Winning the James Beard Foundation's "Outstanding Chef Award" in 2002 is just the most recent honor Lidia has received in her outstanding 30-year career. As a chef, restaurateur, cookbook author and television personality, she has often been credited with pioneering the concept of Italian regional cooking in America and is one of its most influential voices. In addition to Felidia, her award-winning Manhattan restaurant, she's partnered in four others (Becco, Lidia's Kansas City, Esca and Lidia's Pittsburgh), authored three cookbooks, starred in the 52-part television series "Lidia's Italian American Kitchen," launched a line of prepared foods, established a culinary travel company, and serves as a member of the Institute's Chefs' Advisory Council. Lidia is just as famous for her gracious charm as she is for her culinary knowledge and business acumen, and she obligingly took time to share some insights with The Main Course.

You were born in Istria, on the Adriatic coast (now part of Croatia). What impact did your childhood have on your approach to food and cooking?

Well, it very much did affect my cooking, because it was Italy, but it was also a border area. I grew up bilingual, and the food that I ate was influenced by both Italy and Eastern Europe. So I often compare myself to a painter who has extra colors in her box; I have extra elements in my resource library, and my cooking reflects this.

You opened your first restaurant in Queens in 1971, at the age of only 24. How did you meet this challenge? How did things change when you opened Felidia, on East 58th Street in Manhattan, in 1981?

Our first restaurant was small, it was just 30 seats, and by no means was I a chef at the time. My husband and I hired a chef, and I became his sous-chef. He was an Italian-American, and that was the food we served and that was the food that was popular at the time. Slowly I got my experience in the professional kitchen and slowly I started inserting into the menu my authentic cuisine, the food we ate at home, like risottos and polentas.

We were successful at that restaurant, and we opened another in Queens as well. In 1980 we sold them both and opened Felidia in Manhattan. And then, after 10 years of experience as sous-chef, and a lot of traveling and going to school, I was the chef. At Felidia I cooked authentic Italian food, the food I knew from Istria. In 1981, authentic regional Italian was different, and everyone was enthusiastic. It was not some great revelation on my part, it was what I knew, and people responded to it---as did the press. Now, regional Italian is becoming ever more evident, because that's what Italian food is, it's not homogenized, it's region by region.

After more than 20 years, Felidia is still one of the most highly regarded Italian restaurants in New York. To what do you credit this, in a city known for a fickle dining public?

Let me tell you, all the professionals say opening a restaurant is the hardest. But opening a restaurant is easy, it's maintaining it that's hard. You might have a good concept and a good location, and everyone likes the new kid on the block. And if you're really good, then the momentum will take you for about three or four years. But you better work while you're on top, you can't wait for a dip or it's too late.

Of course, a restaurant has to respect all the values of cooking, use the best products, the ripest seasonal ingredients, and all those cardinal rules of cooking have to be implemented all the time. But you also need a spirit, a sense of being genuine and real about what you present. I need to continually recharge myself, to re-tantalize my taste buds. I do lots of research, into new producers, different oils, different cheeses, different wines. I'm a conduit for all of this for the American public, and I feel it's a real responsibility. I think that's what running an ethnic restaurant in America is all about---you're transmitting a culture, and culture is not stagnant.

The neighborhoods you chose for your restaurants in Pittsburgh (2001) and Kansas City (1998) produced some publicity. Your partner in Kansas City, David Wagner, commented that you were looking to use your craft to "build and strengthen a community." Can you comment?

If a restaurant is going to have longevity it needs to give back to the community. Just to put up in a shopping center and collect the money, that's not my philosophy. In Kansas City I felt comfortable that we had a good product and a good draw, so instead of just entering some new office building, we contracted for this great space that was actually downtown across the railroad tracks. It was a wonderful structure, with lots of parking---we did our research and we knew that people in Kansas City use cars a lot. It was a good economic situation for us because it was a little off the beaten track. And we were right, people did come to the restaurant, and now the whole neighborhood is revived. Real estate is booming, and I think we really were the catalyst.

In Pittsburgh, we went to what is called the Strip District. I felt good about it because it was a very ethnic neighborhood, it has the vegetable market and some places where young people gather. But also it's not too far from the convention center and not too far from downtown. And again, we made an impact on the neighborhood; I think we are revitalizing it, absolutely.

Your restaurants are known for a particularly warm, gracious brand of hospitality. How do you create that environment?

For me, it all boils down to my customers, and I genuinely appreciate them being here. I tell my workers "If my knees ail me and I can't stay on my feet as much as I used to, it's because it took me 30 years to create that customer, and I'm trusting that customer to your hands. You have a big responsibility to me." Let the people who work for you know the philosophy you have. There are some who won't be able to understand, but there's enough people out there who can get it. And that's what makes me a success.

Any other pearls of wisdom on developing and managing a staff, helping people to reach their potential?

It's very important to analyze your workers, to analyze their energy levels and figure out what you as a manager can do with that. From the rules of physics, we know that energy can be redirected, but inertia is harder to deal with. So in my employees I look for high energy, passion, dedication, sparkle. Even if they don't know what to do with that energy, I can work with it. I can take the time to educate them and interest them. You have to make it exciting for them, offer goals and achievements for them, and ultimately compensate them in many forms for achievement. If you do that, it will generate for you all these bundles of energy, and you can be the conductor. But remember, if you don't have all your violinists and other musicians together you're never going to get a marvelous symphony.

