Walkin’ on Sunshine with Bianca Rae

I have never met someone quite like Bianca Rae.  This woman is literally a force of nature.  As one of Palm Springs’ most adored TV personalities, Bianca has been cementing her legacy as a one-of-a-kind journalist since moving to the Golden State.  From starting her own foundation to co-hosting the Palm Springs International Film Festival Red Carpet Show, this girl never misses a beat.  She recently was recognized as one of Palm Springs’ 40 under 40 for her leadership, journalistic and philanthropic successes.  If you can’t tell by now I’ve got a serious girl crush on this lady.

I met Bianca when I was searching for an internship the summer before my senior year in college.  B pulled a Mother Teresa and took a complete stranger (me) under her wing and quite literally under her roof while I interned at her TV station, KESQ.  Since then we’ve pretty much become besties.  It’s kind of scary how similar we are…I’m not sure if it’s because I finally found someone with an equally terrible shopping addiction or if we both love Chipotle more than life itself.  Whatever it is, I’ve learned so much about the type of person I want to be from her that I wanted her to share that knowledge through an Alle Cat Chat.

Alle Cat: Let’s start with the Bianca Rae Foundation, explain how that came to be.

Bianca Rae: It all started with my dog Jack.  I had been working at the local shelter as a volunteer and I just fell in love with him and eventually I adopted him.  I had gotten involved in a lot of the non-profits in the valley and had been learning a lot about that whole world and I always knew I wanted to create my own non-profit.  But I wasn’t exactly sure how or when that would be able to happen.  It got to the point where I knew enough, I had the support of my family and my community and my workplace so it was a natural progression to create the Bianca Rae Foundation.  First I needed to decide what my mission was going to be.  I’m the type of person who wants to help the world.  I was sitting there thinking to myself, ‘well can I do something with kids, the homeless, the elderly and animals?’ My now secretary was like you really need to narrow down the focus.  So for me, I’ve always wanted to be the voice for the voiceless and in my opinion that’s kids and animals. 

I think it’s easy when you’re a public figure to support a cause and create a following.  I guess I’m surprised more people in the public eye don’t have non-profits or a philanthropic mission.  I know there’s a lot who do but I feel like everyone should because it’s so easy to get a message out there and influence people.  People really do listen to people in the public eye.  If we’re not doing good and telling them to do good they’re going to be influenced negatively and that’s really sad to think about.  There is so much need out there, from homeless animals to battered women to seniors. Don’t ask me to put them in order because I think that order is different for everyone.  I would love to help everyone but I just chose two of my passions.  If you ask anyone there are a lot of other issues that the city government places before animals and that’s the sad reality of it.  But that’s where non-profits and people like me come in who want to speak for the animals.

AC: And you’ve done so much with social media.  I see posts on your Facebook wall all the time about missing pets or fundraisers and it seems to have a huge impact.

BR: One of the Bianca Rae Foundation’s campaigns is #socialmediamiracle.  It’s daily that I get emails or Facebook messages or get tagged in posts on Facebook about a lost dog or a shelter dog asking me to share the story.  From my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram I do have thousands of followers. I have access to our work pages, which have 20,000 followers. That being said, it’s so easy to get the word out with those tools.  I ask all the time “can I do news stories about every lost dog?” and my bosses always say no, and I get it, but they did say I could put it on Facebook.  But literally the second they gave me permission I have not backed down since.  Now I share every picture of a lost dog and the Bianca Rae Foundation has assisted in dozens of #socialmediamiracles reuniting owners and their lost dogs.  Being in the public eye and having this platform it’s literally as simple as clicking share and why wouldn’t someone want to do that?  Actually, my mom just recently saw a dog that was posted on Facebook out here and long story short she’s adopting it.  I consider that another social media miracle. 

AC: You recently held a retreat for young girls in the desert, why is it so important for young women to establish positive role models in this social media era?

BR: Something that became crystal clear that day just looking around is that young girls are begging and pleading to be shown the way and receive guidance from someone who is quote “cool” or has it all figured out.  I think that if a public figure or celebrity who is doing good doesn’t grab them by the hand then that’s when the “cool” mean girl in high school or the celeb that sells sex and does drugs will be the one to grab them by the hand.  I think we really need to cash in on the fact that this is such a vulnerable age for young women and we can make such a positive impact. I think people with a platform can be the ones setting a good example.  Again it comes down to responsibility because if we don’t someone bad will.

AC: Is this something that was close to your heart or was something that you experienced in the past?

BR: The way that this all started was realizing that anytime I was out on a story young girls just flocked to the news vehicle.  Kids would surround us when we’re doing our live shots asking lots of questions and saying what we are doing is so cool. It’s like they think we’re the coolest things since sliced bread and I mean we kind of are… no I’m just kidding.  You can see that they have us on a pedestal and in that capacity we can influence them and why not influence them in a positive way?  One day I was talking to my mom and I was like “I would love to do a leadership retreat for middle school girls”.  I’ve been involved in leadership retreats before when I was in school and I think the event planner in me took over and this retreat was able to combine my love for philanthropy and event planning.

AC: How do you try to be a positive role model not only for young girls but for women in your community?

