Kurt Spataro...Chews it up

We sent Steve LaRosa to find out what makes Kurt Spataro one of Sacramento’s top restaurateurs. Formal training? No. Extensive studies, yes.

Steve La Rosa: Yes or no question.... I don’t know if this is a matter of national security, but weren’t you formerly in the Secret Service?

SL: How many bad guys did you kill?

KS: I died a few times onstage, but as far as I know, I never killed anyone.

SL: For the unaware, please explain.

KS: In the ’80s, I had even bigger hair than now and I had to do something with it, so we formed a band called Secret Service.

SL: So you were servicing your hair…

KS: More or less…I had the sparkly jacket, the skinny tie, the pointed shoes…the whole deal.

SL: Is that the first time you met the singer, whom you wooed and wed?

KS: Yeah, I basically got to know her because she joined the band.

KS: Cathleen O’Neal

SL: AKA Kitty O’Neal?

SL: So, images come to mind of you at home, cooking over a hot stove, while she sings sassy torch songs, seated atop your granite slab kitchen counter….are we close?

KS: (Deadpan) That’s perfectly accurate.

SL: How many restaurants have you opened in your approximately 25-year career?

KS: A lot. If you count openings, closings and reconcepted restaurants, it’s close to twenty.

SL: How many are currently in operation?

KS: Ten, including Cosmo Café.

SL: Tell me how extensive your training and research is?

KS: I consider myself self-taught. I’ve worked for some talented chefs, which is training through apprenticeship, but I have no formal culinary education.

SL: But I know you travel the globe to do research.

KS: Right. It’s partly to compensate for my lack of formal education. I’ve participated in numerous culinary tours and worked in restaurants abroad to fill in the gaps.

SL: That, coupled with your obvious success, says a lot about drive and natural talent.

KS: I have a lot of drive…maybe obsession is more accurate. Natural talent? I hope I have some.

SL: Most amazing anecdote?

KS: It might be the flood in the ’80s. There were torrential rains and the storm drains backed up at Paragary’s to the extent that there was six inches of water in the dining room. Three or four tables were undeterred. They weren’t leaving. It was like they were on the Titanic. Off came the shoes and they were ankle deep in water.

KS: I had a catering gig where I had to prepare, deliver and plate 800 desserts at Cal Expo. I had a hair brained idea that I was going to prepare a peach tart tatin. There was a curtained-off area where I was to work. We had forty eight-foot tables covered with plates as far as the eye could see. The event was behind schedule. I brought the desserts warm in molds. Our curtained off area had no light. It was pitch dark. The caterers said, “You’re on.” By that time, the desserts had gone ice cold and they were rock hard. The caramel at the bottom of the ramekins had hardened to the texture of rock candy. We had to serve ice cream garnish, a sauce and a lavender flower and we had to dig the desserts out of all 800 of them.

KS: Above Esquire Grill, on the 14th floor, there is a Chamber of Commerce banquet room where we were serving 80 people one night. There is no kitchen there. We prep downstairs in the restaurant and bring it up the elevator and plate in an area off the banquet room. After the salads had gone out, we called down to the kitchen to send up the entrees. Long story short, the staff and food ended up stuck in the freight elevator for about an hour.

SL: I’ll have another tasty morsel please.

KS: I catered my niece’s wedding at the Old Sugar Mill. There’s no kitchen there. Nothing. Not even four walls and a ceiling. We were in an alleyway between two buildings, it was cold and drizzling and we were in the dark, armed only with a couple of flashlights. Because it was my niece’s wedding, I wanted to do something special so I did some fancy, intricate platings with fancy garnishes. We poured cooking oil into a Weber grill in order to create sufficient heat to boil pasta. We managed to cook some meat, but when we arrived at the staging area, the head table was missing so the food languished until we could serve the bridal party first.

SL: The exciting, fast-track life of a chef. It ain’t all glamour, glitter and flambé, is it?

SL: What’s interesting or new about dining in Sac? Any new trends?

KS: Wine bars, which I enjoy. What’s always been curious to me is why there aren’t more small guys doing interesting things. I went to Masullo Pizza on Riverside recently. It’s a small-scale neighborhood spot that was different. Something that Sacramento needs more of?

SL: Chefs you admire?

KS: Locally…Biba, Mai Pham, Rick Mayhan, Lena Fat. In the Bay Area, I’ve been profoundly influenced by Alice Waters (Chez Panisse)

SL: Are you involved with the new project—Cosmo Cafe?

KS: I’m an owner. I’ve developed the menu. I’ve hired the chefs and have been working with them to develop the techniques, recipes, plating, etc. I procured much of the equipment… every spoon, toothpick and paper cup at a level of minutia that you wouldn’t believe.

SL: Favorite dive?

KS: I like Jamie’s a lot, and the Back Door.

SL: What do you eat at home?

KS: I live with a person who is very nearly a vegetarian. We usually eat either fish or something seasonal. We shop every day for our dinner. We text each other until we figure out the menu.

KS: I love chocolate. The more bitter the better. I love coffee. I don’t crave junk food. I love pizza.

SL: As a musician, what musicians do you admire?

KS: Sinatra, Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, Miles Davis.

SL: The Osmonds are noticeably absent from that list.

KS: That’s an oversight on my part.

SL: Other unknown talents?

KS: I’m able to translate whale sounds into several different languages. Also, I can identify rare species of insects while blindfolded.

SL: What does the LuxLife mean to you?

KS: I enjoy luxury, but I don’t need it in my daily life. I like staying in world-class hotels and have done so around the globe. And flying in a private plane to play a round of golf at Spyglass or surfing in Costa Rica. I like Armani too.

SL: LuxLife extravagance?

KS: It’s easy for me to spend lots of money eating and drinking in some of the best restaurants in the world, and there’s something indulgent and fun in doing so. It’s the entire dining experience.

SL: And the question we ask all chefs—Did you own a Hasbro Easy Bake Oven as a child?

KS: No, but my sister did.

SL: Did she allow you to use it?

KS: Yes and at the age of seven, I was able to bake a Grand Marnier soufflé and she never let me use it again.

SL: Note: We think Kurt was employing the “fake-a-bake” on that one.