Antonia Lofaso, a competition-winning celebrity chef, restaurateur, author and single mom, visited Miami University as part of the lecture series on Sept. 29. The Miami Student had the chance to talk with her about last meals, diversity in food and her creative process.
Questions and answers have been edited for concision and clarity.
What would be your last meal?
It’s a classic “ice-breaker” question, but when the person you’re speaking to is a chef, nothing food-related is ever simple.
“It’s not just a dish; it’s a whole meal, just so we’re clear,” Lofaso said. “I’m Italian, so for me, Italian food is just it. I would love to start with some prosciutto, burrata, melon, a lot of bread, some fresh ricotta cheese — just a ton of antipasti. Then, I would probably go into a pasta course that’s very simple: a spaghetti or a bucatini with a spicy tomato sauce that would have more cheese in it, and I would mix arugula all in. Then I would go into a perfect steak, a Florentine, which in the United States is essentially like a T-bone. Dessert would probably be a simple cannoli or affogato.”
It’s an Italian-American dream dinner that shows Lofaso's deep appreciation for food, honed through a childhood steeped in culinary exploration and many years in the industry.
But it’s an industry that is mostly male-dominated, which led us to the next question.
How has your experience as a woman in a male-dominated space affected you?
Lofaso starts with a challenge.
“Name an industry that isn’t male-dominated,” she said. “It’s not specific to me. Most professions are dominated by men.”
She said that one time, when she was being introduced as a famous chef in a hotel restaurant, the manager of the hotel mistakenly reached out to congratulate her boyfriend.
Other times have been less overt.
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“I think that I wasn't promoted many times in which I deserved promotion because they felt like I was a young woman who had a young child, and I couldn't dedicate the time and energy,” Lofaso said. “I do think that there were levels of opportunities that I was passed over for, but I stayed the course. I knew that I deserved it.”
It was time to feel out her opinions on hot topics of the culinary world. There is a lot of diversity in food that is often underrepresented in the food world, especially within fine dining.
What is your opinion on diversity in fine dining restaurants?
“This is actually one of the most important things that I actually talk about often, and I've been talking about it for a very long time,” Lofaso said. “I believe that it's a very sort of ignorant way of thinking. It's a very uneducated thing for anyone to assume that certain foods don't belong in fine dining.”
She said that there are fine dining establishments all over the world that lack critical accolades due to these prejudices, citing Pujol, a Mexican dining experience in Mexico City, and Commander’s Palace, an American South restaurant in New Orleans.
“For us to believe that there's only one style of food or one type of food that should be fine dining is a complete and total falsehood,” Lofaso said. “The only difference between it being something like street food versus what they do at Pujol is the style of plating, the ambience in which the room creates. It’s the style of service and the quality of food. It’s only that difference [of plating, food quality and ambiance] that make it fine dining, so any style of food can fit that narrative.”
Lofaso herself owns several restaurants, each having its own unique style and vibe.
What is the process of creating a new restaurant concept?
It’s a very long and involved process, Lofaso said, with the most important step being that she feels strongly about and is connected to the concept.
After that, it’s more about market research and growing the space around the menu. After all, said Lofaso, if you already have five Italian restaurants in one neighborhood, you don’t need another.
“Every choice, from the table to the chair to the lighting to the music to the glasses that you're having your Negroni or your spritz in, have to give the diner a perception,” Lofaso said. “When they walk in through the door, they're not going to be confused.”
Since each of her restaurants is different, she develops a different aesthetic and memory to transport her future diners.
“That's when you start to develop the ambiance and the design of the place,” Lofaso said. “When we built Dama, my Latin-inspired place, I was like, ‘I want you to feel like you're eating like in a piazza in Spain or Mexico,’ so we sit here and we just have these brainstorming meetings. What if the chair felt like this? Do I want to sit in a chair like this if I'm eating this?”
With her food being so deeply tied to memories, it makes sense that the last question is about her own.
When was the last time you felt perfectly happy?
“You know, the last time is actually the spot that I'm in right now in my life,” Lofaso said. “I think I have felt the most – not even happy, because the happiness is fleeting – but the most content and the most grounded. I'm in a place now where I'm off to the next chapter.”
She said her future plans involve a restaurant on the Las Vegas Strip, a destination known for producing some of the best culinary experiences in the U.S.
But not all of her happiness is based on goals and new restaurants.
“I have a really expensive shower,” Lofaso said. “And it’s like this hard work of mine has paid off. I've never been happier and more content with what I'm doing right now, and I’m also so excited about what the next decade from 50 to 60 looks like for me.”
If her past is any indication, then the future looks bright indeed.
greenpt@miamioh.edu
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