BR: Going back to social media, I’ve opened up that door.  I know a lot of people don’t but I have.  I’ve let people learn a lot about me by posting pictures and other posts.  Now some people might think I share too much but I think life is your message to the world and the way I live my life is my message to the world.  So that’s why I post pictures of me out getting ice cream because maybe some people would like to know that I love birthday cake remix from Cold Stone.  I know I love finding out those little tidbits from people I follow so maybe people feel the same way about me.  And whether it’s me out in the community volunteering or working, the bottom line is people motivate other people.  I consider myself a motivated person but I am still very motivated by others.  Whether it’s a health or fitness Instagram post or just a friend who was helping out at a soup kitchen I think to myself, “wow, I could be out doing that too.”  So I’m sure that there are a few people that might be influenced by me too. That’s why I share my life on social media and my message is to do as much good as you can.  So why not give it all?

AC: You’re only 25 and you’ve already started your own foundation and achieved so much. What inspires you to keep achieving greatness?

BR: Well there are two things.  First, and I don’t know if this is a blessing or a curse, but I just cannot sit still.  I mean on my days off I can’t just lie on the couch and relax.  I literally get this fire in my stomach and I think of what I could be doing and what I should be doing.  From small examples like going to pick up my dry cleaning or working out to a bigger example like ‘hey you should be coordinating a 200 person leadership retreat, why the heck not?’  I am religious so I don’t know if that’s God speaking to me or if that’s my conscience, I don’t really know where that comes from. I think I’ve always been a person who wants to do more and be more and be the best that I can possibly be. 

Secondly, I do believe that there are certain things you have to sacrifice in life.  Going back to middle school or high school I missed a lot of lunches.  I was not in the lunch room with friends I was in the band room practicing the saxophone, I was the office helper and I was an administrative aid.  You don't need to do all those things to be successful but that’s how it worked for me.  I spent all of my college summers interning out in LA.  I’m not saying that wasn’t a blast but it would have been fun to stay in Columbia and not do anything and experience that.  There’s a part of me that saw what friends and other people are doing and maybe that looks fun and easier but again that’s just not the road I took.  Like now, there have been times when I’ve been invited out to do things but I’ve had to turn it down because I have to do paperwork for the foundation or I’ve like really got to log this volunteer matrix (like what is that?!). At the end of the day I do think there are certain sacrifices you have to make if you really do want to be successful.  I’ve just always had the mentality that the earlier you start the more time you have to accomplish what you want to.  I’ve been blessed because I’ve always connected with people who are older than me.  Out here a lot of my close friends are women in their 40’s and 50’s that are mothers, wives, CEOs and they do it all.  I’ve always had this example in front of me and have been shown the right way.  I also think I have great parents who have always been on top of me and I’ve just always been a highly motivated person.  I mean you should see my to do list for today, my to do list for tomorrow, my to do list for life!  It’s crazy long!  And I have to start early if I want to get it all done.  Wow, that was a good quote… I don’ t know where this comes from sometimes?

AC: But this is the reason why I wanted to interview you because you would not believe how many people are so intrigued by you and your accomplishments.  And it’s because of the type of person you are that has paid off.

AC: On that same token, where do you see yourself at 30?

BR: I love what I’m doing right now.  I love anchoring an evening newscast and I think I’ve found my niche where I feel like I’m in my element and where my bosses have told me they see me in my element.  Yet I’ve always really liked the idea of anchoring/hosting a morning show.  I like personality driven shows and I like that you are the person that sets the tone for someone’s day.  I think that one of the best compliments I get from complete strangers is that they feel as if they know me.  I mean people ask me all the time how’s Jack or how was having your mom in town?  I like that people feel like they can connect with me because I like being a person in the community.  So, like I said, I like personality driven shows and whether that’s being on a morning show or an entertainment show someday, I’m just really excited to see what opportunities come my way. Or perhaps something else lies ahead that I haven't even though of yet..!

AC: You’ve always been drawn towards entertainment reporting, what initially sparked your interest?

BR: I know from my perspective I think it is so interesting how society is so intrigued by celebrities and how they can influence us.  I graduated with a sociology minor from Mizzou and I love analyzing that dynamic.  I love the relationship between society and celebrities.  I think people love seeing the person behind that celebrity and that’s what entertainment journalism is.  You see the interviews where people get to open up and you get to find the celebrity’s favorite coffee or where they’re from or what their last vacation was or what they’re passionate about.  I love personality driven shows and entertainment shows really allow hosts to showcase their personalities.  But the thing is I feel like I’ve very much fallen in love with anchoring so now I’m kind of at this crossroads of finding out what I’m meant to do.  I mean you learn so much about yourself in your twenties and I have. Here I thought entertainment was the be all and end all but now I’ve very much fallen in love with anchoring. I realize the relevance and the importance of breaking news and the impact it has on people.  So I hope I would be able to combine that some day and honestly that’s what I love about morning shows.  It’s everything, it’s your meat and potatoes and it’s your dessert.  It’s your entire dinner plate and you know I’m Italian, I need the entire dinner plate….

AC: Why don’t we just kick Kathy Lee and Hoda out of their seats and just take over the fourth hour of the today show?

BR: Can we?  Seriously Al, please?  Oh man…

AC: So you recently co hosted the Palm Springs International Film Festival, what was it like to be able to interview celebrities like Mathew McConaughey and Amy Adams?

