Next week, the James Beard Foundation is honoring a legend.
Arriving in New York in 1955, Sirio Maccioni became one of the great paragons of the city’s dining scene. From the hallowed Le Cirque, to the slightly more casual Circo, to Sirio in the Pierre, Sirio’s fare (no one calls him Maccioni) has, for years, been the gold standard for the city’s fine dining.
Sirio was never behind the stove — but he was always the immaculately dressed ringmaster.
Through all the accolades, he has also remained a family man and a small-towner at heart. He still lives with his wife, Egi, whom he grew up with in the same town. “We knew each other,” says Sirio. “I was skinny, my face was red — and she didn’t like me.” The two of them (along with their sons) have turned Le Cirque into something global: brands have popped up as far afield as the Dominican Republic and India.
The Post sat down at the eponymous Sirio to talk food, travel and Italy. Here’s what he told us:
What I ate growing up was the best food. I don’t know if you have one of the first books [I did] — there’s a photo on the first page of my grandmother. Of all the chefs I’ve met in my life, no one has even come close to what she was able do. I was born on a farm and once a week she would take me around — we’d pick the white asparagus, the white artichokes. Now, I don’t think they even exist there any more.
No one could touch the home cooking of an Italian woman. French women they are very intelligent, very sexy — but they don’t like to cook. Still, professionally, Paul Bocuse is the man I would do a monument to all over the world. What every small cook is doing today, he did 65 years ago. He’s intelligent and generous and now that he’s 87 years old, everyone goes to his restaurant … Daniel Boulud was with us for eight years. We are very close friends, and he’s a good man.
I was last in Italy a few months ago — I could not live without Italy. Everything Italy is great — even the politicians. They’re all so crazy. If you look at them, it’s fun what they’re doing. All over the world they’re too serious.
I bought one of the most beautiful houses in [Montecatini Terme, Sirio’s birthplace] — the only villa with a pool in town. I was born in a house where my family lived for 300 years. I was born in the home where my grandfather was born in. I love Stabilimento Il Tettuccio — this is a spa and hotel where people go to drink and bathe in the natural healing spring water. They have a band outside and people love to go sit there and drink a coffee or whatever and listen to the music on Viale Verdi. When I can, I go with Mayor Giuseppe Bellandi, who is a good friend. Even though I have a home there, Grand Hotel La Pace and the Belvedere are my favorite hotels. My favorite restaurants are San Francisco and Enoteca Giovanni. The owners are friends. The food is fresh and local and homemade.
As for getting into French food, I knew the right people. For the first six months in France I was living with Yves Montand — he’s from Tuscany, from our same street!
Paris is great. I stay at the Ritz Paris — I’m good friends with the Director, Frank Klein and the owner. I lived there 3½ years, I was the only foreigner working at Maxim’s. They only took French, which was a mistake. But the owner Louis Vaudables came to the grand opening of Le Cirque on 65th St. in 1974. He was about 86 at the time. He came with Pierre Cardin and President Mitterand and he gave me — and I still have it at home — the key to Maxim’s. Mounsieur Vaudables was a great man.
Le Cirque at the Leela Palace in New Delhi.
I always dress Italian — or Indian. My suits are tailored in my town, by a man named Sartoria Vettori, and a tailor in New Delhi [where there’s a Le Cirque at the Leela Palace Hotel] where you can have a new suit made in two days for $250.
I lived in Cuba — I was there for one year in the 1950s. We built the famous nightclub, which is still there, Tropicana, and a restaurant, Montecatini, that I opened is still there. I was there when the U.S. ambassador said everyone must leave because Castro was arriving the next morning. As soon as Cuba reopens, it will be very difficult for the rest of the Caribbean resorts [to compete] because Cuba is Cuba. When you arrive there, Havana is white and it’s amazing. And it’s different. The Cubans are almost as difficult as the Italians.
When on these trips: no smoking and no alcohol — well, I drink some good wine. In every country there’s something good, something you can learn. Spain, which for many years was considered [terrible], now Spain has great food. If I couldn’t be Italian, I’d like to be Spanish. The French are too intelligent for me.