Dué Cucina: Co-Founder Filippo Fiori’s Journey from Nuclear Engineer to Seattle Restaurateur
Dué Cucina co-founder Filippo Fiori joins us for this episode of the Exploring Washington State Podcast.
We start the episode hearing about Flippo’s educational journey After completing a Ph.D in nuclear science at Tsinghua University in China and appearing on a Chinese TV cooking show Filippo and his soon to be business partner Davide Macchi started discussing what it would look like to open a restaurant.
We hear about their data driven decision making process to open a restaurant and deciding on Seattle. Did I forget to mention Davide has a MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. that’s right a nuclear scientist and a MIT MBA have passion for food.
Not just any food Italian food. Good Italian cuisine that is full of top quality fresh ingredients. Opening in 2016 and now with 3 locations Dué Cucina is rapidly becoming a neighborhood classic.
Find out more about Dué Cucina and what Filippo and Davide have planned for the future. After you finish this episode you will need to visit Dué Cucina and find out what authentic Italian pasta made without compromise tastes like.
Dué Cucina Filippo Fiori Episode Transcript
Filippo Fiori [00:00:00]:
I as an engineer, I’m a nuclear engineer by training, but bachelor Wait.
Scott Cowan [00:00:04]:
Wait. Wait. Wait. Did you just say nuclear engineer?
Todd Phillips [00:00:25]:
Welcome to the Exploring Washington State podcast. Here’s your host, Scott Cowan.
Scott Cowan [00:00:31]:
So my guest today is Filippo with Due Cucina. I hope I did both those names justice. Can you introduce yourself and give us a little bit of your backstory pre Seattle? I’d like to hear a little bit. Is when we talked on the phone the other day, to me, you’ve done some really unusual things. You might not think so, but I thought so.
Filippo Fiori [00:00:53]:
Well, I mean, my parents think they are very unusual, so I probably probably you are right. And and I still don’t know what are we gonna what I’m gonna do when I when I grow up. Well, thanks for having me. My name is Filippo. You said it right. Hey. The name of the company is Due Cocina, and you said it right. So that make me think that you probably went to Italy a few times.
Filippo Fiori [00:01:12]:
No. No? No. Well, then, you know how to speak it anyway. No. Before, do it, I’m an Italian. I love cooking. I’m an engineer by training. And, basically, when I start engineering, I was, like, 18, I said, well, when I make my money as an engineer and I’m 30, 40 years old, I will open a restaurant.
Filippo Fiori [00:01:36]:
That exactly didn’t happen. I opened the first restaurant with my business partner, Davide, when I was, 30 with no money whatsoever, but with a good background. You’re right. So I as an engineer, I’m a nuclear engineer by training but bachelor Wait.
Scott Cowan [00:01:52]:
Wait. Wait. Wait. Did you just say nuclear engineer?
Filippo Fiori [00:01:54]:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Nuclear engineer. So, basically, I got my bachelor. And then, because for me, it was a way for, traveling the world. You know?
Scott Cowan [00:02:05]:
Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:02:05]:
We don’t have nuclear power in Italy, but we have a very good, education system for, nuclear engineering. And so I said, you know, I get this one, and that’s my ticket for the world. And indeed, it was. I got my my bachelor thesis in Canada, and then, I worked over there for a while. Got back in Italy for my master, still in nuclear engineering. Well, safety and nuclear engineering. And then I start traveling as a consultant for, University of Pisa, so research and consultant. I did that for, like, three years.
Filippo Fiori [00:02:35]:
So, you know, good stuff. Like, when you’re 25, 20 six, good stuff. You travel Argentina, China, US, whatever, Sweden. And, after a while, like, I decided to apply for PhD school Mhmm. Because, I had enough of Italy again. And, I fell in love with China during one of my trips, over there. You know, I applied to The US. So at a certain point, I said, you know what? Let me apply to China.
Filippo Fiori [00:03:03]:
Let’s see what they do. Let’s see what there is. And I found the school that it was, the MIT of Asia. I’m like, okay. That sounds pretty fair. And I got admitted. So it’s the Tsinghua University in Beijing, and it’s left now one of the top 10 in the world. So I was pretty, you know, lucky in the sense.
Filippo Fiori [00:03:21]:
And then, yeah, I I work I I I took my PhD there, for, like, three years. So this was, 02/2012 to 02/2016. And during the time over there, I we had this idea with my business partner. Now business partner before was just my best friend, but not just. He was my best friend. He was in Australia, so I went to visit him in Australia in Sydney, and, we said, can we have pasta for lunch? And he’s like, no. Super expensive or it’s super crappy. And I was like, well, then we should bridge it.
Filippo Fiori [00:03:53]:
You know? We should do something about it. Right. And then we decided to make this affordable, high quality and fast, business. So I went back this was in 02/2013, I believe. So we started talking and nurturing this idea. Of course, he was, you know, he was working in tech. I was taking my PhD, so nothing too serious, but, you know.
Scott Cowan [00:04:18]:
Right.
Filippo Fiori [00:04:19]:
And, that what happened happened that my wife, I was always complaining about bread in China, and, she gave me this book about baking from, Richard Bertinette, baking sourdough, and I started making bread at home. Now as an Italian, you you kinda know how to cook a little bit because, you know, it’s big family dinner, so you’re always there helping the grandma and so on. But as in particular, we had a wood fire home, and so I make pizza with my parents since I was four years old. So I always love baking.
Scott Cowan [00:04:50]:
Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:04:51]:
But never seriously, just baking. But my wife gave me this book and kinda changed everything. My wife was a big you call it foodie here. I like it more, gurman or like the word foodie, but just personal opinion. And, she come from a good background, so very good restaurant, expensive stuff that, you know, I never even tasted as much small town in Italy. And, I remember once I make this, mushroom risotto at home, and it was, like, only three three months dating probably. And I say, hey. This is restaurant eleven.
Filippo Fiori [00:05:24]:
And she’s like, nope. This is absolutely not restaurant eleven. Like, woah. Who am I dating here? She was so strict and firm, and then she pulled me straight. So at that point, I said, okay. You know what? My business partner was like, hey. If you wanna be a cook in the restaurant, you better make yourself an education. My wife was like, if you think that this is restaurant level, forget about it.
Filippo Fiori [00:05:45]:
So I got bought up books and books and books about cooking and the science behind it. And then I started teaching classes in a cultural center in China. I start with baking first because it was the one that I have more knowledge. And then in, like, in two, three years, I expanded to nine different classes that were called taste of Italy. So Uh-huh. Three recipes and, for every class, like, Taste of Italy Florence, Taste of Italy Milan. And those were open to international people as well as Chinese. It was a it’s a beautiful, cultural center called the Hutong or the courtyard in China.
Filippo Fiori [00:06:24]:
And, and then it came, like, out of the blue, somebody contact me on, the equivalent of, WhatsApp. No. WeChat. I think now many people know WeChat, the Right. Chinese messaging app. And I was on a trip in Vietnam with my wife. Well, yeah, it was already a wife, I believe. And, they were like, hey.
