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Katsuji Tanabe flexes his chef expertise via the upcoming restaurant’s rustic yet elevated menu.
Flour & Barrel’s shining star is poised to, ahem, rise—and the new restaurant from Anthony Rapillo and Jon Seel hasn’t even opened yet. Enter local celebrity chef Katsuji Tanabe, who Rapillo recently tapped to help curate and design the elevated menu.
While the overarching theme of the menu hasn’t changed much from the previously announced iteration—with focaccia sandwiches and homemade pastas being the two pillars on the “flour” side—the duo completely reengineered the dishes, adding some Tanabe-influenced flair.
See the likes of a standout bone marrow dish, oven-fired shrimp, oven-roasted quarter-leg chicken and lots of fresh made-to-order pasta, natch, made with a machine from Italy. Think lasagna prepared in a cast iron with meat sauce, ricotta and bechamel; fusilli with nduja sausage and chile oil; and mafaldine topped with a vodka sauce.
“The menu is all about being rustic and taking advantage of the amazing Italian oven (the biggest oven I’ve ever seen),” says Tanabe, who had help from and was inspired by his Italian chef friend, Silvia Barban, of LaRina in Brooklyn. “This is like me making you pasta at my house—full of flavor and memorable.”
“We are not a fancy establishment, and we are not an authentic Italian restaurant. These are Italian pastas and techniques made by me in my style of cooking.”
—Katsuji Tanabe
The pair were first introduced to each other at a Raleigh Magazine Best Bars Party (!), but Rapillo admits he was a fan of the Top Chef winner (and the show) before they met. And this isn’t the first time they’ve worked together since that fateful meeting: Rapillo has hosted two private pizza dinners at his cocktail bar Flask in which he and Tanabe created a menu together for ~30–40 people.
“We became really close, really quick—I always wanted to partner with him,” Rapillo recalls. “He’s a better chef than anyone I’ve ever met. He’s even influenced the cocktail menu.” (Hey, beer-infused cocktails!)
Now, the talented restaurateurs are finally taking on that journey together, with Flour & Barrel anticipated to open later this month. “I knew he would be able to take [the restaurant] to a place we just would not be able to take it to without him—and he’s proven that even before we’ve opened,” maintains Rapillo. Clearly, dining and imbibing here should be at the *top* of your list.
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