Bigfork restaurant brings ingredients straight from the motherland
<p>Fabrizio Moroldo dishes up plates of his Bucatini alla Romana, made with pancetta, onions, fresh tomatoes and olives. The Bucatini noodles are from Rome. In 2013 Moroldo was recognized as one of the Best Chefs in America. He is one of only 12 across the state. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Fabrizio Moroldo adds a dash of parsley to a plate of spaghetti with cuttlefish black ink on Monday, December 1, at Moroldo's in Bigfork. The dish features octopus, fresh tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil, garlic and olives from Italy. There is no cheese in this dish to protect the unique flavor of the black ink noodles. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Laura Moroldo, co-owner of the restaurant and her son Ethan, 15, simultaneously enter and exit the kitchen as things speed up at Moroldo's on Monday, December 1, in Bigfork. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Detail of a plate of Bucatini alla Romana, made with pancetta, onions, fresh tomatoes and olives. The Bucatini noodles are from Rome. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p class="p1"><strong>MOROLDO</strong> turns the heat up on Monday night, Dec. 1 at his restaurant in Bigfork. Moroldo has just reopened the restaurant after returning from teaching in Italy and the Bahamas. Moroldo brought back specialty ingredients from Italy, including black pasta, octopus ink and speck, a cured specialty meat. </p>
<p>Detail of an 8 ounce tenderloin from Texas with a reduction of honey and balsamic vinegar with green onions. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Detail of Caprese, a dish of fresh sliced Mozerella with tomatoes, basil, oregano and olive oil. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Fabrizio Moroldo dishes up plates of his Bucatini alla Romana, made with pancetta, onions, fresh tomatoes and olives. The Bucatini noodles are from Rome. In 2013 Moroldo was recognized as one of the Best Chefs in America. He is one of only 12 across the state. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Detail of pumpkin soup with cream, potatoes, apple, and gorgonzola and parmigiano cheeses. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Laura Moroldo welcomes Gary and Ginny Butterfield of Bigfork, some of the first customers of the night on Monday, December 1, in Bigfork. The restaurant is currently open four days per week for winter hours. They are open Mondays, Thursdays through Saturdays from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Plate of Tortellini with cheese and Fabrizio's own tomato sauce. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Detail of Bruchetta on tuscan bread with fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar from Italy. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
Every day brings new inspiration to Fabrizio Moroldo.
The chef who owns and operates Moroldo’s Fine Italian Restaurant with his wife, Laura, said he changes his menu almost daily.
“I drive my wife crazy,” he said with a laugh. “I always say, ‘Today, I’m going to change the special’ just because I want to change it.”
Customers at his Bigfork restaurant can expect an even more exclusive and exciting menu over the next few weeks. Moroldo recently returned from a trip to Italy, chock full of new ideas — and new ingredients.
Between black pasta dishes adorned with octopus ink and meals made with speck (a cured specialty meat), his dishes will be more lavish, intriguing and authentically Italian.
“I like to cook Chinese or Japanese food, but that’s not me, that’s not where I’m from,” Moroldo said. “That’s the secret of the food, you know. You have to have it inside you. I cook Italian because that’s who I am.”
The chef brought a variety of new ingredients back from Italy and even shipped crates full of food including special pastas and meats. These will all go into unique dishes that Moroldo creates that will be available only for a limited time.
Moroldo and his family moved to Bigfork from Italy 11 years ago after vacationing in the area and falling in love with it. The restaurant celebrated its 10th anniversary this year.
“You do not eat to put something on the plate,” he said. “You eat to enjoy, to experience more life.”
Moroldo and his family try to return to Italy each year. He spent 20 days this year in his home country, learning even more about the art form he’s been studying since he was a young boy. During each trip, he said he tries to learn from different chefs and improve his skills.
“It’s like math,” he said. “You can count to infinity, and with food, it’s the same thing. You can learn every day something new.”
From small local cafes to lavish five-star restaurants, Moroldo said each chef has something to offer. When they learn from one another, he said the chefs will continue to improve on the recipes, as well as add their own styles.
Most recently, Moroldo was the teacher in this chain. After his trip to Italy, he traveled to a resort in the Bahamas to teach the head chef more about Italian cooking. Last year, Moroldo was nominated one of the best chefs in America. The Bahamas resort heard about his skills and talent in the kitchen and asked him to teach them Italian-style cooking
Moroldo taught the chef how to make traditional Italian dishes such as pizza dough, risotto and tiramisu.
In typical fashion, he also learned something from the resort’s chef.
“I saw the way she did things, and she was a very good chef,” he said. “Her presentation and the way the plates looked was beautiful.”
“You will always learn something,” he added. “You just have to be observant and keep watching.”
Moroldo first learned to cook from his grandmother in Italy, and worked in his first restaurant at 12 years old. At 14, he began culinary school training and landed one of his first major jobs at the luxurious Savoy Hotel in London. Throughout his culinary career, he has held jobs in various restaurants across Europe.
In the future, Moroldo said he would like to expand his restaurant to a second location. However, there is one thing standing in his way right now — American citizenship.
“That’s the big problem right now,” he said. “Sometimes, I wonder if it would be better to be an illegal [immigrant] with the way this is working.”
When he first moved to the country, the family was able to gain E-2 investor visas that were available to new startup companies. The family must leave every two years to have visas renewed and return to Italy every five years. Because at any time the United States could refuse to renew their visa status, Moroldo is hesitant to put down too many roots until he knows for certain. Currently, the family is applying for green cards, and working on becoming full American citizens, but the process is slow and arduous.
If all goes well, the family hopes to have green cards in the near future, and will look into expanding to Houston. Moroldo hopes to open a winter location and keep the Bigfork restaurant open in the summer.
Reporter Brianna Loper may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at bloper@dailyinterlake.com.