Filippo Fiori [00:06:45]:
We would like we are recording this, series of TV shows about cooking. We would like to have you part of it. And I’m like, it must be a scam or some student, so I don’t care. So after three weeks, I go back and my wife is like, hey. Did you ever contact them back? I’m like, no. Forget about it. I mean, what’s the point? And she’s like, you never know. So I contact back and they were indeed the biggest, one of the biggest studio in China, the equivalent of YouTube here.
Filippo Fiori [00:07:14]:
It was Lo TV. Then now I think they went burst, but they were huge. K. So I ended up doing, 12 series of TV shows with our without
Scott Cowan [00:07:25]:
How was that experience for you?
Filippo Fiori [00:07:26]:
Oh, man. That was fantastic. It was like, be yourself, be wild, enjoy every single moment. Because, you know, my Shanice wasn’t that great. I was being, like, seven, eight years old.
Scott Cowan [00:07:39]:
Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:07:40]:
Yeah. Good enough. But when they approached me and I went to this meeting and there was, like, four people just for, not for that, for scripting. Yeah. It was a script interview. I was like, I don’t know what’s going on. Let’s give everything I have. You know? And And they explained what they wanted to do.
Filippo Fiori [00:07:59]:
So basically, we were like, supposed to be six chef, old friend. They were going to either invite or going to the house of some VIP across Asia, like Korean, Taiwanese, and so on. And then two of us will, fight in a cooking contest. Okay. Of course, everything was kinda scripted, but we also, you know, give us some, freedom. And then they’re like, talk about yourself, or what do you do if this happen? And and they got me. I mean, they got me, I think, mostly because of the blue eyes that in China open a lot of of doors, not because I’m that fun or something. I don’t know.
Filippo Fiori [00:08:35]:
They they got me. And it was great, you know? You the first time, and at that time, you know, I didn’t realize how big it was. During the first recording, they flew us to Korea because it was a partnership with South Korea. On the flight, there were about 45 people in the team.
Scott Cowan [00:08:53]:
Oh.
Filippo Fiori [00:08:53]:
And while I ended up in the studio, I counted there was 37 cameras. I’m like, holy cow. And then I I’ve worked with my wife. My wife is Malaysian. I’ve worked with my wife. Hey. By the way, the presenter is, Thao, and she’s like, what? Are you kidding me? I’m like, yeah. Who’s this person? She’s like, she’s super famous.
Filippo Fiori [00:09:17]:
She’s from Taiwan. She’s like, okay. So we we after, like, one month of recording so it took, like, three months to do the 12 session all between Korea and and China. I went back once to the Beijing Airport, and I found my face on the on the billboard on advertisement. So you see me like this, like, oh, no. The hoodie covering myself because I was I was just shy and, but it wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t like a a breakthrough performance or, something that went viral and everybody knows you in the street. But there were a couple of instances in which people point a finger at me and they were watching this video. It was a it was a show that to be thought and to be consumer smartphone for people like, subway ride and stuff like that for, like, not even millennial, generations that, like, you know, 18 to 30 years old.
Filippo Fiori [00:10:09]:
Mhmm. But, yeah, it was kinda cool. You know, going to the airport, see your face there and going around to have a the best part for me was, like, makeup time. I had my other chef, like, three hours of a hairstylist, and I’m like, done.
Scott Cowan [00:10:23]:
Yeah. I’m both, done.
Filippo Fiori [00:10:25]:
I got this.
Scott Cowan [00:10:25]:
I got this.
Filippo Fiori [00:10:26]:
I was like, give me some powder. Otherwise, I’m gonna be shy by shining, but that’s it.
Scott Cowan [00:10:32]:
Oh, I love it.
Filippo Fiori [00:10:32]:
So it was beautiful.
Scott Cowan [00:10:34]:
Alright. So you and your business partner, your your best friend, how did you guys end up in Seattle?
Filippo Fiori [00:10:41]:
Seattle, is a beautiful city. Of course, we didn’t know by then. My business partner was in Boston finishing his MBA, so everything is, data driven. Right? Every decision is data driven. Even, like, should I get married or not? But, mostly, we just decided to have a very engineering approach to it, and, we’re we’re like, okay. Where do we go? Should we stay in Boston? And that was, like, off. No. Because it’s too cold.
Filippo Fiori [00:11:08]:
He was like, I don’t I don’t care. This is also our life. I spent two years over here. Too much snow, too cold. Forget it. And then I was like, yeah. My wife won’t like cold. Then we say New York, and we’re like, New York might be Italian food to exploit it.
Filippo Fiori [00:11:22]:
You know? There is too much competition. People knows a lot. Let’s go in a place that is, like, more adventurous. They wanna experience it a little bit more. And we compare San Francisco and Seattle. San Francisco was, our American dream, you know, the Californian dream since we’re a teenager. But then when you put down the number, you look like the rent, cost of living, and, you know, I have to uproot my wife, maybe start having kids. So we’re like, we can probably not afford it with what we have in mind to do.
Filippo Fiori [00:11:49]:
And Seattle turned out to be the city in 02/2016 that had the highest number of college, people with college degree.
Scott Cowan [00:11:57]:
So we
Filippo Fiori [00:11:57]:
needed to have people that travel, people that understand what authentic food is, what good food is as well. A lot of disposable income. The city was growing like a I think it was like 10%, rate per year. So a lot of, new opportunity for location and so on. And we decided to to come over here. Also, we had a friend that was working in Amazon. So we’re like, hey, you know, if we have to do some trips over there in the meantime, we can crash on the couch. So he ended up, like, investing in us as well.
Filippo Fiori [00:12:25]:
So it was, it was a a bold move in the sense, but very solid numbers behind it. And it could not be winning so far because we would have lost so much money the first year in San Francisco that forget it. There’s just no way. So yeah. But then with now we have our kids over here, so we totally love it. It was a good choice.
Scott Cowan [00:12:47]:
Well, excellent. So let’s talk about opening up your first location because I’m sure it went just you know, you had a you created a little document, check one, check two, step five, we’re good. Yeah, I’m sure it went smooth and flawless. Perfect. No, no, no. In all seriousness, what was it like? You moved to a city you don’t know a lot of people. Yep. You really probably didn’t have a great knowledge of the time of the business climate, what you were kinda getting into, the regulations and all of that.
Scott Cowan [00:13:20]:
So what was it like opening up the first location?
Filippo Fiori [00:13:23]:
Alright. Roller coaster, I won’t say probably nothing new than any other any other person to start the business, say, but for us what was shocking was the, labor market. I was not expecting people not coming up to work in the morning without telling you anything. And that was really shocking to the point that a night I was waking up to check the phone if I have any message. It was terrible in that way. But we were in Broadway, so we still have the store in Broadway. So it was a very nice location. And, a lot of, the what gave us the strength and the force was that a lot of people supported us because as we’re doing just high quality, high quality, high quality.
