Meet Michael Corvino, American Restaurant’s new executive chef
Google “Michael Corvino” and you’ll pull up links to the opera singer.
Type the word “chef” in front of the name and you can read about the 31-year-old executive sous chef of the luxury boutique hotel
Rosewood Mansion at Turtle Creek
.
“I’m very excited to start a new chapter,” Corvino said.
He was chosen through a national search that included four finalists from across the country. He will start his new job July 15, and diners can expect to see rapid-fire menu changes in the weeks after his arrival.
The American Restaurant has been a platform for James Beard award-winning chefs
, pushing Kansas City into the national food spotlight in recent years. Corvino has an opportunity to ride that wave while making his own culinary statement.
“I was looking for the right avenue to really present my style,” he said.
Corvino describes his culinary style as Eastern influenced, but not Asian. For a multi-course tasting menu presented as part of the job interview, he prepared a lobster salad with melon and raw turnips punched up by long peppers and a veal strip with corn pudding and fresh porcinis. It was flavored by a blonde miso that added both sweet and fermented notes but without the salt.
Corvino puts emphasis on procuring the finest ingredients, whether that’s just outside the restaurant’s door, or flown in from across the country. “I think food should be light and clean and equally bright and flavorful,” he said.
Corvino also favors modern plate presentations with clean lines. “With farm-to-table — I hate that tagline — sometimes a chef goes out of the way to have a rustic look. That’s not really me,” he said.
Corvino spent just one whirlwind day in Kansas City before he agreed to take the job. So what does he know about his new home? “I hear it’s quite the restaurant scene, and it’s made up of chefs from the American,” he says.
This story was originally published June 26, 2013 at 2:28 PM with the headline "Meet Michael Corvino, American Restaurant’s new executive chef."