Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 232

2 Section 13 Chicago Tribune, Sunday. January 16. 1983 Home Taste i a iff: 2 1 111 4 iu p- vr c-m. K. V-M i rv i.r..-..r.-,,j.r' 4 4- i 1 i -A I tj 1 teal" Prodaeer Dino de Laurentiis center In left photo, shown with some of his employees, is banking on the extensive gourmet offerings at his Foodshow.

Are discriminating New Yorkers going to buy this deli with a difference? By Mary Daniels ChicagJ) Tribune EW YORk "From long time, everybody believe I crazy," says Dino de Laurentiis, the producer they call "the godfather of the movie meeting over a bowl of pasta to discuss it," Greene added. While they're ironing out their differences, the crowds aren't staying away. The New York upper crust, with a food orientation as sophisticated as that of the ancient Roman oligarchy, show up to rubberneck if not to buy, just as if the Circus Maximus had parked on the edge of Central Park. This is a busy place, with buyers stacked 6ix-deep, all awed when a six-foot pizza is delivered from the ovens as if it were Cleopatra in a sedan chair. Physically, the first impact is visual: terra cotta tiles, antique bricks, a curved vault of a skylight, fine brass trimmings, the DDL monogram everywhere, burnished oak cabinetry, a forest of ferns, a giant copper rotisserie where suckling pig and hare turn slowly, the obsequious help in spotless white and chefs' toques.

BUT THE MOST mesmerizing stage setting at "Dino's," as Greene says New York "foodies" refer to it, is the food, glorious food, of a kind that a Chicagoan, at least, doesn't see daily. If ever. Rampant Sicilian lobsters in the Columbus Avenue window are a sideshow in themselves. Near the entrance is DDL's smash-hit bakery, where shelves are stacked with toasty mountains of bread, "25 to 30 different breads a day," says De Laurentiis. "Like nobody does in the U.S.

chocolate, tomato, spinach, corn, herb, olive, tunafish we do bread with everything!" But man does not live by nine different kinds of breadsticks alone. Nearby is the Espresso Bar, a "typically Mediterranean bar for a cup of excellent cappuccino, or ristret-to, a tenderly roasted espresso, or American coffees to be downed with elegant little Italian sandwiches called tramezzini. Or there are the fruit tarts of figs, grapes, strawberries, kiwis and oranges, while one ponders if one should take home a pound at $18 of freshly ground "Jamaican Blue" mountain estate coffee. Milanese manufacturer of confectionary, ice cream and pastries. "We buy the best in the world; I steal the best from Harrod's, Fauchon," brags De Laurentiis, who is the son of a spaghetti-maker.

"The key to this is personnel," says Von Burchard, who oversees a staff of 140. "A normal gourmet food store trades, but we manufacture." He conducts a tour of the basement bakery and kitchens and the imported specialized equipment that allows for products being prepared exactly as they are in Europe. "Everything is spotlessly clean," he says as he walks past a butcher who is preparing pheasant. "Well, a few pheasant feathers lying around," he adds with a laugh. Though "Dino's Madness" is fast-becoming one of the seven wonders of New York, skeptics have reservations about how profitable it will be as a place to shop rather than a sightseeing draw, particularly in this economy.

"It isn't really the right place," Gael Greene protests. "Most people would say the right place is Madison Avenue. Even though it is not far from Central Park West, which is filled with wealthy families, the area is filled with young people, not necessarily the most affluent." Von Burchard, of course, takes up the lance in defense. "We are not high-priced," he says. "Our price structure is in line with everyone else's.

"There is such a market for prepared foods, it is unbelieveable!" he says. "People in America, without children, they work late, they don't always want to go to a restaurant. They want quality food to take home. It is exactly the market trend," he says, adding that the Foodshow will begin catering this month. a-' In any case, to hedge his bets, De Laurentiis plans to take his Foodshow on the road.

After another DDL Foodshow opens in New York's Trump Tower on 5th Avenue, another will open in Beverly Hills in April. After that, "we want to do the same in Chicago," says Dej Laurentiis, on the condition that he can solve management problems, "because I cannot be every day Chicago." Von Burchard seems to be unworried, at this point, about management problems. Except for a few Scottish salmon at $8 a quarter pound. Greene says she judges it inferior to and more expensive than that in other New York delis farther on is a homemade ham and sausage shop "in the style of Sicily and Parma, and the Black Forest," the manager says, where one can find things like Bunderfleisch, air-dried Swiss beef $21 a pound and Lachsschinken, lightly cured ham $8.99 a pound. OPPOSITE IS A counterfoil of creamy cheeses, such as the French goat cheese wrapped in brown leaves.

"He has an extraordinary' Parmesan," but little else other delis don't duplicate," is the stab Greene takes at this department. some point, with his contacts in Italy, he ought to bring in cheeses that no one else has," she says. But the main feature of the DDL Foodshow is the Gastronomia, the hot-and-cold carryout food section. The cold table 50 linear feet is almost overwhelming in its offerings, presented in ceramic platters flown in from Italy: tiers of shrimp in aspic, paella, pates, cole slaws, salmon mousse in a jelly glaze. Prices are fancy, too: Rice salad is $4.50 a pound.

