About 20 years after the local chef Ian Brower first worked at Cafe Capriccio in Albany, he returned in March, first helping with events and then becoming the executive chef.
The restaurant is indelibly associated with its founder, Jim Rua, now in his early 80s and still active as chef-raconteur for private parties in Capriccio’s upstairs Chef’s Table event space. For at least a decade, the restaurant’s main kitchen has been under the official supervision of Rua’s son, Franco, though for the past five years the day-to-day head chef was Pat Bishop, who first worked at Capriccio when he and Franco Rua were teenagers. With Bishop, Franco Rua and longtime Capriccio employee Lane Zugalla now at Pinehaven Country Club in Guilderland, in their first season running the restaurant Capriccio on the Green and banquet service, the family reached out to a longtime friend who conveniently was available to take over the Albany kitchen.
In late January, Brower and business partner Max Wolff lost the lease for Mallo’s, their Troy sandwich shop known for its gourmet and often eccentric creations, and were forced to close after more than three years. Soon, Franco Rua asked Brower about returning.
“It was my first ever serious kitchen job, so to come back as the head chef is wild,” Brower told me.
Jim Rua said he was delighted by Brower’s return and appreciates his energy, enthusiasm and the skills and knowledge gained as head chef of restaurants including Lost & Found Bar & Kitchen and the former New World Bistro Bar and Capital City Gastropub, all in Albany.
“He’s had a lot of diverse experience since he was here 18 years ago, and he brings that experience to this framework,” Rua told me. He said Brower’s mandate is to maintain the quality of classic dishes — no messing with the eggplant with four cheeses, escarole and beans, calamari neri and puttanesca sauce, in other words — but to use the list of daily features to bring back old favorites and try new ideas that fit the Capriccio ethos. Such as two from last weekend: pork shoulder steak topped with escarole, eggplant and vermentino-soaked raisins, and hake with arugula pesto and saffron risotto.
Brower said, “The big decider for me, when I knew it would be a good fit, was when I realized that all of the things that Jim would never take off the menu, I wouldn’t either.”
Located at 49 Grand St., Cafe Capriccio serves dinner from 5 p.m. daily. Call 518-465-0439 or reserve online.