\u201cWe were conscious of writing the last chapter of this epic novel \u2013 it was a wonderful journey that we were really proud of,\u201d Michael Dearth says of The Grove\u2019s closure. \u201cWe were done; we were going to scale back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Annette and Michael Dearth, founders of The Grove and Baduzzi and, now, Zamboni. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
But now, just 18 months on, a culinary sequel is in the wind. <\/p>\n
Those phone calls kept coming, and Michael \u2013 a face familiar to many TV viewers as a former MasterChef New Zealand judge – kept answering.<\/p>\n
He investigated possible new restaurants in places like Queenstown, Matakana and elsewhere, before talking seriously with the family behind Smales Farm on Auckland\u2019s North Shore. <\/p>\n
When the numbers needed crunching, he turned again to his wife and business partner.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018I think I need you … we\u2019re going to have to do this together,\u2019\u201d Annette says.<\/p>\n
Michael and Annette Dearth inside their under-construction restaurant Zamboni on Auckland’s North Shore. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
Now the couple is standing amid the construction work and noise of their new restaurant taking shape at Smales Farm.<\/p>\n
Zamboni, an ambitious northern Italian-inspired sibling to Baduzzi, is their latest hospitality venture \u2013 the Dearths are completely transforming the space that once housed The Grange bar and bistro, which closed in December last year.<\/p>\n
And so, as restaurants contract and close during one of the industry\u2019s most turbulent periods, the Dearths are expanding once again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s never the right time to have a baby,\u201d Annette says. \u201cYou\u2019ve just got to have the baby.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited. My brain is full \u2013 I need a pad next to my bed because I\u2019m waking up in the middle of the night: \u2018Oh, we have to do this, we have to do that. There are so many boxes to tick, but it\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a fresh canvas to show people in New Zealand what we love … great hospitality,\u201d Michael says.<\/p>\n
An artist’s impression of the new-look Zamboni restaurant.<\/p>\n
Zamboni is set to open in early November, and, like Baduzzi, will cater to a broad range of customers and palates, with unique fare, including a centrepiece focaccia bread that Michael first tasted some 14 years ago on a trip to Italy.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s called Focaccia di Recco \u2013 a cracker-thin, crispy and gooey cheese-filled flatbread that hails from the town of Recco in the Liguria region of northern Italy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried this focaccia, and I was like, \u2018Oh my God, this is so amazing, this is so much better than pizza. Why aren\u2019t we eating this in other places in the world?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really inspiring to me. I had this seed. I have never seen it outside of this little region in northern Italy. I\u2019ve been wanting to do this focaccia for a long time, as one of the heroes of what we\u2019re doing here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dearths, who immigrated to New Zealand from the United States in 2003, trace their own heritage back to specific Italian regions \u2013 they have been the earlier inspiration for Baduzzi.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best way to understand Baduzzi … my heritage is outside of Rome, Annette\u2019s heritage is in Sicily,\u201d says Michael. <\/p>\n
\u201cBaduzzi has always been [food-themed] Rome to the south, all the heroes from the south, but still with an Italian-American expression. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo now opening up this new restaurant on the North Shore, we want to do Rome to the north … but there is a little bit more freedom with this Italian American vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n
An artist’s impression of the bar area of Zamboni. Image \/ supplied<\/p>\n
On a trip to Italy last October, Michael, Baduzzi head chef Federico Schincariol – \u201ca total dream\u201d – and hospitality designer Paul Izzard travelled to the Host Milan event and to Recco.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went to the actual town. We did a lot of travelling. We were able to go into the kitchens to actually measure what we needed for the ovens … and for these special [focaccia] trays. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a wonderful trip. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe also need a specific cheese that comes from this region, and we found an Italian guy to make us this cheese here in New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n
A significant new operation<\/p>\n
The new restaurant is a sizeable venture \u2013 seating some 125 inside, including a private dining room for 25 and a roomy bar area for drinks and other dining. Total seating outside, which features an outdoor fire, will be 100.<\/p>\n
