Authentic Italian in Springfield? Chef Shawn Kraft talks travel, inspiration
One in a series of profiles of Springfield area chefs.
Shawn Kraft landed his first food gig at age 16 at Wendy’s and worked his way up in restaurants over the years. The 51-year-old has owned or co-owned an array of eateries in town: Nonna’s South, Mangia and Cellar + Plate. Today, he owns Nonna’s Italian Cafe, Casper’s Diner and Meals by Monica, a meal delivery service for Springfield, Ozark and Nixa.
Kraft has a soft spot for Italian cuisine and leads culinary and wine trips to Italy each year. He loves to cook, and his passion was sparked in an unlikely place, a now-shuttered Springfield diner.
Kraft spoke with the Springfield Daily Citizen about his love of Italy, food and his career in Springfield.
In the Kitchen: Q&A with Nonna’s Shawn Kraft
This interview was lightly edited for clarity and length.
Q: What got you into cooking?
When I was a child, my family went to Anton’s every week. In Anton’s, plastered to every inch of the wall was all these menus from other places, a lot from the East Coast. I would walk around as a kid and look at these menus with crazy food words and dishes. That is what got me interested in food. I worked my way up through restaurants and then stepped out of the industry but kept up a personal passion. I learned to make sushi, ramen, Asian stuff on my own. I have always loved noodles and tomato sauce. Then I started focusing on Italian — that is where my main focus has been: the love of tomato, olive and noodle. My three foundations of life.
Q: When and why did you buy Nonna’s?
I moved out of Springfield in ‘99 and went to St. Louis. I was racing for a bicycling team and working at a bike shop. Then I moved to Chicago doing the same thing. Then I stopped racing. I stopped racing but kept eating and my love of Chicago food grew. I came back to Springfield and didn’t know what I was going to do. I ended up taking over Hooked On Books; my favorite section was culinary. I sold it and had an opportunity in 2008 to take over Nonna’s. I was returning to my love of Italian food.
Q: Tell me about the olive oil you serve?
I love, love, love olive oil. The olive oils we use for our fresh stuff — salad dressing, bread, finishing sauces — it is almost like wine in that it is single-source olives. There are a lot of counterfeit olive oils out there. A lot are cut with other oil. I make sure it is fresh. I try different regions because they have different tastes. I love the ones in the south more than the ones from the north. They are from one single olive grove.
Q: What is your favorite dish on the menu at Nonna’s?
The Amatriciana. Start out with base sauce of plum tomatoes, caramelized onions, slightly browning them, garlic, red pepper and then hit it with vodka and burn that off. From that base, I take guanciale, which is a very fatty cured pork cheek in Italy. Render it down and it releases a lot of fat and then mix it with tomato base and it gives this fatty umami taste. Then put pasta water back in, and it glues it all back together.
Q: Tell us about your new authentic Italian menu line at Nonna’s?
I have spent a lot of time in Italy, but when I came back, Italian food is Springfieldized or Americanized because that is what the public wants. I wanted authentic food. And people are looking at me like, ‘Hey, you are there a lot and teach classes, so I thought how can I do it?’ I decided to bring some basic dishes from different regions. But we also have American dishes like Alfredo, if that is what they want. It gives people choices.
Q: When and how did you start food and wine tours to Italy?
I’ve been doing them since 2017. I had been going to Italy at that point for 10 years. I was sitting with my friend Mary Guccione, who owned Cellar + Plate at that time. People would call and text me asking where they should go when they went to Italy. Mary and I started doing these tours together, and then she moved to Chicago. I kept doing the tour, and it kept getting busier and busier. While I am over there, I do vineyard tours, tours of Amalfi Coast. A friend of mine down there is a chef and sommelier, I help with pasta classes, pizza classes. I do two or three trips a year. We rent a villa on the Amalfi Coast. We do a lot of cooking at the villa, eat cheese, drink lots of wine, take boat rides.
Q: What surprises people most on these trips?
The culture. They feel the culture. No one is in a hurry. We go to lunch for three hours. Everything slows down. You have time to experience everyone around you. That surprises people so much.
Q: What are you most proud of in your career?
Surviving Corona [COVID-19] times with the restaurant. All my restaurants survived. I’m most proud when people are happy. I am proud to stand in this dining room because everyone is enjoying themselves. The food is good. I am proud of creating something people have a loyalty to and trust with their date nights, special occasions.
Q: When and how did you start visiting Italy?
I had a Jerry Maguire moment. (In the movie), Jerry Maguire got drunk, typed out a work letter and then forgot. I blame Anthony Bourdain. I was drinking wine some night and was watching Anthony Bourdain and thought this is amazing. Someone should do this. I typed a letter out to this lady at 417 Magazine and said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we went on a trip to Italy and tried to find where each of these items was founded: tiramisu, basil pesto, etc. I will take your photographer/writer for a story.’ I woke up to texts from her, ‘Oh, that would be so great. We are talking about it.’ I took one of the 417 food writers, and we had lots of different food stories and photos. Then, I started going once a year. Now I have a house I rent there. I am there five times a year.
Q: How do you manage the restaurants when you are gone?
I have really good people that have been with me a long time. I still do a lot of background stuff on the computer from there.
Q: What would you tell someone who doesn’t know a lot about Italian wine but wants to create their own wine tasting?
Go grab a very crisp, dry Prosecco. Medium-body red like Sangiovese, DOCG. (DOCG is an Italian wine classification that translates to Controlled and Guaranteed Denomination of Origin. DOCG wines are considered the highest quality Italian wines). A good medium Tuscan wine and a good Barolo. That gives them tastes from one side to another.
Q: Your goal is to move to Italy?
Eventually. We will see what happens next. I am still enjoying Nonna’s. I have one more project, I want to do a really fun, authentic beer garden. Take the love of the breweries Springfield has and put it in a German-style beer garden.
Q: What would you eat for your last meal on earth?
Spaghetti Pomodoro, spaghetti and tomato. Start with pasta from Gragnano, the mecca of pasta. Chefs get their pasta from there because it is the best and the pasta colleges are there. Then get the tomatoes from Vesuvius, plum tomato. Then good, rich, flavorful olive oil. It is the simplest of the sauces but made with the best three ingredients and then fresh basil.
Q: When and why did you buy Casper’s Diner?
A good friend of mine came to me and said I really want to buy Casper’s and this was 10 years ago. He likes the quirkiness and nostalgia. Casper’s is like an Anton’s. Then I fell in love with it. I love the people and what it means. It is a small community of people who love it. We have regulars and now our regulars have grown exponentially.
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