Filippo Fiori [00:14:05]:
Yeah, we can talk about working, like, ninety hours per week, but there is nothing, you know, different than any other person that start the business.
Scott Cowan [00:14:11]:
Sure.
Filippo Fiori [00:14:12]:
It was tough. It was tough because we had these fantastic reviews much better than now. We probably, like, were at 4.9 on Yelp or something like that. But business wasn’t picking up. And it was at the time that we were still called Dueminore, where people was like, oh, I’m going to the pasta place on the hill. So it wasn’t easy in that sense. So we were definitely losing money every month. And it’s it got tough.
Filippo Fiori [00:14:39]:
It got tough. But what we never banned in Davide really was Davide was at the time still working in Amazon. He he went to work in Amazon full time for visa issues. So I was, trying to hold the ship by myself without the help and after after his long hours of work, but he was like, go with quality, quality, quality, quality. So, you know, we could have, banned on save on products, save on something like that. No. We actually decided to invest even more on quality, and, that eventually pay off. After one year, we start we start seeing, like, increasing in sales.
Filippo Fiori [00:15:14]:
And then when we started thinking about it, we changed our name, and we started dimming the light, and we changed the plates and changed the tables. We invested a lot, and it started taking off. But the first year, it was, I wouldn’t I look at it, like, as a very, very good learning experience. I have no madness of regret writing we did even though we screw up a lot of things, like, a lot of things.
Scott Cowan [00:15:41]:
Well, like what? I I love asking that question. So since you you brought it up, give me one. Tell me something. Okay. No. I’ll frame the question. Let me frame the question. Plates.
Scott Cowan [00:15:50]:
Putting something on the menu. Yeah. I wanted to what was an idea that you had to go on the menu that you thought, oh, this will be great, and Seattle just didn’t respond?
Filippo Fiori [00:15:59]:
The menu worked. The menu, like, the item on the menu worked. We changed them routinely probably too often. There was really nothing that was received wrong. Okay. It was great food and still is, but it was a bit more on the gourmet side, you know, these, confit cherry tomato that take me eight hours to cook and sometimes I’ve ended up at 01:30 in the morning peeling with my wife and she’s like, you can’t keep doing this. I’m like, okay. Or, it was Oxtel braze that we were bracing overnight.
Filippo Fiori [00:16:34]:
And so leaving the oven on. And it was fantastic review. What was wrong, it was a lot of other things, like plates, simple things like a plates. We decided to buy these enamel metal plates that cost, like, $9 each. Oh, man. That was wrong.
Scott Cowan [00:16:51]:
Why?
Filippo Fiori [00:16:51]:
That was Why? Okay. Because when you put something that hot, the place burn. Right? And people didn’t like it. At the same time, they, you know, give away a lot of heat, so the pasta get cold very fast. And then as soon as they chip a little bit, if you’re familiar with the enamel, that they chip, they start to have some this little patina, this little rust that for me was was beautiful because it’s like the 70. This is my grandma’s plates. People started posting reviews and it’s like, oh, the plates are burned. They can’t even afford good plates.
Filippo Fiori [00:17:21]:
Like, okay. Okay. Okay. Hold on here. White people don’t like that. And then we had lights. Oh my god. Lights.
Filippo Fiori [00:17:30]:
If you get inside our first restaurant, you need sunglasses. It was it was thought to be a lunch spot, but it turned out to be a very dinner focused location. Okay. Most of it, our constructor didn’t realize that put the LED light on a dimmer on a two twenty volt circuit instead of one ten. So even with the dimmer at the lowest level, it was like a a solarium.
Scott Cowan [00:17:57]:
Oh my gosh.
Filippo Fiori [00:17:58]:
It was, like, awful, man. It was awful. And it took, like, a little bit of time to realize the light played a big, a big factor in, welcoming customers. Then we had the table that were inherited from the previous restaurant. There was a noodle shop, so they were kind of crappy, you know, that badge color, nothing fancy about it. And people, like, didn’t didn’t like it. I mean, we had a big bench on one side. It was used mostly to put scarf and jacket during winter than actually sit on that.
Filippo Fiori [00:18:36]:
So we change, you know, these these small things made a difference. We had the uniform. The our uniform went black, with no, you know, no character, nothing. And my parents came to visit us, like, Filippo, what are you doing? Change it. You have to be, you know, you with the white, everybody with the bright color. So now everybody is in red. Me, I have a white shirt. I mean, chef coat.
Filippo Fiori [00:18:57]:
It’s you know, when you’re doing those coffee shop that they have those apron with, leather strips that cost $75? Well, that make a difference. So I already made a difference. But the food the food was there, and that is what kept kept us alive.
Scott Cowan [00:19:14]:
Okay. I’m gonna I’m gonna we’re gonna bounce around from now because I got quest I’ve got questions.
Filippo Fiori [00:19:18]:
Go ahead.
Scott Cowan [00:19:19]:
So I’m gonna put you on the spot. What’s your favorite dish?
Filippo Fiori [00:19:23]:
That it was on the menu or my favorite dish in general?
Scott Cowan [00:19:26]:
We’ll go with both of those questions. On your menu, what’s your favorite like, if I were to come in let’s let me put let give me the scenario. I I’m gonna show up today at one of your locations for lunch. Yeah. And I’m gonna say to you, I’m gonna take your recommendation. Alright. What would you what would you serve because I’m gonna assume you’re gonna serve me something that you really like.
Filippo Fiori [00:19:46]:
Yes. So what
Scott Cowan [00:19:47]:
would you serve?
Filippo Fiori [00:19:48]:
What I really like change every day. So depends on the day that you come, you’re gonna have a different recommendation. Perfect. But I will probably recommend you some I will ask you something like, hey. Are you familiar with the Italian food? Because we are authentic. And yes. If you ask yeah. Sure.
Filippo Fiori [00:20:03]:
Then I will say, would you like to go with something that like a cut sheet paper? Of course, everybody knows ketchup paper now. That is very authentic. So on the saltier side with, addition of guanciale. Guanciale is a cured pork cheek that we cure in house and age in house.
Scott Cowan [00:20:18]:
Oh. And
Filippo Fiori [00:20:21]:
if you say yes, I will tell you it’s rich, it’s strong in flavor. Think about those, shepherd that take the herd of the sheep and go on the mountain. What they bring with them is cured meat and those pieces of cheese. That’s what it was. So the dish is called gricia. It is basically the guanciale and, the the cachet. And that is probably my recommendation for somebody that knows about food a little bit.
Scott Cowan [00:20:47]:
Okay. That sounds awesome, actually. Yeah.
Filippo Fiori [00:20:49]:
On the safer side, I will tell you our bolognese is, top notch. I will tell you that we use, Pente Heel sustainable, beef and, pieces pure country pork from Montvermont sustainable, pork. Mhmm.
