Dante’s Fire serves new American cuisine — an amalgamation of cooking techniques and culinary styles.
But even before Chef Kenneth Foy began building the eclectic menu, he and his business partner, Jon Tuck, concocted a name for their restaurant, the result of fusing both of their ideas.
“He wanted to open a place call Dante’s Ring,” Foy said of his partner. “I wanted to open a place called Fire and Ice. So we took half of his name — Dante’s — and half of my name — Fire — and we came up with the name. The menu is categorized by seven deadly sins.”
Dante’s Fire opened in 2013, and every three or four months Foy changes out about 40 percent of the menu. Some items, however, are so popular with customers, they remain in perpetuity, like the chorizo sliders with gouda, chipotle mayo and onion jam.
“We made the horrible mistake of taking it off the menu once and we put it back on,” Foy said.
You serve “new American cuisine.” What does that mean?
“New American cuisine is an eclectic mix, from house-made pasta to scallops and oysters and Foie Gras ‘PB&J.’ My definition of it is the escape from the rich, heavy béarnaise sauces, massive 24-plus-ounce portions of meat. It’s simple. Give yourself a couple invigorating tastes of things. It’s small plates. So instead of having all of your dining dollars tied up in a $40 steak, it’s an array. A little bit of this, a little bit of that.”
Is there a culinary area in which you still hope to push yourself?
“There’s one area of cooking that I’ve done solely at my home because it’s inherently difficult to get it right — Indian cuisine. That genre, when you start with the pot you put in one ingredient, then you add another ingredient then another, in small amounts. They layer the flavors, almost exactly the opposite what you would in classical French kitchens.”
How did you get interested in cooking?
“There was a necessity. My mother was not the best cook there ever was. I started washing dishes (in a restaurant) when I was 13 years old and I blossomed into the role.”
What is your best food memory?
“Both my grandparents were doing the local thing before it was cool. My grandfather would have 15 or 20 tomato plants on his patio and compost his own soil, and my grandmother had a victory garden in upstate New York. One of my first food memories, my fondest food memory, was eating at her house … a roast at her house with all fresh vegetables.”
What is one piece of advice you can give at-home cooks?
“For the at-home cook, do everything from scratch. It will be an experience, but the reward will be well worth it. Try making your own chicken stock for chicken stew. It completely changes your perspective, from start to finish, when you do it from scratch. And buy local. You will get the best flavor.”
What do you cook at home?
“We try to eat very well. We shop at farmers markets. Everything there is local and wonderful and it’s just taking it home, roasting the meats and vegetables and preparing some bread to go with it. It’s very simple.”
