When local restaurateur Nick Quinn boarded his flight to Italy, his goal was to brush up on his pasta-making skills.
His trip was related to create a new concept for Mid City's Anthem House. Quinn, a longtime collector of vinyl records, settled on a soundbar establishment. The food would be Mediterranean, and he seemed to be on the shortlist for the chef role.
That was until he walked into the pasta-making class in northern Italy.
“I signed up for the course through Airbnb Experiences, and the course was taught by two noteworthy chefs in Italy,” Quinn said. “Once I entered the home where the course was taught and we started talking, I figured that we shared similar troubles in the restaurant industry and thought we might be able to solve a few together.”
The chefs, Maurizio Rosazzaprin and Alida Gotti, who met while competing on the Italian version of Master Chef, own seven restaurants in Italy. They, too, immediately felt a connection to Quinn through his passion for food.
“This guy came into our place, and when he tasted our food, especially our carbonara ravioli, he closed his eyes and just breathed–like a soul that was touched by something bigger than us. We started to become friends immediately,” Rosazzaprin said. “The one hour and a half became four hours of chatting. He introduced his new concept for a place where people work in aerospace and do great things. It was causality. I believe in causality. Nick believes in causality.”
Eighteen days later, Rosazzaprin and Gotti landed in the Rocket City to check out Quinn’s new venture. The rest is history in the making.
The stars aligningfor Quinn to meet Rosazzaprin and Gotti fit perfectly into the story behind the name, Perseus Sound Bar. Quinn was reading a random NASA article describing the first audible recording of a black hole.
“It’s an eerie sound. I don’t recommend it, but the article included an image of a black hole that kind of looked like a vinyl record. This particular black hole was located in the Perseus galaxy cluster, and for some reason it just snapped in my mind that Perseus was the perfect name for this project,” Quinn said. “From there, I discovered that Perseus is a character in Greek mythology, so the idea of a Mediterranean vinyl bar came from that.”
Quinn made even more connections. With Perseus being located in Mid-City, where the Orion Amphitheater and the Apollo Pavilion are located, it seemed even more of a perfect name. It was obvious that the food must be Mediterranean.
“Everything, down to the floor pattern, is inspired by a Greek palace; the curvature in the wall is a giant Roman column,” Quinn said. “The colors, olive green and cream, give a nice Mediterranean feel.”
With sound bars and vinyl lounges being more popular in Japanese culture, the Perseus Sound Bar will be the first Mediterranean version in the world. So, of course, the food must be authentic to the region.
And Rosazzaprin and Gotti know something about how to make that happen. Rosazzaprin says that good Italian and Mediterranean food is all about extra-virgin olive oil and quality ingredients.
“We try to find the best ingredients here to give our customers what we value because they deserve it,” Rosazzaprin said. “We are not just all Italian. We put a little bit of other cultures in as well. A little bit of Spain, a little Greece, a little Middle East, Lebanon–all the Mediterranean.”
The unbleached flour is flown in from Italy. The salami and mortadella are imported from Parma, Italy. The intention is to remain true to Mediterranean recipes, eliminating the need to “Americanize” them.
Gotti says cutting back on sugar is one of the ways they remain true to their culture, using ricotta with just 30% sugar. That’s why the chef team makes everything from scratch–the dough, the mayonnaise, the salsa, and the fermented dishes like giardiniera, a pickle with fresh vegetables.
“When Alida says we don’t “Americanize” our recipes, that is not a bad way to define that,” Rosazzaprin said. “At the beginning of the centuries when Italians arrived in America, living in poverty, they put in a lot of sugar, a lot of cheese. But we want to keep the pureness of Italian cooking.”
Although some of the ingredients are imported, Rosazzaprin and Gotti have found that North Alabama also offers an abundance of high-quality fruits and vegetables.
“The beautiful strawberries and the beautiful peaches are some of the best we have ever tried,” Rosazzaprin said. “In North Alabama, you have the most incredible pigs ever–the pork chops. And the pumpkin and watermelon are good, too.”
Since relocating to Huntsville with their dog, Vitorri, the couple have not only discovered the quality fruits and vegetables in the area by attending the Market at Mid-City and other local produce stands, but have spent some time getting to know the area and its people through dinner invites, trips to Cathedral Caverns and even the Smoky Mountains.
“It’s different for sure. In Europe, you have a city center and go around without a car. I appreciate the nature,” Gotti said. “When we were in the Smoky Mountains, I got to see a bear for the first time.”
The clientele’s Southern hospitality is also key in making the couple feel more at home.
“Our clients are incredible. I would say about 60% of them return to enjoy more of our food,” Rosazzaprin said. “It gives us the perception of family at the restaurant. We are an odd family–one big dog, two Italian chefs and a random American.”
The Sound Bar, which opened in Mid-May, currently serves a cafe menu seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The items include paninis, pastries and coffee drinks. The restaurant stays open until 9:30 p.m.on Mondays and Tuesdays for pizza night.
“We ferment our dough for 48 hours. This creates a crunchy crust, and we put high-quality ingredients on top,” Rosazzaprin said. “Again, the flour is imported, not bleached, which results in a much healthier crust.”
Starting this month, the dinner menu will be served until 11 p.m. The menu will be more chef-centric, with full service and a cocktail program. Quinn says they will host special nights based on one of the 1,500 vinyl albums in his collection. Live music and a live DJ will also be in the line-up.
“Vinyl is the purest form of music that we can have. You have to pick out a song physically, find it on the actual vinyl and hit play. It’s as curated as our food,” Quinn said.
The partnership between Quinn, Rosazzaprin and Gotti is growing with the opening of the Huntsville Public House. The restaurant, opening in the old Beezer space on the square in downtown Huntsville, will be more rustic, serving northern Italian, Swiss and German cuisine. Quinn says it is a homage to Huntsville’s history.
“To simplify what will be offered, I say. Good food. Good beer. And good prices,” Rosazzaprin said.
And that is why Rosazzaprin and Gotti took up Quinn’s offer–to create good food using the longer, old-fashioned way in the Rocket City.
“We just want to produce food. We want to be honest with our customers,” Rosazzaprin said. “We want to introduce the people in Huntsville to the Basque food culture. Using less ingredients is best. The people will appreciate eating this food. It’s different, more digestible, and much tastier.”