Scott Cowan [00:21:03]:
And
Filippo Fiori [00:21:03]:
it’s delicious. I mean, done in a very authentic way. I will tell you that it’s not the pasta is not drowsy sauce. It’s not is it is it tomato based or, like, it’s a bolognese. It’s not tomato based. It’s it’s like dance. It’s not like you know? And that’s probably something that would really work. But what what I love is I think it was a masterpiece.
Filippo Fiori [00:21:25]:
I did it for, first starter first starter chef’s night. I had one of those as a donation as a charity event. And I made this, oxtail beef tongue braise with, with, confit cherry tomato that is like a tomato that you make a Zolo roaster in the oven for, like, eight hours, and then I used that one as a base for the sauce. It was unbelievable. That is unbelievable. But it definitely take a little bit too long to make for every day. But, you know, we still do something that’s special, like, oxtail braiser. I I like braised.
Filippo Fiori [00:22:01]:
I was like I like slow cooking and the richness and the break to the plate. In particular, in a weather like Seattle that you need, everyday a a big hug when, the fall comes. You know?
Scott Cowan [00:22:13]:
Well, at at the time of that we’re recording this, fall is Yeah. In the air.
Filippo Fiori [00:22:17]:
I look today, and I’m like, yeah. I need a hug.
Scott Cowan [00:22:20]:
Yeah. So how is it today in Seattle? What’s the weather like? What are you looking out at?
Filippo Fiori [00:22:23]:
Cloudy. Cloudy. Not too bad. Not too bad. It’s not raining. Yesterday was raining, and it was very welcome because, I garden as well, and, my soil need a water.
Scott Cowan [00:22:34]:
Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:22:34]:
So I was happy. Okay. But yeah. I mean, it’s tough to be four. You know? I love four. The color change, and there’s a lot of things going on. The Dahlia welcome you every every corner, so it’s pretty bright as well. Yeah.
Scott Cowan [00:22:50]:
So I am on your website, and I’m looking at your handmade ravioli.
Filippo Fiori [00:22:54]:
Oh, fantastic, man.
Scott Cowan [00:22:58]:
Tell me a little bit about that.
Filippo Fiori [00:22:59]:
So those ravioli are probably the the thing that I could really put down in a very fancy dining restaurant.
Scott Cowan [00:23:06]:
Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:23:06]:
But I have to put only five on the plate instead of 12 as we do. You know? The the smaller, the more precious. Right? So people will pay $25 for that. Without being too too cocky, it’s really a fantastic dish. So for the pasta, we use, these happy happy hand eggs, the heritage one that it took me six months to get it over here. They come from Arkansas and I have to convince our supplier to bring it in for us. Now that, you know, now a lot of other restaurant are using it thanks to our supplier. And I’m fine with that.
Filippo Fiori [00:23:38]:
They’re super red. They’re pasty raised, beautiful flavor. And I’m very particular about eggs. I grow my I have my chickens at home.
Scott Cowan [00:23:46]:
Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:23:47]:
And I grew up back home in Italy with chickens as well with my dad, so I kinda like
Scott Cowan [00:23:51]:
eggs. Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:23:52]:
So you can see the color. They’re very orangey. The pasta is very orange. There is no coloring, just the egg yolk. And then we use organic baby spinach, and these are salted ricotta that we imported directly from farmers in Sardinia. The cost cost us a lot, but it’s really, really valuable, really important. It’s made by Arezu. Arezu is the consortium that make it.
Filippo Fiori [00:24:17]:
And it really the product changed with the season. You know? It’s summer testing one way. It’s spring, it tastes a different way because the ships eat differently. In August, we just don’t have it. So I have to import a lot more in in July. So we talked to the firm, how much do you have? And they were like, £500. Send it all. And when they came here, my chef, like, chef, we got no space for this.
Filippo Fiori [00:24:38]:
I’m like, guys, find space. We need it. So that that’s what it is, like, really ricotta. And then we use also fresh ricotta, hand deep fresh ricotta, made here locally. It’s such a beautiful dish. And then, you know, the classic pairing of butter and sage. The butter is, that we use as a culture butter. It’s just simplicity.
Filippo Fiori [00:25:08]:
It’s perfect. Then it’s when it’s platelet, it’s topped with Parmigiano Reggiano. We only use, Parmigiano Reggiano twenty four months over here, and we buy the whole wheel so we can save a little bit of money, and we have to open the wheel, ourself. But, also, we save some money, but, also, there is no oxidation. You know? We go through, like, among three restaurants that are now, like, four or five wheels per week. Each wheel is, like, 80 pounds.
Scott Cowan [00:25:34]:
Wait. Wait. Wait a second. Yeah. So you’re going through 300 to 400 pounds?
Filippo Fiori [00:25:37]:
Parmigiano Reggiano. Yes.
Scott Cowan [00:25:39]:
Parmigiano Reggiano a week.
Filippo Fiori [00:25:41]:
A week. Yes. It’s a lot. Consider that consider that one wheel has about 600 quart of milk. It’s a lot.
Scott Cowan [00:25:54]:
I did not realize I did not realize that it had that much milk in it.
Filippo Fiori [00:25:59]:
Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s a fantastic product, though.
Scott Cowan [00:26:02]:
Wow. Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:26:04]:
So the how much let me ask you this question then. Yeah. How
Scott Cowan [00:26:09]:
many pounds of pasta are you Oh. Going through in a week?
Filippo Fiori [00:26:14]:
Alright. Alright. I I think we make a reference of, let’s do the math with me. We do another about 10 batches every day just for one store, or maybe nine. Each batch has, 15 pound. So let’s say, 1,050 pound per store.
Scott Cowan [00:26:32]:
So $4.50 a week or $4.50 a day.
Filippo Fiori [00:26:34]:
Yeah. But that’s only the flour without the water. So if we had the water for 50, we go to 600. Six hundred pound. Yeah. Something like that. 600 pound. 500 let’s say 500 pound per store per day.
Scott Cowan [00:26:49]:
It’s a lot of pasta.
Filippo Fiori [00:26:50]:
Yeah. It’s we’re lucky. Capital here, we’re doing about a lot of pasta. When I look at the numbers, sometimes, oh my god. It’s like, 600 pasta per day. So, yeah, it’s probably less, like, 500 pound.
Scott Cowan [00:27:02]:
Wow. Okay. So one of the things I’m looking at, I’m on your menu, and I I I’ve gotta say, I’m on your just the our pasta’s part of your menu. Sure. By no means am I trying to say this is the entire menu. But I’m looking here, and at the time that we’re recording this, let’s be fair because this could change tomorrow.
Filippo Fiori [00:27:27]:
And I’m actually thinking of changing in the next couple of weeks.
Scott Cowan [00:27:30]:
So less than $14
Filippo Fiori [00:27:33]:
Yes.
Scott Cowan [00:27:33]:
For an entree?
Filippo Fiori [00:27:34]:
Yes.
