Donatella Arpaia, the dynamic attorney-turned restaurateur has become one of the most influential forces in the food industry.
Not only a food expert and authority on entertaining, she is also a successful businesswoman who has created a string of successful restaurants within only a few years.
Raised in the restaurant world, Donatella later studied law and became a corporate attorney. But the lure of the restaurant world proved too strong, and in 1998 she returned to her passion, applying her business savvy to her personal love for food. Donatella didn't waste any time--within five years she had opened a string of New York's hottest restaurants - including David Burke & Donatella and dona. As well as being crowned by Zagat's "The Hostest with the Mostest". March 2006 saw the opening of dona - which means "gift" in Italian and is Donatella's nickname and is sure to be another huge success.
Donatella has supplemented the training she had from her family with studies at the French Culinary Institute and the Institute of Culinary Education. Since the critical successes of each of her restaurants (like the New York Times reviews) and personal business recognitions (Crain's Business named Donatella one of their "40 under 40"), Donatella has continued to regularly travel back to Apulia, where her "advanced placement studies" are learned from the hands of her grandmother and aunts- from scouring the markets at dawn to jarring tomatoes and making handmade gnocchi.
Redefining the traditional role of restaurateur, Donatella is much more "hands-on" each of her New York City restaurants than most owners would be. Involved intimately in everything from the design, to the sourcing of the ingredients on the menus she helps to create, Donatella is enmeshed in all parts of the restaurant experience. Understanding that how people feel in a restaurant is as important as the food they eat, Donatella has personally revived the personal touch in the restaurants she has opened. Every day or night of the week you can find Donatella at one of her restaurants working her magic- be it David Burke and Donatella or dona, personally ensuring that everyone is looked after. Whether it is entertaining Diane Sawyer or hip-hop stars like Mary J. Blige, Donatella is equally at ease. As Donatella says, "I throw a party every night of the week for a living- what could be better?"
One of Donatella's greatest strengths is in showing people how to apply basic rules of presentation and planning, combined with personal style, so that people with busy modern lifestyles can become experts in their own home. She knows when you need to really make something from scratch, and when you can use something store bought that is just fine. Where you need to spend money, and where you don't, and the shortcuts that save precious time but never sacrifice style.
And when it comes to personal style, Donatella is definitely more Missoni and Marni than "mama mia"-and she believes that everyone's own style should carry over into the atmosphere they create for friends and family. That is Donatella's secret: she makes entertaining and cooking easy and fun, even for busy people who have little or no experience in the kitchen.
Donatella also has a successful high-end food collection including a line of tomato sauces made using 100% fresh San Marzano tomatoes.
The sauces include an Essential Passata sauce - which acts as a base for many dishes and three ready-to-serve sauces an Arrabiata, Puttanesca and Marinara - all of which are preservative-free.
All Donatella sauces are made using only fresh San Marzano tomatoes, unlike many other sauces on the market which use preservatives to prolong the products' shelf life. A Frutatto Extra Virgin Olive Oil and addictive, chewy almond cookies made using from her grandmothers secret recipe complete the collection.
All products are available at North East Wholefoods stores and directly from Donatella's website (www.donatellastyle.com).
And if that all wasn't enough, Donatella is also writing a Guide to Entertaining and cookbook that shows young urban professional women how to entertain with style even if they don't have a clue how. Never preachy or intimidating, always accessible, informative and entertaining, Donatella will share the insider secrets she has learned as a food expert and successful restaurateur.