Have you ever thought about the plate
underneath all that decadent food at a five-star restaurant?
Well, maybe you should.
Acclaimed restaurants like Eleven Madison Park and Lilia
are known for serving some of the most
innovative food in the world.
And the plates they use are no different.
Jono Pandolfi USA is a company that specializes
in these plates, or handmade ceramics.
Since its opening in 2004, it has designed dinnerware
for some of the most respected chefs
in the hospitality industry.
Nick Pandolfi: We are really special because
our stuff is handmade.
We have a team of 13 people in New Jersey
that are making these pieces every single day.
But we make our dinnerware specifically
with restaurants in mind.
So they're meant to stand up to
really high-volume kitchens, commercial dishwashers.
They're super durable, and they'll last a lifetime,
but they still have that handmade feel to them.
Narrator: We ventured out to Union City, New Jersey,
to get an inside look at how dinnerware is made
for five-star restaurants.
Jono Pandolfi: The core of what we do, and what we do well,
and what we will always do well,
is serving the needs of a chef and and a restaurateur
in a way that other companies aren't.
Because we're here, we're making it, we're designing it.
And we're listening to what they need and responding.
Narrator: Jono Pandolfi now has 55 shapes
and 1,000 molds in production,
along with different types of clay and glazes.
To create their handmade ceramic dinnerware,
artisans first run clay through a pug mill,
which removes air from the clay and shapes it into logs.
Jono Pandolfi's team goes through 1,500 pounds
of clay a week.
That's 300 pounds a day.
And to put it simply, 1 1/2 grand pianos.
The clay is then run through a slab roller to form a sheet.
An artisan smooths out the sheet
and cuts a disk of clay that corresponds to the size
of the mold of the dinnerware being made.
Now, time for jiggering.
Here is where the clay begins to look like a dinner plate.
In this case, a 10-inch mold is put onto the wheel,
followed by a disk of clay.
The person at work uses a foot pedal
to begin turning the wheel.
As it spins, they bring down the jigger arm connected
to a blade to cut away all the excess clay.
Jono Pandolfi creates all their blades in studio.
Once all the excess clay is cut away,
the face of the plate is smoothed down with a damp sponge.
Artisans can apply extra pressure with the sponge
to create a circular design.
The rim is then cut off, and the plate is sent
to the racks to dry for about one to two hours.
Once the clay is dried, it is taken out of the mold
and the excess rim is trimmed.
The piece is placed on a rack to dry overnight.
The morning after, the piece is fired
to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit in an electric bisque
for a day and a half.
Jono: This is Mama, this is the first kiln I got.
It all started here.
Narrator: The bisque fire is heated up slowly
to drain the water from the clay.
Jono: Once it comes out of the bisque,
it's still porous.
But it's hardened,
so you can handle it, you can stack it up.
This is ready to glaze, so the next step
is spraying on the glaze.
Narrator: Jono Pandolfi's team glazes
about 300 to 400 pieces a day.
After the pieces are glazed, they are ready
for a second fire in the kiln.
This time, the pieces will bake
at 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.
Jono: Cappuccinos, that's it.
Got it, done, cap done.
We could have ware from
five or even 10 different restaurants
go into that kiln every night.
So, turnaround time being epically important.
We fire the kiln every day,
we load it up by the end of the day,
open it up first thing in the morning,
everything's ready to ship.
It really is a privilege to come in here every day
and work with a group of people
who are passionate about ceramics.
Nick: We feel really fortunate that we can actually have
working ceramics jobs in New York City,
which are really rare.
And I think our team is, you know, really happy
that they're able to do what they love.
Narrator: With their small but passionate team,
Jono Pandolfi manages to get 250 to 400 pieces
out the door every day, ready for chefs
all over New York City and across the country.
And once the dinnerware has reached its final destination,
restaurant chefs are no longer the only ones
who set eyes on these carefully made ceramics.
Jono: We have a name for them.
Plate flippers.
Richard Tong: My wife and I, our favorite burger restaurant
is called Alameda up in Greenpoint.
And one night I was just looking at the plateware
that was on the table and happened to fall in love with it,
and so I just flipped over the plate
and caught the name of who makes it.
And it turned out to be Jono Pandolfi,
so decided once I saw that there was a pop-up shop
I had to come by.
Jono: That's one of the biggest compliments I could have,
as a person who makes things,
is for someone to be eating at a restaurant
to flip over a plate, or to see my plate,
and think that it's interesting enough
to wanna know who made it.
And then to even seek us out online,
and then potentially buy our work for their home.
Nick: They want something special,
they want something unique,
and the plates that they eat their food off
is a great way for chefs to kind of
differentiate themselves.
Narrator: So next time you're dining out
at your favorite luxurious restaurant,
check out that ceramic canvas underneath all that food.
Who knows? The dinnerware might be local.
It might be handmade.
And it might be Jono Pandolfi.