BR: I get emotional just thinking about it.  I look back and gosh I love Palm Springs and this job for so many reasons but something I’m so grateful for is the opportunities they’ve given me here.  I mean they let this 24-year-old go and interview Mathew McConaughey. I really thank them for believing in me, and it’s not like I would bow down and kiss his feet, but in all seriousness I really did have to contain myself.  I’ll be honest, I really was very nervous.  I studied so much and it frustrates me when people say entertainment is just fluff.  There are people that give it a bad name just as there are callous and cold-hearted news reporters that give news a bad name.  There are bad apples in every bunch.  But if done the right way, I think entertainment can be so difficult.  You need to not only know the celebrity and what award they’re getting, you need to know their Oscar history, every movie they’ve been in.  You need to know if they’ve ever been to Palm Springs.  You need to know all those things so that you have things to talk about and that is what entertainment is, it’s their life.  

So I did a lot of research I took a lot of notes.  And I mean up until the morning of I was sitting in hair and make up drilling myself.  I would practice by thinking, okay Tom Hanks, two syllables, he got two Oscars.  Meryl Streep, three syllables, she got three Oscars.  I had all these different ways to memorize it.  I was very nervous.  So in the minutes leading up to it, hey I have no filter I'm an open book.. but, I duct taped my bra to give myself a little extra push.  And then minutes before the show I got this feeling in my stomach I was so nervous I had our promotions and creative services director cut me out of the tape.  I was like 'we need to cut this now I can’t breathe!' So that was two minutes before the show.  But then 30 seconds in I started to have the best time of my life.  I mean I wasn’t even nervous anymore, that was the crazy thing!  It was more of a high.  I knew my stuff and I knew I knew it.  I always think I’ve just got to get the first question out but then once that was over with I could have kept going and then before I knew it my producer was wrapping me.  It was such a whirlwind of a dream and all I can say is that I felt like I was where I was supposed to be.  And I don’t mean on Matthew’s arm... but I mean standing there interviewing these celebs.  I just can’t wait for it to be that time again in January.  I’m already talking to my stylist about dresses!

AC: Who is your number one celeb crush?

BR: I’ve always had a crush on Ashton Kutcher.  I’ve always loved his hair.

AC: Oh like during his Punked days?

BR: Um, any day that ends with y.  And I have a huge crush on Luke Bryan.  There’s nothing hotter than a backwards baseball cap and a guy singing country that is just… words escape me.

AC: What do you think would be something you learned about yourself since beginning your career?

BR: I mean as far as professional wise.  I’ll admit, I didn’t think I was capable of doing all the hard news that I’ve done out here. I mean looking back, I was probably such a pain in that KOMU newsroom.  I never put in my SOT times or knew the importance of staying under a minute and a half.  I never really got it.  That’s because I never really thought I’d be a news reporter and I bet there were a lot of people there that didn’t think I would be a news reporter either.  Then I move out to Palm Springs, granted now I’ve gotten where I want to be with entertainment, but when I started I was a hard news reporter, general assignment.  I remember a couple months in thinking my poor producers at KOMU, if I knew then what I know now they probably would have liked me so much more.  

I feel really proud of myself for all the things I’ve done here. Personally, it’s interesting to see that you can really be anything you want to be.  That sounds so cliché but when I started at KESQ as far as I know they didn’t one official entertainment reporter.  I bet anybody three and a half years ago might have thought we’ll never have an entertainment reporter.  I think a lot of times people are forced to conform or fit into a box that they don’t want to be in.  But first off, I don’t know how to be anything that I’m not and second I’ve never wanted to be anything that I’m not.  At KOMU, our news director Stacey Woelfel let me be who I wanted to be.  In my thank you email to him I said 'thank you for letting me march to the beat of my own drum.'  I mean I wore lipstick that was too bright and I centered my hair down the middle but he never forced me to change.  And here at my station in Palm Springs they’ve never forced to me to change either.  I somehow was able to stay in my own element and create my own position. 

AC: There’s a lot of people who think they need to put on the news anchor voice, cut their hair like a news anchor and fit that perceived persona that they think someone in the news industry needs to be like. When really it’s more interesting and more fun to see someone who’s different and unique and does things in their own way.

BR: Yes, that’s exactly it.  Especially when you’re young you’re so inclined to put on that news voice and try to be newsy and act how you think you’re supposed to act... but how are you supposed to be irreplaceable if you’re like everyone else?

AC: Name five things you cant live without.

BR: Alright, my phone, I admit. Chipotle, wow I sound so basic. My family. My boyfriend, Tony. And Jack.

AC: What’s your guilty pleasure?

BR: I love the meaning behind songs.  I could spend forever on songmeanings.net.  I love watching music videos.  That probably ties into my love for entertainment journalism but I love knowing why the celebrity wrote the song, who it was about or what life experience it was about.  I could spend hours researching that kind of stuff.

AC: What are you most thankful for?

BR: Being surrounded by people that let me be me.  I know there are quirky things about me. I know my laugh is obnoxiously loud and I know I’m not your typical journalist.  I have family members that have always supported my crazy dreams of going to California every summer and a workplace that never tried to change me.  I am grateful that my friends and incredible boyfriend love me and listen to my laugh.  I’m just so lucky to be surrounded by people who don’t force me to change, who love me as I am.

