Road to Success is in Their “Roots “ Radici Kitchen & Bar: Great Roots Lead to Great Food

by Rona Mann

Brian Bowden knows a bit about having a great work ethic.

So does his wife, Carly Mankouski.

Bowden gave an exceptional guest experience for more than 30 years as a chef working at some of the finest kitchens throughout the Capital Region, the South, and the Caribbean. Mankouski arduously worked front of the house for years at many of those same restaurants. He’s cooked it all, she’s seen it all, but the couple believes that in the hospitality arena success comes from continuing to create a partnership, and they do that by showing up every day and being the best version of themselves through hard work and dedication. That’s where they’re coming from, and where you should be going.

“Chef” is a title Brian wears proudly, but never takes lightly. Like many excellent chefs, Bowden also got his start as a dishwasher at age 13 working in a restaurant kitchen with big eyes, big ears, and an inquisitive mind. Like most young dishwashers, he watched and listened to all that was going on around him, eventually catching the bug. But unlike most of those chef wannabees, Brian Bowden did not go to Johnson and Wales or the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park. “I’m self-taught. All my training was on the job,” Brian says with a certain sense of pride. On the advice of a well-respected friend and chef who advised he not go to the Culinary Institute, “You have a good work ethic. You already know most of what they’re going to try to teach you,” so he went one better. Bowden purchased the actual textbooks used at the CIA, reading and studying them over and over until he felt accomplished, sure of himself, and ready to perform. “And I saved a whole lot of money,” he laughed.

So, now primed and ready to show off his knife skills, experiment with flavors, and create memorable and delicious concoctions, Chef

Bowden began to ply his art first at a number of restaurants throughout the Capital District, then south to Raleigh, North Carolina, followed by an enviable time spent working as a Head Chef in the Caribbean, loving the climate, learning a new cuisine, living the life. But life has twists and turns, and soon Bowden was back in the Capital District and ready to meet the next chapter of his life head-on. Along the way, he met Carly Mankouski, the woman who would become his business partner and eventually become his wife. Together the couple began to write business plans for a restaurant that would one day be their own. “We wrote business plans for different concepts for a long time, looking all around the Capital District to see what might work,” the Chef said. In 2014 they took a serious look at the city of Glens Falls and liked what they saw in a community that was actively growing and changing for the better. “We found a space in a location we liked but it hadn’t been a restaurant previously, so to properly equip it would be exorbitant.” So, undeterred, the couple kept looking.

In 2019 they found exactly the right location at 26 Ridge Street in Glens Falls, and by January 2020, Radici Kitchen & Bar was open to a waiting public hungering for the new flavors Chef Brian couldn’t wait to share. But then came March. “For all the business plans we had written,” Chef Brian began, “there was no place in it for a global pandemic. We were unsure of how to proceed.” But in Italian, “radici” means “roots,” and it is from roots that things grow. So Brian, wh o is of Italian familial roots, and Carly just put their experience, work ethic, and com mitment to people to work and went full b o lt into the takeout arena. “We had our life savings and some borrowed money as well invested in Radici, and we were not about to fail.” While some staff members had to be temporarily laid off, Brian, Carly, and Brian’s son threw themselves into the business of takeout. Even though they had only opened two months before Covid hit, they got great regional support. “People were coming from all over,” Bowden says almost in awe and disbelief at the positive reaction. “We made a reputation for having great takeout during the pandemic.”

While takeout is still an active part of Radici’s business, Carly and Brian have worked hard to make the dining-in experience memorable for all guests. No longer limited to the reduced seating regulation imposed during the pandemic, now they offer an exposed brick dining room with 48 seats and a 14-seat bar featuring craft cocktails and beer. “Our guests have told us it has a real Manhattan vibe to it,” the chef offers, allowing that he favors an open kitchen concept so guests at the bar can not only watch what’s being created from scratch (“radici”), but also converse with the chef, sous chefs, and other kitchen personnel while enjoying $1. oysters daily. All of this fosters the kind of relationship that Brian and Carly had intended: making strong connections and a partnership with their guests.

It’s nearly impossible to compartmentalize or pigeonhole Radici’s cuisine. “It is Italian inspired, but not an Italian restaurant,” Brian says. Carly adds, “We have classic Italian dishes, but we also have a very popular classic tuna tartare, French-style flavors, our steaks are all hand cut by the Chef, we butcher whole fish like Alaskan

Halibut, and some of our most popular signature dishes include Crispy Oysters with Caviar, Authentic Spaghetti Car bonara, Toasted Bao Buns, Beef Carpaccio, Short Rib Pappardelle, and currently we have Perigord Truffles.”

Perhaps most popular with their loyal clientele are the wine dinners held monthly and sold out as soon as they’re advertised. The Chef enthuses, “Five courses paired with five different wines and each month a different cuisine.”

Different is an understatement here. While diners can enjoy classic, simple dishes, they also marvel at the chef’s take on popular food prepared in a creative, new way Always, everything is fresh, prepared from scratch, from the roots of good taste, with outstanding incomparable service, and the goal of making lasting connections with their guests. “We would really like to stress the im portance and value of our team. We work with a wonderful group of people,” Carly adds.

Planning a special evening at home? Speak with the Chef or Carly and ask about their Residential Tasting Menus when the Chef and staff will come to your home and create a memorable meal you and your guests will long remember.

Both Chef Brian and Carly know all about long hours, sweat equity, running right into the face of a major pandemic, and coming out the other side victorious. They’ve learned to stretch, to be more flexible than they ever knew, to re-imagine and reinvent all over again, and through it all to never lose their focus, their sense of humor, or the flare for what they love. They worked years throughout the Capital

Region to establish their outstanding reputation, learning that to keep being successful, you have to keep putting out the highest quality product and the most inventive, thoughtful preparations, served by conscientious, friendly, and professional people who love doing what they do. Working as a team, they all do it at Radici.

Every day. Every meal. For every guest.

Ridici Kitchen & Bar

26 Ridge Street in Glens Falls. Reservations are strongly advised (518) 804-1007 www.ridicikitchen&bar.com