Contessa Cofounder Mario Carbone on Meatballs, Boston’s North End, and More

Mario Carbone at Contessa. / Photo by Michael Blanchard

It’s been a little over three years since Mario Carbone, Jeff Zalaznick, and Rich Torrisi, cofounders of fine-dining mega-organization Major Food Group (MFG), opened Contessa on Newbury Street—or rather, above Newbury Street. Seventeen stories up at the Newbury Boston hotel, the acclaimed northern Italian restaurant has enviable skyline views and an opulent interior to match. Tough-to-book tables are laden with picturesque plates of squash carpaccio dotted with pumpkin seeds; capellini tossed with lobster and a spicy tomato sauce; and hefty steaks.

At the time of its debut in 2021, Contessa was a new concept for the international MFG portfolio; the group is also behind swanky destinations Carbone, Dirty French, Sadelle’s, and more, with locations everywhere from New York City to Dubai to Hong Kong. (Contessa has since expanded to Miami.) After Contessa arrived, MFG opened two locations of its casual red-sauce joint Parm here—one in Burlington, which has since closed, and one in the Back Bay. Now with nearly 20 restaurants spanning a dozen cities, the group seems busier than ever, but Contessa keeps humming along, picking up awards and wowing diners with its seamless hospitality.

Somewhere among Mario Carbone’s globe-trotting, posing for the cover of a cigar magazine, hanging out with Post Malone, and running his clothing brand, the native New Yorker swept through Boston recently, and we caught up with him to discuss his career, the state of MFG in Boston, his favorite dishes at Contessa, and more.

The following interview has been edited and condensed.

Boston: MFG has locations in so many different cities with rich cultures. How does Boston dining separate itself from places like New York, Dallas, and Miami?

Carbone: It has its own incredible history and style of cuisine. There’s so much to pull from. So when I was thinking about what to build here, I wanted it to be a brand that was indigenous to the city—to still have Italian roots. From Lake Como to its Swiss borders, that food was really interesting to me and how I could work it into this rich dining city and culture.

Were you interested in opening in the North End?

It doesn’t need me doing that there. I like going there as a patron. It didn’t need me bringing “red sauce” there. I thought this spot was a great opportunity to thread the needle of giving the city something that was all its own.

What’s your relationship like with other chefs in the industry in Boston?

Some of them I’ve known for a really long time, like Ken Oringer [of Toro, Coppa, and more]. One of the guys I consider my closest mentor is a guy named Mark Ladner [previously at Bar Enza] who’s born and raised here in Boston. He takes me to places like Santarpio’s—you know, like, deep cuts.

What were your first experiences in Boston like?

I didn’t come here until I was at the Culinary Institute. My first trip to Boston was when I was on an intramural basketball team. There was a nationwide tournament happening at [Boston University], so we bussed from upstate New York to here. I wound up spending a day or two hanging out after we were eliminated. I remember [retired NFL quarterback] Donovan McNabb played at that tournament.

Contessa’s squash carpaccio. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

And what were some of the kitchens you first worked in like?

Italian restaurants after school and on the weekends, doing the oddest of odd jobs because I had no experience—yet it was still the beginning of that spark. I needed to make some money for gas in my car, and I thought, “I want to try this cooking thing.” It still wasn’t really cool enough to tell your friends you were doing that—certainly not my meathead friends in Queens. So I was doing whatever odd job, fry station, calamari. I worked a raw bar early on in my life that I had no idea how to do.

When you first entered the fine-dining industry, I’m sure you had a certain set of ideas and convictions. Do you think young chefs are still coming into it with those same thoughts you once had?

The times are always changing, right? I think that my industry was different than the one before it, and certainly the one that’s coming up looks different. But that’s normal. I don’t want to be an “in the good old days” kind of guy, because things change and that’s normal and you embrace them. Today, there are far, far more options of how to make a living in the food world. The potency of chefs who want to challenge themselves and make something special in a fine-dining world is smaller. They’re still there; I just think it’s a smaller population because there are so many other ways to make a living in this business now.

How do you keep your Italian roots in check when opening new places, thinking of new dishes in so many different cities and amidst many cultures?

I keep a ton of notes. I’m kind of an incessant note-taker, and mine come in all sorts. Whether that’s pen and paper, photos, or screenshots, I keep track of things all the time. If I see something that catches a spark or an ingredient in the market and it reminds me of something, I’ll compartmentalize those ideas and shoot them off to other chefs. The seasons give you that, too; a fresh season always gives a little push.

I’m sure a lot of people look at cooking and working in fine dining as solitary careers. How important is it for you to keep collaborating?

I need to have an incredible group of people around me that can be my hands. Each restaurant feels like it has a board of directors, and you put everyone together and knock around ideas and talk about it. So it’s incredibly collaborative—there’s no way I could do it without them.

What’s an aspect of the Boston food scene you were surprised by when you first got here?

The scale of the North End. I’d been there once or twice, and when I really got into coming here, I took a trip with the head of service for Carbone who was here for training. Born and raised Italian guy from Yonkers, and he and I spent the entire day in the North End. Our mouths were agape at the size of it and how many places there are; those shoulder-to-shoulder locations are crazy.

What’s your favorite dish here at Contessa?

I love the meatballs because of what they stand for. Putting them on the menu knowing they’re a very popular item, we do them in a different way here [served in a whole-grain mustard sauce]. They’re called Meatballs Aldo, and it’s almost like an Austrian approach to making a meatball. That’s how they’re made in those upper regions of Italy.

What’s a dish here that you think deserves a little more love?

We do a chicken dish here, and if you’re eating chicken for health, then this is not your chicken. If you’re looking for deliciousness, then it’s for you. It’s an homage to a dish in Florence at a tiny trattoria that has maybe 20 seats called Sostanza. It’s an elaborate chicken Francese dish where it’s dipped in egg and flour, pan-fried in butter, and you eat it with lemon and brown butter. So I’d say give it a shot; put it at the center of the table so you’re not eating the whole thing if you’re looking to be health-conscious. But it’s a great dish, and as far as I know we’re the only restaurant here that does it.

Any future plans for Boston?

No, not right now. I think [Contessa] was a big project here. Nothing upcoming, but it’s certainly a growing scene with all the restaurants popping up. It’s a growing environment, but as of right now we’re just focused on Contessa.

3 Newbury St. (in the Newbury Boston), Back Bay, Boston, contessaristorante.com/boston.

Mario Carbone at Contessa. / Photo by Michael Blanchard