Illustration: Adam Mazur
In the last year, Stefano Secchi lived through every chef’s nightmare: His Flatiron restaurant,Massara, was starting to hit its stride (and had just become profitable) when a kitchen fire turned into a disaster that kept the business closed for a year. The night it happened, Secchi had been flying to Italy for a wedding. “I landed and had ten missed calls and 25 texts,” he recalls. “I’m asking my team, like, ‘Guys, can I come back?’ and they’re like ‘You can do nothing right now.” When the restaurant at last reopened earlier this month, Secchi was once again flying to Italy. “I have major PTSD because the exact same thing happened last time,” he says, joking (maybe). Of course, Secchi is also the envy of many restaurateurs since his first New York restaurant,Rezdôra, remains, seven years in, one of the city’s few truly impossible reservations, full every night for the simple reason that it is very good. Next, he’ll take over one of downtown’s most storied locations — the former Gotham Bar and Grill — but before that, he spent a week this summer getting an early (literally) jump on marathon training, readying some new menus, and trying with varying degrees of success to sneak into his restaurants unnoticed, both to cook and to eat.
Tuesday, June 23I wake up very early. We have kids, so we have very little free time. I’m up around 4:30 or 5 to meditate. I read the New York Times, I have a quick cup of coffee — an a.m. moka pot, always, always, always — and then I go on a run to clear my mind. Running that early is amazing because no one’s around. It’s perfect and you’re not dodging people
When I get home, colazione is an omelet with havarti and avocado. This is my go-to breakfast, and I used to make it all the time, but my wife has stepped in lately. Her omelet game is next level. She makes it and we split it
In the middle of the day, I stopped by L’Appartement 4F in Manhattan. It’s cool that they’re in the space that used to be James Beard’s house. I had an almond croissant and an espresso, no sugar. They don’t overcomplicate things. I dig it
We’re doing a menu flip at Rezdôra, and lunch was tasting lots of dishes for the summer menu: tortello di friggione and ippoglosso, which is halibut with fennel and pomorodini. When you think of halibut, you think of northern European countries like England, Scotland, or Norway. We didn’t really have halibut in Italy; when we did get it, it would be at the big fish market in Milano: This one comes from Norway, this one comes from the deep waters of western Spain
Meanwhile, I also have Parmigiano-Reggiano, which first became a ritual for me when I was in culinary school at CIA and again when I was cooking in Italy. I break off nice pieces and leave them on a cutting board for my fellow cooks
Right before p.m. service, I always have tea, a combination of jasmine pearls and English Breakfast. My mom is English, and I picked up the tea habit from her. I always have some new type of cheese with tea: Parmigiano or Manchego or a bit of New Zealand cheddar — whatever’s interesting that I’ve picked up from the store. It’s a weird combination of sweet and salty just before dinner service, and it’s absolutely delicious. If someone did tea with cheese selections, it could become a thing. Maybe not L’Appartement 4F-level lines, but something epic.
Wednesday, June 24A.m. moka at 4:30. Go for a run
When I get back, we have some berries from the Union Square Greenmarket, so I mix those with a few nuts and yogurt. We make our own yogurt with milk from Battenkill Farms. We have a yogurt machine from a company called Luvele. We get the best milk we can find, and I do a 24-hour yogurt. It’s really rich. We put it in the fridge and let it rest for 12 more hours, pour off any whey, and then whisk it until it becomes really thick. It doesn’t have any stabilizers or additives, and my kids are big fans.
The wood-burning oven is fired up at Massara, and we are doing a few menu-test items before reopening. It will be great to get back into our old home. We have some fennel from Campo Rosso Farm — I’m a huge fan of what they do — and I must have eaten seven pizzette for lunch as we worked through the dough and tried a new seasonal option: Sungold purée, spring onion, mozzarella di bufala, and guanciale that melts in so well
“Dinner” was an espresso because I was still full from lunch, and I tasted purées and pastas at Rezdôra during service
Thursday, June 25An a.m. moka, an early-morning run, an omelet
Another espresso at 10 a.m. at Eataly with my friend, Leonardo, who runs the cooking class there. We have a coffee, a laugh, and cry — really cry — about how Italy didn’t even qualify for the World Cup for the third time in a row
In the afternoon, we have another tasting for Massara’s return. This time it’s pasta and fish on the wood-burning grill. The grill is the reason we had to leave, but there’s nothing like the live-fire flavor, especially when we’re talking about food from Campania. We’re so happy to be back in the space, but the city never makes it easy, especially with permitting for a small business. What was supposed to be a three- or four-month closure became a full year
Dinner was at 8 p.m. at Rezdôra. I try to do these visits incognito, but it rarely works. I never used to eat in the restaurant at all because I work six days a week and I’m there so often: Why would I want to go to eat during my time off? But eating at your own place is the best thing you can do: I get so much out of these dinners. We just celebrated seven years at the restaurant. How do you keep the execution at a high level? This is a great way to stay on top of everything, experience it as a guest, and run through anything we can improve on.
