Stefano Secchi, who was once a young boy watching his parents’ run a restaurant in a Dallas suburb and is now a Michelin-starred chef in New York, returned to Dallas Monday night for a dinner that was an homage of sorts both to his culinary roots and his parents.
Secchi partnered with chef Junior Borges at Meridian, where Borges is the executive chef, for a one-night tasting menu of dishes mainly from Emilia-Romagna, where Secchi spent formative years under the culinary tutelage of the likes of Massimo Bottura.
The menu was a celebration of classic Italian cuisine with Borges’ influence and nods to Secchi’s Italian heritage via his Sardinian father, Francesco Secchi, who attended the dinner Monday with his wife, Jane Secchi. Since 1983, the Secchis have owned and operated local restaurant Ferrari’s Italian Villa, which is now located in Grapevine.
The two beamed as they watched their son glide in and out of the kitchen at Meridian, taking breaks from grating black truffles over garganelli to greet guests and explain the pasta courses, one of which was titled “Francesco Secchi on his farm in Sardegna.”
The dish, a take on the classic Sardinian culurgiones — a dumpling-like pasta stuffed with potato, pecorino and mint and served in a pomodoro sauce — was a surprise for Secchi’s father.
“He doesn’t know this is on tonight’s menu. This is a surprise for him,” Secchi said. “I’m sure he’ll be too proud to cry, but my mother will.”
And she did. Secchi’s mother was overcome with emotion when talking about her son and his accomplishments as a chef.
“It’s like Jordan Spieth winning the Masters,” she said. “When Spieth won, Francesco said, ‘I wonder what that must be like for his parents,’ and now we know. We know what that’s like.”
She said they were in shock when Bottura called Secchi last fall with the news that his Northern Italian restaurant Rezdora won its first Michelin star. It was a full-circle moment for the parents who raised their son while running their own Italian restaurant.
“We are just so proud,” she said.
Monday night’s tasting menu started with a trio of appetizers, the first of which was Secchi’s Modenese crescentine with thin slices of mortadella, pistachio and a bit of pesto. Borges’ contributions in the appetizer lineup were a bright scallop crudo with shiso, citrus and basil, and a chicories salad tossed in a walnut vinaigrette and generously topped with scamorza cheese.
The first of the pasta courses was also one of Borges’ creations — a casoncelli pasta fittingly stuffed with catupiry, a cheese from his native Brazil that was developed by an Italian immigrant, and topped with preserved lemon, fennel pollen and bottarga. A rich morel mushroom rotolo dish with charred ramps and an egg yolk was credited to Borges as well.
Along with the dish he dedicated to his father, Secchi made a garganelli in a cream sauce with prosciutto, green peas and black truffles; a lemon zabaglione served with strawberries; and a Sardinian cheese and honey pastry for dessert.
Secchi, who was already planning to be in town to participate in the Chefs for Farmers 10th anniversary event, accepted Borges’ invitation to collaborate on the dinner because he felt it was important to take an opportunity to champion the Dallas restaurant industry, which deserves broader recognition, he said.
“We have to bring attention to what’s happening here in Dallas,” he said. “Dallas deserves it.”