Need more Bianca in your life?  Follow her social media links below!

The Bianca Rae Foundation 

Bianca Rae Facebook Page

Twitter

Instagram

Until next time, cheers!

A

I'm Feelin' Swanky

So it’s been brought to my attention that I have a bit of a shopping addiction.  Okay, okay, I’ve been aware of this fatal flaw in my personality since the age of ten.  But every girl has to have her vices, right?  So I had a wee bit of a problem when I went to college and discovered Swank Boutique for the first time.

During the four years I attended Mizzou my entire closet quickly became 50 percent Swank purchases.  Swank, my closet thanks you, my credit card does not.  One of Swank’s hashtags on social media is #swankaddict. I’d like to believe yours truly inspired it.  Okay, I don’t really believe that but I am curious if there's rehab for #swankaddicts?  I’ll need to look into that.

Swank Boutique is a men and women’s clothing store located in the heart of downtown Columbia, Missouri.  Since opening in 2005, they have offered the most current styles from a variety of contemporary brands.  From the moment I stepped into their store four years ago, I’ve been hooked.

Over Mizzou’s homecoming weekend I was able to sit down with owner Erin Wagoner for some delicious grapefruit Old Fashionds (courtesy of her boyfriend) and a good ole Alle Cat Chat.

Ps. There’s a really great surprise at the end that I can promise you won’t want to miss!

Check them out on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram! 

Alle Cat: What type of person would you say Swank Boutique is the perfect fit for?

Erin Wagoner: The woman who doesn’t necessarily follow what everyone else is wearing.  She gets up, goes to her closet and puts her own style together.  It may be sporty one day, casual the next or really dressy and trendy, but it always has a constant edge and a touch of class.  She appreciates her own sense of fashion.  In my mind that translates into personality, it takes a strong woman who knows who she is and what she wants and she shows that through her clothes.

AC: Exactly!  And that’s what makes you stand out from some of the other boutiques in Columbia, not to say there’s anything wrong with those…

EW: They’re not as cool, you can say it…

AC: Well you guys certainly stand out because what you carry is not what a typical college town boutique sells.

EW: I think fashion, as simple as it is, is something I really think about.  For me, getting dressed isn’t just throwing on a t-shirt and jeans everyday, it’s putting together a representation of my personality or my mood that day.  That’s something that I enjoy, but that doesn’t necessarily translate for everyone. 

AC: It’s to some extent an art form.

EW: Yea! A personal art form.

AC: If I remember correctly you were pretty much right out of college when you opened Swank, is that correct? 

EW: I dropped out of college and had taken a year off and then I opened the store.

AC: What was it like opening your own business at such a young age? I bet it was scary.

EW: I had no idea what I was doing.  But that was probably a good thing.  It was a long series of events that were benefited from hard work and good role models and my own naïveté.  I got really lucky and I just kept working really hard and got in on it at the right time.  I was fortunate to have enough time to make the mistakes that you can’t make when you have 20 other competitors around you.  So I was able to make all those mistakes and learn from them and now everyone else gets to build off of me.

AC: You just celebrated your nine-year anniversary, now coming up on ten years, how much has changed since you first opened?

EW: So much has changed. I just know more now.  The buying process is a lot more focused and we carry a lot more brands. We are involved in more departments than I thought we would be, it’s changed quite a bit.  Being in the business for as long as I have I’ve learned more about lines and who I want to do business with and who I don’t want to do business with.  I know what works what doesn’t, it’s been interesting and it’s a totally different world.  We still carry Free People, French Connection and Hanky Panky. Those were some of the original lines we opened with.  I think they are three of the only lines that I’ve stayed with and never dropped.

AC: Do you do most of the buying? Can you explain that process?

EW: I think this is one of those times that I’ve gotten lucky and benefited from having a good eye.  I’m fortunate that people like what I choose.  Whether it’s my style or not, just being able to find those things that stand out is essential.  You go to market and you walk down isles with 400 vendors and you need to find things that stand out and are worth the price, worth the fit and worth the quality.

AC: So is it more about finding things that your personally like or things that will sell?

EW: If I only bought for me I wouldn’t make any money because the things that I like, more often than not, are the things that are sitting in the store months later that I have to mark down in order to sell.  It’s about being able to interpret what is selling, who your customer is and what they’re looking for and taking all of these things into consideration.

AC: I think you manage that balance really well because it’s a fine line you have to walk.  There’s a large number of people in Columbia that are really fashion forward but then there’s a number of women who are not…

EW: Right, if we were in a bigger city we could carry cooler shit. We wouldn’t have to have the dumbed down crap that I don’t want to have to sell.

AC: When it comes to selecting brands that you would like to carry what are you looking for?

EW: The customer service aspect is huge and you have no idea what it’s going to be like until you get into the company.  It’s such a volatile environment as far as turn over is concerned.  House of Harlow is owned by a larger company which is owned by a parent company and within the past year we’ve had eight different reps. And you have no idea what’s going to happen next and you have to hope that it’s just going to work out.

AC: Being a small business owner how important is it to shop local?  How do shoppers benefit from doing that?

