Illustration: Margalit Cutler
Within the 17 years it’s been open, Roberta’s has grown from a Bushwick pizza-and-tiki-bar pioneer to a citywide establishment to a full worldwide empire with outposts in L.A., Nashville, and Singapore (plus two different eating places in New York). Overseeing all of it for the reason that starting has been chef Carlo Mirarchi — who additionally opened Foul Witch within the East Village in 2023 and can open Ezio’s in Miami this fall. “The challenges by no means actually go away,” Mirarchi says of increasing the enterprise. “They’re excessive.” He’s nonetheless on the eating places day by day as nicely, fixing most of the identical issues that may have come up within the early days (how greatest to plate some do-it-yourself lardo) and getting as enthusiastic about plums on the Greenmarket as he’s for high-grade salumi from Italy. One element that has modified currently: He purchased a Ninja ice-cream maker throughout Prime Day and, as you’ll see on this week’s Grub Avenue Eating regimen, he’s completely obsessed.
Wednesday, July 30
I get up fairly early, round 5. I make espresso and I’m going to the gymnasium. I’m a complete fruit freak, so this time of yr is my favourite. Once I get dwelling, I’ve a bunch of strawberries, blueberries, nectarines, and yogurt. After that, I head to the Union Sq. Greenmarket. I’ve to get husk cherries for this aged tuna carpaccio we’re doing at Roberta’s Penn and likewise for a stone-fruit dish we’re doing at Foul Witch. I eat a few of these, clearly. They’re actually good.
I’ve a name with our accounting group. That’s about an hour. And I’ve a name with our advertising and marketing group, additionally about an hour. After these, I head to Foul Witch. Lucas Rogers, our govt sous-chef, and I make stracciatella, and we find yourself consuming a bunch of that. Then we strive making this stone-fruit factor with emerald-green plums, splash plums, and husk cherries. It really works actually, very well.
I’m nonetheless at Foul Witch a number of hours later, so I make myself a really huge salad with red-wine vinegar and tomatoes. I actually like salads.
We began doing pizzas for pickup and supply at Foul Witch on Monday and Tuesday, which is good, as a result of on Wednesday we often have leftover dough, so we’ve got pizza for household meal. Garret Culver, who works on the restaurant, makes a bunch, and I dig in.
Throughout service, I’m simply tasting continuously. If it appears as if I by no means eat, like, an actual meal, it’s as a result of I’m making an attempt stuff all day. It’s bizarre: I’m full however all the time really feel like I’m hungry.
It’s a very good service, and right here is the place issues get loopy: I made a decision to get myself a present and ordered a Ninja Creami in the course of the Amazon sale factor. I had made a base for myself that morning with blueberries, milk, protein powder, and yogurt. So once I get dwelling, I’m so fucking excited for this. There’s a mix-in setting. I add peanut-butter chips and dark-chocolate chips. Let me simply let you know: I’m shocked by how good that is. I slam the entire pint down in, like, 5 minutes. I need to make it clear, too, that this isn’t some advert. I paid for this fucking factor.
Thursday, July 31
I get up very early once more. I’ve by no means been a giant sleeper. I’m going for a fast bike journey earlier than work.
We haven’t ever had actual pictures of the meals at Foul Witch, so we’re capturing a bunch of stuff immediately, together with issues for a brand new restaurant, a Miami steakhouse referred to as Ezio’s, which is my dad’s identify. An excellent good friend of mine, Brandon Harmon — he labored on my Nonetheless Cookin’ e-book — is capturing all of it. We meet for espresso to go over the shot record, and by 9:15 I’m cooking with Sam Pollheimer, our govt chef on the firm. Chef Lucas is there, together with Chef Garrett and the remainder of the group.
Each time I do pictures, I cook dinner the meals as I’d for service, and it’s uncommon to have the ability to have all the menu plated at one time. It’s an excellent alternative to style all the things. We’re consuming all day.
We’re getting very nice lamb saddles and dry ageing these for Ezio’s. We’re additionally making a dressed Dungeness crab with crudité that Sam got here up with. It’s actually, actually good. And we’ve got a salad that’s form of a play on a wedge: Little-gem lettuce with guanciale and Sungold tomatoes, warmed by way of simply sufficient to get juicy. We’ve Stilton cream and end it with Gorgonzola.
For Foul Witch, we’ve got house-aged wild sea bream popping out of the wooden oven; our testa, which we make each week; a brand new heirloom-tomato dish with pistachio milk; summer time chicories and Romano beans with plum French dressing; wood-roasted wild shrimp with garlic and lemon; Wagyu carpaccio with cherries that pictures actually properly; and celery salad that’s been on the menu eternally that’s like a play on puntarelle.
We’re additionally doing brunch now, so we made a Spanish tortilla with Parmigiano Reggiano. It tastes so good. And we do a pancake. We spent nicely over a month simply engaged on this fucking pancake. Earlier than we opened for brunch, all us cooks had been all like, We don’t even eat pancakes. We don’t know what they’re speculated to style like. Like my favourite pancakes rising up got here from IHOP. We ended up enjoying with the completely different flours and leavening and got here up with one thing that skews a bit of extra savory with some good texture. Pancakes are a unique animal from pizza.
