Recipe for Success: Marcello Aquino

Marcello Aquino

Owner and chef, Marcello Ristorante

4155 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota

Q: What brought you to Sarasota?
A: I came down with my family. My dad sold his business in New York and wanted to retire. I was 18 years old when we moved, but I didn’t actually live here until later. I went to culinary school on the east coast for three years at the Florida Culinary Institute. I’ve been working in restaurants since I was 15 years old. My dad’s buddies owned big catering halls and restaurants in Long Island, so I worked for them through high school.

Q: What was your biggest food influence?
A: Pasquale’s Kitchen Express — it was a Canadian cooking show on channel 13 in New York. The guy would sing while he cooked and I loved it. As far as real influence, that would be my uncle Joe Mandaro in New York. He was my dad’s best friend and he always seemed cool in the kitchen — nobody is cool in the kitchen. He ran the business so well and was so good at what he did. He oozed calmness while everyone was running around like crazy. I learned from him what I do now, like the tableside service we do here, that’s from him.

Q: Do you remember the first meal you prepared for someone?
A: When I took over as chef at my mom’s restaurant I made a big seafood dish for a friend who was dining at the restaurant. I made him something similar to the things I do today like an Italian-style seafood stew. I remember putting the plate down and my grandmother, who was sitting a table nearby, started crying. She was so proud.

Q: What was your restaurant experience prior to opening Marcello?
A: I was running places for other people. I never planned on owning my own restaurant actually. When my dad died shortly after moving here, my mom bought a restaurant called Ferrari’s and needed some help, so I was there. That was 2003.

Q: When did you open Marcello?
A: Two years ago, in 2013. My mom married and moved back to New York. When I had Ferrari’s to myself, I realized this was never really mine. It was too big for me to do what I was doing, so I decided to start from scratch. I bought back the old Ferrari’s building. It was a shell, so I got to design it just the way I wanted. The biggest thing for me was to have an open kitchen — I want to see what’s going on in my dining room. This way, I can cook all of the food and still be around the customers.

Q: What is your favorite thing about owning a restaurant?
A: I like the ability, because it’s such a small restaurant, to do things the way I think is right. I can take the extra time, put in the personalized service, cherry pick my staff and spend half the night out in the dining room with my customers.

Q: What is your favorite kitchen gadget?
A: No gadgets. A sharp, 10-inch French knife, a chef’s knife.

Q: If you had to eat one thing on your menu for the rest of your life, what would it be?
A: Probably the shellfish dish, cioppino. I make it with shellfish, clams, mussels, shrimp and whatever fresh fish I get that day — I switch it up. I go across the street to Walt’s Fish Market every day to get fresh fish. It reminds me of Christmas. We eat fish on Christmas Eve, and I remember my grandma coming and moving in with us for a week during Christmas. She’d be making a fish and would soak it for three days in the basement. Shellfish always reminds me of family holidays.

Q: What do you always have on hand in your kitchen?
A: Olive oil. That stays on the kitchen table like the way most people leave ketchup on the table. Olive oil goes on everything I eat.

Q: Describe Marcello with one song.
A: Anything Sinatra.