Each and every one of us is presumably blessed with different gifts passed down through the generations.
For some, it’s good looks or artistic talent. For others, it’s an affinity for math or a gift for languages. For the really lucky ones, it’s a combination of these traits and more.
In the case of Jim Botsacos, chef and partner of esteemed Manhattan eateries Molyvos and Abboccato, one could say that cooking is in the blood.
“I come from a family of cooks, some truly great home cooks and a few seasoned professionals,” Botsacos writes in the introduction to his 2006 cookbook, “The New Greek Cuisine,” which was written with author Judith Choate and features more than 150 recipes.
Descending from a lineage that includes two great-grandfathers who were in the restaurant business, a cousin who was a chef on international cruise ships and a great-grandfather who was known as “The Lobster King,” becoming a chef was almost preordained for Botsacos.
“The love of good food and fine dining is part of my DNA,” he writes. “I always knew that I was going to be a cook too, but I never, even with a name like Botsacos, thought that I would be the chef of a three-star Greek restaurant.”
Botsacos draws upon elements of his Greek and Italian heritage to create classic cuisine with contemporary influences as the chef for both Molyvos and Abboccato, fine dining establishments located in midtown Manhattan that have continuously received rave reviews. The two restaurants are part of the Livanos Restaurant Group, a family-owned chain of restaurants that include Oceana, City Limits and Burger Delux.
The 200-capacity Molyvos, which opened in 1997, is located a stone’s throw away from Carnegie Hall. The décor takes its cue from an earlier era of Greece, by strategically avoided the “clichés of the whitewash” that typify many Greek restaurants, and relying instead on nostalgic touches that include photographs of the Livanos family, said Nick Livanos, a co-owner of Livanos Restaurant Group.
In a 2002 New York Times review of Molyvos, writer Eric Asimov praised the restaurant five years after its opening for its continued success and innovation.
“Mr. Botsacos, who has been at Molyvos from the beginning, has almost imperceptibly tweaked the menu. Relying on the eternal appeal of traditional cooking and excellent ingredients, his newer dishes feel like graceful additions to the canon, but never like departures,” he wrote.
The Bronx-born, Westchester County-raised Botsacos is hard-pressed to remember a time when his life didn’t involve food.
“My life has always revolved around cooking (and) fishing,” he said.
As a third-generation Greek-Italian American, Sundays always revolved around dinner with his parents and occasionally members of his extended family, with a smorgasbord of epicurean delights that included pasta, lamb, salads, fruit and yogurt, he said.
Today, he keeps that tradition alive, preparing meals for his wife Maria, the owner of Mar Events in Manhattan, and his two children, Dimitri, 4, and Sofia, 8. The family lives on the Upper West Side and owns a home in East Hampton.
“Growing up, food was the one thing that never changed,” he said. “I hate to see an empty fridge. I like to see that abundance around me.”
Botsacos landed his first job in the culinary industry at a now-defunct inn in Westchester, a position he said he interviewed for while preparing string beans.
After being grilled about sauces such as francaise and Marsala, “all the things that I grew up making,” he was hired on the spot and started that night. He assumed full kitchen duties when the cook went to tend bar, he said.
Botsacos was hired by his father to cook for family dinner parties at the tender age of 15, during which he would serve such dishes as shrimp oreganata, tortellini alfredo, and, his father’s favorite, wild game with various sauces, he said.
He attended culinary school at Johnson & Wales, taking classes at all hours to simulate what working in a restaurant is like, and graduated with honors in 1987.
After culinary school, Botsacos worked for some of New York’s most famed restaurants and chefs. He spent seven years at the 21 Club, where he was named sous chef at the age of 24, working for the likes of Alain Sailhac and Michael Lomonaco. Botsacos also served as an executive chef for B.R. Guest Restaurants, where he oversaw the cuisine and back-of-the-house operations for the Park Avalon and Blue Water Grill.
It was a serendipitous phone call to Queens native and veteran chef Rick Moonen, who Botsacos met during a brief stint at the Water Club and who had been hired by Oceana that led to Botsacos becoming chef and partner of Molyvos.
Nick Livanos was looking to hire a chef of Greek descent that was American-trained to serve as chef of Molyvos. After interviewing some candidates from Greece, Livanos knew that he had found his candidate in Botsacos.
“I instantly fell in love with Jim, and felt that his training and his work ethic and family bonds were identical to ours,” he said.
A day after returning from vacation, Botsacos embarked on a research and development trip to Greece with his new business partners prior to opening Molyvos, named for the fishing village where the Livanos family’s ancestral home is located on the Isle of Lesvos. In Greece, the group was schooled on Greek cuisine by Aglaia Kremezi, a cookbook author and leading authority on Greek cuisine, who also served as their local tour guide.
The experience, which included visiting the homes of local residents to learn how to cook traditional meals, left an indelible impression on Botsacos.
“She’s so open-minded,” he said of Kremezi. “She lets you blossom. It allowed me to do what I do now.”
His experiences in Greece changed Botsacos’ perceptions of Greek cuisine and reinforced the importance of using the freshest ingredients in Mediterranean cultures, all elements that he has incorporated into the menu at Molyvos.