Scott Cowan [00:27:36]:
How well, I mean, we’re not trying to turn this into a business episode, but how are you guys, that’s amazing that in the Seattle market, you’re able to do handmade fresh pasta with all these ingredients at under $15 a plate.
Filippo Fiori [00:27:53]:
Yeah. You are, you touched on a good point. Awesome. You touched on a good point. When we started, we said we have to make it work in this way because we wanna be in this price range and wanna have this quality. Then we have to make
Scott Cowan [00:28:07]:
it work.
Filippo Fiori [00:28:08]:
So we didn’t make it work for the first year. We just we didn’t. We just bleeding money. But we didn’t make it work after. We need to make, like, at least 280 pasta a day to breakeven. And we do and then what we do is, like, if you come in our restaurant, there is no tablecloth. There is no service. We rely a lot on, what definitely volume and economy of scale.
Filippo Fiori [00:28:35]:
Mhmm. And, we rely on self ordering kiosks, particularly now the COVID. So shrinking our front of the house member.
Scott Cowan [00:28:44]:
With a
Filippo Fiori [00:28:44]:
lot of cross training. So every time that everybody’s trained in the front, you get trained also in the back. Okay. So smart operation and, everything that we have is digitalized, let’s say, from checklist to make it easier, controlling temperature of the fridges. So we say we don’t have somebody going and probe every single fridge, for instance. We just have it on the smartphone, and we see what the temperature are. We we save a lot as well on, mostly really services save us a lot and volume. So it’s not a fancy place.
Filippo Fiori [00:29:18]:
It’s a very nice welcoming place where you come in for good food, for good time with your friends. And then, you know, some people complain, but I don’t like here is I can’t stay here for two hours and have a glass of wine. I was like, you can. Nobody asked you to leave, but, you know, we don’t have that kind of atmosphere where you like to chill out for hours.
Scott Cowan [00:29:40]:
Right.
Filippo Fiori [00:29:40]:
It’s really coming and going coming and going.
Scott Cowan [00:29:42]:
Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:29:43]:
And plus, of course, we have a lot of, to go order and delivery. So we could not do this with just 45 seats, of course.
Scott Cowan [00:29:50]:
So how let’s let’s talk about in in in the time of COVID Yeah. And with, you know, uncertainty about whether a restaurant can be open or closed or half capacity or all of those things. We just let’s just skip all that. But takeout delivery Yeah. How does one keep pasta how does one deliver pasta in a takeout in a good way?
Filippo Fiori [00:30:18]:
Look. I never had I never thought in my life that I would I would eat myself boxed pasta. Then life hit you with two kids at home, and your wife is like, hey. Can you take a can you care about dinner? Sure. Take the pasta. Sorry. Bag it, bring it home after half an hour, eating it, and you’re like, It’s pretty damn good. So what happened is think about a a hamburger that give wrap and then sit in a box.
Filippo Fiori [00:30:44]:
That become all soggy and wet and messy. Right? I mean, has to do hamburgers to go. I don’t care. But you you have an expectation that the quality is gonna drop. Our pasta drop about 20% and then stay constant.
Scott Cowan [00:30:57]:
Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:30:57]:
You know? The moment that you close the box, the topping the cheese on top is kinda melting, and they start getting condensation, but that’s it. After half an hour, it’s the same. The flavor are there.
Scott Cowan [00:31:09]:
Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:31:11]:
So we always bet, you know, we are in, the first restaurant is in Broadway. A lot of techie people saw a lot of delivery. We were doing catering before. So the product was working very well. And, in COVID time, we just doubled down on that. We said, you know what? Let’s start our delivery service, our app, and, we improve our packaging for sure. We’ll make some more research on that. And, yeah, it works.
Filippo Fiori [00:31:35]:
I mean, it works. I I I’m Internet. Is it the same? No. Do I have customer come, oh my god. First time in that I after COVID, I’m I’m trying, you know, in a plate. It’s really it’s better. Like, yeah. It is better, but were you unhappy before? Oh, no.
Filippo Fiori [00:31:51]:
I was super happy before. So
Scott Cowan [00:31:53]:
Right. So what I’m hearing what I’m hearing from you is someone who’s passionate about food, but is approaching it with a very engineering mindset.
Filippo Fiori [00:32:04]:
We that’s my business partner. Me, I I would love to be only passionate about food and spend time in the kitchen, but the reality is nowadays, there is a lot of, moving part, right, in a restaurant. If you wanna do delivery or to go is an essential part of your business, even like fine dining. I look in the Arab, Daniels Broiler does delivery, you know, and they do steak. How do you make a a medium rare steak in a box? I I don’t know. That cost you $60, but, you have to do it. And you have to do it. And at the point, you have to approach it with data in a way that give the best, quality and experience to your customer.
Filippo Fiori [00:32:42]:
And if your customer wants, no fast ordering system, well, then you have to go and develop your own app and be tax saving in the sense. You can’t say, oh, no. This is a restaurant. I don’t wanna be techy. Well, then you’re losing part of the business.
Scott Cowan [00:32:56]:
So did you guys develop your own app or are you using somebody else’s?
Filippo Fiori [00:32:59]:
Well, we we partner with a third party company.
Scott Cowan [00:33:02]:
Okay. I
Filippo Fiori [00:33:03]:
mean, not many company develop their own, but, yeah, it’s it’s great. I mean, if you see it, you think it is our own app. It’s on Apple Store and Google, but We have our own delivery system, so it’s just that’s what you gotta do. Food Okay. Unfortunately, there’s food is only one part of, of the business. I’m sure that there are people like us that are more on the tech side and people are more of about super fine plating and nice Instagram story, and they work more on that to create awareness. But, yeah, food is just one part.
Scott Cowan [00:33:35]:
So you opened your first location. How long was it before you you opened the second one?
Filippo Fiori [00:33:40]:
Woah. It took about three and a half. So we opened yeah. Three and a half. We opened the second one in, in, December 2020. Okay. So, actually, it’s four years. There was you know, we it should have been earlier, but then COVID hit, and we kinda paused it for a while.
Filippo Fiori [00:33:58]:
Then we opened that one in December, and then we opened this third one where I am right now in, August 2021.
Scott Cowan [00:34:06]:
Okay. So And how how are your other how are the the how are all three locations? Because they’re all so first off, what so we’ve got one on Capitol Hill. Yes. The the new the one that you’re sitting in today is located?
Filippo Fiori [00:34:19]:
Is in the no. This is the third one, and it’s in Roosevelt. So
Scott Cowan [00:34:23]:
In Roosevelt?
Filippo Fiori [00:34:23]:
The Roosevelt neighborhood, just a little bit north on the university.
Scott Cowan [00:34:26]:
Mhmm.
Filippo Fiori [00:34:27]:
And the second one is in Totem Lake. That is, a mall. It’s, those are out outdoor living mall. It’s a beautiful space. And, of course, you have different demographics. For example, Tottenham Lake has much more dining customers. They care much less about COVID as well. It’s just different.
