Video: Off the Cusp Interview with Frank Bonanno

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaunVvoZoio[/youtube]

I’ve interviewed Denver’s restaurant king Frank Bonanno before about his restaurants and cooking, but this time around I wanted to get a little more personal and learn what he does outside the kitchen.

Since he’s a parent, most of his time is spent parenting – hanging out with his family, cooking dinner for his kids, and never missing a basketball, soccer or lacrosse game.

The Bonanno family has two kids, but a little known fact is that they also host two students from South Korea. They both attend school with Bonanno’s son, and when they needed a new place to call home, he opened up his extra bedrooms and welcomed them into the family. He said that while he himself hasn’t picked up any Korean (he’s more of a Romance language guy), his youngest son has learned how to say quite a bit.

Outside of family and work, Bonanno is a big golfer, although you won’t find him on the course – he actually prefers the driving range. He also hits the gym for one and a half hours a day and plays squash, explaining that such an intense fitness routine helps keep him focused and feeling great for work.

When he’s not eating his own creations, you’d think Bonanno would be dining out at the city’s most elite restaurants. But, he says, that’s usually not the case. While he and his wife love to go out (they recently went to Acorn and said it was incredible), usually with the kids and their busy schedules they end up at local neighborhood joints where no one knows his kitchen credentials.

Bonanno credits much of his success to his father, who sadly passed away last year. His dad wasn’t thrilled when he left accounting school to pursue a culinary degree, but he supported him the entire time and was immensely proud of Bonanno’s success. Bonanno says his strong work ethic is thanks to his dad’s upbringing, and that he wouldn’t be where he is today without him.

And if his dad walked through the door of one of his restaurants today? He’d cook him up some chicken scarparella or pasta Bolognese. “He liked simple stuff,” Bonanno reminisced. “He loved a good meat sauce.”

On the topic of cooking, you might be surprised to find out that Bonanno’s favorite kitchen tool is the knife, and that he has over 200 of them. “You can do everything with a knife,” he explained. While that simple tool is his favorite, you would also be hard pressed to get him to part with his Vita-Prep blender. He has two at home, and uses them all the time.

While Bonanno runs quite a few prominent Denver restaurants, he says he doesn’t love the day-to-day grind. The real rush is in opening a new restaurant, and launching a fresh concept is always a great moment in his career. Usually the first thing he puts together is the menu, and after he sets that his wife builds on the design, décor and concept based on the food. Once the space and staff come together, Bonanno loves to spend the first two months, seven days a week, cooking in the kitchen and relishing in his latest spot.

Check out the full interview below  and stay tuned for what’s coming next from Bonanno Concepts!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLFuRZGegGE[/youtube]