Chef Clark Introduces New Take on Italian Cuisine

Chef Clark Frain is excited to bring contemporary Italian cuisine, including crudo offerings, which means raw in Italian, to downtown Grand Rapids.

Frain is the executive chef at Mazzo Cucina D’Italia, which opened May 30. It’s located in the former Tre Cugini space, 122 Monroe Center St. NW. The restaurant is the newest venture from Faro Uccello, operating under Uccello’s Hospitality Group.

Mazzo bills itself as a “seafood forward” restaurant, offering an impressive raw bar and other contemporary Italian dishes such as wood fired pizzas, handmade pastas and meat based-dishes like lamb, chicken and beef filet.

“What defines me as a chef is my love of the craft and being able to break down whole animals and put them into complete dishes, whether it’s fish, beef or pig,” Frain said. “I like the craft of making things from scratch, like pasta, those are very important to us here and me personally.”

Frain said one of his favorite dishes right now is Mazzo’s branzino. “Whole grilled branzino, it’s head to tail,” he said. “We do a special cutting to remove the bones and insides and still keep the fish intact.”

Frain focuses on a myriad of flavor combinations, cooking techniques and presentation to achieve his contemporary dishes. “Personally, I really love seafood ingredients and dishes and am passionate about it,” he said. “I love playing around with marrying the flavors.”

He thinks diners in Grand Rapids are ready for new takes on Italian cuisine.

“I feel like Grand Rapids is in a need of modern takes on fish and oysters. I think crudo is something that’s been lacking in this area,” he said.

Frain said crudo is a growing trend in some of the country’s biggest cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and it’s time to bring the trend to Grand Rapids.

“I’m most excited about developing a culture in the kitchen, but I’m also excited about bringing something to Grand Rapids that I felt was a little bit lacking,” he said.

Frain said as a farm-to-table restaurant he feels privileged to create dishes that show off the work of local farmers as well. “It’s a privilege that someone wants you to handcraft something they’ve worked hard to grow,” he said. “And they feel privileged with what you just crafted.

“There is certainly an area of classic Italian cuisine that is great, but we are trying to focus on dishes where we can utilize local farmers and purveyors and bring that twist to the downtown area,” he said.

Frain is the former executive chef for Butches Dry Dock in Holland. He also spent eight years with The Gilmore Collection, five and a half of those years in sous chef roles at The B.O.B., Rose’s and the Flat River Grill and another three as executive chef at Judson’s Steakhouse.

He said he got his start in the food industry as a teenager working for Mr. Burger on Lake Michigan Dr., followed by a job at a restaurant on Alpine.

“I started to excel with the pace and the work, and I liked the energy on Friday nights. It was exhilarating and I found it to be fun,” he said.

After a stint at the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education at Grand Rapids Community College he landed at Gibson’s. “I had a great experience there,” he said. “I started refining my technique and learning about high quality ingredients.”

He also had the opportunity to work under Gibson’s owner and executive chef, Jim Powell, who was named chef of the year by the American Culinary Foundation during that time.

A six-month contract with Norwegian Cruise Lines allowed him to elevate his career further and helped him land his first sous chef job when he returned to Grand Rapids. “It was a risk and a challenge I was willing to take at that age,” he said.

Frain said his kitchen is as much a teaching kitchen as an opportunity for him to advance contemporary Italian cuisine in Grand Rapids.

“I’m focused on mentoring and teaching,” he said.

Watch Chef Clark prepare agnolotti and then give the recipe a try yourself.

Agnolotti Recipe from Chef Clark