Filippo Fiori [00:34:48]:
Yeah. Just different.
Scott Cowan [00:34:49]:
It is. It’s just different no matter where we go.
Filippo Fiori [00:34:51]:
Yeah.
Scott Cowan [00:34:53]:
Do you have plans for further Oh, yeah. Pasta domination?
Filippo Fiori [00:34:58]:
There’s no pasta domination. There is a pasta sharing.
Scott Cowan [00:35:02]:
Pasta sharing. Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:35:03]:
Pasta sharing. We’re really trying to be I wanna say a neighbor place, but we really try to bring and make them understand what authentic food is and then make them understand that authentic food can be affordable. High quality can be affordable. Okay. It doesn’t have to be $25 for additional pasta. Okay. So, yeah, our idea has always been to grow this company big, even out of state. So we’re currently working looking for other locations, and that is why we have to this to have this engineering approach.
Filippo Fiori [00:35:35]:
We can’t make mistakes because we spent all the money that we have in the first restaurant that was screwing up everything. So now we really can’t make mistakes. We need to
Scott Cowan [00:35:45]:
do we need
Filippo Fiori [00:35:46]:
to look at the data and be engineer about it.
Scott Cowan [00:35:48]:
K. I I I I think in today’s day and age, in a how do I say this? So I think some people think opening a restaurant’s an easy way to make money. I think the opposite. I think opening a restaurant’s an easy way to lose money. I Because
Filippo Fiori [00:36:07]:
Go ahead.
Scott Cowan [00:36:08]:
You know, you don’t order correctly. You order a bunch of perishable stuff and it goes bad. Oops. You might’ve missed it with the plates at first. So now you’ve had to invest in new plates. Yeah. Things, I mean, it just and then staffing. I don’t know.
Scott Cowan [00:36:28]:
I’m glad you’re running the restaurant and that I’m not. Let’s just put it that way. And I also think though that I’m so grateful that there’s restaurants out there that are serving good food at affordable prices that that care about what they’re doing. And I think what you guys are doing sounds so intriguing. So kudos to both of you. And I have to come over across the pass and try I gotta get I gotta get from Wenatchee over there and give it a shot. I will I will be doing that soon. So enough about that.
Scott Cowan [00:37:01]:
What do you guys do when you’re not running a restaurant in that, you know, thirty minutes every day that you got to yourself? What, what do you like to do for what do you and the family like to do in the Saddle area?
Filippo Fiori [00:37:12]:
Alright. So me, I have four years old and now I’m nine months old.
Scott Cowan [00:37:16]:
Okay. Congratulations. Thank you. You’re a busy man.
Filippo Fiori [00:37:19]:
Yeah. They they keep me fairly busy. Wife is doing a fantastic job with them. She’s we are lucky enough that she can stay home. So k. The the, you know, both kids have the good time with mama. Uh-huh. What we like to do, just do what the kids want to do.
Filippo Fiori [00:37:36]:
Go to the playground. Go to the park, go swim into a kite, go and fly a kite. Myself, if I have a little bit of time, I try to relax gardening, growing more vegetable, having the making the best eggs that I can with my four chickens. We’re having So
Scott Cowan [00:37:56]:
what do you let me pause. Okay. So what are you doing to keep your chickens happy and producing good eggs?
Filippo Fiori [00:38:01]:
So first you have
Scott Cowan [00:38:01]:
What does a chicken need?
Filippo Fiori [00:38:03]:
That I live in an in an urban setting. I have a townhouse with no garden. But in front
Scott Cowan [00:38:07]:
of
Filippo Fiori [00:38:07]:
it, there was a blackberry marshland that belonged to nobody and nobody cared about them. So if you don’t take care of blackberry, they kinda invaded our small patio. So I started, okay, let me clear a little bit and put some flowers. And then after two months, okay, let me clear it a bit more. And then COVID hits. I’m like, you know what? Forget about it. So now we have this plot of land that is like I think it’s like, 20 feet by 40 feet square. Oh, okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:38:35]:
Yeah. So I just Chike, what you gotta do, open and let them pass you. Pass you pass. Then, I make my own compost. So all my part of our compost is also sustainability, and I bring this at home as well. So I do not have a a compost bin for the seeds to pick up. We compost everything.
Scott Cowan [00:38:55]:
Okay. So I
Filippo Fiori [00:38:56]:
have my white not black soldier fly larva. They come from there. I feed them to the chicken. Okay. They’re super happy animal. Trust me. They’re good man animal. But you see a difference.
Filippo Fiori [00:39:08]:
If you let them in, if you let them out pasturing for a week, the egg change in color. The flavor is much much more there. Instead, they’ve been busy, and for a week, they do not open, and they just stay in their own chicken run. Not the same thing.
Scott Cowan [00:39:24]:
Not the same. So you notice it. Okay. That’s
Filippo Fiori [00:39:26]:
fascinating. Absolutely.
Scott Cowan [00:39:28]:
Okay. So gardening?
Filippo Fiori [00:39:30]:
Yeah. Gardening. Cooking.
Scott Cowan [00:39:33]:
Mhmm.
Filippo Fiori [00:39:33]:
I really cook at home.
Scott Cowan [00:39:35]:
So is it safe to assume you like coffee?
Filippo Fiori [00:39:38]:
I do love coffee. I love the flavor. I in fact, we have a tiramisu back here at the restaurant. Yeah, I love coffee.
Scott Cowan [00:39:47]:
So if you’re out and about and not at your restaurant, where do you like to go for coffee?
Filippo Fiori [00:39:51]:
I like to support Cafe Umbria.
Scott Cowan [00:39:54]:
K.
Filippo Fiori [00:39:55]:
I do not disregard people. Please don’t kill me. But when it’s called a Starbucks, I just drink black coffee because I keep my hands warm. I like, yeah, Caffeine Brea probably if I can.
Scott Cowan [00:40:09]:
Caffeine Brea? Yeah. And how when you’re drinking coffee, other I mean, do you drink black coffee all
Filippo Fiori [00:40:13]:
the time? Or is it Espresso. Espresso. Oh, I love Victrola or Victrola. I don’t know how to say that. Their single origin is outstanding.
Scott Cowan [00:40:23]:
Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:40:24]:
And then the Empire Coffee House in Columbia City. They Not tried that one. Yeah. If you get a single shot from them, it’s like probably 10 drops only. But it’s so intense. That’s enough. It’s just so good. It’s so short.
Filippo Fiori [00:40:39]:
It’s so good.
Scott Cowan [00:40:41]:
It’s alright. So you grew up in Italy, and we’re gonna just make a stereotype
Filippo Fiori [00:40:45]:
Yeah.
Scott Cowan [00:40:45]:
That you grew up with good coffee. I don’t know if that’s true or not. How does coffee in Seattle compare to coffee in Italy?
Filippo Fiori [00:40:54]:
Seattle tend to be more burned.
