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| Joseph Hafner hailes from outside of Philadelphia, Penn., where he learned cooking from mother, Jeanne. With five sisters, Hafner had ample opportunity to test his culinary creations on his family. In college, Hafner studied Political Science before moving to Rhode Island to pursue his degree in culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University. After graduating, he served as executive chef at Cafe Zelda in Newport, opened the Riverwalk Cafe in Providence, and then left for Europe where he completed a turn through the Michelin-starred Les Trois Marche in Versailles. He held numerous positions in Boston, Rhode Island, and his native Philadelphia before eventually bringing his varied experience to Gracie’s. |
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Gnocchi - because it’s one of the simplest recipes that took the most time to perfect, and because you can serve it with something from every season. It was one and a half years before they were lighter than anything we’d ever had anywhere. We went through a lot of potatoes. Now we can’t take them off the menu. Right now we’re serving them as House Made Potato Gnocchi with chanterelles, melted leeks, garlic chives, and Mandarone Provolone.
Q What’s your favorite combination of junk food and junk TV?
Strawberry Cheesecake flavor Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and LOST. But I don’t watch a lot of TV. I tend to read. I don’t have a television set. There are only a few shows I watch and I watch them on a computer.
Q Who would you like to invite to a dinner party (from history or today) and what would you serve?
Is that really one of the questions? My mother and my sisters. I have five. They all live within five miles of my mother. They eat the same five recipes over and over so I’d have to make something ridiculous like a whole side of Kobe beef, something they don’t usually eat. Or a really good version of something they would eat, like macaroni and cheese with truffles or something.
Q What food do you hate?
Brain. Calf’s brains. I really didn’t think I could hate anything. But it turns out I hate any meat you could eat with a straw. I’m sure it was very well prepared, it was just gelatinous.
Q What’s your favorite kitchen tool or machine?
We use our blender a lot, but my favorite tool is my 12-inch slicer knife. Most of our meats are sliced so I use it all the time. It’s a straight slicer. I love it.
Q What is the hardest food for you to cook?
There’s nothing that’s technically hard for me to cook. That’s a tough question. I don’t know. There’s nothing I wouldn’t cook. I’m not a huge fan of cooking calamari, because it makes a mess. You’ll never find it on my menu, fried, even though it’s delicious.
Q If you owned Milliway’s, “the restaurant at the end of the universe” -- what would you serve as the universe’s last ever dish?
Philly cheese steak. From Geno’s (not Pat’s). There are two places to get the best cheesesteak in Philly, Geno’s and Pat’s, and they’re right across the street from each other. The old-school guys will tell you the best cheesesteak is from Pat’s but it’s Geno’s. That place is spotless. The difference between a real Philly cheesesteak and a regular cheesesteak is the roll - Amoroso’s roll. They bake them every day. What makes them so good? It’s probably the water. I have no idea. They come with either Provolone or Cheez Whiz. (Except it’s not even “Cheez Whiz,” its some generic brand they’ve been using forever.) I get mine with whiz and onions, then I put hot peppers on. It’s so good.
Q Who’s the best chef in the world other than you or your mum?
I’m a Michel Bras fan. He’s French and his cuisine is cutting edge, but not in a trendy way. He uses only local ingredients, things that are grown within a certain distance of his restaurant in Laguiole. He has a hotel built into the side of a hill and he grows all his own stuff. It’s gorgeous, picked that day, impeccably presented. I use a lot of local and fresh ingredients, but it’s a challenge. Spring comes late to Rhode Island, but it lingers around for a while.
Q What’s your favorite cookbook?
“Culinary Artistry.” I tend to refer back to it a lot. It’s not so much a cookbook as a guidebook. It has lists of ingredients, and for each food it explains its season and lists 20 things that go with it. Plus it has interviews with ideas from chefs: Rick Bayless, Daniel Boulud, Jeremiah Tower, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Alice Waters, how they compose a menu, how they approach food. It’s a good book to give your cooks, after they get settled in the kitchen. We have five copies hanging around the kitchen at any given time. We just got some pork in and we were using it to look up what flavors complement pork. It’s a great inspiration.
Q What do you have in your refrigerator?
Do I have to be honest? Mustard. Five or six random bottles of beer left over from six packs, some pizza. It’s basically nothing. Last time I ate at home was...a long time ago. When I’m not at work, I feel like I should be.
Read more about Gracie's at The Restaurant Review Q What’s your favorite recipe and why?
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Chefs in the Hot Seat 