“Because of my heritage I was somewhat familiar with basic Greek foods, but I had never felt less Greek than when Aglaia led us through Greece and its islands, introducing us to ingredients and dishes that I had never heard of, much less tasted,” he wrote in his cookbook. “Every day meant a new taverna, new mezedes, more ouzo, and wonderful talk of the ingredients that we were experiencing.”
At Molyvos, Botsacos has a private fish buyer who selects fresh seafood daily for the restaurant’s newly installed fish display, which showcases everything from black sea bass, porgy, grouper and tilefish to imported fish including bronzino and dorado, and different varieties of shrimp and langoustines.
Signature dishes at Molyvos include grilled octopus; lamb spare ribs with a thyme honey ouzo glaze; spicy meatballs with red wine, tomato and cumin; Scottish salmon cured with ouzo; stuffed cabbage dolmades filled with ground lamb, beef, pork and Arborio rice; and the restaurant’s version of moussaka, a dish which “has a following,” said Botsacos.
Botsacos is constantly updating the menu at Molyvos to try out new creations. He sometimes gains inspiration from the ingredients themselves, as was the case when he caught a fluke while fishing off Long Island and decided to make a marinato, a dish similar to ceviche, using the fish and other ingredients served in a bowl with chopped ice. He has since updated the dish to include sea scallops, which is perfect for steamy summer months.
Sometimes new recipes will come to Botsacos in his dreams, he said. In his waking life, he’s inspired by looking at pictures, reading books and magazines and eating at restaurants. Often times, Botsacos is tasked with figuring out how to “Greekify” different ethnic meals that he tries, he said.
What sets Botsacos apart from other chefs is his passion and devotion to his family, said Livanos.
“He really wears it,” he said. “It always continues to play (out) in his cooking. He’s even done some television segments, and he brings his kids onto the show.”
Botsacos’ children are beneficiaries of their father’s culinary adventures. His daughter Sofia was in tow when he attended the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece and did a spot for the Today Show. She also traveled to Italy with the family during a research trip prior to opening Abboccato, Botsacos said.
One of the joys of being in the culinary industry is introducing his children to fairly exotic cuisine at a young age.
“My daughter—she eats octopus,” Botsacos said, adding that both of his children even like sardines.
Despite being a father of two and successful chef and partner in two well-regarded Manhattan restaurants, Botsacos shows no signs of slowing down. His future goals include opening another Molyvos location in Manhattan or another city, such as Boston; writing a second cookbook; and launching a food line of specialty items including olive oil, spreads, and sweets for sale in specialty markets.
For more information about Molyvos and chef Jim Botsacos, visit the website http://www.molyvos.com/.
Recipe courtesy of Chef Jim Botscaos
Pork Spareribs Marinated in Ouzo and Greek Spices
Serves 6
Ingredients
3 racks (2 1/2 to 3 pounds each) St. Louis-style pork spareribs, trimmed of thin skin and excess cartilage
1 cup ouzo
2 cups fresh orange juice
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons course salt
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons cumin seeds
2 tablespoons anise seeds
2 tablespoons mustard seeds
2 tablespoons granulated garlic
1 tablespoon whole fenugreek
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1. Using the tip of a small, sharp knife, cut small slits in the thick part of the racks between rib joints to allow the meat to absorb the marinade and facilitate cutting after baking.
2. Place the ouzo in a medium nonreactive saucepan over medium heat. As the ouzo heats, it will ignite. The flame will burn for about 3 minutes, which will burn off the alcohol. If it does not flame by itself, shake the pan slightly, which will cause the vapors from the ouzo to ignite. Remove from the heat until the flame expires. Add the orange juice, brown sugar, and honey and return to medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, or until a glaze forms. About 1 cup of liquid should remain. Set aside to cool.
3. Combine the salt with the coriander, cumin, anise, mustard, garlic, fenugreek, cinnamon, peppercorns, granulated sugar and cloves in a spice grinder and coarsely grind. Transfer to a small, shallow mixing bowl.
4. When ready to grill, working with one rack of ribs at a time, holding each by one end, slowly pull the meat through the spice mixture, taking care to coat both sides evenly. Transfer the coated ribs to a wire rack placed on a baking sheet large enough to hold them in a single layer.
5. Preheat and oil a gas grill or light a charcoal grill and burn the coals until covered in white ash, building the fire on one side of the grill to leave one cool side. Or, alternatively, preheat the oven to 222 F.
6. Place the racks, bone side down, on the hot grill, just above the cool side. Cover and cook for 1 hour. Uncover, turn, and grill for another hour. Again turn and, using a pastry brush, baste the meat side of the hot racks with the reserved ouzo glaze. Continue to grill for about 15 minutes, or until caramelized and slightly charred. Again turn and brush the remaining side with the glaze and grill for another 15 minutes, or until both sides are caramelized and the meat is very tender. Follow this procedure for oven baking. (If using the oven, place the racks under the broiler to char slightly before serving).
7. Remove from the grill. Using a sharp knife, cut into individual ribs and serve.