• Als Spam markieren
• Beitrag melden

• 
  Diese Gruppe Alles

• Archiv
• RSS-Feeds

• Kontakt
• Hilfe
• Impressum
• Datenschutz

Michael Ronis, Manhattan Chef, Dies at 60

November 5, 2009
Michael Ronis, Manhattan Chef, Dies at 60
By DOUGLAS MARTIN

Michael Ronis, who helped conceive Carmine's, an Italian restaurant that
lures masses of New Yorkers and out-of-towners to Times Square and the
Upper West Side with gargantuan portions and moderate prices, died last
Thursday in Greenwich, Conn. He was 60 and lived in Stamford.

The cause was brain cancer, his wife, Elle Ronis, said.

Carmine's was the brainchild of Arthur Cutler, who asked Mr. Ronis, who
had previously worked with him, to come up with a menu and concept
reminiscent of Dominick's, a famed Italian restaurant in the Bronx.

The idea they reached was to serve every meal in the style of an Italian
wedding feast, offering piles of spaghetti and meatballs and other
Italian-American standards in a nostalgic environment.

As for the menu, the distinctiveness they sought is suggested by their
early attempts to develop what became Carmine's best-selling chicken
dish, chicken scarpariello.

"Michael, it needs to be 'Carmineized,' " Mr. Cutler insisted, coining a
new word. So Mr. Ronis accentuated tastes and worked on the marinade to
boost flavors.

Carmine's first location opened in 1990 on Broadway near 91st Street,
and its medium-budget fare struck a responsive chord during a lingering
recession. Two years later a second branch opened on 44th Street west of
Broadway, and its popularity only increased as Times Square rebounded.

An outpost followed in Atlantic City, and another at the Atlantis Resort
in the Bahamas. The concept was widely imitated in New York and other
cities.

Carmine's is noted for churning out food in great quantity, but Mr.
Ronis kept the process individualized, requiring that no pasta be cooked
until an order was placed.

The result, the chef Drew Nieporent said, was that Mr. Ronis "made a lot
of people happy." In an interview on Monday, Mr. Nieporent, the
proprietor of Nobu and TriBeCa Grill, said that Mr. Ronis "very quietly,
in his own way, made a big impact on our industry."

Michael Ronis was born on July 31, 1949, in Norma, N.J., and grew up on
a farm. In an interview in 2007 with The Daily Journal of Vineland,
N.J., he said that he concocted his first original recipe, for cheese
steaks, at 11 or 12, and that his family loved it. He later picked up
cooking experience in England, Italy, California and New York.

He joined with Mr. Cutler, a real estate expert who was the majority
investor, and Godfrey Polistina, who became the manager of the front
part of Carmine's, while Mr. Ronis ruled the kitchen. Other participants
included Barry Corwin and Howard Levine.

At a rehearsal for the opening in 1990, one patron, Elle Libman, tasted
the Caesar salad and, as she recalled in an interview on Monday, turned
to a tablemate and remarked that she wanted to marry its creator. She
did, four years later.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Ronis is survived by two sisters, Shelly
Ronis Ross and Susan Ronis.

Mr. Ronis became executive chef for the Alicart Restaurant Group, which
owns Carmine's and other restaurants. He traveled with Mr. Cutler and
others for six weeks through the South to gather inspirations to open
Virgil's Real BBQ, a barbecue restaurant on 44th Street near Times
Square. It opened in 1994, with Mr. Ronis as founding chef, and it
became a big draw.

In 2008 St. Martin's Press published "Carmine's Family-Style Cookbook:
More Than 100 Classic Italian Dishes to Make at Home," written by Mr.
Ronis with Mary Goodbody, a food writer and editor. In writing that
book, he reversed the partners' vow never to share Carmine's secrets.

"After many, many years, we feel we own this market," Mr. Ronis said.

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

Antworten