We had a new “mozzarella di bufala with pomodorini in tre modi,” classic gnocco fritto (can’t miss), and a salad with fennel and stone fruit. Pastas were the grandma, pisarei with braised duck ragù, and tagliolini with ragù Modenese; and secondi brought cotoletta “modo Bolognese” with Parmigiano and prosciutto, cipollini onions, and the last of the asparagus with “spungole” or morels. Our executive pastry chef, Dominique Canvin, sent out a bunch of new desserts to try along with the warm olive-oil cake.
Friday, June 26Two a.m. mokas but no run because I sleep in. It takes me longer to recover after a night out these days. I used to be able to stay out until four in the morning and get to work on the line at eight. It was so punishing, but after drinking four espressos and like eight quarts of water, you’d sweat everything out on the line and be fine by the end of service. Not anymore
No breakfast because I make a farmers’ market run for the restaurants. Have another espresso at Rezdôra around lunch lineup and then get to do something special in the afternoon. We are huge Knicks fans, and the championship trophy was on display at Tiffany’s. We did a segment with Josh Hart once for our socials, and we still go back and forth over our mutual love of wine. The guy really knows his shit, which is not the case with every athlete wine drinker. The trophy is pretty incredible up close.
Raphaëlle Bergeon is the head chef at Tiffany’s and runs the space as part of Daniel Boulud’s group. We have “tea time” at the café. I have jasmine and my wife, Lauren, has an English Breakfast. Our boys have hot chocolate, and the food just keeps coming. An egg with casandwiches, macarons, petit-fours, so much. It is a great afternoon — many thanks to Daniel and the amazing Raphaëlle. Merci, merci, merci
Saturday, June 27Sleep in again before getting the kids ready for the farmers’ market. It’s a tradition for us to go together as a family on Saturday mornings. We make all the usual stops: Eckerton Hill Farm, which has the best tomatoes during the summer season; Lani’s; and Norwich Meadows, among them. I grab the Apé out of the garage to pick up all of the produce for the restaurants and the kids jump in back. They love it
Breakfast is samples of smoked duck, berries, a croissant from Dominique Ansel Workshop (no one does it better) and another espresso. Brunch is a new “focaccia di mais” tasting at Rezdôra, and then brunch service
Lauren and I have been trying to do at least one date night a month. We’re working on making that more frequent. Tonight we go to Lex Yard: I hadn’t tried it yet, and we don’t head up above 23rd Street that often. But Mike Anthony is serving a really great burger there. We have a lobster roll as well, and he loads us up with desserts before we head over to Carnegie Hall for a concert
Sunday, June 28Two a.m. Mokas and no breakfast
It’s my day off, but I’ve been going to Massara because the pizza dough is a beast. You really can’t miss a day. We have an 18-hour ferment, then we roll out the pizza and let it ferment some more. I live close enough to the restaurant that I can go over and do it quickly and try to give our chefs a little bit of time off on a Sunday
I try to take Sunday off, period, but I’m still cooking all day. I got home and started some pomodoro sauce with a soffrito of carrots, onions, and celery. It’s Northern Italian pomodoro. Then it’s grilled cheese for the squad. Remember, I have kids so I’m not adding any extra bullshit like caramelized onions to my grilled cheese. I found the way to make a real crowdpleaser is to use two cheeses: Hhavarti, not aged but a young havarti, and tons of yellow cheddar. I toast it on thick-sliced potato bread in a combination of brown butter and olive oil and take the top of my tea kettle to push the sandwich down on top so I get this beautiful crisp outside while it’s soft in the middle. I know I’m really in business when my kids ask for seconds and thirds and I’m like, Fellas, we’ve got to eat dinner tonight, too.
I’m starting to train for the marathon and get my miles up, so we have a bigger dinner than normal: spaghetti with the slow-cooked pomodoro and Parmigiano, cod grilled with flat beans from the farmers’ market, and a glass of Damonte-Secchi Barolo from Piemonte. My son’s godfather is making Barolo so I taste it after dinner
Our Sunday tradition is Caffè Panna after dinner. Our passeggiata, or walk, is a must. Sometimes the line is crazy, though — Hayley has built something special
Monday, June 29Up at 4:30 for an a.m. moka and a long run; blueberries, banana, and yogurt for breakfast; and an early lunch of pasta pomodoro with a salad of avocado, Little Gem from Campo Rosso, and canned sardines. I love tinned seafood. One of my guys fires it for me. We usually have the pomodoro simmering for six or seven hours by the time I get there for lunch. They had just puréed it and infused all the basil, so I’m like, I’ve got to have it. It’s so good
Dinner is family meal at Rezdôra. One of the cooks makes pasta with cimi di rapa e salsiccia, or broccoli rabe and sausage. And I have to say it is actually not bad — I can be a little critical when we make pasta
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