By Michele Deluca
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS —
Sydney Poitier gave him the biggest hug.
The movie star walked right into the kitchen to find out who had made the delicious meal he had just eaten and that’s when he met Chaz LaGreca, a Niagara Falls native who had done the cooking.
LaGreca recently described the moment while sharing stories in his mother’s Niagara Falls home, demonstrating how Poitier came towards him with outstretched arms, saying “I had to meet the man who made the food,” and gave the LaSalle High School grad a bear hug.
LaGreca, who has cooked for stars including Mick Jagger, Frank Sinatra, Lilly Tomlin and Julie Andrews, had literally made up the recipe for the corn he’d served with the meal, drizzling a sauce over the cooked kernels that included a little brown sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce, black sesame seeds, green scallions and red pepper flakes.
“That corn ... where did you get that corn recipe?” Poitier had asked him.
As far as LaGreca was concerned it wasn’t exactly what he put in the corn, but rather how he prepared it.
“If you put something out there with pure love and intent it will be received that way,” said LaGreca who learned to cook from his grandmother, Lena LaGreca.
He recalls a cooking lesson when he was a boy. She told him, “we’re going to make magic in your mouth,” and held out a cooked artichoke leaf which she told him to taste, directing him to skim the leaf with his teeth to get the “meat” of the vegetable.
After he tasted the leaf she gave him a glass of water and the liquid apparently triggered all his taste buds. “A chemical change happened. I could taste lemon and butter and salt and sweet, all at the same time.”
Since those days LaGreca, who is self taught, has had a broad spectrum of culinary experiences, including being responsible for recreating the restaurant in the Minnesota State Capital with a budget of $3.5 million. During the process he became a fan of the then Minnesota governor, Jessie Ventura, and his wife, Terry. After the restaurant opened it was rated “One of the 26 Best Food Finds in the Twin Cities.”
His credentials include a stint as the executive chef at the Big Sur River Inn in Big Sur, Calif. and he also taught recently at the Texas Culinary Academy where he developed a love for teaching young chefs.
Through all the experiences LaGreca learned his most important lesson, he said, and it is the importance of being among family. He recently returned home to Niagara Falls and he plans to put down roots.
He has already contacted Mark Mistriner, coordinator of the culinary arts program at Niagara County Community College, where LaGreca got his first taste of cooking school and where he will begin teaching in the fall.
“I plan to tell my students, I started here and this is what’s out there for you,” he said. “You can please presidents, you can please movie stars.”
LaGreca is planning to get involved with the community. He will be a judge in today’s Arts in the Park Pie Contest (see sidebar) at Schoellkopf Park. He also plans to join Niagara Rising to help promote the region.
“I feel that Niagara Falls is braced for a huge renaissance,” he said. “We just need to put out really good energy now to give back what the city deserves.”
When asked to share a recipe with Niagara Gazette readers he chose a chilled fruit pie. The recipe is below.
Frozen Cream Cheese-Yogurt Pie
Filling
1 brick cream cheese
1 cup yogurt
1/4 cup honey
3 drops almond extract
2 kiwis
1 banana
1 pint strawberries
1 pint blueberries
Crust:
2 packs of graham crackers
2 cups nuts
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch salt
1 stick of melted butter
Crumble the crackers in a food processor. Add butter, cinnamon and salt. Press into two pie pans and bake for about 5 minutes until crust slightly browns at edge.
Blend cream cheese, yogurt, honey and extract. Mix and place onto layer of cooked, cooled crust. Add a layer of sliced fruit and drizzle fruit with honey. Add second layer of filling and cover with fruit. Drizzle again with honey. Chill or freeze before serving. If frozen thaw 20 minutes before serving.
