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In the last year, Stefano Secchi lived through every chef\u2019s nightmare: His Flatiron restaurant, Massara<\/a>, was starting to hit its stride (and had just become profitable) when a kitchen fire turned into a disaster that kept the business closed for a year. The night it happened, Secchi had been flying to Italy for a wedding. \u201cI landed and had ten missed calls and 25 texts,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI\u2019m asking my team, like, \u2018Guys, can I come back?\u2019 and they\u2019re like \u2018You can do nothing right now.\u201d When the restaurant at last reopened earlier this month, Secchi was once again flying to Italy. \u201cI have major PTSD because the exact same thing happened last time,\u201d he says, joking (maybe). Of course, Secchi is also the envy of many restaurateurs since his first New York restaurant, Rezd\u00f4ra<\/a>, remains, seven years in, one of the city\u2019s few truly impossible reservations, full every night for the simple reason that it is very good. Next, he\u2019ll take over one of downtown\u2019s most storied locations \u2014 the former Gotham Bar and Grill \u2014 but before that, he spent a week this summer getting an early (literally) jump on marathon training, readying some new menus, and trying with varying degrees of success to sneak into his restaurants unnoticed, both to cook and to eat. <\/p>\n Tuesday, June 23 When I get home, colazione is an omelet with havarti and avocado. This is my go-to breakfast, and I used to make it all the time, but my wife has stepped in lately. Her omelet game is next level. She makes it and we split it.<\/p>\n In the middle of the day, I stopped by L\u2019Appartement 4F<\/a> in Manhattan. It\u2019s cool that they\u2019re in the space that used to be James Beard\u2019s house. I had an almond croissant and an espresso, no sugar. They don\u2019t overcomplicate things. I dig it.<\/p>\n We\u2019re doing a menu flip at Rezd\u00f4ra, and lunch was tasting lots of dishes for the summer menu: tortello di friggione and ippoglosso, which is halibut with fennel and pomorodini. When you think of halibut, you think of northern European countries like England, Scotland, or Norway. We didn\u2019t really have halibut in Italy; when we did get it, it would be at the big fish market in Milano: This one comes from Norway, this one comes from the deep waters of western Spain.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, I also have Parmigiano-Reggiano, which first became a ritual for me when I was in culinary school at CIA and again when I was cooking in Italy. I break off nice pieces and leave them on a cutting board for my fellow cooks.<\/p>\n Right before p.m. service, I always have tea, a combination of jasmine pearls and English Breakfast. My mom is English, and I picked up the tea habit from her. I always have some new type of cheese with tea: Parmigiano or Manchego or a bit of New Zealand cheddar \u2014 whatever\u2019s interesting that I\u2019ve picked up from the store. It\u2019s a weird combination of sweet and salty just before dinner service, and it\u2019s absolutely delicious. If someone did tea with cheese selections, it could become a thing. Maybe not L\u2019Appartement 4F-level lines, but something epic.<\/p>\n Wednesday, June 24 When I get back, we have some berries from the Union Square Greenmarket, so I mix those with a few nuts and yogurt. We make our own yogurt with milk from Battenkill Farms<\/a>. We have a yogurt machine from a company called Luvele. We get the best milk we can find, and I do a 24-hour yogurt. It\u2019s really rich. We put it in the fridge and let it rest for 12 more hours, pour off any whey, and then whisk it until it becomes really thick. It doesn\u2019t have any stabilizers or additives, and my kids are big fans.<\/p>\n The wood-burning oven is fired up at Massara, and we are doing a few menu-test items before reopening. It will be great to get back into our old home. We have some fennel from Campo Rosso Farm<\/a> \u2014 I\u2019m a huge fan of what they do \u2014 and I must have eaten seven pizzette for lunch as we worked through the dough and tried a new seasonal option: Sungold pur\u00e9e, spring onion, mozzarella di bufala, and guanciale that melts in so well.<\/p>\n \u201cDinner\u201d was an espresso because I was still full from lunch, and I tasted pur\u00e9es and pastas at Rezd\u00f4ra during service.