Foodies around town know the Bartolotta name, of course, and Bartolotta chefs like Adam Siegel and Juan Urbieta enjoy pretty high profiles in Milwaukee. But as anyone knows, it takes a village -- or at least a crack staff -- to make a restaurant like Wauwatosa's Ristorante Bartolotta hum on a daily basis.

So, when we met the tall and outgoing Zak Baker recently at the Ristorante, we decided that you ought to know him, too.

Despite his surname, Baker -- who grew up in Door County, lived in Madison and worked in central Italy's Umbria region, too -- isn't the restaurant's pastry chef, but rather its sous chef. That means he's Urbieta's right-hand man and the second in command.

Get Baker talking food and you'd better make yourself comfortable.

OMC: What's your background in the kitchen? Tell us about the path that led you to Ristorante Bartolotta.



ZB: I grew up in the tourist trap Door County, which has always relied heavily on the younger workforce to staff the various inns, shops and attractions that make up the local economy. I wasn't going to clean other people's hotel rooms, so when I was 14 I got a job as a bus boy at a bed and breakfast. I was a horrible bus boy, but the owners must have felt bad and rather than fire me, they demoted me to dishwasher after about a month. Best thing that ever happened to me. I stayed there for six years, a lifetime for someone so young.

I did everything at one point or another. Dishwashing led to being a prep cook, which led to cooking on the line, which led to being the sous chef. I literally held a full-time job through most of high school. The restaurant was a strictly from-scratch kind of place that served breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was my culinary school.

The place went through a couple of not-so-great chefs until they hired Joel Matthews. Joel took me under his wing and showed me what life in a kitchen was like. He was a profound influence on me, even outside of cooking. He was the one who first introduced me to real Italian food. The restaurant wasn't Italian but a lot of what Joel did was undoubtedly influenced by Italian concepts and techniques. He was making risotto when nobody in DC had even heard of it. He was there when I first tried
 prosciutto and when I learned Parmigiano wasn't that canned sawdust they sell in the supermarkets.

After taking a break from cooking to go to school in Madison for music production, I moved to Milwaukee and had my heart set on working in a real Italian ristorante. I asked a friend if there were any good places in the city and he told me about the place where he parked cars as a valet a few nights a week. I asked what they made and he started talking about "paper something and duck." I said, "Pappardelle and duck ragu?" And he said, "Yeah, that's what it was." 

I knew any restaurant serving pappardelle was worth checking out.

The first thing I noticed at Bartolotta's was the wood oven, again, another good sign. The chef was on vacation but I interviewed with the sous chef, Andrew Ruiz, who is now at Bacchus, and said, "I'd love to work here. I'll cook whatever you want, however you want." When I finally met Juan and started to realized how much he knew about Italian food, I went out of my way to tell him I would be there for quite a while. I knew I had found a really great situation working for a great company, a great chef and a great restaurant and I was going to learn a lot.


I've been here going on six years now. I was promoted to sous chef in 2005.





OMC: What is your signature dish?

ZB: To me, the signature dish of Ristorante Bartolotta is without a doubt the pappardelle with duck ragu. It's unique in Milwaukee to the Ristorante. It's something that you can't go too long without eating. It calls to you when you when you get hungry. Most of the time when a guest has a question about how to make something, it's how to make pappardelle with duck ragu. When I meet people and they find out where I work, they almost always start telling me about how much they love the pappardelle.

If there were a close contender, it would be the risotto. Risotto is a religion at Ristorante and we take a great deal of pride in it. There is no set risotto and it changes quite often based on what season we're in or what region we are focusing on. Even when it's not on the menu, people order it or will want it prepared a way they like and we are always happy to make risotto for people. All Italian ristoranti should be judged by their risotto.

OMC: What do you like most, and least, about your job?

ZB: 

The best part is the food. I've always said you should find something you love, and find a way to make a living doing it. I always loved to eat, which is beginning to show now that I am getting older.

I also love when the guest's expectations are fulfilled, or even better, surpassed. Food is a strange thing in that it is necessary to eat to live on one hand, but food covers a much broader scope when you think about how, what and where people decide to eat. Families bond over food, special occasions are celebrated with food and cultures are identified with what they eat. You feel a certain weight when a couple is celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary or when a prom couple is obviously in a nice restaurant for the first time in their lives. People are entrusting you with what will be part of their memories, something they will talk about a long time after the moment has passed.

Honestly, the worst thing is when that doesn't happen for whatever reason. When a guest sends back their food, or worse yet, when you find out after they've left that you've let them down. It kind of makes you sick to your stomach when you've realize you've fallen short of your responsibility. It makes little difference exactly why it happened or what the circumstances were. All you hope is that they give you another chance at some point.



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6 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by RJ on Jan. 10, 2009 at 9:51 p.m. (report)

Nice interview. I haven't been to the Ristorante in a while, but am going there soon with a friend--looking forward to it.

Posted by DowntownRed on Jan. 9, 2009 at 8:18 p.m. (report)

I really miss the Bartolotta's on Downer. The spaghetti and lobster tail was the best! I had never eaten shell fish until I went there. I need to get out to Tosa and experience it again.

Posted by Caetano on Jan. 9, 2009 at 1:15 p.m. (report)

To me Ristorante Bartolotta is by far the BEST Italian restaurant in Milwaukee. The papardelle with duck ragu is to die for. You can tell Chef Baker really has a lot of passion & it shows in his food.

Posted by cleebaker on Jan. 9, 2009 at 10:19 a.m. (report)

Not only is Zak an awsome chef, he is also a super husband, son, musician and recording engineer. He's a well-rounded and groovy dude! Signed: Pops

Posted by repoman on Jan. 9, 2009 at 10:18 a.m. (report)

That La Quercia prosciutto is out of this world. It just melts in your mouth.