EW: Hugely.  My boyfriend and I almost exclusively eat locally. When we travel we go for local.  Especially in Columbia, it’s such a big deal for me because the city I don’t think is as supportive of local businesses as they should be. It’s a great example because it’s so centralized.  Everything that’s special about Columbia is its local businesses and its people.  Otherwise, you go out to the mall or you go any direction out from downtown and it’s TGI Fridays, Cheddar’s, Hooters, Gap, Old Navy, those things aren’t special, you can find those anywhere.  Local businesses are where you get the heart of a place and you get someone who recognizes your face and your name.  Like the person checking you out at Gap doesn’t give a shit what you think about an item or what you’re doing for vacation next week.  Some of my really good friends have come out of having this store and you don’t get that at other places.

AC: Your social media game is on point, how has that helped your business?

EW: Social media is nice because it’s free; it only costs your time and energy.  Not that that’s not worth anything, but it’s a lot better than spending a ton of money on a print ad or a television ad that you really don’t get to see the impact of.  It’s nice because it’s more controlled.  I get to have all the control over the interactions with people, the back and fourth and just being able to pop things up as we get them in.  It’s just another way to reach out on a personal level to the customers.  It’s something that I spend way too much of my time on…  that’s just another example of our growth.  When I started it was just the store.  Now it’s online, on social media and it’s just five more things on my plate.

AC: How would you describe your style and where do get your inspiration?

EW: I would say eclectic.  I never know what I’m going to want to wear that day.  It’s totally dependent on my mood or where I’m going.  My grandmother is a huge style inspiration for me.  She has impeccable style and taste and I find myself drawn to things that remind me of things that she’s worn in the past.  I am inspired by people I see walking down the street.  I’m always looking to see what people are wearing to see what they have from the store, what they don’t have from the store, what I should have or just appreciating good style.  Going to market and getting inspiration from different vendors or reps is a big one.  Jewelry designers have some of the best style, well sometimes they do.  Sometimes they look like your mom’s friend who hasn’t been out of the house for two years and you’re like “Really? You make this really cool line but you look like that?”

AC: Okay, let’s talk current trends, what are some things every girl needs in her closet this season?

EW: Hmmm,  a good sneaker and a plaid shirt.  I’m always a huge accessory person so anyone with a box full of jewelry is set.  With a t-shirt and jeans and a bunch of jewelry you can go anywhere with that.  You could conquer the world!

AC: Biggest fashion faux pas you see in Columbia?

EW: Mom jean shorts.  Hate. Overexposed ensembles. Hate.  Those are my two.

AC: Any personal style regrets?

EW: Oh yea, like everything until I was 18.  Pretty much everything.  I’ve had a few girls that have shopped with me since I’ve opened when they were 13 and now they’re in college. I’ve always been so jealous because they’re wearing the same stuff I’m wearing and I’m 10 years older than them… I’m like if only I could have been you at 13… I’d kill to not want to hide every single photo from that whole decade.

AC: Where’s your favorite place in Columbia to just hangout?

EW: Probably at night Quinton’s and on Sundays, or really every morning, at Broadway Brewery for brunch.  The Wine Cellar is awesome too.  It’s a little diamond in the rough, their food is amazing.

AC: Any thoughts of expanding?  Maybe a store in St. Louis or KC?

EW: It’s come up a couple of times and I’ve thought about it and almost taken it on.  But then other things pop up.  But it just comes down to having a good team around you.  So if I had that here and I found a place that needed Swank and could support Swank and I had a good staff there then I would totally do it in a heartbeat.  I need a 30 year old chic who has awesome style, who doesn’t need to work for the money, because I’m a small business, I can’t afford to pay everyone as much as I’d like to, that just likes to have a good time and is a hard worker who likes to wear the clothes.  That’s my ideal candidate.

AC: Well hey, if this TV thing doesn’t pan out by the time I’m 30 maybe we can talk.

EW: Hey, I can go younger, I can go older!

EW: How would you describe the Swank customer?

AC: Someone who appreciates good quality and also wants to stand out from the crowd. 

EW: Right? Who just wants to be boring and blend in?

Drum roll please!!!  







You need to head to ------> Swank Boutique online <------ RIGHT NOW for 20 percent off!  Enter the code Allecat at check out.  Happy shopping my loves!

Hurry offer expires November 21^st !

Until next time, cheers!

A

Take your mouth on a tour of Italy at Gaetano's

If you come to Gaetano’s looking for a quintessential Italian meal, complete with spaghetti and meatballs, you’re out of luck. But that’s a good thing.  This fusion Italian restaurant is anything but ordinary. With expertly crafted dishes bursting with unique flavors you’d be crazy to want anything else. 

Just east of the Fox River, in the heart of Batavia, Gaetano and Wendy Di Benedetto opened their second restaurant at the beginning of August.  Gaetano Di Benedetto hails from the coastal town of Bagheria, located just outside of Palermo, Sicily.  He has been an executive chef since 1989 in restaurants throughout Italy, as well as France, England and the United States. 

As you enter Gaetano’s it’s as if you’ve stepped into a Sicilian Chateau.  Herb gardens line the windows of the restaurant and the stucco walls give the interior an old world vibe.  Once the sun goes down the painted ceiling comes alive and the Moroccan style lanterns cast a romantic glow on the tables.  The experience at this restaurant is so whimsical, even reading the different items on the menu seems as if you’re reciting a poem.  With a chef who isn't afraid of a little improvisation, a meal at Gaetano’s is simply magnificent.  But be carful of their homemade bread baked in their wood-burning oven, because once you start eating it, it’s hard to stop.

