@$:[AT]bylinerg:By René Hill[AT]bodyindent:Old world cuisines prepared by a modern day master are just some of the delights to be found at a new Bermuda restaurantCladys Magagna, who is the new Chef De Cuisine at Bacci, spoke to The Royal Gazette about how dishes are born, of authentic regional Italian cooking and of one of the most important ingredients - fresh pasta.His accomplishments range from being an executive chef of two Austrian restaurants Martinelli and Novelli, and of New York's Carmaya restaurant, he then was appointed the same title at the Italian Culinary Institute, he moved to L'Arte della Vita, in Reading, Pennsylvannia, and then at created the Melody Tavern of the Wyndham Hotel. With all of the above Mr. Magagna is recognised as an executive chef by the Italian Federation of Cooks.But with all of his accolades, coming to Bermuda was simple - Mr. Magagna was seeking an opportunity to return to the love that made everything possible, cooking authentic Italian cuisine.Over the past four months, he and his team have had a tasting menu running at Bacci and the most popular dishes are what now constitute the new menu at the Fairmont Southampton restaurant.Like many chefs and artisans, his route to 'chef hood' was by way of another career. In his case, after completing military service, he became an electrician.But it wasn't meant to be and the food gods saw to it that a talent he acquired from cooking meals with his mother was not wasted or something that only his family and friends were able to savour.Then only as a part-time hobby he cooked at some restaurants in his hometown of Biella, Italy, until a vacation to Austria in 1997 proved to be a great career opportunity. While in Vienna, he befriended employees of the prized Tuscan restaurant, Martinelli, and was soon offered a position as cook. By 2000, he was promoted to executive chef.After two years in that position, he decided to reroute his career and spent another year in Vienna as a chef at Novelli, a restaurant which was honoured with the Trophy Gourmet 2000 for the best ethno concept, and the 2002 Premio Arena di Verona as one of the five best Italian restaurants outside of Italy.In 2003, he relocated to New York and while working at Carmaya, was discovered by Paolo Villoresi, who recruited him to be executive chef of the prestigious Italian Culinary Institute, and provide culinary expertise for the magazines La Cucina Italiana and Italian Cooking & Living.He was in charge of all culinary aspects of the magazines such as developing and tasting a staggering number of recipes, teaching cooking classes, welcoming and hosting visiting chefs, as well as organising menus and dining layout for large groups.After several years in New York, Mr. Magagna was ready to return to the restaurant business, and he took a position as executive chef at the renowned Abraham Lincoln, an historic Wyndham hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania. There he opened the restaurant, L'Arte della Vita, and introduced an Italian concept to the hotel's renowned Melody's Tavern.He has cooked for the Italian ambassador in Washington, the late Luciano Pavarotti, and other luminaries.He has also published two books, one is "Cooking with Olive Oil," which is the culmination of a collaboration of 25 chefs recipes, and he and two other chefs ghost wrote De Luca Kocht.In Bermuda, he has mainly worked on revamping the Bacci menu, introducing organic produce and regional delights.Before coming, he saw that there were no restaurants on the Island with authentic Italian cuisine, so his aim was to bring the flavour to the Bermuda diner.For the past three or four months, he has observed the demographics of Bermuda's diners and have come up with an authentic Italian menu."I can't just cook whatever I like, before I used to do that especially as a young chef - that is what I like and that is what I want to do, but when you grow up you understand that you need to make everybody happy and make what others would like to eat also," he explained."In Bermuda during the high season, you have a lot of American, Canadian, European and English tourists so we make everybody happy with vegetarian options and other dishes."In September I started running this tasting menu - in Italy we have 20 regions - so we did regional tastings with wine pairings. "Every week we did Tuscany, Sicily, Piedmont, Veneto, and this gave some knowledge to the waiters, so little by little they began to understand. "Also we were able to get some feedback from the guests, so I kept the ones that people really liked, especially the locals, and there you have it - the new menu."So, we are very confident and I am happy to be in Bermuda to show everybody what we have done at the Fairmont."When The Royal Gazette asked about some of the changes to the menu, he replied pasta was one of the mainstays of Italian cooking."If