01x03 - Peppe Guida

[bunniefuu]

[soft music playing]

[Peppe in Italian]

In the eyes of most people,

dry pasta is not valued like fresh pasta.

It's considered a "poor man's dish."

It's madness.

[dramatic music playing]

[Peppe in Italian]

Dry pasta has a thousand facets.

It is a science and a beautiful magic.

It commands you.

You need to understand it

and dialogue with it.

When you put it on the plate…

you don't even need to try it.

You look at it,

and you fall in love.

Dry pasta is a very humble dish.

But if you create it with care

and aim to make something extraordinary,

even spaghetti with garlic and oil

become a dish fit for a king.

[music fades]

[theme music playing]

[woman in English]

Lots of regions in Italy have dry pasta.

But Campania does it better than anyone.

Here on the Sorrento coast,

overlooking the Bay of Naples…

you have the sea air,

you have Vesuvius and volcanic soil.

It's also where you find Peppe Guida.

[soft music playing]

[Faith] I don't think there's anybody

anywhere in the world

who does with dry pasta what he does.

His pasta is just on another plane.

[man] Peppe Guida

is the pope of pasta.

Pasta dishes are not simple.

Peppe can create

a tasting menu only made of pasta.

Dishes that will make you go

from one side to the other

of your spectrum of emotions.

Every single dish can change

the mood around the table.

The most elegant dish is a caress,

and the next one

is a punch in your stomach,

and the next one is a slap on your face

and wakes you up.

[Faith] Peppe has two restaurants,

Osteria di Nonna Rosa,

a Michelin-star restaurant…

and a simpler place, Villa Rosa.

His restaurants are named after his mom.

She's still working every day

peeling vegetables, shelling peas,

and approving all the dishes.

He's cooking the food

that he grew up eating,

that he's brought to another level.

It's a fantasy of an incredible

Italian home-style restaurant.

It's also the most incredible pasta

that you will ever encounter.

[soft music playing]

-[Rosella in Italian] Come on, Timothy.

-[Peppe] Go get it.

Let's see now.

-Wait for me.

-Here.

[Peppe] Hmm. Look how beautiful this is.

The branches are so full of lemons

that they bend.

Do you see that?

Even I can reach here. [chuckles]

Look at this.

Go on, pick it up.

[Peppe] No pasta dish I ever make

has more than three or four ingredients.

You don't need to put together

ten ingredients.

It only creates confusion,

both on the palate and in the mind.

[soft music playing]

[Peppe grunts]

So sweet.

[Peppe] Lemons have an incredible,

pronounced aroma.

If I use a lemon to make a pasta dish,

I need to make sure

that the lemon comes through.

Lemons are great for infusions.

That's why I cook pasta

directly in a lemon peel infusion.

The spaghetti absorb

the essential oils of the lemon.

Imagine for a moment

the taste that it releases.

Take a lemon.

Grate it, put it near your nose,

and smell that extraordinary scent

of essential oils.

The same thing is transferred

to the pasta.

It's a dish of extreme simplicity…

with a flavor that makes your head spin.

That's the philosophy of all my dishes.

My aim is for you to have a bite

of my lemon spaghetti…

and be left with a taste

that you'll never forget.

[music fades]

Cut them small.

[Peppe]

I grew up with my mom in the kitchen.

Do you want to check the salt?

[Peppe] She'd leave me in the stroller,

in a kitchen's corner.

Is it good?

-Enough salt. It's good.

-Okay.

[Peppe] I was addicted to the scent

of onions sizzling,

of tomatoes starting to cook…

[soft music playing]

At that time, we didn't have much.

There wasn't steak or chicken every day.

But there was always pasta.

I saw my mother cooking…

with love, passion, and sacrifice.

Dishes with incredible flavor.

My first breath

and my entire growing up were marked

by her culinary traditions,

her scents and dishes.

-Thank you.

-Let's eat.

[music continues]

[Peppe] That's why I say

I wasn't weaned on milk,

but on tomatoes.

On meatballs.

On the tradition of my homeland.

[music fades]

[Giuseppe in English]

Naples has not always been rich.

There've been times when Neapolitans

had to invent dishes every day to survive.

But one thing they had was the sea.

[soft music playing]

[Giuseppe] And if they didn't catch

any fish or didn't have any shellfish,

they found ways

of making a dish with nothing.

