Gino dishes up famous recipe for Veal Osso Bucco
Gino dishes up famous recipe for Veal Osso Bucco
Gino Vuolo, owner of Gino's Ristorante in Downtown Boise, has family recipes up his sleeve that are more than 100 years oldBY JEANNE HUFF
jhuff@idahostatesman.com
There are a million great recipes in the Treasure Valley - what's yours?
In this series, I take recipe requests. While I can't get around to wheedling local chefs for each and every one, I do court the creators of those with multiple requests. They're the ones that generally come with begging and pleading. In all-caps and with many exclamation marks. "PLEASE!!! I'd give ANYTHING if you could give me THIS RECIPE!!!!!!"
The veal osso bucco at Gino's Ristorante in Downtown Boise is one of those recipes. It's not only raved about by amateur gourmets, it's also a favorite of local professional foodies.
"Among chefs, it's one place we all go - and one dish we all admire," said Eric McClaughlin, owner of 8th St. Wine Co. "His osso bucco is fantastic. It's the real deal."
Ditto the boar shank, but, no, owner Gino Vuolo is NOT giving up that recipe (although he did tell me the wild boar comes from a game preserve in California.) It is hunted by bow and arrow and Gino has cooked up a sweet deal with the preserve to get the shanks, a part of the boar most folks aren't interested in.
The veal osso bucco is one of a dozen "specials" at the restaurant, but you won't find it on the menu. Pay attention to your server. The only way you find out about the list of in-house specials is from the wait staff - they're "verbalized" at the table.
"I sell out (of the specials) almost every day," Gino Vuolo said. "For me, it's great. People call ahead and reserve the dish -the boar, the veal. Sometimes, by the beginning of the evening, we don't have any left."
Gino is the real deal. He started his cooking career at his great-grandmother's restaurant in Naples. His grandmother's restaurant is still open there, after 100 years.
That's where he met his wife, Tia Vuolo, a visiting Idaho tourist. Gino was "hit by the lightning bolt," as they say in Italy. The love story that ensued was one of love at first sight.
Gino and Tia came to Boise and opened his namesake restaurant in January 1997.
Gino said he learned everything about cooking from his family and is adamant about his title.
"When people say, 'my compliments to the chef,' I tell them 'I'm not a chef, I'm just a cook.' "
