Ristorante Barolo's Soul

When in New York, just mention this address – 398 West Broadway – and anybody would know where you are going. You will find yourself in the fashionable quarter known as Soho, among fine boutiques and art galleries, and across the spacious front of a restaurant.


  Barolo is not just a wine, a delicious and sensual red wine from Piedmont, but the place to be in Soho for a taste of traditional Italian cuisine with a sassy twist.

Established in 1990, Ristorante Barolo has a reputation of excellence among local and international guests for its exquisite Northern Italian cuisine complemented by an award winning wine list of over 1200 precious wines…all selected by a Master Sommelier and personally tasted by the staff!


As I am sipping a delicate and light glass of Soave wine, sitting in the first room of the restaurant, my old friend, the Executive Chef Maurizio Marfoglia, is in the kitchen preparing a nice filetto with a green peppercorn sauce for the owner, Paolo Secondo, who is watching a soccer game on a giant screen. The same screen attracts hundreds and hundreds of clients during the summer when it is placed by the entrance to show the activity surrounding the fountain in the back garden.


Maurizio Marfoglia, who is from a small town just north of Milan, has trained in the best kitchens throughout Italy, France and Germany. He launched a successful early career owning two popular Italian restaurants by the age of 27and his success continued when, in 1994, he ventured to New York City. Since then he has had an amazing career as Executive Chef at some of the city’s best Italian restaurants including Sette MoMA. At Ristorante Barolo since 2001, Maurizio continues to innovate and perfect his specialty, Northern Italian cuisine, while overseeing a staff of thirty cooks in his kitchen.

He has also served as the private chef to the Italian Ambassador to the United Nations and taught at the Cooking Institute of America.


It is amazing and unbelievable at the same time, thinking that he was destined to become a dentist! And this is how I met him, years and years ago, as an assistant to his father at his dentist studio…but that didn’t last long and Maurizio ran away to the kitchen! Because I know him so well it’s hard to interview him, he’s joking around and making me laugh, giving me silly answers, challenging me to get anything out of what he is saying. The reality is that Maurizio likes to play and his ability to do is reflected in his menus and his recipes. “I like to reinvent classic Italian cooking by using traditional recipes revamped with new or unknown ingredients,” Maurizio declares, “see for example my green apple ravioli served with a lamb ragù, or the chocolate tagliolini, which by the way are not my invention but it is an old recipe that has been forgotten.”

Having been a vegetarian for many years, Maurizio loves vegetables and is always looking for new ones; his most recent find are purple potatoes.


“Looking for new ingredients is probably the best part of an Executive Chef’s job,” he admits, “You speak with the purveyors, you hear what they have and from there you start to create something new. Sometimes I get really drunk at night, then the following morning I have inspiration for a new dish…” Of course this last part is a joke!

Maurizio is indeed an artist who, instead of having colorful paints, uses food to put together real masterpieces for the taste buds but also for the eyes. There was a time, a year or two back, that Maurizio, was experimenting with geometric food and pasta & fagioli was served as a small jello cube that, when pierced, released the pasta and bean in the plate. The idea was great but the preparation process was too messy so the dish is not on Barolo’s menu anymore.


But the Executive Chef is not only a creator of recipes, he is also a manager and a teacher who overviews a kitchen of numerous cooks who have to feed up to 450 people at a time. Every April, depending on the weather, Barolo opens the doors of its outdoor garden a favored destination of many. Hostesses get dollar bills from clients who want to sit there and enjoy the nice weather surrounded by cherry trees while sipping a glass of Barolo.


“Every dish on our menu complements a good glass of Barolo,” Maurizio explains, “we have a fillet in a Barolo sauce that is out of this world. But, you know that I am a bit unconventional, I think that a nice glass of young Barolo would go perfectly with a strong fish soup…I know many would hate me for that, the idea that fish goes with white and all, but I think they will marry really well.” It’s a belief that can be changed as the role of the Executive Chef is also that of an educator who, combines for us, ingredients we would have never thought would go well together. Who would have imagined that parmigiano reggiano ice cream would be a delight? I had to try it from Maurizio to believe it.


“Yes, I am the soul of this restaurant,” he continues to joke, but in reality he is telling the truth…no actually a half truth, because the location of the restaurant is important at 50%. Ristorante Barolo is an exceptional setting for a formal dinner or a romantic rendez vous, but if the food were not as sensational as it is your experience there would not be a complete success.