The phrase above their restaurant says it all: Fusion of regional Italian cuisine, with respect to tradition.

I was able to sit down with both husband and wife to talk food, history and a little bit of jazz. 

Alle: You’re originally from an area just outside of Palermo, Sicily can you tell me how some of the traditions of that area can be seen in your restaurant and food?

Gaetano Di Benedetto:  Well, here we actually do fusion original.  So, we go pretty much everywhere in Italy and then fuse those different traditions together.  In a way, and hopefully I won’t offend anyone, Italian cuisine is kind of boring.  Wherever you go in Italy we have all the same menu. We have some traditional dishes that are specific to the region or city, but it's basically very simple food. 

What I did in order to please customers was start to put together dishes in different ways using ingredients from different places in Italy.  Let’s say I go to the region of Emilio Romano and I get the balsamic, then I go to Liguria and I get a pesto, I go to the south and I get all the heirloom tomatoes, so I go everywhere and kind of shop with different ideas and combine them and come up with something that is different.  I’m not disrespecting the dish, I’m embellishing it.  By doing that I’m making it more appealing to the customers that I serve.  I mean if you come out here and you just have a piece of bread and meat, you don’t want that, you want something more interesting.

A: You compared the art of cooking to playing Jazz music. Can you explain that comparison?

GB: Jazz is my passion.  I love jazz and that’s actually the reason why I came here on vacation, so I could go around to jazz clubs and find musicians that I love.  The cooking that we do is very similar to jazz. If you cook traditional and you stick with the standard, it’s like playing classical music.  You have the music sheets, you read it and you play and try to interpret the music pretty much the same way as how the composer put it together.  When you’re playing jazz you have an intro, you go into the melody, you go back to the intro and then, when you go back to the melody you have space for improvisation.  And improvisation doesn’t mean you are doing something wrong.  You still leave room to respect the design of the music but now you can go out of the box and play and that’s exactly what we do at Gaetano’s.  So, the recipe is the recipe and it stays the recipe. But then you still have space to play and introduce new things.

A: Your career spans three decades! You’ve been the executive chef at restaurants throughout Europe and the United States how do you keep your ideas fresh and exciting?

GB: I like to go around and go to stores and that’s refreshing in a way.  Yesterday I went to Caputo’s.  They have different things and I like to get ideas just by walking around.  Let’s say couscous, I went there and I saw couscous and I think 'I should make couscous'.  Now you might ask why couscous?  Well, it is still part of the Sicilian tradition.  We were invaded by the Spanish so there are actually cities where we still make couscous and paella.  So I’m like why not make it here?  

A: And that’s what makes up the fusion nature of your restaurant.

GB: That’s right, we do things a little different here.  Like the idea of a meatball, that’s embarrassing for us to do a meatball.  Italians don’t do meatballs in restaurants.  Meatballs represent a time in our life when we were poor and we were eating meat once a week.  We weren’t able to afford steak, so we had to buy all the bad meat to make ground beef to make meatballs to eat meat once a week.  The tradition was meat on Sunday and fish on Friday and every other day we were eating whatever we would find around. Dinner was supposed to be eggs or vegetables or soup or pasta.  But meat and fish was only once a week because it was expensive.  When I go to a restaurant and I see a meatball it hurts my feelings, because it reminds me of a historical time when families were suffering.  That’s why when I see a meatball I want to explode and jump out of my skin.

A: The last time I was in your wife mentioned you have an organic garden back home that often provides some of the fresh ingredients that your cook with.  What sort of things do you grow?

GB: Zucchini blossom, heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, some different squash, and eggplant.

A: How important is farm to table dining?

GB: Farm to table dining is a wonderful concept.  But it restricts you on a lot of things.  In a way we do farm to table here.  But it is done not directly by us.  If I have to spend a lot of time doing the farming, and tell everybody that we do that here, well look at the size of my menu, I’d be lying.  So we do not claim that.  But most of our food is organic, most.  

Organic doesn’t last forever, it’s not year-round and it’s not necessarily always pretty.  So, when I go to the market we always look at organic and non-organic and we figure out what we have to buy for the day.  Sometimes if you do beets that are organic they look terrible.  They are small and we don’t want that, because believe it or not when you come in and you have a beet salad with all these ugly small beets you’re going to complain.   We have no preservatives.  That’s one thing I try to avoid here.   Smoked salmon, we smoke our own.  Ricotta cheese, I don’t get the processed ricotta cheese I’m getting the real thing.  

A: Can you explain your wood burning oven techniques that you are so famous for?  What makes yours so unique?

GB: We’re only talking about over 5,000 years of history… You find this oven in almost every culture.  Some cultures use it outside, other cultures have the wood underneath.  If you go to Bombay they use it in the bakery. If you go to a town close to where I grew up there’s an oven that’s close to 3,000 years old.  Now, of course it’s broken, it’s not operating anymore.  But it’s kind of funny to see this old fashioned technology working to this day.  Now, I say technology because the shape of the dome allows the wood to catch on fire and the fire turns around and creates the same idea of a convection oven.  So it’s 5,000 years of technology that still totally works today. 

