Il Gattopardo: An Italian Dining Dynasty

Authentic Italian fare should taste as simplistic as the short walk to Il Gattopardo in Midtown Manhattan, where you will indeed find the most delicious and authentic Southern Italian delicacies outside of Italy. Owners Gianfranco Sorrentino and Paula Bolla-Sorrentino take pride in their palatable plates, as well as their entire staff, catering business, and charitable efforts.

They might have faced their challenges during the pandemic, but the team behind Il Gattopardo got through it after many lessons learned – after all, this is not the first hardship they have had to handle and rise above. In fact, this gastronomic gem had originally opened just a week after the 9/11 attacks, and Gianfranco and Paula were forced to postpone their wedding which was also set to take place that week. Though her family was stuck in Brazil and his in Italy, they went through with the wedding just two days later – with the help of findapriest.com (yes, that’s a thing) and potluck style dining concept – because as Gianfranco says, “we are resilient, we’re New Yorkers.” It is this mindset which has pulled them through the most difficult of times and allows them to focus towards an even more fruitful and flavorful future”.

In addition to Il Gattopardo, this dynamic dining duo also owns and operates The Leopard at des Artistes and Mozzarella & Vino. They might have built a famed restaurant empire, but this husband-and-wife team continue to run everything like one big family. Gianfranco, the patriarch of that family, grew up in Naples, Italy and started working as a busboy at a hotel in Capri when he was just a 14-year-old boy. It was at the tender age of 17, upon working at the Dorchester Hotel in London, that he realized just how big his restaurant dreams really were. “I understood then that this was going to be my life and passion.” This hardworking hospitality entrepreneur started working around the world until getting a contract at Disney World’s Epcot in 1984. He finally moved to New York ten months later where he worked at the well-known restaurant Bice and eventually got the chance to bring the flavors of his homeland to his new home.

Gianfranco made his first real – and mouthwatering – mark in 1990, when he opened his own restaurant at MOMA. The museum’s board of trustees felt that it was time to try something new, allowing him to introduce a real fine dining restaurant called Sette MoMA in the iconic institution. “MoMA was really the first museum of its kind to understand the concept of incorporating a high-end dining establishment,” says Paula. “If you go to other museums now there is usually a cafeteria in addition to a nice restaurant, but this wasn’t the case in the 90s.” Perhaps the sweetest thing to come out of this story, aside from the desserts they served, was that Paula, a second-generation Italian who grew up in her mother’s home country of Brazil, met Gianfranco while she was a graphic design student at FIT and earning extra money as a hostess at Sette MoMA. This former international model now likes to joke that she went from “eating salads every day to selling spaghetti!”

Now a midtown food mecca located on West 54^th Street, Il Gattopardo, located across from MoMA, is known for its regional and authentic fare with the freshest, most seasonal ingredients. Their chef and partner, Vito Gnazzo, incorporates products from Italy as well as local and sustainably focused purveyors to create a culinary journey that will bring you back to Italy with every bite. Vito knows a little something about finding the best variety of all things Italy as he hails from Felitto in the province of Salerno, part of the Campania region of Southwest Italy, where our very own Christopher Pape’s grandmother also comes from!

“Everything here is based on the human touch,” says Gianfranco. “We love when people say that this is the closest thing to a real Italian experience. It’s a sense of great pride for us that we can reproduce so far away the same kind of passion about Italian food. We change menus seasonally, about twice or three times a year, and according to the market. This includes items that are only in season for a short time, like white and black truffle. We must be very careful now with pricing because everything is skyrocketing so logistics are complicated for distributors. For us this means that we have to make sure everything can be delivered every day, because if it’s on the menu, we must be certain that everything will arrive. Our menu showcases dishes from the South of Italy, which means mostly fish and vegetables. For us, vegetables aren’t just a side dish. We use shellfish with pasta, rice and couscous, which is part of a daily Mediterranean diet. The fish we use is from a company in Italy and are raised in an environment better than the ocean! We come from a culture where the normal way of doing things was to get vegetables several times a week and cook everything from scratch. Modern life took us away from that philosophy, but we tend to look back. We also emphasize the importance of food not just tasting delicious, but also the necessity of eating something healthy.”

