{"id":90017,"date":"2020-05-07T12:41:49","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T17:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=90017"},"modified":"2020-09-09T15:19:25","modified_gmt":"2020-09-09T20:19:25","slug":"make-room-at-the-table-how-a-local-restaurateur-is-helping-to-transform-the-culture-of-professional-kitchens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/make-room-at-the-table-how-a-local-restaurateur-is-helping-to-transform-the-culture-of-professional-kitchens\/","title":{"rendered":"Make room at the table: How a local restaurateur is helping to transform the culture of professional kitchens"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Olivia Lee<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

On \u201cRestaurant Row,\u201d also known as Randolph Street, diners spend their savings on an unforgettable gastronomic experience. Just two blocks away, on the quieter Madison Street, lies a stationery store owned by a mother and daughter, a small used bookstore that smells of dusty paper and glue, and a restaurant, MAD Social, that celebrated its fourth anniversary in February.<\/p>\n

There, a sprightly hostess brings guests to their tables and, just like clockwork, a server appears and offers water. During meals, busboys \u201cmanicure\u201d rustic brown tables and replace used plates with fresh ones. Food runners, servers and bartenders work separately toward a common goal: to provide a memorable meal and exceptional service. Amid the organized chaos, a woman stands dressed in black from head to toe with her black hair tightly pulled back. She strides across the dining room as she brings guests to a table. Then, she scurries into the kitchen and reappears with a perfectly mounted Brussels sprouts salad and a sizzling burger with oozing cheddar cheese melting down the sides. Later, she\u2019s clearing tables. She does all this while checking in with guests, making sure their steaks are prepared medium rare and their pasta is cooked al dente. Meet 35-year-old Gina Stefani, owner and manager of the new American gastropub, MAD Social.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The restaurant joins 14 other establishments as part of the family-owned Stefani Restaurant Group, which was started by Stefani\u2019s father 40 years ago. \u201cSo many of my memories growing up, like a special occasion, a birthday, an anniversary or a holiday, were spent within the restaurants and with our staff. All of my favorite memories involve food,\u201d said Stefani, who worked 12-hour days during the summer at Castaways, her family\u2019s boathouse on North Avenue Beach. \u201cI think that\u2019s where I got a taste of the adrenaline rush of the industry. You\u2019re running around in organized chaos.\u201d After working in public affairs and events following graduation from DePaul University, where she studied psychology, she gravitated back to the service industry and to her family. \u201cI missed the chaos\u2026A lot of times you don\u2019t have staff show up, so I end up running the host stand, I\u2019m bussing when I can. I\u2019ll do almost anything except cook,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t cook. So, I definitely don\u2019t go in the kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up, Stefani recalls her grandparents, and now her parents and siblings, doing all the meal preparation, especially on Sundays. \u201cSundays are family days. It\u2019s a day where you can be in your comfortable clothes, you\u2019re sitting around with family talking and really being present,\u201d Stefani said, adding that she wanted to replicate this atmosphere and make MAD Social an extension of people\u2019s homes. Filled with warm shades of brown and exposed brick walls with a faint scent of vanilla from a diffuser Stefani\u2019s mother gave her just before the grand opening, MAD Social is welcoming day or night, every day of the week. \u201cWe have a couple that comes in literally every Friday for happy hour. We have a family that comes in probably like twice a week,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s like being a part of the customers\u2019 lives as well as them being a part of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neatly lined on one of the walls of MAD Social, guests can find pictures of longtime staff and, of course, her brother, parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents. \u201cMy dad always said, \u2018family first,\u2019\u201d she said. Every year, Stefani and her relatives travel back to Italy and stay at her late grandmother\u2019s house. Although it has since been remodeled, Stefani describes it as \u201cvery \u2018under the Tuscan sun.\u2019\u201d It\u2019s surrounded by green mountains and adorned in hues of yellow, orange and brown, and a 105-year-old olive tree shades the pool in the backyard. Nearby stands a long table where her family lingered for hours over dinner. \u201cIt always started with a pizza,\u201d she said. \u201cThen we\u2019d do a pasta course. Then maybe some salad, you know, to cleanse the palate before you do the meat and potatoes. And then it\u2019ll be a Nutella pizza or gelato. And then some cheese and meat will come out at the end. It\u2019s a dietitian\u2019s nightmare, I\u2019m sure.\u201d For Stefani, these meals let everyone be together as their authentic selves without distraction. This is how she wants guests to experience MAD Social.<\/p>\n

Despite frequently changing her menu, Stefani said she plans to keep some things the same: her passion for the restaurant, her cat, Slinky, and her market-researcher husband. Aside from a glass of wine, what else might accompany her night in? Without hesitating, her answers rolled off her tongue. Something sweet or salty? \u201cSalty.\u201d A burger or a hot dog? \u201cBurger.\u201d Pasta or pizza? \u201cHow do you choose? Pizza.\u201d Soup or salad? \u201cSoup.\u201d Chocolate or vanilla? \u201cVanilla.\u201d Coffee or\u2026? Before Stefani could answer, she was interrupted by a staff member needing her help. She apologized, but before rushing off, she turned and said, \u201cAs long as you have the confidence and you put the work in, I feel like, you can do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Whether greeting guests, running food, bussing tables or orchestrating her staff, there is no other job Stefani would rather do than be a restaurateur. (Courtesy of Gina Stefani)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Olivia Lee Medill Reports On \u201cRestaurant Row,\u201d also known as Randolph Street, diners spend their savings on an unforgettable gastronomic experience. Just two blocks away, on the quieter Madison Street, lies a stationery store owned by a mother and daughter, a small used bookstore that smells of dusty paper and glue, and a restaurant, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":647,"featured_media":91360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,4892],"tags":[61,5017,5016],"class_list":["post-90017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-winter-2020","tag-chicago","tag-restaurants","tag-west-loop"],"yoast_head":"\nMake room at the table: How a local restaurateur is helping to transform the culture of professional kitchens - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/make-room-at-the-table-how-a-local-restaurateur-is-helping-to-transform-the-culture-of-professional-kitchens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Make room at the table: How a local restaurateur is helping to transform the culture of professional kitchens - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Olivia Lee Medill Reports On \u201cRestaurant Row,\u201d also known as Randolph Street, diners spend their savings on an unforgettable gastronomic experience. Just two blocks away, on the quieter Madison Street, lies a stationery store owned by a mother and daughter, a small used bookstore that smells of dusty paper and glue, and a restaurant, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/make-room-at-the-table-how-a-local-restaurateur-is-helping-to-transform-the-culture-of-professional-kitchens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-07T17:41:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-09T20:19:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/05\/Gina-Stefani-Headshot.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"olivialee2020\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"olivialee2020\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/make-room-at-the-table-how-a-local-restaurateur-is-helping-to-transform-the-culture-of-professional-kitchens\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/make-room-at-the-table-how-a-local-restaurateur-is-helping-to-transform-the-culture-of-professional-kitchens\/\",\"name\":\"Make room at the table: How a local restaurateur is helping to transform the culture of professional kitchens - 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