<\/p>\n Thursday, June 25 Another espresso at 10 a.m. at Eataly<\/a> with my friend, Leonardo, who runs the cooking class there. We have a coffee, a laugh, and cry \u2014 really cry \u2014 about how Italy didn\u2019t even qualify for the World Cup for the third time in a row.<\/p>\n In the afternoon, we have another tasting for Massara\u2019s return. This time it\u2019s pasta and fish on the wood-burning grill. The grill is the reason we had to leave, but there\u2019s nothing like the live-fire flavor, especially when we\u2019re talking about food from Campania. We\u2019re so happy to be back in the space, but the city never makes it easy, especially with permitting for a small business. What was supposed to be a three- or four-month closure became a full year.<\/p>\n Dinner was at 8 p.m. at Rezd\u00f4ra. I try to do these visits incognito, but it rarely works. I never used to eat in the restaurant at all because I work six days a week and I\u2019m there so often: Why would I want to go to eat during my time off? But eating at your own place is the best thing you can do: I get so much out of these dinners. We just celebrated seven years at the restaurant. How do you keep the execution at a high level? This is a great way to stay on top of everything, experience it as a guest, and run through anything we can improve on.<\/p>\n We had a new \u201cmozzarella di bufala with pomodorini in tre modi,\u201d classic gnocco fritto (can\u2019t miss), and a salad with fennel and stone fruit. Pastas were the grandma, pisarei with braised duck rag\u00f9, and tagliolini with rag\u00f9 Modenese; and secondi brought cotoletta \u201cmodo Bolognese\u201d with Parmigiano and prosciutto, cipollini onions, and the last of the asparagus with \u201cspungole\u201d or morels. Our executive pastry chef, Dominique Canvin, sent out a bunch of new desserts to try along with the warm olive-oil cake.<\/p>\n Friday, June 26 No breakfast because I make a farmers\u2019 market run for the restaurants. Have another espresso at Rezd\u00f4ra around lunch lineup and then get to do something special in the afternoon. We are huge Knicks fans, and the championship trophy was on display at Tiffany\u2019s. We did a segment with Josh Hart once for our socials, and we still go back and forth over our mutual love of wine. The guy really knows his shit, which is not the case with every athlete wine drinker. The trophy is pretty incredible up close.<\/p>\n Rapha\u00eblle Bergeon is the head chef at Tiffany\u2019s and runs the space as part of Daniel Boulud\u2019s group<\/a>. We have \u201ctea time\u201d at the caf\u00e9<\/a>. I have jasmine and my wife, Lauren, has an English Breakfast. Our boys have hot chocolate, and the food just keeps coming. An egg with caviar, raviolini filled with Swiss chard and black truffle, tea sandwiches, macarons, petit-fours, so much. It is a great afternoon\u00a0\u2014 many thanks to Daniel and the amazing Rapha\u00eblle. Merci, merci, merci.<\/p>\n Saturday, June 27 Breakfast is samples of smoked duck, berries, a croissant from Dominique Ansel Workshop<\/a> (no one does it better) and another espresso. Brunch is a new \u201cfocaccia di mais\u201d tasting at Rezd\u00f4ra, and then brunch service.<\/p>\n
I wake up very early. We have kids, so we have very little free time. I\u2019m up around 4:30 or 5 to meditate. I read the New York Times, I have a quick cup of coffee \u2014 an a.m. moka pot, always, always, always \u2014 and then I go on a run to clear my mind. Running that early is amazing because no one\u2019s around. It\u2019s perfect and you\u2019re not dodging people.<\/p>\n
A.m. moka at 4:30. Go for a run.<\/p>\n
An a.m. moka, an early-morning run, an omelet.<\/p>\n
Two a.m. mokas but no run because I sleep in. It takes me longer to recover after a night out these days. I used to be able to stay out until four in the morning and get to work on the line at eight. It was so punishing, but after drinking four espressos and like eight quarts of water, you\u2019d sweat everything out on the line and be fine by the end of service. Not anymore.<\/p>\n
Sleep in again before getting the kids ready for the farmers\u2019 market. It\u2019s a tradition for us to go together as a family on Saturday mornings. We make all the usual stops: Eckerton Hill Farm<\/a>, which has the best tomatoes during the summer season; Lani\u2019s<\/a>; and Norwich Meadows<\/a>, among them. I grab the Ap\u00e9<\/a> out of the garage to pick up all of the produce for the restaurants and the kids jump in back. They love it.<\/p>\n