Scott Cowan [00:40:58]:
Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:40:59]:
Stronger in the flavor in the burning flavor, in the toasting flavor. Mhmm. Less aromatic. On average yeah. On average, it’s not a bad coffee because you can really see that here they’re trying. I mean, there are many more coffee shop here that they toast their own coffee than they’re in Italy. I don’t know any bar or any coffee shop in Italy that that make it their own. You know, we just get it from different suppliers.
Scott Cowan [00:41:25]:
Right.
Filippo Fiori [00:41:25]:
So there is much more research over here, much more passion in the sense. For us, it’s more of a way of living. And in fact, for us, an espresso costs 90¢. It doesn’t cost $3.
Scott Cowan [00:41:36]:
Mhmm.
Filippo Fiori [00:41:38]:
But yeah. So on average, either is much more aromatic, more round, definitely less burn, definitely less burn. That’s the biggest problem with the Seattle coffee.
Scott Cowan [00:41:50]:
You you’re not a fan of that that darker roasting profile. That’s fine.
Filippo Fiori [00:41:55]:
Yeah. Let’s call it darker roasting profile. It’s very politically correct.
Scott Cowan [00:42:01]:
I gotta walk the fine line there. Yeah. Sure. I I I enjoy coffee a a lot, and, the ones that you’ve named are all, in my opinion, delicious. I even I too will drink at Starbucks. Yeah. I will. But I prefer when at all possible to go and try I always ask the guests to give me recommendations so that when I’m traveling, I can try a new place.
Scott Cowan [00:42:30]:
So it’s always always good for that. When when the family let’s put the kids on the spot. So when the family wants to go out to eat somewhere, what’s the family currently liking?
Filippo Fiori [00:42:42]:
The four years old aside, and she’s usually up for pasta.
Scott Cowan [00:42:48]:
Just okay. But now we can’t
Filippo Fiori [00:42:50]:
I don’t know if it’s up for pasta. It’s because she like to go to certain restaurant because she knows what’s the treat after. So if she want frozen yogurt, she wanna go to Capitol Hill. If she wanna have an ice cream, she want to go to Kirkland, Tottenham Lake, that is a salt and straw. If she wanna go to the lake, she wanna come over here in Roosevelt so she could go to to Green Lake.
Scott Cowan [00:43:16]:
You’ve got a smart four year old on your head.
Filippo Fiori [00:43:18]:
Oh, yes. That That’s awesome. Yeah.
Scott Cowan [00:43:21]:
That’s awesome.
Filippo Fiori [00:43:22]:
But, other than that, she’s
Scott Cowan [00:43:26]:
she
Filippo Fiori [00:43:26]:
enjoy a burger. She enjoy eating a burger.
Scott Cowan [00:43:29]:
So so let’s let’s give a recom a four year old’s recommendation for a burger in Seattle. Where where does she like to go?
Filippo Fiori [00:43:35]:
She like eight ounces. What? Eight ounces burger.
Scott Cowan [00:43:40]:
Eight ounces?
Filippo Fiori [00:43:41]:
Oh, yeah. There are probably two or three restaurant here in Seattle.
Scott Cowan [00:43:44]:
I have not heard of that.
Filippo Fiori [00:43:45]:
Oh, you’re fine, man. It’s in my opinion, it’s one of the best. Okay. Alright. I see this. Deluxe burger is called without eight ounces burger, one in Capitol Hill, 1 in butter, Yeah. I love it.
Scott Cowan [00:43:58]:
Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:43:59]:
Lily’s Burger is another one that I like. Lily’s Burger.
Scott Cowan [00:44:03]:
K.
Filippo Fiori [00:44:04]:
And then there is a Seattle Rainy City Burger that is pretty good. Okay. Alright. So
Scott Cowan [00:44:13]:
what else? So do you guys get out? Do you do any are you in into hiking at all? Do you do any outdoor activities? Or is it I know when you’re running a restaurant chain, you’ve got two children, you got a garden and chickens. That doesn’t leave a lot of time.
Filippo Fiori [00:44:27]:
The she drowned issue here. We do like to go to go out. My my let’s say we like to fly more to different places. Okay. You know, my wife is Malaysian. I’m Italian. So the older kid, she was three months. She went the first flight.
Filippo Fiori [00:44:44]:
And by the the March, she already went four continents. But not because we we like traveling. We have family members, so we have to go and visit them. Right? Sure. Sure. So now she’s missing traveling. But, yeah, we do like, hiking a little bit. It get difficult.
Filippo Fiori [00:45:02]:
We’ll short a small hike. Snow, Snoqualmie Pass is our to go away. You know? It’s, like, forty five minutes from home. But, otherwise, just here in the city, one place that was stunning for me was the, damn, I forgot the name. The park toward the north that brings you to the lighthouse. Do you know that? Let me check.
Scott Cowan [00:45:25]:
Now I’m drawing a blank. You’re putting me on the spot. I’m drawing
Filippo Fiori [00:45:27]:
a blank. Oh, yeah. Sorry. No. I’m telling you. Oh, all good? It’s beautiful. I mean, we are in front of the computer. I it’s really stunning.
Filippo Fiori [00:45:35]:
It’s called the oh, the Discovery Park. Discovery Park. Okay. Yeah.
Scott Cowan [00:45:39]:
I will tell you Go ahead. My daughter lives my daughter lives in Austria.
Filippo Fiori [00:45:42]:
Okay.
Scott Cowan [00:45:43]:
And she has two my grandchildren. I’m trying to think how old my oldest granddaughter was when she flew to The United States for the first time. Like she was not three months old, but maybe six. And then my grandson was probably three and a half months old when he flew over for the first time. So, I kind of get it. Now, they haven’t been to 4 Continents yet. They just went, they went on a little family trip to Italy for ten days, just got back from that recently. So, they went to San Marino as well, which yeah.
Scott Cowan [00:46:15]:
So, anyway, so she my grandkids travel a lot. So I think that’s great that you’re raising children that are going to be world travelers, even if nothing else just to see family. That’s amazing.
Filippo Fiori [00:46:27]:
It opens up your brain, you know? It opens up your mind not to think that you live always in the the best place in the world, though, or at least see that there are other places equally beautiful Right. Or equally unequal. I don’t know.
Scott Cowan [00:46:40]:
Yeah. No. I totally yeah. I mean, to be able to go and and see some place. So what for you, where do you wanna go next? Is there some place in the world you haven’t seen that you wanna go to?
Filippo Fiori [00:46:49]:
Well, right now, I would like to go home because it’s three years I don’t go home. That thanks to COVID as well. But, my parents, for instance, haven’t seen my younger kid yet. But Okay. We’re planning a short trip to Hawaii probably.
Scott Cowan [00:47:03]:
Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:47:04]:
There is one place that is still haunting me because I I didn’t go is in China. There are two places. One is, the Guilin province, and the other is where they film, where they get inspiration from the avatar. Don’t remember the name, but all those mountain that those pillar mountain that go up. I should say. And then I didn’t go for, in the desert, like, with the Stade Gobi Desert where there is the the end or the start of the Great Wall. I was Okay. I thought I was close by because I was in the province, but then it was still another three hour flight.