[Peppe in Italian]

The rich ate spaghetti with seafood.

When people had no money

and wanted to eat something from the sea,

they invented using stones

as if they were seafood.

It's a dish that dates back

to the dawn of time.

I revisited it in my own way.

The stones need to be covered by

at least a centimeter of algae.

That's what will give the dish its flavor.

I make a garlic and oil base.

I cook the garlic a bit more.

The lightly scorched garlic releases

an extraordinary scent.

It's what makes all the difference.

Then I add the cherry tomatoes

and the stones, as if they were shellfish.

[music continues]

[Peppe] It is a dish that dates back

to times of real hunger.

Today it's something scenic and luxurious.

You'd expect any ingredient in the pan…

but you'd never expect stones

in your spaghetti course.

[music continues]

[music fades]

[man in Italian] So,

Chef's opinion first.

-First I want to smell the scent.

-Right, start with the scent.

-It has all these tiny cavities…

-Exactly.

If you look carefully,

there's also a bit of a tear.

[Peppe] When I was about 18 years old,

I had to start working.

I knew that I liked to cook.

But I still had everything to learn.

[soft music playing]

[Peppe]

When I started to work in the kitchen…

I was the last of the whole brigade.

But I was hungry.

I wanted to understand, to learn.

Nobody took the time to teach me

how to use a knife properly.

I had to observe and watch

how they used a tool.

Little by little,

I tried to acquire that mastery.

One day, the chef invited me

to go and work with him

in a famous

and luxurious hotel in Positano.

It was Le Sirenuse.

I couldn't believe it.

I didn't know what he saw in me.

He said to me, "You will come with me,

not because you are good,

but because you're ambitious."

[music continues]

[Peppe] I spent a year there.

That year was fundamental for me.

It shaped my path to haute cuisine.

[music ends]

[indistinct chattering]

[Peppe] Finishing the year at Le Sirenuse

was a real turning point for me.

I realized that I really liked

being a cook…

but I couldn't stand

someone giving me orders,

telling me how to make a dish.

[soft music playing]

[Peppe] I started thinking about

opening my own place.

I had many fears at the beginning.

I was a newlywed.

Lella and I were just two kids

who didn't have any money.

Lella said, "Don't worry."

She tried to make me see

that it was complicated,

but together we could do it.

And she said,

"Let's do this."

My mother lent us the family house

to open the simplest restaurant.

A small kitchen

with four tables and plastic chairs.

The cuisine that my mom made at home.

By nature, I am very shy.

But Lella had

a natural gift for hospitality.

A great hostess.

She was my voice,

my eyes out in the dining room.

[music continues]

[Faith in English]

Lella gave Peppe the possibility

of doing what he wanted in the kitchen

because she took care of everything else.

She was the other half of Peppe.

[music fades]

[Peppe in Italian]

Pasta with tomato sauce.

The same ritual for Carolina.

[woman] Here. This is the pulp, Peppe.

Keep an ear for the doorbell…

[indistinct chattering]

-Whose hat is this?

-I found it there.

I look like a farmer from Battipaglia.

[Peppe]

Spaghetti with tomato sauce is the dish

that symbolizes all Italian families.

It's something handed down

from generation to generation.

Hey, screw it.

[Peppe] For us, it's much more

than just filling the belly.

I wanted to modernize the dish.

And try to highlight the tomato.

[soft music playing]

[Peppe] When making preserves,

fully sun-ripened tomatoes…

are put in the bottles when fresh.

It's beautiful.

Then where is the mistake?

LONG LIVE MOM

[Peppe] When preparing a sauce,

if you cook them for half an hour,

40 minutes,

you'll ruin them.

I wondered, "How can I make

a dish of spaghetti with tomatoes

keeping the scent and color

of when the fresh tomato was bottled?"

Once you add pasta to the water…

you can start cooking the tomato.

So you start a countdown.

The pasta is cooked in eight minutes.

So four minutes in the water,

and four minutes in the tomato sauce.

Doing it this way,

the tomato cooks only briefly.

You'll keep the color and the scent

of the seasonal sun-filled tomatoes.

[music continues]

[Faith in English] Most people take

pasta with tomato sauce for granted.

Peppe wants to make it

something that you venerate.

It's called La Devozione because,

once you taste that,

you become a devotee.