At the open-hearth French copper rotisserie, one may find wild boar, whole lamb, wild game, the chicken cacciatore, whole roast chickens $5.50 a pound, or perhaps the suckling pig on a spit. The hot counter's trays are filled with pastas, the establishment's bestseller so far: polenta $2.95 a square; rich, oozing, multi-layered lasagne $5.95 a pound cannelloni filled with spinach and ricotta $5.95 a pound and the more exotic cmquille at pomodoro, eel in tomato sauce $3.50 a pound. This is the part of the establishment that Greene said she liked best, in essence "the very homey Italian food. It's the area that could be most exciting, once that kitchen gets a sure sense of taste. If Mr.

Dino de Laurentiis thinks he is right and I'm wrong, it will stay the same," she MR. DEXAURENTHS seems to think he knew what he was doing. He pillaged Europe of personnel, equipment and foodstuffs, says Von Burchard. He brought in Emilio Romani from the Peck's complex of specialty shops in Milan to direct the Gastronomia. There is also a staff of bakers and pastry-makers from Motta's, a business." "Maybe I am wrong, maybe I am right," continues De Laurentiis, speaking of his latest spectacular production, the new DDL Foodshow.

It's deli show biz, starring a cast of hundreds of eminently edible foodstuffs from the world "over, and the hottest production number in New York'a gastronomic world. The Italian producer of "Three Days of the Condor," "Serpico," "Death Wish" and the remake of "King is offering different food for thought these days. "I do the unique with the style, or I prefer not to do anything!" he adds, still coming across as more of a high-rolling cinematic gambler than a greengrocer. And 'why not? DDL's manager, Hagen von Burchard, said $3 million was spent to get the place ready. At the time he spoke, the German-born Burchard said he hadn't seen his children for six days, so immersed was he with stepping into the breach after a predecessor departed a week after the Foodshow's opening in late November.

The management problems added to the delicious controversy over whether the DDL Foodshow is in for the boffo box office run De Laurentiis is banking on. Gael Greene, the powerful New York food critic, sliced the place up like salami for three pages in the Dec. 20 issue of New York magazine right after it opened. BUT IN A recent telephone interview, she said that the Foodshow is "probably the most stunningly handsome grocery in the world, certainly in New York. I love the look of the place.

The most beautiful food space I've ever seen. I like what they're trying to do. "I think it has a lot of problems," she said. "It's beginning to shake down now. I thought the pricing was insane.

They hadn't paid enough attention to the competition." She had pages of complaints on the food itself in the magazine: The seasonings were erratic, with dishes vacillating between either bland or over-salted. of course, was not pleased. VDino's reaction was that I'm full of it. And we're "It is the real thing, no blend or approximation of the flavor," assures Von who confides that the bar is already too small and will be expanded. The rest is a film fest of flavor.

In one corner is the fresh pasta and sauce shop. Up a few stairs is a chocolate shop, alongside a counter selling smoked "We have to get more cash registers, he says coyiyv "We didn't exjwet this much business." -13 Events Get Laminated mm III pursuit of some of life's finer things HE UNMISTAKABLE STYLE of the Victorian era will be exrlored in five lectures SDonsored bv ilthe Chicago Architecture Foundation in Febru 1 Why settle for unfinished when you can have our prefinished, fully adjustable custom Interior closet system. Featuring our unique add-a-drawer system and corner unit, two -J space savers exclusively ours. Professional installations available, and all materials and workmanship are fully guaranteed. Convert-a-Closet IF YOU live in one of the aforementioned Victorian dwellings or even if you live in a sleek '80s townhouse and your heating is racing toward a new high this winter, you might want to attend the Evanston Environmental Association's "Retrofit '83" conference Feb.

18 and 19. Though specifically geared for architects, builders and suppliers of energy products, the gathering will offer extensive information for rehabbers on the latest in solar-energy remodeling, devices and literature, according to a spokesman for the EEA. The conference will be held at Evanston Township High School, 1600 Dodge Ave. Comprehensive tickets are $65 until Feb. 14; $75 thereafter.

For complete details, contact the-EEA at 864-5181 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. OR IF Dino de Laurentiis' DDL Foodshow above has made you hungry, consider the five-part cooking course on the cuisines of Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Lebanon, China and Germany offered by the Discovery Center, 2930 N. Lincoln Ave.

The classes will meet on five consecutive Thursday evenings, beginning Jan. 27, and will visit individual restaurants specializing in the cuisines. Each gathering includes an "ethnic feast" and an opportunity to discuss the meal with the chefs of the evenings, according to a spokesman for the center. The course costs $80, and includes the five dinners, gratuities and taxes. For information, contact the Discovery Center at 348-8120.

arys-March and April. The lirst lecture, at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 15, will feature E. Fleming, a research associate and writer foKjhfe Winterthur Museum in Delaware, who will discuss "Material Culture of 19th Century America." On the- Batne program is Patrica Fleming, docent at Win-terjhur, who will discuss Victorian china.

(Mier speakers and topics: tMarch 1 Ross Edman, professor of art history at th University of Illinois, on furniture of the period. 4March 15 Adriana Scalamandre Bitter, vice president of New York's Scalamandre, which reproduces wallpapers and carpets for historic buildings, on Victorian fabrics and carpets. iMarch 29 Bruce Bradbury, California fhanufactur-erCrf William Morris reproduction wallpaper, on Victorian wall coverings. 4-iApril 12 Craig Littlewood, consultant to the Smith-sorftan Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and vajrious American house museums, on Victorian lighting. AQ lectures will be at the ArchiCenter, 330 S.

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