Filippo Fiori [00:47:39]:
I was like, okay. Well, maybe the metro might be too big. I didn’t realize that.
Scott Cowan [00:47:44]:
I think I think it’s I’ve never been to China, but I think the the scale of that country is probably staggering.
Filippo Fiori [00:47:52]:
It’s I think it’s like The US, you didn’t get to the point that’s like, hey. Let’s have a short trip to New York. My wife’s never been to New York. And, hey, six hour and a half flight. Maybe not. You know? So maybe not.
Scott Cowan [00:48:04]:
Yeah. Well, I wanna get you out of there so you can get doing your business stuff today. So before we go, where can people find out more about what you guys are doing and and give us give us all that information?
Filippo Fiori [00:48:18]:
I mean, Instagram nowadays is probably the most updated channel. Okay. Soon, we will start doing, I think, a TikTok, as well to be updated. It’s just, you know, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Scott Cowan [00:48:30]:
And do so where what’s your handle on Instagram? How do people find you on Instagram?
Filippo Fiori [00:48:35]:
Duecucina, d u e c u c I n a. Okay. Just wanna make sure. Yeah. And, it’s fun. You know, you can update what you’re doing. You can show what you’re actually doing. You really reach your customer base in that way.
Filippo Fiori [00:48:49]:
Mhmm. And that’s the most updated channel.
Scott Cowan [00:48:52]:
Okay. So we’ll we’ll send it we’ll put a link in the show notes to find you on Instagram. I’ll also put a link down there to your website too because you got some nice looking photography on the lights there, so get people to try it.
Filippo Fiori [00:49:03]:
Yeah.
Scott Cowan [00:49:04]:
And, yeah, what else didn’t didn’t we cover? Did we miss something we should talk about?
Filippo Fiori [00:49:09]:
There’s probably a lot of things I wanna talk to you. I mean, talk with you. I mean, like, you, what do you like to eat?
Scott Cowan [00:49:15]:
Well, just look at me. Do does it look like I’m picky? Come on now. I don’t know. No. I I am I also, here in Wenatchee Okay. We do not have we’re lacking two things in my opinion. We’re lacking, I’m gonna use the word good. I don’t mean pretentious, but we don’t have really good Chinese food, which Americanized Chinese food.
Scott Cowan [00:49:39]:
Okay. So what you consider Chinese food and I consider Chinese food very probably different. And we don’t have, I just found a nice, Italian restaurant, but we don’t have any real casual, pasta places. So I don’t and my wife tries to eat gluten free, so I have to, like, go and sneak out to get the carbohydrates. Oops. I just admitted that, and she’ll hear this. No. I am a fan of pizza.
Scott Cowan [00:50:08]:
I I I I think pizza other than pineapple, anything can go on a pizza.
Filippo Fiori [00:50:12]:
You see, I love pizza and pineapple, but not all damn. I just bury myself.
Scott Cowan [00:50:17]:
Did you really? You like pineapple on a pizza?
Filippo Fiori [00:50:21]:
Yeah. Yeah. Small lemon pineapple. Yes.
Scott Cowan [00:50:23]:
Fresh pineapple. This episode just went down. I’m sorry. No.
Filippo Fiori [00:50:26]:
Just Sorry. Fresh pineapple.
Scott Cowan [00:50:28]:
Okay. So tell me something. I’ve never been to Italy. Is there any pizza around in Seattle that to you is, like, reminds you of home?
Filippo Fiori [00:50:40]:
There are many pizza. You know, you can decline pizza in many ways, and I’m I’m not one of those people that say, oh, this is not Italian pizza. It’s just no.
Scott Cowan [00:50:48]:
Right.
Filippo Fiori [00:50:48]:
Neapolitan pizza is the one that, you know, you you can actually classify and define something very strictly what it is. Otherwise, all pizza are respectful. Oh, sorry. Okay. They can be respected even though that you can talk about the dough was good or not. Right?
Scott Cowan [00:51:05]:
Okay.
Filippo Fiori [00:51:06]:
I make my own pizza.
Scott Cowan [00:51:08]:
Okay. So we So what are you putting on so if what are you putting on your pizza?
Filippo Fiori [00:51:12]:
We just a minute. Fiori di latte mozzarella, that’s the classic. Nothing else. We use, tomato either from the garden or the one I use at the restaurant. They’re very good quality. But if I’m outside, I do not then either I order a mio posto or, hard to say. Sometimes Tutabella, but right now, Tutabella is so close to me that it’s you know, I I can walk in two minutes that I just don’t wanna do that. I just make it at home.
Scott Cowan [00:51:38]:
Mhmm.
Filippo Fiori [00:51:38]:
I if I’m hungry, Pagliacci. I like the crunch. I like the crunch of the dough. Yeah. That’s that’s where I am. I wanna say out loud. I I did not have not I wanna say out loud. If I don’t have anything good about a place, I’m not gonna say anything.
Filippo Fiori [00:51:53]:
But other places Sure. Tutaba is great. I don’t go there as often. Neopost is great. K. Oh, no. Beautiful. The best.
Filippo Fiori [00:52:01]:
The best of the best, I can say. Burushato.
Scott Cowan [00:52:05]:
Oh, okay. Now I have not tried that.
Filippo Fiori [00:52:07]:
Burushato is in Bellingham is on the island. What is the island outside Seattle? The closest one. Bainbridge. Bainbridge? Bainbridge. Bainbridge. Yeah. Absolutely. Hands down.
Scott Cowan [00:52:17]:
Okay. Alright. So that’s that’s my thing. When I come over to Seattle, I pretty much look at the list of places my guests have suggested to me, pick pick one that’s near me, and go try it food wise. I’ll just go try whatever I that’s kind of the fun thing about doing this is asking you guys, so, hey, tell me something, and you’ll you’ll say this and that, and I’ll add it to the list. And then as we travel around, we go try these places.
Filippo Fiori [00:52:44]:
Well, let me know. I might be able to join you.
Scott Cowan [00:52:46]:
I would I would love that. I would, that would be fun. I think we’d have an enjoyable conversation, and it’d be a lot of fun. So I am gonna release you, though, to your daily duties because it seems like as the kitchen’s getting busier behind you, you’re getting ready for lunch for us.
Filippo Fiori [00:52:59]:
I actually have, common news now at 12:30.
Scott Cowan [00:53:02]:
Oh, well then let me let you go, and congratulations. And, we will talk with you soon.
Filippo Fiori [00:53:06]:
Well, thank you so much for having me.
Scott Cowan [00:53:09]:
It’s been a pleasure. Thank you.
Filippo Fiori [00:53:10]:
Alright. We’ll talk. Bye. Take care. Take care.
Todd Phillips [00:53:22]:
Join us next time for another episode of the Exploring Washington State podcast.
