in the dining room you win with a smile – Luciano Pignataro Wine Blog

by Antonino Siniscalchi

«The smile that welcomes the guest is the characterizing image for establishing a professional and discreet dialogue, constant availability towards the customer’s expectations, from the beginning to the end of the lunch, but not only».

Eduardo Buonocore is the maître d’ of the starred restaurant «Laqua Countryside», Antonino Cannavacciuolo’s restaurant, in the hilltop village of Ticciano. He was awarded the «Aldo Guida» Award, established this year as part of the second edition of the «SorrentoGnocchiDay» food and wine event and presented by chef Alfonso Iaccarino, during the final evening presented by Veronica Maya, hosted at the Mediterranean hotel Sorrento.

– What does this recognition represent for a master of hospitality in the starred food and wine sector of the Sorrento peninsula?

«This award is a certificate of esteem for an operator in the food and wine sector of the Sorrento peninsula who, with humility, passion and great sacrifices, has climbed the heights of a profession that is not invented, but is built with a great desire to learn the secrets of a profession, an art that is renewed with new perspectives, but above all with new opportunities that must not only look at hospitality without rules and without ambitions. Anyone who approaches this job must know that they can face not only deprivation because they have to work when others are having fun, but also be able to enjoy the free time that must characterize their existential reality.”

– So, a profession that renews itself without neglecting the art of hospitality?

«Today the young people who approach this sector are conditioned more by the needs of being able to take advantage of free time than by economic needs because, all things considered, the pay is regulated by the employment contract and by the incentives that can be obtained based on the own commitment to the company. That’s why, I’m talking about my experience, you just need to know how to organize shifts, but above all educate the customer, the guest and reconcile the expectations of young people.”

– As?

«Outlining very specific opening times for the kitchen and dining room. Opening up to the maximum the opportunity of being able to book the table with the number of guests. There is no point in waiting for potential guests who can show up at all hours, blocking the two dining room and kitchen teams at times outside of their duty shifts. This opportunity does not humiliate the customer, on the contrary, the guest who arrives at the scheduled time will have greater care and attention because it is part of a well-defined program. Moaning and useless waiting also fade away. At “Laqua” we experimented with this with great results.”

– Fifty-five years old, married to Rosa, also a vicar, two university children, Domenico studies engineering, Mariangela architecture, how do you become a manager of a starred restaurant?

«With humility, passion and sacrifices. I started very young, at fourteen, as an “extra” here and there. An anecdote: on the first engagement, a wedding, the work lasted until midnight. I thought, this isn’t for me. I was studying at the Salvemini scientific high school in Sorrento, that disappointment faded the following week, due to another commitment in the hall. I grew up as a commis, then chef de rang, with a lot of admiration for the study and teachings of my high school chemistry teacher, Elena Minieri. After graduating I had no doubts in wanting to continue this work. After two years at the Aequa hotel as an apprentice doorman, aware of improving my experience, I spent two years in Berlin, a year in Cambridge and a few months in Holland. Then, the desire to return home found support in the work at the San Vincenzo restaurant, at the Castello Giusso club. The memory of the collaboration with Peppe Guida is brilliant, great satisfaction at “Nonna Rosa” and in the many consultancy opportunities for important venues”.

– Last experience before returning home?

«In Marina di Stabia, not just the restaurant, but the entire firmament of hospitality».

– How did the landing at Aqua Countryside come about?

«We have always known each other with Antonino Cannavacciuolo. We are both from Ticciano. Another prerogative that suggested me to start this experience that allows me to go to work on foot, a stone’s throw from my home.”

The Guide Award, established in memory of the founder of WorkLine Divise, a historic company that dresses gastronomy and hospitality professionals and operators, as underlined by Carmen Davolo of the Dieffe Comunicazione agency, organizer of the SorrentoGonocchiDay meeting and the starred chef Peppe Aversa, «it wants to represent a point of reference in the gastronomic sector because the figure of the maître plays a fundamental role in the management and development of a hospitality business».

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