Inspired Italian Dario Milano goes back to his roots to create traditional dishes that pull at the heart strings Belinda Seeney
D
ario Milano left Italy in 2004 in search of one thing. “Adventure. In the beginning, I was looking for adventure,” Dario says as he sips his espresso. “Australia seemed like a very exciting place, a young country so far from Italy.” While the lure of adventure drew him abroad, it was love, family and food that conspired to keep him in Australia. The talented chef, 47, is sitting in the front room of a converted cottage that houses CJ’s Pasta, a Brisbane institution saved by Claire Parviz in 2018 when its original home was resumed for expansions to West End State School. Claire, who also owns The Spaghetti House Trattoria at South Bank and sourced her fresh pasta from CJ’s, bought the business and relocated its commercial kitchen, wholesale arm and retail operations to its quaint new Hoogley St home. Dario is executive chef across both ventures as well as the intimate, 14-seat CJ’s Secret Pasta Club restaurant that pops up in the shopfront six nights a week. His Chef’s Choice menu runs to a handful of dishes using the day’s freshest ingredients and changes regularly. Many recipes, such as the ones featured here, come from his personal collection, and are influenced by his home of Piedmont in Italy’s northwest. “Vitello tonnato is a classic dish. It’s a cold entree of thinly sliced veal with a tuna and caper sauce. Some people add mayonnaise to the sauce but that’s not authentic, it’s not how it’s done in Piedmont,” the father-of-three says. “Another traditional dish I might do is agnolotti del plin. It’s very small, filled pasta stuffed with three meats – veal, pork and rabbit – and ‘plin’ means ‘pinch’ which is how you seal the pasta. It’s so full of flavour you only need to serve it with something simple, like a jus. 08 BRISBANE NEWS July 24-30, 2019
ON A ROLL ... Chef Dario Milano goes to work in the kitchen at CJ’s Pasta in West End. Pictures: Miranda Porter
People are moving on but they are taking their traditions and their food with them
“I’m a classically trained chef and the stuff I make now – the handmade, small production of pasta – is the sort of stuff the grandmas used to make back home. “The world is changing and people are moving on but they are taking their traditions and their food with them.” For someone who speaks so passionately about traditions, it’s perhaps surprising to learn Dario’s appreciation for authentic Italian fare was not forged in his own kitchens. He reveals his father, a tax accountant, ate the same meal of pasta pomodoro (pasta with a simple tomato sauce) almost every day. “For me, I didn’t want to study and follow in my father’s footsteps so I fell into hospitality because that’s what you do when you’re not sure,” he says. “But I discovered a passion for it.” Learning his trade in big hotels in Italy, Dario further sharpened his skills in Australia, working in kitchens from
Sydney to Hayman Island. He took a seven-year break to pursue a passion for food photography and styling but “missed the craziness” of the kitchen so returned. Wife Thuy is credited for the couple relocating to Brisbane last year with their three children: Monica, 10, Marco, 9, and Matteo, three-and-a-half. “Thuy has a huge family here so it made sense to move and it was a very good decision,” Dario says. “Claire’s vision for The Spaghetti House and CJ’s interested me. “She’s an ambitious woman with business smarts and some really good plans and opportunities to grow. “Personally, I’d like to get back into food photography in addition to cooking – for me the two things go hand-in-hand and make me feel really, fully happy as a creative person.” cjspasta.com.au spaghettihouse.com.au
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