Fratelli La Bufala’s recent international cooking competition in Naples, Italy celebrated its chefs’ talents while inspiring creativity – and the Miami Beach restaurant is reaping the benefits.
Miami Beach, Fla. – Just when Miami had fallen head-over-heels for the Fratelli La Bufala (FLB), an authentic Neapolitan pizzeria, Chef Francesco Moccia, the winner of the chain’s recent cooking international competition, showed up to improve upon its already- inspired menu.
“I will be in Miami for about two months,” he explains. “My goal is to introduce new dishes and make sure that the quality of the food and the level of the cuisine are at the highest standards.”
Chef Moccia has been with Naples, Italy-based Fratelli La Bufala since its inception (around three years ago) and worked at all of the company’s eateries, which total close to 30. “My job is to go around all the locations, supervise the kitchens and introduce new items on the menus while making sure everything meets the high standards of our company,” he says.
“The company is based on a tradition of innovation,” says Luca D'Angelo, co-owner and operations manager of the Miami restaurant and CEO of M6 USA, the company responsible for Fratelli La Bufala. To that end, he and others in the corporate office decided to host a contest for their top chefs this past May. “We thought it would stimulate their sense of belonging and get them to provide some new ideas,” he says.
Fratelli La Bufala offered 18 chefs the opportunity to participate in the competition. Each chef was asked to prepare an appetizer, a pasta dish, a main course, a side order, a salad and a dessert. They were also asked to make an “alternative” main course, lacking the company’s signature elements: buffalo milk-based cheeses and buffalo meat.
The contestants weren’t given much prep time. “It was held at Fratelli La Bufala in Aversa, which is a small town near Naples,” Chef Moccia recalls. “We were told only a few hours before about the competition so we didn't have much time to prepare recipes. Most of my winning recipes were created in my mind flying from Milan to Naples. A lot was based on improvisation.”
Plato, credited with the quote “Necessity, who is the mother of invention,” would probably agree that the lack of prep time worked on Chef Moccia’s behalf. “I was first in the appetizer and salad categories and I ranked either second or third in all of the others,” the chef says with pride. “It's a great satisfaction considering that there were 18 of us competing.”
A panel of food critics and judges decided his blue-ribbon appetizer winner was the caprese impanata di bufala, a small piece of buffalo mozzarella stuffed with fresh tomatoes, basil, oregano and extra virgin olive oil then coated with bread crumbs and grated buffalo cacio cheese and lightly fried. “It's a knockout!” he says.
His croccantina di spinaci con yogurt di bufala also won first prize; it’s a salad made with fresh spinach and a julienne of fresh Champignon mushrooms tossed with buffalo ham and buffalo yogurt.
“The winning dishes will be part of the new menu, and each winner also received a cash prize,” Chef Moccia says with a smile.
“Francesco is one of our most dynamic chefs,” D'Angelo says. “I had a feeling he would be one of the winners. I’m very happy with the outcome. It was the first time we did it and we’ll do it again. There was tons of enthusiasm, and I thought it was a nice way to create a sense of belonging. And I loved the novelty of the ideas.”
Now Chef Moccia is in Miami, helping others serve up winning meals. For years, Fratelli La Bufala concentrated its focus on the Italian market, but now that it has locations in Miami, London, Hanover and Barcelona. D'Angelo explains that each location is responsible for maintaining authenticity while catering to the local markets, “The bulk of our business is still in Italy, but the Miami restaurant has an obligation to cater to the tastes of the Miami public.”
“In the U.S., there is a huge Italian community that is disappointed overall with the number of ‘Americanized’ Italian restaurants,” the chef says. “We are among the very few restaurants in the U.S. that offer authentic traditional Italian cuisine from the South of Italy. The flavor and the nutritional factors of the bufala cheeses and meats combined with the tradition of hearty and home-style Neapolitan recipes is the winning formula.”
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