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Secrets Behind the Success | Series Vol. 10: Heinz Beck, Head Chef of La Pergola | Gallery

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Secrets Behind the Success | Series Vol. 10: Heinz Beck, Head Chef of La Pergola | Gallery

Heinz Beck, Head Chef of La Pergola

“I went to school while working at a restaurant four days a week. The work was incredibly demanding, and each day passed without any time to think about anything else. Since no one in my family or relatives had ever worked in a restaurant, it was an entirely new world. I threw myself into my work with abandon, and before I knew it, I had arrived here today.”

At La Pergola, where Beck serves as head chef, Japanese ingredients like bonito dashi are incorporated into the dishes. “All the sauces I make use kuzu root. Even within Italian restaurants, there are many types of cuisine: traditional, regional, and creative. If I had to describe my cooking in a word, it would be ‘unique Italian.’”

A selection of dishes created by Beck. “Veal fillet with a pistachio crust, stuffed with onions and dried fruit.”

“Fagottelli Heinz Beck”

“Chilled red berry sphere with tea cream and crystallized raspberry.”

A dish served at La Pergola's 20th-anniversary lunch. “Amberjack marinated in white balsamic vinegar with pomegranate snow.”

HEINZ BECK, a fine dining establishment. This is the first restaurant to bear Beck's name.

At HEINZ BECK, new techniques and cooking methods such as centrifugation and freeze-drying are actively employed to offer a light, unprecedented Italian cuisine.

sensi by Heinz Beck, an all-day dining venue. While casual, it aims for exceptionally high-quality cuisine using the finest ingredients.

sensi by Heinz Beck is characterized by its open space, featuring a 6.5-meter-high ceiling and glass walls.

Favorite book: The Leopard (original title: Il Gattopardo)<br />The Leopard<br />Author: Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa<br />Translator: Satoru Kobayashi<br />Pages: 426<br />Publisher: Iwanami Shoten<br />Price: ¥940 (excluding tax)<br />Release Date: March 14, 2008

“Some chefs get angry when their dishes are copied by apprentices or other cooks. But I don't feel that way at all. It's because being copied means my cooking has been recognized as good. And by being copied, my culinary world expands even further, so I feel no jealousy. Besides, even if recipes are copied, new culinary ideas keep coming one after another! (laughs)”

“My essential tool for work is the spoon. Perfect dishes cannot be completed without tasting. If I can taste, then color, shape, anything is fine! In Heinz Beck's kitchen, a large number of spoons are scattered everywhere so that all staff can taste at any time.”

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Secrets behind the Success | Series Vol. 10: Gallery of Heinz Beck, Head Chef of La Pergola

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