The origin story
Evan Funke: “The original inspiration comes from the sfincione in Palermo, Sicily. A lot of things in Italy are traditionally made, but can feel very heavy, including bread or pizza, because they’re eaten as food for fuel, so you can get back to work. I fell in love with the height, crumb, and flavor profile of this focaccia [on a trip to Italy around 2010]. I set out to replicate that feeling, but to lighten it by light years. I wanted the flavors and essence of the island of Sicily, but the texture of a freshly fried donut, so I began to tinker and tinker. It took me the better part of five years to get it to this cloud-like structure.”
How the focaccia was initially received
“It’s been on the menu at Felix since the very beginning. A lot of times, people expect bread to be free, and bread is not free. There’s a lot of time, effort, sourcing, technique, and obviously ingredient and labor costs that go into bread. So it did take a little bit of time to get people to understand that I don’t give bread away, because this bread is not just bread. This is sfincione. This is focaccia. This is something totally different. And if you knew the amount of olive oil that goes into this thing, you wouldn’t expect it for free, either.”
“That said, the focaccia was pretty much an immediate hit, and it became one of those things that I’m very well known for, which I’m very proud of … It’s become a cult favorite, and I’ve been offered exorbitant amounts of money for the recipe, which I’ve turned down [laughs].”
Literally every single table that comes to dine at Felix has a focaccia on it. Sometimes two.
But here’s what he can tell us about how it’s made
“It’s a relatively straightforward recipe. But what a lot of people don’t understand is that baking is all math. If I had known how much math I would do on a daily basis in the restaurant business, I would have paid far better attention in high school.”
“It’s all measurements of time, temperature, and ingredients. The ingredients are simple: very good flour; high-quality olive oil from the Asaro family in Partanna, Sicily; a sweetening agent; and salt. That’s it. Just like any other bread, it’s flour, yeast, salt, a little olive oil … well, a lot of olive oil. It’s baked in a seven-inch reusable tin, then brushed with a little more olive oil, and allowed to cool. Then we package them and send them out to all the restaurants. Funke has a commissary kitchen that’s close to the restaurant, so we bake all of the focaccias for both Felix and Funke in the same place — hundreds and hundreds of them every day.”
Just how popular is the focaccia?
“Literally every single table that comes to dine at Felix has a focaccia on it. Sometimes two. On a Monday, we sell probably 80 to 100, and then on a Saturday, it’s between 120 and 150.”
The pro move
“The hack is to order the focaccia and order the prawns with the bagnetto verde in the same course. Once you eat the prawns, and all of their head juices drip in and mix with the bagnetto verde, use the focaccia as a scarpetta to soak up the sauce. Just spectacular.”
