"I wake up every morning with the idea that I don't know how to cook." The chef who enchanted New York with a restaurant without a menu

"We serve 140 covers a week, so we can satisfy everyone and have a larger staff," says Michele Casadei Massari, chef and patron, along with his school friend Alberto Ghezzi, of Lucciola, a small cult restaurant in New York – awarded Two Forks in the new edition of the Top Italian Restaurant guide just presented in New York – the latest step in a journey that began with a stall at the Union Square Christmas market, gradually growing from the first newsstand transformed into a café (or rather, Piccolo Caffè), to the opening of several locations, all with a trattoria-style format and the idea of a relaxed, slow-paced lifestyle, until they opened the latest – the current Lucciola – just before the pandemic, during which they cooked tirelessly for the neighbourhood. Then, they decided to reduce the number of covers and increase the wine selection, creating a fine dining venue that has won over a crowd of enthusiasts with its menu without a menu and a free-hand approach, except for a few signature dishes, which they call icons: tortellini, lasagne, and a few staple ingredients like burrata, Mostarda di Cremona, caviar – "solid things not tied to seasonality." The rest is an improvisation based on the fresh ingredients that arrive daily, tailored to the appetite and time available to each guest. In fact, they describe themselves as a small atelier. The name Lucciola is a reference to Fellini’s imagery and Pasolini’s famous essay in which the disappearance of fireflies is taken as an index of the end of an era. For Casadei Massari – who has a background in the East, with major openings, large-scale catering, and restaurant chains – it is the dream of a downgrading that allows him to do what he loves: cooking, in a more human-scale setting. But at an extremely high level.

Photo: Elio Sofia

What is it like to run an independent restaurant in New York?We are in a city where having strong financial backing is fundamental. We are on the Upper West Side, a few metres from Central Park, not in Midtown or Soho. The next Lucciola opening will have even more wines and be located further north, almost towards Harlem. NY remains a unique cultural hub, somewhat European, where it always feels like you're part of a casting for someone looking to invest.

And how do you fit into this context?
A bit like a band of two school friends, like us, who found their song and move forward with their own strength. If you don’t have cazzimma—the ability to quickly learn what you need, bring out what you have inside, and stay on the market—you sink. Without investors and a bank credit line, it's a complicated mission, especially if you want to do fine dining. You have to be on edge. But we want to compete with the big groups hunting for the latest format and the great kitchens while remaining independent.

Isn’t there someone who wants to invest in you?
Yes, but we never wanted that because then they count your ingredients, evaluate every expense and move. We like it this way: you sail to win the regatta against the tide, and you have to find a way to use that tide against itself.

Was it difficult to find your place?
At first, we were torn apart. We were doing a different kind of cuisine from what was trending. But it’s hard to say: Lucciola became Lucciola, it wasn’t born this way. We changed, we learned to define ourselves, and now we are highly sought after for private events. There is growing curiosity about gourmet dining—a certain type of simple cuisine with exceptional raw materials. We have the right clientele, the kind who might visit our suppliers when they go to Italy. But there’s no precise strategy, and sometimes what we do is hard to decipher. We want people to say: it’s absolutely worth what I spent, I would have spent even more. And that extra is the tip.

How is Italian dining doing in New York?
I’ll tell you how ours is doing: well. In general, there are many Italian restaurants opening, and there is also a lot of "Italian sounding" cuisine. A fairly correct and appealing Italian cuisine is doing well—often not made by Italians. Everything looks the same, even plated in the same way. It looks like a chain with different names, a bit like Chinese restaurants a few years ago. You’ll find bruschetta, meatballs, cacio e pepe, amatriciana, and even pizza has exploded now that the technique is more accessible and higher-performing flours are available. The same goes for wine lists—you find the same four wines everywhere. That said, Italian cuisine is doing well; there are high-quality ingredients and curious customers. But, I repeat, our reality is augmented because we decided to work in a certain way.

What way?
Without a refrigerated room, without a negative-temperature storage unit on one floor, without a set menu, but with great technique and top-quality raw materials. Like all bands, we have our greatest hits—solid dishes not tied to seasonality.

