At home, do you cook for yourself?
No! Once in a while I will but I am so tired when I get home most of the time because I go, go, go...I come in at 6:00 and I leave at 5:00 typically...sometimes I don't get home till 7:00. I get up at 4:30 in the morning, so by the time I get home I just want to sleep you know?
But you must eat something...
I have salad, I have fish, I'm a pretty clean eater.
Music while you cook?
I love classic rock...Classic Led Zeppelin...Country makes me a little crazy...Then I'll listen to Frank Sinatra, that's what I grew up with with my Dad...At home I dance around the kitchen!
Cooking strategy:
I always say it's made with love...I do everything by feel, that's how I learned how to cook. So when I opened my restaurant I had to teach my kitchen my recipes and it was torture because I'd go like that, I'd go like that with my meatballs , I know how much parsley, I know how much that...so what we would do is we'd throw it in, measure it, and write it down, and that's how I'd create the recipe. I don't measure, I know by feel.
Can't live without:
Garlic and olive oil
You take the leftovers:
I grew up with three brothers who always ate the leftovers. I'm kind of spoiled that way, I never eat leftovers...I can't eat spicy stuff. I've never eaten an olive...I'm probably the only Italian that doesn't like olives, used to drive my Dad crazy.
Pet Peeves?
I have to have everything separate. I don't like my food mixing...especially with the sauce or gravy. When the sauce goes into all the vegetables and everything else it all tastes the same to me, I wanna savor each special flavor, I don't wanna have it all the same!
Advice for aspiring chefs and especially women?
There's a lot of people that go into the restaurant business because they think it will be fun but it's a lot of work you know, so they have to be committed and ready for that to happen. Make sure you have enough money to live because it's a challenge for you as an owner to really be able to take an income in the beginning...And I think that sometimes, being a woman there definitely is more challenge.
On breaking into the boy's club:
I am a strong independent woman and I owned my own restaurant, and I had challenges with men on different levels as far as business and the level of respect and "oh well you're not a real chef." And I never considered myself a chef, I think I'm a really good cook. I didn't go to school for cooking but I learned from some really great chefs...I was standing on a chair, turning sauce at five years old, so to me it was in my roots since I was a little girl.
It's my party:
I don't care what people think about me. I am who I am, I am from back east, you are gonna get abused, that's the way it is! And I'm not afraid to say what I feel. And I am 4'11''! I am a little person, but I have a big personality and no one's ever gonna tell me I can't do something...Some people are extremely offended by me...I don't have to impress anybody, I just want to be myself I just wanna have fun and enjoy my life. Either you're on the train or you're not, it's ok!
Pride and Joy:
My meatballs... In the beginning, when I did the menu, I called it balls, "Lisa's bowl of balls." When I first opened, people would be like (whispers) "I want that"...Then everybody got comfortable but it was funny how people couldn't even say the word balls...And then I had a drink called the G Spot..I like the play on words.
Check back tomorrow for Lisa G's family recipe for Chicken Juno.