Page 23 - Priorities #47 2010-June/July

23
Avenue in Palo Alto.
For Peter Giovanotto, ’05, restaurant work is a family affair. Though primarily in the real estate business, the family also owns and op- erates the popular La Strada and Joya restaurants—family-friendly Italian and trendy tapas, respectively—which
sit next door to each other on University
on Lake Merritt in Oakland.
When Lara and Gar Trupelli, parents of current Priory student Seaira, ’11, opened the popular Beach Chalet res- taurant in San Francisco fourteen years ago, the historic oceanfront building had been vacant for twenty-five years. Next came the Park Chalet in Golden Gate Park, and just last year, The Lake Chalet
What is the best part of being in the restaurant business?
I really, really like being able to get a free lunch. Also, it’s a great way to meet people. You have a lot of people who come in who you become pretty close with. Restaurants are almost an extension of family. What is the most challenging part?
Every day there’s something that goes wrong. Either an ice ma- chine might be down, or the grill isn’t working, or someone didn’t show up.
What is your favorite thing on the menu at the moment? At La Strada, the calamari and the sausage pizza are awesome, and the house signature ravioli—a pork, sage and brown butter ravioli—is amazing. At Joya, I love the Kobe beef sliders, one of the tapas. I think I’ve had four of them this week and it’s only Monday. I’ll probably have sixteen by the end of the week.
What do you do on date night?
My family is not very pleased to see us at competition restaurants for dates. But the thing about owning a family restaurant is that your family is around the restaurant all the time. With that in mind, I usu- ally go somewhere else unless I’m comfortable enough with the girl for her to meet my family. It’s pretty much a given that they will see her, and somebody will rat me out later.
Most inspirational teacher at Priory?
Coach Joe Montero, hands down. He taught me about positive mental attitude. In college, whenever I got to the point where I felt over- whelmed—I was doing two sports teams and finished a major in a year—I remembered Coach saying, if you’re not going to be tough, thengetoffthefield. SoIjustclampeddownanddidmywork.
What do you love hearing people say about your restaurants?
That’s where I met my wife or husband, or, This was my favorite restaurant growing up. I love that we’re part of people’s lives at that level.
What’s the most challenging part about running a restaurant?
That we’re essentially always open. The Beach Chalet is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and all three restaurants are open on the weekends for brunch, lunch, and dinner, so there’s very little downtime.
What is the biggest perk?
That it’s allowed us to get really involved in the communities and to leverage what we’re doing to support local environmental and com- munity efforts. At the Park Chalet, for example, we’ll do a surf night with live music, and if you donate ten dollars to Surfrider Save the Waves, you can have the happy hour prices for the whole night. You can donate that ten dollars without it having any big impact on your evening, and it’s fun.
What’s your favorite thing on the menu right now?
At the Beach Chalet, I love our crab cakes. At the Park Chalet, we have a small plate, Pistachio-Mint Lamb Riblets with rose blossom yogurt and mint gastric. At the Lake Chalet, my new favorite is grilled prawns served in tequila foam—at the bottom are these delicious lemon-curry potatoes.
What’s you’re favorite thing about Priory?
The community. The balance between strong academics and good ath- leticsandjustanurturingenvironment. Andit’sabeautifulschool. Do you hope your kids follow in your footsteps?
Only if they want to. It’s not a career for everyone, that’s for sure. It’s averyintenseandsomewhatcrazybusiness. Itcanbereallyfun,but it’s a lot of work.