There will be a \u201clab\u201d \u2013 a room where fresh pasta will be handmade into different shapes. \u201cJust think Willy Wonka and the Pasta Factory,\u201d Michael says.<\/p>\n
That lab, along with a state-of-the-art Josper BBQ \u2013 \u201cthe Ferrari of BBQs\u201d \u2013 will feature as separate showcases for all to see.<\/p>\n
The pair think they\u2019ll need about 60 workers for Zamboni, over and above Baduzzi\u2019s staff of about 50. \u201cWe\u2019re going to need a big team,\u201d Michael says. \u201cIt\u2019s a big space.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is a Zamboni?<\/p>\n
Zamboni is set to open in November.<\/p>\n
A Zamboni might be familiar to fans of American sports \u2013 it\u2019s the machine that sweeps the ice during breaks in ice hockey games.<\/p>\n
The Dearths love the name and apply it equally in social settings. <\/p>\n
\u201cZamboni is a metaphor,\u201d says Michael, highlighting a scenario where people might be eyeing the last morsels on a plate. \u201cThe food\u2019s so good, everyone\u2019s a Zamboni because you want to clean your plate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Annette: \u201cWe\u2019ve always used that as well since we met. Michael would order too much food. We\u2019d go out, and I\u2019d be like, \u2018I can\u2019t eat all this \u2013 you\u2019ll have to be the Zamboni.\u2019 We used to say that all the time to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Annette says that while she had been looking forward to a break after The Grove, the new venture just felt right, especially after she met the Smale family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt all just unfolded from there … it ticked all the boxes. It just felt right. The space is great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael acknowledges it has been a tough time in the hospitality industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is uncertainty out there. Just like in anything, we\u2019re seeing times where people are cutting back and contracting. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re now expanding at a time when there\u2019s uncertainty in the world. I know New Zealand has been kicked around a lot since Covid, and before that, the GFC \u2026 there always seems to be something that we\u2019ve weathered over two decades.”<\/p>\n
But he reflects on when the pair opened The Grove in 2004.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just had maxed-out credit cards. I called that kitchen Frankenstein\u2019s monster \u2013 we chop off the head and put in a Rational oven; cut off an arm, put a stainless steel bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe in the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
An artist’s impression of the new-look Zamboni restaurant.<\/p>\n
On a hoarding outside the construction site at Smales Farm, there\u2019s a line from the Robert Frost poem Nothing Gold Can Stay. <\/p>\n
Michael loves that opening line – \u201cNature\u2019s first green is gold …\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s talking about the seasons of life and the seasons of things \u2013 the impermanence. That\u2019s just life in general \u2013 The Grove was a blink of an eye … 20 years just went by, and in that time we have our beautiful family growing. <\/p>\n
\u201cRestaurants are important to us, but our son was born and our daughter was born.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says there will always be uncertainty, no matter the industry and whatever people do for a living.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, that\u2019s this whole thing of seasons in life, this opportunity to open Zamboni … it just seemed to unfold like the unfoldings of a season, of a really beautiful season. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to realise there\u2019s going to be storm clouds and rain and there\u2019s going to be sunshine. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s going to be cold nights, and there\u2019s going to be beautiful sunny mornings.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo in that we\u2019re living our life. And our life is hospitality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand\u2019s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe were conscious of writing the last chapter of this epic novel \u2013 it was a wonderful journey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[95,290742,51,3952,290741,8608,1887,290743,59796,54180,156,19363,116484,181432,15557,2454,46323,1224,5494,117,111,139,529,7977,69,10521,5353,2539,91396,18484,223,61,35636,290744,2963],"class_list":["post-590377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-and","tag-annette","tag-auckland","tag-aucklands","tag-baduzzi","tag-comes","tag-countrys","tag-dearths","tag-defying","tag-eatery","tag-entertainment","tag-founders","tag-grove","tag-highestprofile","tag-hospitality","tag-industry","tag-influential","tag-italy","tag-michael","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-north","tag-northern","tag-nz","tag-opening","tag-period","tag-restaurant","tag-restaurateurs","tag-shore","tag-the","tag-to","tag-turbulent","tag-zamboni","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}