Photograph by Tsutomu Fujita

Nick Difu, the executive chef at Cafe Marcella in Los Gatos, says his creativity in the kitchen comes from doing what he loves and doing it in a place he loves.




Cafe Marcella's owners provide true French flair

By Suzanne Cristallo

If a happy cook in the kitchen is the key to more creative food, then Café Marcella should be a unique experience. Nick Difu, chef for the past year at the Los Gatos bistro, located unpretentiously on quiet Village Lane, says he is trying some things in his kitchen that he believes have never been done before. The creativity comes from loving what he is doing and doing it in a place he loves.

"I'm so happy to be in this town where I grew up and near my family," says the 30-year-old Los Gatan, who is realizing that in his business, money is not the draw--it's doing what you must do. "It makes everyone enjoy my food a lot more."

One of the creations Difu offers to as many as 90 guests at a time is a double-cut pork chop with a candy cap mushroom and brandy fig chutney. Using this sweet condiment on pork is a notable departure from the traditional use of candy cap mushrooms, which taste like maple syrup and are used on ice cream and other desserts. "The guy who brings me my mushrooms said he has never seen this done anywhere from San Francisco on down," Difu notes. He says the sweet combination with the pork is what makes it a winner.

The pork chop is one of Difu's specials. He offers two or three appetizers, four entrees and a pasta on the specials menu, which changes every day. "I want to surprise my customers," he says. One way he achieves that is by "throwing in a little Asian" in what is expected to be a southern French or Mediterranean menu. An appetizer example is the seared ahi with soy dipping sauce or duck roasted with Japanese herbs and served with demi-glace and Szechuan pepper.

Café Marcella's general manager, Larry Stepek--new since he left California Café in June--says this combining of cooking styles is called "fusion cuisine." It typifies what Difu, who was schooled at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, is doing and is indicative of the turn the restaurant has taken since new owners Alain and Martine Staebler took over in June. Stepek says previous owners Marcella Calloway, who moved to Iowa, and Vince Torre, who opened a restaurant in Cupertino called Café Torre, had created a more casual, neighborhood atmosphere in the restaurant with pizza and pastas.

"We're more focused," Stepek says. "Everything is done in-house, like making our own pâté and curing our duck."

Café Marcella is the Staeblers' first enterprise. Both are French natives--he from Alsace Lorraine and she from Nice on the French Riviera. Martine's family was in the restaurant business, while Alain's experience comes from managing the opening of Les Seasons in San Jose's Fairmont Hotel and as general manager at La Pastaia in the De Anza Hotel and at the Plumed Horse in Saratoga.

Stepek, whose after-hours are spent as co-owner of Cavemasters, a local wine storage facility, also served as general manager and cellar master at the Plumed Horse. "Klaus [Pache] is a very good restaurateur," Stepek says as an aside in tribute to the owner of the Plumed Horse--one of the area's longest- operating fine restaurants. "People who have succeeded have gone through those doors."

Next door to the Café is Marcella's Market, a small retail store where wines and gourmet items from around the world--like jarred anchovies, olive oil, mustard and sardines--may be purchased individually or combined in gift baskets for the holidays.

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Café Marcella, 368 Village Lane, Los Gatos. Open for lunch 11:30 a.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Dinner 5-9:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 5-10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 5-9 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday. Marcella's Market open Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. or by request. Call 408.354.8006 for more information.

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