Audio By Carbonatix
[This just in: Beginning tonight and running through December 23, bring your Fighter movie ticket stub to Randazzo’s and get a free set of ‘balls. Meatballs, that is. And we promise they’ll be bigger than the ones you may already have.]
Okay, we’ll admit it. We were a little scared to interview Marc Randazzo, co-owner and chef of Randazzo’s Little Italy in Coral Gables. Not that we assumed he’s the type to slug a girl, but heck, the guy won 29 of 31 fights (16 knockouts, one loss, and one draw) as a pro boxer and he supposedly never faltered after being Tasered by the Miami police four times in a row last year, so… Let’s just say we didn’t want any of our questions to piss him off. Yet we didn’t hold back.
Though he spends nearly every day elbow deep in cheese, olive oil, and breadcrumbs, the guy looks like he’s still in training, too. (Rumor has it his diet consists of proteins and vegetables only.)
But somehow, even in the midst of all the Godfather posters, crazy checkered tablecloths, and photos of Randazzo in boxing gloves, he manages to put diners–and interviewers–at ease. Read what he had to tell us. Or else.
New Times: What’s your culinary background?
Marc Randazzo: I used to cook for my family. That was my chore. My brother used to take care of the house and the yard. His job was actually harder. My dad used to critique me every day. I learned trying to please him. I watched my mother and my grandmother cook. I had to have dinner on the table by 5 o’clock. By the time I was 12, I was doing full dinners.
I liked to see the way good food pleased people. Though my dad was hard to please: ‘This is too salty, this is greasy.’ At least he was honest. Then I was a professional boxer. I was a sparring partner for Evander Holyfield. I became a light heavyweight WBA Champion. I had a good career. I fought professionally from 1988 to 1994.
Why did you stop boxing?
I was as good as I was going to get. I was going to start getting hurt. I was at my peak. My daughter was born and I wanted to end up at least functioning. I was 29. Then I was stuck with the dilemma: What am I going to do now? I had no high school education. I had no skills at 30 years old and I had two kids to feed. So my friend Jim Ferraro [Editor’s note: Ferraro is a local attorney and the co-owner of Randazzo’s] — I used to always cook for him and have him over for dinner — he said, why don’t we open a restaurant? I said, I’d love to have a restaurant, but I don’t know anything about [having] a restaurant and neither do you. But I had nothing else to do. I figured, if I take my mother’s recipes and I multiply them by 20, maybe I can pull it off. I taught myself, you know, fake it ’til you make it? I taught myself how to survive really fast. I figured I had one chance to make something of myself.
We got busy right from the beginning because then I got this stuck on this Restaurant show on accident on NBC…
The one with Rocco DiSpirito? I don’t remember you on that.
They fired Rocco and hired me. I wasn’t ready for it. I was just learning how to handle the restaurant. This guy came in, and I got all this national exposure and the restaurant was packed! Jeffrey Chodorow had problems with Rocco, so he went around the country to interview various chefs to take Rocco’s place without Rocco knowing it. So they happened to come into my restaurant because the place they were headed was closed — which was Cacao. Jeffrey came down with the cameras. They loved everything. And they bragged about the meatballs, and cheesecake, and seafood salad.
That very next day [after the show] was on, we had three-hour waits at the door. And, mind you, I’m just learning how to handle this.
How long had you had Randazzo’s at that point?
That was the first five months [after opening].
What year was that?
About seven years ago.
How long were you on the show?
I went to New York for 11 days to film. Jeffrey got tied up in litigation. We found out he wasn’t able to do it. We were going to call the place Randazzo’s because there were already “Rs” on the plates. We were going to do another season, but Jeffrey got the court decision they weren’t able to continue because Rocco won the case. That national exposure really helped catapult us.
I remember Rocco being obsessively close to his mom, but she did most of the cooking. Would you say you’re a better cook than your mom?
I’m pretty basic. I don’t use a lot of ingredients, but I use the best. I cook my mother’s and grandmother’s recipes, but I use much better ingredients. When we were growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money, so we had romano cheese, provolone, red wine vinegar, no extra virgin olive oil. We had basic Italian-American immigrant food. My grandmother used to cook with neck bones. My grandma used to make buffalo wings. An Italian version, like chicken cacciatore. The butcher used to give ’em to my grandma. The butcher charged her very little for them. Like Broccoli rabe. Now it’s very expensive, but back then nobody wanted them. There was escarole… we cooked very spicy foods like that.
So would you say the eats at your restaurant tend to be spicy, too, then?
It leans towards medium.
How do you compare to other Italian restaurants in Miami?
I opened this restaurant because I only found two good Italian restaurants. I eat out a lot. The only good two Italian restaurants I like are Macaluso’s on Miami Beach–I really enjoy his food. It’s very much like my grandmother’s cooking–and in Fort Lauderdale, Martorano’s. We all cook the same way. It’s basically the same style of food: Southern Italian.
How long have you been in this location?
We’ve been here for two years. We started building in ’93. I’m sorry, 2003.
It’s okay. I know it’s nerve-wracking to be interviewed.
I’ve been hit in the head 10,000 times. I got an excuse.
What were some of your mom’s recipes that you still use?
I do her meatballs fresh every day. I do that alone. I don’t let anybody see me do it. I have a secret technique I use that makes them very tender. My mother’s gravy. And I do the marinara. I do all the broths every day. I make my own sausage once a week. On Sunday, 150 pounds. I do the salad dressing fresh every day.
Do you still like your mother’s cooking?
I ended up being a better cook than my mother. I cook for 300 people a day. There’s no way she can cook better than me.
Do you miss boxing?
No. Not at all. I like to cook better.
What are the similarities between the boxing and restaurant worlds?
They’re very similar. When our doors open, it’s showtime. Everything’s gotta click. Instead of being like boxing, where you’re judged by your last fight, here you’re being judged by every plate. Boxers are trying to please the audience, chefs are trying to please the customers. I always think about that. The stress is similar because you’re still performing.
Tomorrow we’ll talk about his throwdown with Mickey Rourke, the one complaint people dare give him about his food, and what he claims really landed him in jail.
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