Ciao, mi chiamo Andrea Scuto!
Yes, as I wrote in my native Italian, my name is Andrea Scuto and I have the honor to serve as the General Manager for Musso & Frank Grill. I have been with the company since 2018 (I actually got hired in 2017!) and I consider Musso’s the pinnacle of my career as a restaurateur.
I was born and raised in Rome, Italy and I moved to Los Angeles in 2006. Interestingly enough, my background is in music! I used to be a professional musician (guitar is my instrument) and very early on in life, even before I concluded my academic studied -Anthropology for who’s interested – I really wanted to play guitar. My dad told me there was “no way” unless I graduated from University at the same time and… unless I learned “wine”. Yes, at the tender age of 16 he sent me to a very famous “enoteca”, a wine store that had a resident French sommelier and obliged me to follow his classes. Reluctantly I obeyed (I really wanted to play guitar!)
Once guitar and music became my main profession the learning curve kinda flattened and, being a very curious person, I turned my curiosity to food and wine. I always been the one in my Grandma’s kitchen trying to steal cooking tips and learn how to make things (Ok, and stealing food, usually ending up being hit repeatedly from my Grandma with a wooden spoon). I also enrolled in a professional cooking class at a very prestigious school in Rome, studying for a year all basic techniques that really help me become a better cook allowing me to work in few restaurants to get school credits and consulting, later on, to develop wine programs.
During all of this I kept traveling for my music business, and I ended up coming to LA pretty often and I loved it so much I abandoned my music career ( I already had more than a decade of it) and concentrated on hospitality.
I ended up working all stations, tending bar, serve and being a captain and, obviously, a sommelier and then wine director. Later in my career I learned how to manage, how to deal with multiple operation, how to open a wine bar based on my concepts and kept learning and learning. I judged wine competitions and took part in some of them, learned how to make wine and consult with different organizations.
Musso’s… The experience has been exciting, humbling, intense and full of incredible people. From the 40 years old tenured staff, both in the dining room and in the kitchen, to Chef JP and Danilo, Mark and his dad John and the rest of the Family, the wonderful regular guests… some of them I already knew for a long time and they were happy to see me in their favorite restaurant…
And then the food: my favorite is having a tender Filet Mignon broiled on our 1930’s grill under hot flaming mesquite charcoal from our Grill Master and served Au Jus to maintain the steak texture with a side of our legendary creamed spinach. Our Chicken Pot Pie, our Prime Rib… the menu is too long and delicious to list, you need to come and try.
Long lasting relationships: this is what my job is all about and that’s the best part of what I do.
I really think this will be my last hospitality job, even my little contribution to this institution makes me incredibly proud of my restaurateur career. Probably the pinnacle, as I mentioned before…