In addition to this sought-after spot, they also have a successful catering company that regularly works with Italian fashion houses including Cuccinelli, Kiton and Gucci, as well as the Italian Embassy, Consul, Ambassador, and Cultural Institute, plus Italian entrepreneurs and art galleries due to their deep relationship with MoMA, which remains strong. They especially host many post-screening receptions and after parties for the museum in their private downstairs room which feels like an oasis in the midst of a bustling city.

In 2011, the growing restaurant group opened The Leopard des Artistes on the charming, treelined 1 West 67^th Street in an equally charming and historic building. This pricey project turned out to be a worthwhile risk – just ask their loyal clientele who are very pleased with this tasty and tastefully done space, which features original murals from the 1920s that were restored to their original splendor. “We have so many great stories from this place, which is a true landmark, but I will always remember when someone asked to bring their mom to the restaurant for her 102^nd birthday,” says Gianfranco. “I wanted to do something special so we prepared a cake and had a table right next to the door so that this lady wouldn’t have to walk much but she insisted on sitting next to the mural. Well, it turned out that she was the woman in the mural!”

Despite the difficulties of the pandemic, Gianfranco and Paula were able to find as many scrumptious silver linings as possible. They decided to renovate Mozzarella & Vino which is located just up the street in Il Gatopardo’s original location, and are currently working on adding 65 more seats to the space which serves the same quality of product but at a different price point. Instead of the same fancy setup and flatware, they put everything into the food cost. According to Paula, “You can order a panino or a salad, you don’t have to feel obligated to have a two to three course fine dining meal experience. A lot of our customers started to go there about five times a week and still come here so they aren’t competing, which was our fear in the beginning. It’s just two completely different concepts. During the six months that the whole company had to close down gave us more time to look at everything from the outside. We were so caught up in the day-to-day operations that we stepped back see to what we could improve on, especially with new technology and personal training. We are very thankful that we were able to continue providing healthcare benefits for all 160 employees during the shutdown.”

Another appetizing addition to Il Gattopardo thanks to the pandemic – and lots of time and money? Their stylish outdoor patio which is reminiscent of a European street somewhere in Paris or Rome. “I thought, if we do this, let’s do something nice and go on the roadway with dignity,” exclaims Gianfranco. A father of a friend of our son who do big installations in Vegas as well as at The Javits Center helped us create something extra special.”

They also remained a tightknit family through it all. “We still like to think of ourselves as a small business even after all these years,” explains Paula. “Our son, who is now a student at the business school at Boston University – and is in charge of our social media program – and our 13-year-old daughter Sophia, have grown up in the business rolling around on tablecloths. Many of our staff and managers followed us from Sette MoMA and started out as kids. “We make sure that they reap a lot of the glory of our success,” adds Gianfranco. One thing is for sure – you are also guaranteed to become a part of this family once you experience their friendly service, decadent dishes and extensive wine and cocktail menu.

Right now, they are witnessing a Roaring 20s comeback and are ready to welcome both old and new customers. In addition to creating memorable plates, they are also passionate about the non-profit organization called Gruppo Italiano, which promotes Italian culinary culture and products symbolizing the Italian lifestyle. “We try to help restauranteurs, especially now with the pandemic, by helping them with public relations, business, marketing, etc. We have worked hard for what we have achieved and believe in helping the community and sponsoring causes. We also enjoy working with kids from Food and Finance High School to educate them about the business aspect of the restaurant industry, and host classes on the basic principles of Italian culinary ingredients.”

Gianfranco also believes that people in America are now understanding the importance of living day to day and enjoying life because as he says, “We don’t know what tomorrow is going to be, you don’t have to go crazy, but why don’t you go to a concert, or travel ,or enjoy a nice glass of wine or dinner with friends and family? We see that millennials are the ones who really understand this concept.”