BEAUTY AND HER BEASTS
TRUFFLES FROM THE PÉRIGORD, CHANTERELLES FROM RUSSIA, MAITAKES FROM JAPAN: THERE IS NO LIMIT TO ATEF BOULAABI’S REACH.
Mario Batali and Jean Georges Vongerichten can go to bed every night knowing that while they sleep Atef Boulaabi, also know as "Trufette," (her endearing nom de guerre) has her finger on the pulse of mushrooms varieties from around the world, and has them delivered to their esteemed restaurants by 5 a.m.— so they can dream on.
When you are in the restaurant industry, the certainty of knowing that your chef can conjure up any recipe, any day of the week, and have the star ingredient readily available - assuming that it is seasonally appropriate - is truly priceless. When guests order a Funghi Cool Roasted Shiitakes with Charred Onions at Babbo, or a Green Asparagus with Morels at Jean Georges, they are generally oblivious of the intricate global supply chain that is required for these earthly delights to be pampered by New York’s great chefs. And Atef has created exactly that: a sophisticated trail that delivers the world’s finest delicacies, from mushrooms to truffles to foie gras to escargots, and indeed, every supporting ingredient a chef needs. Not to mention a world of spices whose aromas will take your breath away.
When you visit Atef's’s emporium, SOS Chefs, in New York’s Lower East Side, you enter an enchanted forest overflowing with goods from the world’s most exotic regions where these delicacies are grown, harvested and prepared. Atef is Tunisian and grew up on the sun-dazzled Côte D’Azur in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, a beautiful sea town between Monaco and the Italian border. Her North African origins and her French upbringing are evident in her firm understanding of the culinary world, and the emporium is a testament to her depth of knowledge on every ingredient she has procured. As the pre-eminent supplier of all culinary good things, Atef has competitors in the greater New York area, but as none are actually located in Manhattan, she made a strategic decision to be in the heart of the island in order to supply her chef's establishments with ease and speed. In 1998 she moved to Alphabet City, much to the shock and dismay of her diplomat father. Five years later she expanded into a new space, acquiring the entire building so that she could run her business downstairs and live above. While Atef has a healthy wholesale business, her emporium is about people who walk in off the street in search of romance - the romance of food, that is. Inside, your senses are teased and tempted as you are graciously greeted and pampered with tea, Medjool dates, nuts and chocolates. You can't help but walk forwards and backwards, twisting and turning, touching everything as you make your way to the back where the mushrooms sleep overnight, awaiting their new homes in the morning. It’s what I imagine Les Halles must have been like in 1960’s Paris.
As the leader of the mushroom and truffle market in New York, Atef delights in being the first to open the season and provide her chefs with an impressive menu on a daily basis. A deeply spiritual woman, she feels humbled by the seasonality of mushrooms; she is at the mercy of Mother Nature and respects this delicate balance - grounded by the simple fact that no amount of money can procure an Ovoli mushroom from Europe if the season is dry.
Watching Atef and her team receive the daily harvest of mushrooms from the far corners of the world is a remarkable experience in speed and synchronicity. As the crates are carried in, her emporium becomes a stage that displays an impressive array of wild beasts peeking out of their crates. A woman of elegance and beauty, Atef saunters around them with an air of cool comfort as she tames every one of them with her charm. Within minutes they are appropriated and labeled with the most renowned names in New York, as she calls out Vong, Babbo, Daniel, Per Se, St. Regis.
Atef’s philosophy of life and food is sheer poetry. Her favorite products are those that come with a story so that she can relate their provenance and the people behind them. While she is clearly a cook herself, she is trans cultural when it comes to her table; rising above the world of themed cuisine that we know so well, to celebrate the naked ingredients. She is a firm believer in simplicity when it comes to cooking and her most delicious meals are made with just a few great ingredients: "Take Hen of the Woods mushrooms: add salt, pepper and olive oil; bake in the oven and you have a delicious meal."
Now that I have spent a morning with Atef, I am comforted - like New York’s finest chefs - knowing that she is nearby. And after being exposed to her pantry of spices, I have decided that I need to renovate my own and will invite Atef to bring her world of spices to life in my kitchen. I hope that she accepts; it’s an experience I look forward to, and will it be a story to share.
“Mushrooms travel like people," says Atef. "The season starts in Canada and then goes to California and then Europe.”
SOS Chefs, 104 Avenue B, New York, NY
212.505.5813
Trufette's Hen of the Wood Pasta Recipe
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Photographer by Matt Low
Rony Zibara
Editor-In-Chief and the gourmand-gourmet behind Poetry of Food; a food memoir which has been in preparation since he was a child. His earliest memories are in the kitchen with his mother cooking French and Lebanese dishes, and with his South American grandmother making Spanish dishes as the cook prepared a repertoire of salsas and sauces. Having grown up in Beirut and lived between Paris, Toronto and now New York, Rony’s food and travel experiences have always been part of his personal cuisine. An avid storyteller, he believes it’s not about the size of the catch, but about the day. It’s the experience, the setting, the people, and most importantly, the ingredients that turn the meal and the flavors into a memory. While not a professionally trained chef, Rony is a cook by all counts; his life revolves around the culinary joys of food, searching out new ingredients, new recipes, and new cultures. And while he loves the restaurant scene, he is not an obsessed follower. Rony’s food passions lie in the poetry of the everyday meal and not in the pursuit of the absolute ‘best’ or perfect meal. His extensive career in innovating and branding new products and experiences has been a great support and backdrop for his passions in food culture and is evident in the overall design and presentation of this food memoir.