You can see when you come in the decoration on our oven is a mosaic of little pieces that are memories that we have collected from trips we took and we brought pieces back from Mexico, Belize, Arizona, from Italy or whatever we had at home and we just broke them into little pieces and we put it together. The oven reflects the heat it doesn’t really smoke that much but it gives a nice flavor of wood without overwhelming the meat.   I don’t like meat that is completely loaded with smoke flavor.  So what happens is, I take the old tradition and try to bring some new dishes with it.  Now, many people just use this oven, unfortunately, just for pizza or bread.

A: So what kind of things do you cook in there?

GB: We cook all our meat inside.  We use hot plates so the plate gets up to very high temperatures, between 750 and 900 degrees. We sear all our meat, our scallops are made there, all our special fish is cooked in there. The dates with pancetta are previously cooked at a very low temperature and then we caramelize everything in the oven at a very high temperature. It’s kind of playing with temperature, and these ovens are all different.  So you need to become friendly with the oven and understand how it works and how it’s going to work for you.

A: What’s your favorite item on the menu to make?

GB: Ah, I don’t know. Today, I’m very excited about making my fish.  Why?  I don’t know.  I was going around and I saw a tortilla. I looked in my cooler I had avocado, I saw some nice mango and today I’m fusing some Latino influence into my Italian recipe.  So, instead of breading it with breadcrumbs, I bread it with tortilla.  Instead of making traditional mashed potatoes I’m making them with chipotle and cumin.  Instead of doing a guacamole I’m going to do an avocado mousse.  So I’m playing with the ingredients, using an Italian technique but with a Latin accent.

A: How has the community responded to the new restaurant in town? You guys are kind of the new kids on the block. 

Wendy Di Benedetto: They’ve been wonderful.  The city of Batavia has been fantastic to us, very supportive.  The response from a lot of the people that live here in Batavia has been incredible. It’s been very heartwarming and very close to our hearts because we’re residents here now too.  Sometimes I still like to serve as an owner and I like to be right out there with my servers and kind of getting a feel for how everyone is enjoying everything.  I would say that most common comment I get from locals here is “thank you so much for opening, we can’t believe this is open in our own town”.  It makes me feel so good because all the hard work we put in here has paid off.

A: What are some things you’re doing to set yourself apart from other restaurants?

WD: We have specials at our other restaurant that we just recently implemented here.  We’re open Tuesday through Saturday.  Tuesday nights we’re going to have 50 percent off selected wine bottles, 20 percent off reserves.  Wednesday we’ll have half priced martinis.  Thursdays we offer “Gaetapas” at 50 dollars a person instead of 60.  And now that it’s fall we offer live music on Thursday nights. It will always be jazz or some form of classical jazz. 

A: It feels really homey here.

WD: If you came to our home and had dinner in our dining room you would feel like you’re in our restaurant.  And that’s what I love about it.  I love that feeling when I’m serving people that I am in my own house and I am just taking good care of my guests.

A: And I feel like it kind of has to feel that way because I’m sure you’re here a lot.

WD: Yea I’m here all day long with him (Gaetano) and then I go home and then I come back and serve.  And yea it’s a lot of hours, and yea I’m tired, but it’s a good tired.  It’s not an I want to cry tired.  I want to people to feel as if they’re coming into someone’s home and I want people to feel like they’re coming to a great awesome dinner party.

A: For people who might be dining for the first time at Gaetano’s would you explain the tasting menu?

WD: It’s an experience, it’s not just going out for dinner.  And that’s another goal of ours, to make everyone’s time here an experience.  From the time they walk in the door.  He’s a chef, when we go out to eat he needs inspiration.  We’ve been to Tru, Alinea, we’ve done tastings downtown.  You’re going to pay around 250 dollars minimum per person to do a tasting like we do here out there.  Some people don’t understand that because they’ve probably never been to those restaurants.  But, the quality of our ingredients is top notch.  That’s why our price point is where it is, which is still extremely low compared to going downtown. 

The concept behind the “Gaetapas” is if you want to have an experience here try the tasting menu the first time, because you are going to enjoy tasting food that comes from our wood burning oven station, our gas fire station and our cold station.  Then you’re going to share a beautiful pasta and then you’re going to have a desert tray.  And that’s three courses, that’s nine dishes, plus a desert tray for 60 dollars per person.

A: You can’t go wrong

This wasn’t my first time at Gaetano’s, it was actually my fourth!  My mom and dad have been frequenting their Forest Park location for years, so when we heard they opened a second restaurant out here we were thrilled!  So much for my diet though…

As Gaetano suggested we went with the tasting menu, and our stomachs thanked us for it.

Check out our three course meal below!

We began our meal with Panna Cotta di Bufala.  Bufala mozzarella panna cotta served with cream of eggplant, grape tomatoes, speck, pesto Genovese and 25 year old balsamico from Modena.  This little bite was melt in your mouth delicious.  It was the perfect, light treat to start the meal off with.

Another favorite in the first round was the di Kobe Piccante.  Pan-seared kobe beef served with toasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds, crystallized garlic, pumpkin oil, Calabrian pepper paste and soy-lime vinaigrette.  Garlic crostinis accompanied the beef.  I’m not lying when I say this is the ONLY beef Carpaccio I have ever enjoyed.  My mom is a Carpaccio fanatic. Whenever she orders it I try a bit and I’ve never liked the texture of raw beef.  But Gaetano’s Carpaccio had me craving more which is truly a first.

