

The alchemy that he refers to earned the attention of the Michelin Guide judges, who referred to Sandro’s cooking as “culinary pyrotechnics.”

Panna Cotta, Bello Chef's Table

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Courtesy of Bello Chef's Table

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Nardone, however, eschews experimental swings in molecular gastronomy, instead remaining sacramentally devoted to the classics of Italian cooking.

He mentions their all'Amatriciana, a classic Italian pasta recipe now quite popular in Rome, which originates from the town of Amatrice. He says he remains true to the traditional recipe, with a tomato-based sauce containing guanciale (salt-cured pork), pecorino romano cheese, and a hint of chiles for a subtle added kick.

California dreams

Nardone has spent the last ten years in restaurants in Southern California as well as growing up visiting family in Orange County (Newport and Laguna). He recalls falling in love with avocado at an early age after eating guacamole here. This profound effect stayed with him even back home in Italy.

“Once you taste something and like it, you crave it.”

Today he crafts recipes based on his specific food memories as well as flavors commonly found in Southern California, such as Asian-style cooking.

Such examples include everything from the panna cotta made with yuzu to fish sauce, which Nardone points out is not dissimilar to an ingredient found in Roman cooking called Colatura di alici that’s made from anchovy drippings that have been fermented in chestnut barrels.

Chef Sandro Nardone, chef and owner of Bello Chef’s Table in Newport Beach

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Courtesy of Bello Chef's Table

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He says uncovering such similarities in ingredients provides the perfect platform for incorporating different tastes and flavors and having them come together as one.

It's a story that many Southern California residents perhaps share, played out through a series of different commutes through the urban sprawl. Culture is fluid, and banh mi shops are a stone's throw away from the best Michoacán style carnitas tacos you’ve ever tasted.

Wishing on a star this year

While Nardone hopes his restaurant will be awarded a star this year, he says he pushes his staff to work at that level daily.

“We try to serve as if we had a star,” he remarks.

“We continue doing the job the way it was. Even if we didn't get this recognition, we would've still done what we're doing and tried to push harder and harder, cause that's the way you achieve the best.”