Proper now, we’re working with an Italian man who’s bringing in some very nice black-pig salumi from Calabria, the place my dad is from. We received an entire bunch of spalletta nero, so it’s from the shoulder, and I’ve been ready on it for some time. I’m super-psyched when it is available in and begin to break it down immediately. It’s blow-your-socks-off good. I get it on the menu tonight.
What I’m much more enthusiastic about — that is going to be a theme — is the roasted-banana ice cream I make within the Ninja at dwelling. It’s roasted bananas, cardamom, milk, sea salt, and yogurt. I perhaps go a bit of overboard with the cardamom, however it is rather tasty and it places me proper to sleep.
Friday, August 1
Drink a bunch of water, go nuts on the fruit once more, after which have a name with the Singapore group, which I really like. We go over menus and we troubleshoot some issues, some staffing stuff; we discuss by way of pickups and drinks, and that’s enjoyable as a result of we do a whole lot of nonalcoholic stuff there, and the merchandise which are obtainable are simply superb. Every kind of wacky tropical fruit.
I all the time have rice in my rice cooker. It’s a Cuckoo from Korea. This week, I’ve some garlic rice with rooster and black vinegar. Danny Bowien gave me a summer time kimchee he made that’s very crispy and refreshing. I can’t cease consuming it.
At Foul Witch, I assist Lucas with the stracciatella once more, which suggests consuming a whole lot of it once more. That leads into service, and I’m going to Roberta’s in Bushwick as a result of we’ve got a giant occasion within the backyard. Chef Sam is cooking off entire Sasso chickens over oak, and we style a type of. We’re so pleased with the way it comes out that we resolve to run it on the menu in Williamsburg the following day. Roast rooster, for no matter cause, is a tough promote for us. It’s extremely puzzling, however what are you gonna do?
I missed household meal at Bushwick, so I make myself one other large silly salad and I eat a bunch of bread that we’re getting from Frenchette. I end my evening there after which head dwelling as a result of I’ve to prep my bike.
Saturday, August 2
Race day. I’ve to get up at 3:45 a.m. as a result of the race begins at 5:40. I’ve a large bowl of white rice and a giant bottle of water with electrolytes. I stretch, I reply some work emails, and I make black espresso in a V60 like a nerd. Then I journey over to Prospect Park.
It’s a giant discipline with 60 riders, most of whom are half my age. I handle to remain mid-pack, however motion to the entrance is hard with a whole lot of groups blocking. I’m feeling fairly drained, however I get fortunate within the final three laps and rating second place — the inexperienced jersey received previous me simply on the line.
I do a cooldown lap, head to the rostrum, get a black espresso at Winner within the park, after which … what am I most enthusiastic about? You guessed it: The ice-cream base I made at dwelling that I’d instructed myself can be a reward if I received a podium. This one is strawberries, yogurt, protein, entire milk, vanilla extract, and peanut butter with a dark-chocolate mix-in. That is one of the best one of many week.
I’m going to Foul Witch for brunch. Chef Lucas is a complete brunch freak. We’ve received very nice yellow watermelon that I’ve been making an attempt to get my arms on for some time, and we resolve to work on it for a dessert.
My mother and father and niece find yourself coming to the restaurant, and it’s super-nice to cook dinner for them. We get this actually nice beef from older animals — five-plus years — that’s tremendous beefy. Intense isn’t even the suitable phrase for it. We age it for 60, 65 days, and it has a pleasant quantity of funk on it. It’s so scrumptious. I cook dinner that for them, among the salumi we make, recent bread, the spalletta, and, after all, I make a pancake for my niece, which I’ve a tough time not consuming myself. She homes it.
I get Foul Witch arrange for dinner service after which go to Bushwick as a result of we’re placing porchetta on the menu, and it’s that tough factor the place you need the pores and skin to get crispy however you don’t need it to over-render, so I simply must hold rotating them within the oven. It’s a whole lot of out and in, out and in.
I head to Williamsburg and check out a number of issues there. We’ve these very nice melons we’re utilizing for melon with prosciutto with stracciatella cream. It’s nice. My notes on it are “dwell, love, LOL.” Then again to Foul Witch. Chef Sam had put some Mangalitsa lardo on remedy. We pull that and check out to determine the place we’re going to place it on the menu. We strive it with a few completely different garnishes, however we resolve simply by itself is the easiest way to do it. That goes on the menu the following day.
Sunday, August 3
I’m up at 5:45 a.m. Black espresso, stretch, yogurt, fruit, and a Zone 2 journey with some associates. I get again dwelling, and you understand what time it’s: This one is strawberry, yogurt, protein, banana, and coconut-almond milk.
Extra espresso, after which I make my method to Penn to examine in with Chef Kayzer. He’s been engaged on a form of condiment utilizing soppressata. It’s actually attention-grabbing and we have to determine the easiest way to make use of it. I strive it on a pizza, and it’s tasty, however I get overzealous with the stracciatella and it’s a bit of too intense. Ultimately Kayzer figures it out.
Pre-shift is at Foul Witch, and our ops director, Cameron, is there along with his daughter. She’s beautiful, however I believe she’s had too many pancakes, or perhaps simply an excessive amount of syrup. She retains difficult me to a foot race contained in the restaurant.
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