[music ends]

[Peppe in Italian] Do we have mozzarella?

Tell Giusy to go get 400 grams

of mozzarella somewhere.

She has three minutes to go there.

I'm making this rice with tomato.

[Peppe] At the first Osteria Nonna Rosa,

we served what we ate at home.

I wanted to do something more.

[soft music playing]

[Peppe] So I started studying.

I bought books

by all the greatest chefs in the world.

I started to understand their thinking.

Their philosophy of cuisine.

I put everything in a cauldron,

took the best,

and tried to apply it

to dishes of my homeland.

This is where I got the idea

for my spaghetti with lemon water.

That dish comes

from an old recipe full of fats.

My studies made me look at this dish

with a modern twist.

How could I make it lighter

while keeping the flavors

of the tradition of my homeland?

I started to remove things,

leaving only the essences.

[music continues]

[Peppe] An extremely flavorful

and elegant dish.

And there began

my real happiness in cooking…

playing with tradition…

while defining it in my own way,

with my own ideas.

[music fades]

[Peppe] I was hungry for fame.

I wanted to get the press

to talk about my osteria, my family…

and I wanted to achieve a Michelin star.

[soft music playing]

[Peppe] We reset everything.

Wooden tables.

Linen tablecloths on the tables.

Cutlery.

Crystal glasses.

The customers were confused.

When they got to the restaurant,

they found everything had changed.

And they didn't like it.

They'd leave the table

without even looking at the menu.

In the span of three or four months,

all of our customers disappeared.

There were chefs who laughed at us.

They'd say, "This guy wants

to make a great restaurant,

but where did he study?"

"Who are the chefs who trained him?"

"He thinks he's a chef,

but he's not a chef."

That worried me.

But there was always Lella next to me.

Then little by little

people began to show up and try it…

try and try…

and it exploded.

We had to send people away.

We didn't have enough room to seat them.

[music ends]

[Peppe]

When you start to aim for the star,

you have to be focused every day.

You never know

when an inspector comes to visit.

Sometimes you don't even know it's them.

So putting your customers

at ease is essential.

But there was a problem.

I've always been quite shy.

-[indistinct chattering]

-[soft music playing]

[waiter] For you, prawn carpaccio

from South to North, starting from Sicily…

[Peppe] At a starred restaurant,

it is a custom for the chefs

to go around the tables

and greet everyone.

I didn't do this.

[soft music continues]

[Peppe] Lella tried to make me understand

that if I wanted

to aim for a Michelin star,

I had to start talking to customers

in the dining room.

[Giuseppe in English]

Lella was shouting over the kitchen,

"Peppe, can you come up?"

And you could hear him say, "No."

[Peppe in Italian]

It was very difficult for me.

Lella would encourage me and say,

"People want to talk to you."

"I can't always be the go-between."

[Peppe] Good evening.

-[man] Good evening.

-How is it going?

Very good. Excellent.

How was dinner?

[Giuseppe in English]

She pushed him to talk to people.

He started to come out.

[Peppe in Italian] Thank you.

Did you like the spaghetti, ma'am?

Fantastic.

[Peppe]

One day, someone called the osteria,

and they said, "Get ready."

"Tonight there'll be a shower of stars."

"And a star will also fall

in Vico Equense."

The Osteria Nonna Rosa

had received the Michelin star.

I was blown away.

[music fades]

I'm almost done with the harvest.

Dad, how are you doing?

[Peppe grunts]

My basket is full!

Mine is full already.

That's a small basket.

I've got a huge one here.

-So these are good for a spaghetti sauce?

-Yeah, spaghetti is the best with these.

Garlic, oil, a lot of basil,

and these tomatoes…

We haven't made

any scarpariello recipe lately.

There's a mosquito on your forehead.

It probably bit you.

[Peppe] In 2012,

I wanted to find a beautiful place

where I could build

a little country house.

They showed me this piece of land.

It was completely overgrown.

[soft music playing]

[Peppe] It hadn't been cared for in years.

[Rossella] Careful.

[Peppe] There was an amazing scenery

and a breathtaking view.

I knew it was the place I was looking for.

We spent the first six months

just clearing the land.

Every day, we cleaned,

pruned a plant, or tidied up.

Everyone in the family.

It was all just us, our own work.