you don't know too much about Italian food, you know pasta or pizza when you go to an Italian restaurant, but if you want some good knowledge of Italian food like the way we eat it in Italy, then for a start it is fresh pasta," he said."Seventy percent of our pasta is homemade, so it is a lot of involvement in the kitchen, but the result is amazing."An Italian kitchen is all about fresh ingredients, he reiterated. "Tomatoes, garlic, parsley are the main ingredients with extra virgin olive oil," he said."If those ingredients are not good, then you are failing. The Italian kitchen is so easy."Sometimes when I teach something to somebody in the kitchen, that's it, but they just need little stuff. That's the way it is in our kitchen."On the originality of recipes, he said: "It is authentic and the original recipes that have not been destroyed by the modern cuisine. "Fettuccine Alfredo is everywhere for example, but it is a story about the dish. It was a chef named Alfredo in 1914, before the Second World War, and he came home from his restaurant and his wife was pregnant and he asked, 'Did you eat anything today?''No, leave me alone blah, blah.'"He said: 'You have to eat something, so I make you something to eat.' He went into the kitchen and he was thinking, thinking."And that is how it is sometimes as a chef there is no limit, so don't be afraid to combine ingredients you might make a mistake, but that's what it takes. You get a good result, not just working with recipes, which is how you become a good chef. The best recipes that I have are not the one(s) that I take from other recipes."With a greenhouse on the Fairmont property, they can truly call their ingredients organic."You can only call them organic if you sew the seeds and grow them yourself. We have organic tomatoes, and here we have our own greenhouse/garden and that is not just for Bacci, but for the entire hotel," he stated proudly."We are in 2008 and the guests are very demanding and they want to know where the food comes from, so we put it in the menu."Today a lot of companies use antibiotics, everything is fast and the produce grows big, but the flavour is nil."For those Bacci fans that are slightly worried that their favourite dish won't be there - have no fear, as Mr. Magagna said there were menu favourites that he could not alter."There are certain dishes at Bacci that I couldn't remove, a rule for chefs is that you never take out a dish that sells well," he said. "Even if the dish isn't authentic, they like it, so it is good and there forever. One is like the calamari - I would kill myself if I took it out and my wife is going to cut my throat too!On fusion cooking, he said: "In the culinary arts you keep growing and growing and see new things because in gastronomy they talk about fusion, but instead of making fusion, sometimes they make a confusion, because they combine ingredients that should not be together and sometimes that could be a risk and this is especially when you put Asian ingredients."Sometimes you can make somebody happy that doesn't know nothing about it, but there is a visual presentation, but at the end there is no concept, no soul."As part of the new menu, they also have daily specials."So if you come on a Tuesday or a Friday for example, we have the grilled fish platter and you might want to reserve for that day, so it will not be a surprise, however we will have an extra special as well, together with the weekly special. We have already served most of the dishes. "Then there is also a little bit of introduction of the Italian kitchen, we have some original dishes and some classic dishes. Everyone is looking forward to that and me too."We also have the appetiser buffet, which covers all the basics and classic cold cuts, prosciutto ham and spicy provolone to name a few.''The dishes range from Pomodoro Fresca e Basilic, which is from the Campania region, Fettuccine Alfredo, which is from the Lazium/Lazio region, Raviolii di Ricotta e Spinaci con Salsa al Burro e Salvia, comes from the Tuscan region, while Pasta alla Norma and Cappallini con Astice are both of the Sicilian region.Also featured on the new menu are dishes from Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, and the Romangna regions.When mentioning other cuisines, such as French, Japanese, Chinese and Spanish."There is a point to make about Italian cuisine, because Italian cuisine is not just about food, it is how we enjoy food and how we get together and that is what we are trying to do at Bacci."When you come inside it is about the experience that you are almost in Italy - it is an Italian table and manner."Many chefs focus on the presentation and you say, 'wow,' but unfortunately, you lose a little bit of the taste."We do a nice presentation, but what we focus on first is the taste and the presentation comes after."It gives you pleasure - it makes you feel good."