It’s a bit surprising that chef Nick Amoriello has moved around so much since he’s been in Dallas. He graduated from the CIA in Hyde Park and has worked at Meddlesome Moth, Nobu, The Front Room, Mot Hai Ba, Driftwood, Central 214, and most recently So&So’s where he has done a fine job. He’s a talented chef and sometimes it takes some jockeying around before you find some security in the kitchen of another owner. Perhaps he will find a permanent home at Sevy’s Grill.
Today owner/chef Jim “Sevy” Severson confirms he’s hired Amoriello as Sevy’s Grill’s new chef de cuisine. It’s the first major chef change in Severson’s kitchen since the restaurant opened 18 years ago. Severson’s culinary partner, Michael “Buzzy” Zeve, who has been with the restaurant since the beginning, will continue to play a role in the kitchen and Severson will still be in the restaurant two or three days a week.
“I wanted to find someone I could teach. Somebody with a CIA degree because it shows that you are driven and goal oriented,” Severson says. “And I was looking for someone to take our cuisine up a level. I’m jazzed, it’s got me all excited to work with him. His first event will be a whole-animal wine dinner. We’re going to be taking it up a notch on one side of the menu and keep our classics on the other.”
Severson hopes the family atmosphere in the kitchen will be a stabilizing force for Amoriello. “I have ten people in the restaurant who have been working with me for 18 years,” Severson says. Amoriello is scheduled to start at Sevy’s on March 30.
Amoriello will vacate his post at So & So’s after service tonight. Then he plans to take some time off and spend it with his two daughters aged 7 and 9.”The Severson’s came in to eat several times without telling me,” Amoriello says. “Then Sevy and I sat down and talked about revamping the menu and it’s going to be amazing.”
Mikey Hernal, recently of Chino Chinatown, will take over the kitchen at So & So’s. Co-owners Brandon Hays and Phil Shanbaum have been busy. Besides hiring and training a new chef, they have signed leases on two properties on McMillan (1804 and 1806). “Yes, we”re wired into a cool neighborhood over there and we’re going to do some fun stuff with food trucks and kitchens,”Hays says. “We wish Amoriello all the best.”