An idea started coming to my mind.

Traditionally, in our region,

the whole family gathers on Sundays.

Mom and Grandma fill the table with food.

They take out everything they have

in the refrigerator,

in the cabinet, just anything.

My mom also passed

this tradition down to me.

[music continues]

[Peppe] So I wanted to open a restaurant

where I could offer my clientele

all that we have on Sundays

in the homes around here.

When my guests sit down,

their table must be rich,

full of food until they say, "Stop."

[bell ringing]

[Peppe] When we opened…

I was in the kitchen with my team…

my son…

my mom…

and in the dining room there was Lella,

helped by Rossella.

The feeling of family.

It was a dream.

[music fades]

[Peppe] At Villa Rosa,

we had exactly

what I'd always wanted to create.

Then… everything turned upside down.

Lella started to realize

that there was something wrong.

She felt some lumps.

We went to the doctor

who recommended some tests.

When we found out it was one

of the most aggressive cancers…

I was left speechless.

[soft music playing]

[Peppe] We would take her to Naples

for her therapy.

The doctor told us

that he was happy

with the results of this therapy.

After one week,

everything had crashed again.

I pretended to be positive but…

I was crying at night.

Hiding what we were going through

from our guests with a smile…

and trying to pretend that everything was…

normal…

was a terrifying thing.

[music continues]

[Peppe] When she passed…

she left an unfillable void.

An immense void.

[music fades]

[Peppe] After Lella passed,

we were so shocked…

that we didn't even talk to each other.

The pandemic triggered something in me.

Being powerless, unable to do anything.

I couldn't cook for anyone.

What could I do?

Talk.

[soft music playing]

[Peppe] I said to Rossella,

"Shall we make some dishes?"

"I'll cook."

"I'll explain."

"You'll film."

"Let's see what happens."

[Rossella] Here we are!

Good morning!

Welcome! How are you? All good?

[Peppe] One day, I suggested making ragù

at 6:30 a.m. on social media.

The day before,

I told all my followers the ingredients.

Many told me, "Tomorrow it'll be just you

and a few fools like you

who'll wake up at 6:30

to start making ragù."

The next morning,

there were more than 1,500 people

watching live

from every corner of the world.

We started making our ragù,

myself and everyone who was watching live.

And then, we left it to simmer.

Tomato sauce.

How is it going?

[Peppe]

At one o'clock, we added the pasta,

all together, from all over the world,

and cooked the ragù live.

We drained the pasta.

I did this, and everybody did this.

I seasoned my pasta,

and everyone seasoned their pasta,

and I ended by wishing buon appetito,

and sitting at the table

eating with 1,500 families

of Italian immigrants all over the world.

[music continues]

[Peppe] This was an incredible emotion.

We were live online

for days with my shows.

LET'S SERVE THE PASTA

LET'S PUT DOWN THE PACCHERI

It was like a vent.

A big scream.

And people understood our authenticity.

It literally saved our lives.

[music intensifies]

[music continues]

[music ends]

[dog barking]

Take a seat.

[Faith in English] For Peppe,

having the restaurant without Lella,

this must have seemed

like the end of the world.

And instead he went beyond.

[soft music playing]

[Faith] He decided to make the villa

that they had purchased together

into a monument to her.

He made it into the place

that she would have wanted.

[in Italian] Thanks.

LELLA'S HOUSE

[Peppe in Italian]

Every day, when I arrive at the gate…

I feel her presence.

It's an incredible emotion.

-[Rossella] Grandma, how is it?

-It's good.

[Rossella] Is it good?

[indistinct chattering]

[Rossella] Grandma approved it.

[Peppe] I want my children to be happy,

and that they live their lives.

For the most part,

Lella and I did this already.

I'm still giving them every chance to have

a place where they can express

their passion,

and pass on these traditions.

My son, Francesco, is a great yeast lover,

and he gives us a hand,

especially with pastry,

but also in the kitchen.

Rossella has this innate talent,

like her mother,

for welcoming guests,

and making them feel at home

from the moment they arrive.

When I started thinking about

having a little restaurant…

it already seemed like something gigantic.

Never in my wildest dreams

could I have imagined

getting where I have.

[music intensifies]

[Peppe] It's a beautiful feeling.

[music ends]

[upbeat music playing]

[music continues]

[music continues]

[music fades]