How do you run a restaurant without refrigerators?
We have a handmade menu featuring our icons—six or seven things we try to always have, like tortellini, lasagna, pinza, burrata, excellent caviar, and Cremona mustard. Then we build the menu around the customer’s needs: we ask how much they want to eat and how much time they have—because in New York, everyone is in a hurry. Our concept is fine dining with timing. People want fine dining in 90 minutes. When they book, they write how much time they have and what their preferences are, so we get a spontaneous pre-profile before their arrival, including dietary or religious requirements.

And once they arrive?
When they arrive, after ringing the doorbell—which is fundamental for us to guarantee privacy—they settle in, and that’s where the front-of-house staff comes in. They also work in the kitchen once a week. A conversation begins: "Have you ever been to Italy? Do you have any favorite ingredients?" That’s how we structure the menu based on the information gathered. The entire service is built around the guest, including glassware, cutlery, and utensils—it’s a complex dance between the dining room and the customer. Everything is tailor-made. One of our guys is an Uber driver—we even offer a concierge service. We have great customers, and in a country with tipping, that encourages a lot.

Who is your clientele?
We asked ourselves: who are the Lucciolans? We profiled our potential customer: someone who has traveled, has a keen interest in quality, loves vintage watches, a certain type of pen or paper, and stays in boutique hotels that we also like. We did work with department store managers, concierges, and decision-makers to introduce them to our reality.

They must also be passionate about wine…
We have 1,600 labels, 80% Italian, many little-known ones that we introduce to customers: Freisa, Timorasso, Frappato, sparkling Pignoletto, or dry Albana. We also have great wines for pairings, which we like to personalize. If a customer wants to change the wine temperature, we find it interesting; the same if they want to retry something they’ve already tasted or swap something they don’t like. Some even request a pairing exclusively with sweet wines, and we try to decipher what they mean—we can’t leave them lost.

Is alcohol consumption declining in New York?
Lucciola is a strange place: we keep buying wine, and we don’t perceive a drop in consumption. But my schoolmate and partner is working on a no-alcohol pairing.

That’s a lot of options for such a small place.
Lucciola has 18-20 seats and is open to the public from 6 PM to 10 PM every day; for us, a crazy night means 40 covers. On Valentine’s Day, we did 60 by opening at 4 PM. But with 140 covers per week, we can satisfy everyone and maintain a larger staff.

That’s a relatively short window for revenue, considering the work involved.
Yes, to do what we want requires a lot of study and work. Every day, I study for two hours—I wake up every morning thinking I don’t know how to cook. We do five tastings a week with wine and ingredient suppliers, every single week. It’s a very collaborative place—we do everything together: tastings, maintenance, and everything is paid. The idea behind Lucciola is that whatever you need, as a customer or employee, you can find here: ironing, printing menus, everything.

That sounds appealing for employees.
We try to ensure that our team has the same lifestyle as our clients. They have tailored clothing, business cards, scarves, and more, each according to their taste—because in New York, you can arrange these things quickly. How can you make an offer if you wouldn’t be the first to accept it? How can you propose something you don’t know or experience yourself?

How many of you are there now?
Right now, 16. Some have been with us for 12 years, the youngest for four.

Describe a typical day.
You arrive, log in with your password, and find on the table the paperwork for the day's deliveries. You start working, portioning what’s needed, then you have elements to play with: "What do we do with this sea bass?" We start imagining courses, knowing that most people order the seven-course menu. We think about whether to make a soup with a vegetable. Fresh pasta is made three hours before service. Innovation is crucial for us because, in such a small space, we must work with raw materials at their best and with as little heat as possible. We don’t use boiling water for pasta—we rehydrate both pasta and risottos, reducing sodium and water consumption.

What do you serve at Lucciola?
We play with everything, especially what we love! No prosciutto (except Ruliano in tortellini) or generic Italian restaurant staples. Our seven-course might include stracciatella with Persian cucumber, white dressing, a hint of mint, and a touch of cocoa, or pinza with black truffle, porcini cream, and duck prosciutto emulsion…

How much does the menu cost?
From $189 for the five-iconic-dish menu to $219 for the nine-course blind menu. The Emilia-Romagna menu is $199. The average check is $350 plus taxes and tips.

And cost control?
We price per dish. Even when we have white truffle, we don’t increase prices—it’s part of the seasonal top ingredients. It’s a bit rock 'n’ roll, but who would pass up a great product?

Lucciola - New York - 621, Amsterdam Av - https://www.lucciolanyc.com

Cover photo : Azzurra Primavera