With the publishing of his first cookbook, Jianna, Chef Michael Kramer realizes a longtime dream
As a teenager in Pacific Palisades, California, Michael Kramer landed his first restaurant job (as a busboy) not out of any great passion for cooking, but, as he puts it, “to support my surfing habit.”
As it turns out, surfing full-time was not in the cards for him, but a culinary career was. It was a trip to Paris during a semester abroad in college that opened Kramer’s eyes to the art of creating food. When he returned to the States, he transferred to the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco.
His years in restaurant kitchens include perfecting his French technique alongside Roland Passot at La Folie (San Francisco), honing the fine points of Italian cuisine under Wolfgang Puck at Spago (LA), and working with Dean Fearing at the Mansion on Turtle Creek (Dallas). Eventually, Kramer landed in Charleston to open McCrady’s.
In 2013, Carl Sobocinski lured Kramer to Greenville to be executive chef at The Lazy Goat. Four years later, he partnered with Table 301 to open Jianna, named after the eponymous Italian restaurant (now closed) in San Francisco run by his late friend and mentor, Marc Valiani.
Kramer took over as sole proprietor of the restaurant in 2020, and this fall, he debuted his first cookbook, simply titled Jianna. “Doing a cookbook has been in the back of my mind for the longest time,” Kramer says. “I felt like I’d matured enough as a chef that it was the right time to put it all together.”
Jianna Cookbook
The 304-page cookbook peppers its pages with sections on cocktails and Italian wine by Jianna’s managing partner, Andrea Royko, as well as a chapter on desserts by Alison Legg, the restaurant’s pastry chef. The main text, divided into courses, is a delicious compilation of all Kramer’s work over the years. Many recipes from Jianna’s menu grace the pages, along with cherished dishes from his days at McCrady’s, and even a few recipes created especially for the book.
The project, which took a year to complete, features illustrations by Charleston-based photographer Andrew Cebulka. “The photo shoots were the most intense [part of the process],” Kramer reports. “It was just me and the photographer; we didn’t use a food stylist.”
In the chapter on pasta, gnocchi, and risotto, Kramer instructs readers how to make hand-rolled pasta and uniquely shaped extruded noodles from scratch, as he and his team do in the restaurant daily. Readers will appreciate that many of the recipes, such as the signature Spaghetti T.B.G., are approachable for the home cook, while the time-consuming Rotolo of Rabbit with Roast Garlic and Black Truffle Brasato may appeal more to experienced chefs.
Unlike a dish of food that disappears forever once it’s eaten, Jianna preserves Chef Kramer’s legacy within its pages. “The cookbook is a love letter to Italy, the people, the cuisine, the terroir, the wine,” he says. “We tried to make it a good read, not just recipes. Overall, I’m pretty stoked about the whole thing.”
When Kramer’s not in the kitchen?
He’s on his bike, a Ventrum NS1, pursuing a sport he’s practiced since he was 11. This year, the chef reports he “only” rode about 3,000 miles; but in a typical year, he racks up 4,000–5,000 miles with his local cycling buddies including pro legends George Hincapie, Bobby Julich, Christian Vende Velde, and Chris Butler.
Mushroom Soup Cappuccino From Jianna by Michael Kramer
Serves 6–8
Chef’s note: I dreamt up this whimsical wild mushroom soup in 1999 while I was executive chef at McCrady’s in Charleston. We served it in a coffee mug and topped it with porcini-dusted foam, giving it the appearance of a cappuccino.
INGREDIENTS
Mushroom Soup
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 lb cremini mushrooms, stems on and thinly sliced
2 Tbsp garlic, thinly sliced
3 cups water
1 cup heavy cream
10 oz dried porcini mushrooms
Kosher salt (to taste)
Truffle Foam
1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp white truffle oil
Kosher salt (to taste)
Porcini Garnish
1 Tbsp dried porcini mushrooms
INSTRUCTIONS
Make Soup
Heat oil slightly in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and caramelize for 8 to 10 minutes, until light brown and tender. Add cremini mushrooms and sweat for 8 to 10 minutes, until slightly tender. Add garlic and stir for 1 minute, then add water, heavy cream, and dried porcinis. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, until the soup has cooked down by one-fourth. Remove from heat.
Strain off liquid from the pot and reserve.
Transfer all the strained solids to a blender, then add 4 cups of the reserved liquid. Blend until consistency is smooth and soup-like (add more liquid if too thick). Season with kosher salt. Set aside and keep warm.
Make Truffle Foam
Place heavy cream in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. While the mixer is running, add truffle oil and whip into stiff peaks, then season with kosher salt. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag (or whipped-cream canister).
Make Porcini Garnish
Place dried porcinis in a blender or coffee grinder and pulse into a coarse powder.
To Finish
Pour hot soup into coffee mugs to about ¼ inch below the rim. Evenly pipe the truffle foam on top of each mug and dust with porcini powder.
The Jianna cookbook ($50.60) is available at the restaurant (600 S. Main St., 2nd floor, Greenville) and online at jiannagreenville.com