What experiences would you most recommend to our career students, young men and women just starting out on their careers?

I recommend that they first get a good education, and educate themselves culturally. After that, a good culinary education. And then they need to find someone to work with who they admire, whose work they would like to emulate, and they need to get themselves there and get hands-on experience. At some point they need to travel---they must go to another culture and learn to appreciate another culture. It will just change their whole vision of things.

At a meeting of ICE®'s Chefs' Advisory Council, you commented "A restaurant is like a moving train, and that train doesn't stop. Externs should figure out how to get on that moving train." Can you explain?

Yes, that's exactly what I said. If you're a young person or someone who's just gotten out of school, and you think the world is going to stop for you, let me tell you it doesn't. There's an existing energy at a restaurant, and you don't want to put the brakes on or slow the pace. You need to analyze well and become part of the team, figure out how to add to the energy. If you're some kind of stopper you'll get kicked off that train!

Your latest book, Lidia's Italian American Kitchen, is a departure from the regional Italian focus you've been associated with for many years. What was its genesis?

It goes back to my first 10 years as a cook, when I did Italian-American at my restaurant in Queens. It's a different cuisine, but it's a real Italian cuisine, not an impostor as some people say. It's a cuisine of adaptation, a cuisine of immigrants who found different products in America and got different results from their cooking. I knew all the recipes from my experiences, so it was easy for me to pull them together and put them in perspective as another Italian cuisine, one that runs parallel to the cooking of Italy---and that kind of take on cuisine and culture is what I'm all about.

You're known for a remarkable ability to connect with your television viewers; are you a natural in front of the camera, or did it take study?

It came naturally. You know, still when I do my television shows I do them from my house, and they're all ad-lib---I don't have a script. We plot out the recipes that I'm going to do, but then I'm just out there. I just love to teach and to share, and it comes across. And I think also what comes across is my simple approach. I said from the first day that I started writing books that I wasn't going to tell my audience how great I was and how much I knew as a chef and a professional. I wanted instead to do something on their level that they could do as well---that's the style of cooking I like best anyway. I always emphasize the need for the best ingredients, and ones in season, but that doesn't mean exotic. You can get great flavor with simple ingredients if you treat them the right way. People just relate to all of that.

You've recently launched a line of prepared food products (Lidia's Flavors of Italy). Where do these fit into your overall design?

I took on the challenge of making pasta sauces when Colavita, who sponsors my show, said "Lidia, if you make this sauce we'll distribute it." The sauces are in their third year now, and doing progressively well---they were just named one of the top five choices by Consumer Reports. Some of the sauces in jars out there were horrendous, and I thought it's got to be better than this. So I kept going down to the plant until I really understood the process of cooking and bottling, particularly the temperatures involved. Once I understood that I could put everything in perspective and got the right flavors by adding the ingredients at the right times. And the sauces really reflect this. It reaffirms that with dedication, and doing things right, things just come out right. In the interim, Williams-Sonoma asked me to do a line of products, which was released just this May, and they've asked me to do some more things for them. All my life I've taken opportunities when I felt I could do justice to them.

You and your son Joseph have launched a wine venture, Azienda Agricola Bastianich, in Italy. Can you tell us about it?

It's very much about Joe and his passion for wine. I always took my children to Italy, the kids spent every vacation and every summer there. They speak the language, and they got into the culture and so on. And in the area, in Friuli, there was this opportunity to buy this vineyard and we bought it. It's really Joe's vision, and he's having a blast with it. Within four years we've gotten some of the top awards and recognition. It's not a big vineyard, it's about 30 acres. Because of the techniques we use our yield is less than a kilo per vine, and this is what makes the wine so good. As it stands now it's not an economical venture, but one day it may be, and we get great satisfaction from it.

In my restaurants, one of the things that I feel very strongly about is having a wonderful wine list. Because at a restaurant, what are you offering your clients? Yes, you do offer them great food, but you also offer them the opportunity to build layers of experience. It makes business sense, because the more you offer them to experience and enjoy, the more your business will thrive.

Do you have future restaurants or other projects in mind?

We would like to do some more Lidia's in different cities, in similar markets to Pittsburgh and Kansas City. We want to develop a clientele, give them good, genuine food, and all for a reasonable price. I'm also doing another book with my daughter, I have a new television series, and of course I have the food product line. And my son Joe is doing another restaurant, a kind of "Italian tapas" restaurant. So, those are the immediate things I'm doing. But you know, sometimes I think I have enough restaurants!

You seem to have been almost supernaturally successful in a wide range of ventures. To what do you attribute this?

To a lot of things. I think it's very important to be honest, and straight forward, and have a lot faith in people. And also to get a lot of education, and be prepared. I do my research, I read constantly, I go to classes, and I travel; I spend a lot of time doing that instead of just going from party to party. I also think it's important to be in contact with people who produce; I get so much out of that, just going up and down Italy talking to producers or farmers or going to markets and asking questions. You get this whole history of things, and I just love that. And I love sharing this information with people. There's nothing I would keep to myself; any chef can ask anything in my kitchen, I'm open to that. And really I've made prudent choices, and surrounded myself with good advisors---I have a good sense of business, but I also have an excellent accountant and an excellent attorney. Is there a formula? Dedication and honesty might be it, and education!

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