ONE YEAR OUT

"It's been a really awesome year! We opened last May and hit the ground running. The intention of the restaurant was to take a humble and modest approach, focusing on the food. From this perspective, a year ago, we were just a small trattoria located in the Meatpacking District. We didn't know what to expect, so everything that has happened in this short time is incredible."

Scott Conant believes that he is currently making the best food of his career--and by all indications, he is spot-on. There's the menu: signature Scott Conant dishes that he has cultivated over the years, balanced with new recipes developed at Scarpetta, to create a variety of dishes that appeal not only to bigtime food enthusiasts but also to customers who don't necessarily have the opportunity to dine out every night. The reviewers likewise agree: Scarpetta received three stars from both The New York Times and New York magazine and was named a "Best New Restaurant in America" by Esquire. The restaurant is recommended in the 2009 Michelin Guide and earned Wine Enthusiast magazine's 2008 Award of Distinction. And finally, to cap off its one-year anniversary, Scarpetta was nominated "Best New Restaurant" by the James Beard Foundation.
Asked what he would change about this past year, Conant responds: "I wouldn't want to change anything. We've tweaked, but there is a difference between tweaking and changing. What I had initially seen in my mind's eye was both a building and a creative process, and that has really come to fruition. The experience of dining at Scarpetta is resonating with diners, which is the whole point. We have people walking out happier than when they walked in, and there is nothing better than that."
"An idea is only as good as the people you put in place to execute it," he continues. "Scarpetta is not just about me--it goes back to the great team that I have. I count myself extremely lucky to have this staff, many who have been with me for many years, who are executing on an incredibly high level, and, more important, who are providing for their own families. Nobody is taking this situation for granted."

SCARPETTA MIAMI beach

Scott Conant flew south this past winter to create a new outpost of Scarpetta at Fontainebleau Miami. The newly renovated Fontainebleau is a spectacular blend of Miami's glamorous golden era and stylish modern luxury, combining striking design, contemporary art, music, and fashion for a new kind of vibrant South Beach experience. "Miami and the Fontainebleau fit so well with what we started here in New York," says Conant. "And having two restaurants about two and a half hours by plane away from each other is a great thing for Scarpetta." As in New York, the same energy of the restaurant reigns in Miami, but with a décor designed to suit the warm climate. The light and airy main dining room displays a refined nautical palette, complete with portholes and large wood columns bound with leather and rope. Floor-to-ceiling windows and a veranda wrap around the room with views of the hotel pool and the ocean. Scarpetta Miami's general manager Chris Cuomo asserts, "When you combine one of the top chefs in the country, a restaurant with an incredible energy and atmosphere, and an unparalleled hotel in a fantastic location, you can only be destined for success. Scarpetta has quickly made a huge statement in Miami, taking the food, service, and beverage program to another level--one that Miami has not seen in a long time."