6 Questions with Aida and Fernando of Ferdi on Growing Up In Restaurants, Italian Food, Opening In NYC

Read time: 6 min

By Sophie Braker

Aida and Fernando Scarpati are brother and sister co-owners of Ferdi, the new Italian restaurant in West Village, New York City. Their family legacy in the restaurant industry dates back to their grandfather, Ferdinando (nicknamed Ferdi), who came to America and opened up Ferdi’s, a restaurant in the Bronx. Their new restaurant Ferdi is an homage to that legacy and to southern Italian food. To learn more about their journey, watch BSP393: Aida and Fernando of Ferdi on Running A Family Restaurant in NYC.

First memory in a restaurant?

Aida 

Early on in my dad’s restaurants, I would always sneak into the kitchen and go to the dessert section. I would eat the tiramisu. That’s what I liked to do. That was the first thing that I learned to cook because it was what I enjoyed eating. His garde manger chef or his pantry chef would already know it was me. 

What’s a food / drink you always have on hand at home?

Fernando

I have to be honest with you, when I spent time with my grandfather in Italy, his dinner a lot of the time would be a really good tomato, parmesan cheese, hard Italian bread, and good olive oil and salt. If those ingredients are very good then it's delicious. It's a treat in itself. Really good olive oil. 

What is "Italian" food?

Fernando 

To me, Italian food means authenticity with the flavors. We have Chicken Sicilian on the menu.  To me, it has the taste of Sicily. It has to have the olives, capers, roasted peppers, eggplant.  You should have that regionality in that dish. The same for our rigatoni. It has to taste of Sicily with the eggplant. It has to be authentic when you bite in, you’ll say wow this is delicious. It's very ingredient driven. That’s Italian food.

Is the customer always right? How are you managing the relationship between the customers and the staff?

Aida 

I always tell my staff if you are always welcoming and warm and give good service, nine times out of ten you’re not going to have an issue with the guest. Sometimes you do. Then you understand the guest doesn’t really want to talk to me. Or you should back off a bit, give them space. You can’t project the same negativity back on them if you’re receiving that energy.

You can’t take it personally. If you work in the industry for a while you’re going to come across a situation like that. If you are uncomfortable with the table, I tell them to come get me and I will deal with it. Then they can go deal with another guest. They need to know that I have their back. 

What’s the biggest challenge to opening a restaurant, right now, in NYC?

Fernando 

Well I think the biggest struggle, if you’re building a restaurant like we did, you have to find the right people to get the job done. If you have the wrong guy, it's going to delay the project. It's going to cost more money. You might never open. I think the most important thing is you need to find the right crew.

Then on the licensing make sure the architect has everything correct. Otherwise they are going to keep coming back to you. Oh we did this wrong. Oh the plumber needs to change this. Then they blame somebody else when it's their fault. That’s usually what happens. 

Best advice for new restaurant owners?

Aida 

When I talk to a lot of my friends who are also interested in opening their own place, you are never going to be 100% ready. Our dad would always tell us the same thing. Plan the best you can, like 90% but still know that 10% of the time you can’t foresee everything. So stop trying to wait until you have all of your ducks in a row and you think everything’s perfect. It's still not going to be perfect. If you really want it go for it but in a smart way.

You have to be smart enough to see that if something’s not working, even if you think that’s how it should be, make a pivot. Don’t let your ego cloud it. That’s what I like about working with my family because we’re honest with each other. We tell each other if something isn’t working. 

Aida and Fernando Scarpati are the sibling co-owners of Ferdi, the new Italian restaurant in the West Village.

Aida and Fernando grew up in the restaurant industry, as their family has been leaving their mark on restaurants across the city for nearly a century. Their grandfather, Ferdinando, nicknamed Ferdi, was born and raised on the Italian island of Ponza. He came to the US and opened Ferdi’s, a restaurant beloved by locals for decades on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. Their father, Guiseppe, continued in his father’s footsteps to later become the Executive Chef of The Rainbow Room, the famed restaurant at the top of 30 Rockefeller Center, and eventually open several of his own restaurants throughout the tri-state area.

Fernando has worked at top Italian restaurants throughout the world including Marea, Pallazzo Petrucci, the first Michelin starred restaurant in Naples, and A Casa di Assunta in Lazio, which has received the Slow Food Award from Alice Waters. He then returned to the US to work alongside his father and sister at their restaurant in Westport, CT where he cooked for celebrities like Martha Stewart, Michael Bolton, and Frank Gifford. Aida, a graduate of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, grew up working in her father’s restaurants where she learned the art of Italian hospitality. She has also spent time on the team at Cote in the Flatiron district.