 The last dish in the first course was the Carpaccio di Barbabietole.  Yellow and red beets roasted in their wood-burning oven, sliced Carpaccio style and drizzled with champagne vinaigrette.  The beets were paired with mache greens topped with fried goat cheese.  All you had to say was beets and goat cheese and I was sold.

 As anticipated the first course was a hit.  What I love most about this particular tasting experience is that throughout the entire meal we were never rushed.  When you’re consuming multiple courses, pacing is essential.  I’ve been to other tastings where they rapid-fire send all of the courses out and before you know it you’re in a food coma and they haven’t even sent out half of the meal.  Our server Abby who has worked for Gaetano since he opened his Forest Park restaurant was terrific at not only spacing out our courses but also recommending wines to accompany the dishes.

Next up Capesante al Cioccolato.  This dish was what I imagine they would serve in heaven.  Fresh harvested scallops dusted with cocoa powder and roasted in the wood-burning oven.  They were served over king oyster mushrooms and chocolate vinaigrette, watercress and drizzled with 25-year-old balsamico from Modena.  I am not a scallop lover, but just as I was with the beef Carpaccio, I’ve been converted.

 One of the staples on the menu is the Datteri con Polpettina al Cocco.  Translation: Dates stuffed with beef and chorizo, wrapped in pancetta and baked in the woo-burning oven, served with coconut tomato sauce accented with cumin, coriander and jalapeño.   If you’re coming for dinner and not doing a tasting you simply cannot leave without having these.  The coconut tomato sauce is the perfect combination of sweet and savory.

 But wait there’s more!  The last dish in our second course was the Crabcake dei Cesari.  This was a fun take on a traditional dish.  Think crab cake cannelloni, baked and served with arugula dressed with ceci bean anchovy sauce and accented with garlic and Parmigiano.

 Our third course included one of my all time favorites: zucchini blossoms or Fiori di Zucca al Drago.  These were zucchini blossoms stuffed with pecorino cheese mousse, fried tempura style and served with Drago sauce.  The cheese was so smooth and decadent and the tempura added a perfect crunch.

 The other dish in this course was also tempura fried. At this point my imaginary diet coach inside my head was screaming at me, but I chose to ignore her because this food was heavenly.  The Calamari al Porto Rosa had the perfect flavor combination.  Tempura fried calamari rolled with asparagus, topped with sun-dried tomato spicy shrimp sauce, served with soy-lime citronette and borlotti aioli.

 A welcome break between courses came when Gaetano asked me to accompany him  to their lower level where he was making pasta.  This kind was a bit different; it was black, dyed with squid ink!  

Gaetano makes all of his pastas from scratch, which is quite the time consuming process.  But in his (and mine as well) opinion, it’s well worth it.  He uses a machine that uses the same technology as a pasta maker from Thomas Jefferson’s days.  Obviously, this is not an industrial size machine, but Gaetano likes it that way.  He says this machine uses more eggs and less water, which gives the pasta that glorious chewy consistency that we as diners enjoy.  So what’s this pasta being made for?  Still to be determined, but Gaetano was thinking it might pair nicely with some lobster and artichokes.

Now, back upstairs and on to the main course, you’re probably thinking wait there’s more?!  But yes and it was incredible.  The great thing about the tasting menu is that nothing is really concrete.  Gaetano is always switching in and out tastings from the evening’s specials.  Our pasta tasting was Gnocchi di spinaci alla Piemontese.  Spinach gnocchi tossed with beef and lamb monachine, porcini mushrooms and elephant garlic-butter drizzled with Gruyere fondue.  The gnocchi was a vibrant green color and the Gruyere cheese was almost silklike. 

 And just as we thought we were headed for dessert Gaetano surprised us with one last dish.  Ippoglosso alla Don Jose gave a fun Latin flair to our meal.  The dish included scallops encrusted with corn crumbs sautéed with cumin-guajillo butter and served with mango Pico de Gallo and avocado mousse.  The scallops were buttery and the Pico de Gallo was so refreshing and light. (We were a bit quick on the uptake and I forgot to capture the plate's presentation.  Three glasses of wine will sometimes make even the best bloggers forget things...)

You might be shocked to hear that we still had room for dessert, and good thing we did because the Gaetano dessert tray is epic.  It included three little tastings, my favorite of which was the tiramisu served in a terracotta flowerpot.  It was layered with cookies and dipped in coffee, flavored with Kaluha and Amaretto with mascarpone cream and cocoa.  The second desert was Millefoglie alla crema Catalana con Pesche.  Caramelized phyllo layered with custard and peaches, drizzled with caramel sauce.  The final dessert was Semifreddo all’aceto Balsamico di Modena.  Vanilla semifreddo drizzled with 25-year-old balsamico from Modena.

And what Italian meal would be complete without a little limoncello?

Gaetano's is the epitome of charm and innovation.  Their flair for creating spectacularly delicious Italian cuisine while still making you feel right at home is one of a kind.  If you're looking for an unforgettable meal and a place to feel like you've stepped into the magnificent restaurants of the Mediterranean, without leaving the suburbs, look no further than Gaetano's.