ON THE PASS
How did you become interested in cooking? It’s a little unconventional, but I first discovered an interest in cooking because I nearly burned my childhood house down during one of my first attempts at cooking eggs. I guess I wanted to safeguard myself from burning down any future houses. On a more personal level, I grew up in a large European family who cooked and ate together, so even with my own misadventures, cooking was always something I regarded with a lot of fondness.
How has your career so far informed how you run your own venue, Ramona Trattoria? I’ve spent time across some really big operations, from Quay in Sydney and jumping between Felix, Uccello and Est. at Merivale. The experience I gained in those restaurants has been invaluable, but I’m really passionate about small businesses. I’ve never been particularly fond of being a number in a massive venue, so running my own business has given me real freedom to create a more intimate space. I love being able to do everything. You can be more personable with your staff and customers, rather than just a figurehead.
Ramona Trattoria features pastas that are all hand-shaped. How did you decide that was the direction you wanted to take the menu? When I first started at Tartine bakery in San Francisco, it was still very small scale and hadn’t gained the traction it has now. Because the operation was still growing, I was doing a lot of dough shaping and kneading by hand, which I really loved doing. After leaving Tartine, I was always looking for more ways to make dough by hand. The feeling hand shaping and hand cutting the pastas gives me is indescribable, and you’re always learning and developing new techniques to perfect the process, which means I’m never bored. At Ramona, I’ve really honed those early skills from Tartine and taught myself through hard work and repetition, and it’s a pleasure to display that.
How often do you change up the menu, and how do you decide what changes to make? We change up the menu every micro season. So essentially every six to eight weeks we try to feature a couple of new items on the menu with seasonal ingredients. If there are local farmers who have a particularly good or successful crop, it’s always great to try to incorprate that. I’m always wanting to learn and try new things, always pushing to be better, even when sometimes those new ideas might get me a bit in the weeds!
ramonatrattoria.com