From San Antonio to Los Angeles and back again, celebrated chef Robbie Nowlin has gotten around. Along the way, he's worked in some of the most lauded kitchens in the country, including chef Thomas Keller's revered Michelin-starred San Francisco eatery The French Laundry.
These days, Nowlin is focused on preparing decadent, handmade pasta at newly opened Allora. The Pearl-area Italian restaurant was one of the most hotly anticipated new dining spots in San Antonio.
We sat down with Nowlin, 38, to talk about the new venture, the zen of creating egg-yolk pasta dough and life lessons he's learned over a culinary career that's spanned more than two decades.
The menu for Allora takes heavy inspiration from the Amalfi coast of Italy. Is that the kind of food you like to eat?
It's really about the homemade bread and homemade pasta ... and yeah, that's been in my wheelhouse for a long time. You know, when I was a young boy at [chef Jason Dady's lauded past eatery] The Lodge of Castle Hills, [Playland and Battalion chef] Stefan Bowers was literally the first person to teach me how to make pasta. And then, the French Laundry showed me how to make an eight-yolk pasta recipe that I use to this day, even at Allora. So, it's something I was taught growing up through kitchens, and I love it. Making pasta dough is one of my favorite things, the process is so zen. It's a massive fucking menu — I think we're up to 42 items — and it will change throughout the seasons. We're getting pretty close to all the spring goodies. So, I'm excited about morel mushrooms, peas, rhubarb, all that stuff.
Let's chat about your reintroduction to this market. Safe to say, when you left San Antonio in 2017, people didn't call it a "foodie destination" like they do today.
During COVID, I'm chilling in my apartment in downtown Los Angeles, and I get a call from [Allora owner] Peter Selig about this opportunity. He asked if I wanted to be a partner, and it was like ... if I'm going to come back [to San Antonio], this is the time. On an acute level, the Pearl is lucky because they have a special kind of foot traffic that's never been seen in a small area in San Antonio. Every single restaurant here is busy as shit, all the time.
You've been in this game a long time. Give me two life lessons you learned between your first big gig at age 25 and now.
I would say, to be a successful chef, you have to not only worry about the quality of food but your bottom line as well. Labor and food costs were things that I was probably very irresponsible about in my earlier days. Since I started, I've realized that diligent attention to food and labor cost is really what keeps you alive. These days, I get very excited about those details, menu placement, pricing and what the guests want. When I was super young and worked for [Jason Dady], I used to tell him, "Jason, I want to put foie gras, caviar on the menu." And he'd be like, "Dude, you got to give them what they want until you're able to give them what you want." And so, I think that was a really cool lesson from back when I was a kid, learning how to be patient.
That was also something that got stronger through COVID. Remembering the importance of patience with your staff, understanding the elements of what's going on in the world and, and not being, you know, that Gordon Ramsay anymore. Those two things are probably the biggest I've learned over my career: it's not about you, it's the bottom line, and don't be the dickhead chef.
Do you think the "dickhead chef" persona is an outdated perception? People often think chefs engage in all sorts of bad behavior. How do you think the perception of chefs has changed, if at all?
There's just a lot less tolerance for [that behavior] now. I think young cooks and servers just don't want to be in an environment where the chef is angry all the time. I think COVID really made people do a double take, and people had time to think about what they want to do in life. There was definitely an era, you know, when it was cool — a chef was a rock star. Back then, there was never a dull moment in my DMs, let me tell you that. But I no longer have the energy or patience for that. For me, it's now about being a successful businessman. ... It's time to grow up.
So many restaurants, so little time. Find out the latest San Antonio dining news with our Flavor Friday Newsletter.
