Power Lunch: Luca Pronzato and Alexandre de Betak

Everything for the table: that’s how both scenic and object designer Alexandre de Betak and We Are Ona’s Luca Pronzato like to order when eating in a group. The two meet me for our power lunch downtown in the Financial District on the 41st floor of WSA. We skip sitting at the beautiful table spread set for us, and instead opt for a more casual experience gathered close around the food cart, accompanied by a 360 view of Manhattan. In sync with the flow of the conversation, chef Sho Miyashita wheels out a cart with Siberian sturgeon caviar, cream cheese, sake, and tarama taiyaki. 

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The two have just wrapped a celebratory five-course preview of the creative culinary studio’s third pop-up. Later in the afternoon, 100 guests will take their seats around a 100-foot-long sculptural installation that is part light source, part table. Pronzato and de Betak are redefining the dining experience with an all encompassing emphasis on community, culture, and culinary storytelling. It’s a convergence of ideas, instincts, and fun. There is a charming innate sense of humor and casualness in their larger-than-life aspirations. The two share ideas about risks (take them), resilience, and reinvention, as well as a shared creativity and hustle. And after 20 minutes together, we go our separate ways, a power lunch indeed. 

Beverly Nguyen: How did you meet?

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Luca Pronzato: At an Italian feast at Lana and Ezra Petronio’s place.

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Alexandre de Betak: Picnicking at Ezra’s beautiful country house.

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BN: What was your first impression of the other?

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LP: Inspiring. 

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AB: Smart and hot. 

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BN: Walk me through your ideal day off?

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LP: Spending time with Clara, my wife and Leo, my son.

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AB: Food, love, and sex.

BN: When do your best ideas come to you?

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Luca: In the morning. 

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Alex: Always.

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BN: What’s your comfort food?

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LP: Pasta from my mother; she cooks everyday at my parents grocery, Le Mille Pâtes. 

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AB: Homemade pesto pasta by me.

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BN: What do you order for the table?

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LP: Everything. 

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AB: Everything. 

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BN: Go-to dinner drink?

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LP: Champagne and Canetta.

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AB: Water. 

BN: Go-to post dinner drink?

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LP: Champagne and CANETTA.

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AB: Saké.

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BN: What’s your secret ingredient?

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LP: Salt.

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AB: Honesty.

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BN: What’s a meal you could eat every day?

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LP: Oysters.

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Alex: Sushi.

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BN: What is one meal that reminds you of your childhood?

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LP: Lasagna from my mother.

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AB: Poisson pané findus.

BN: What’s your controversial dinner table topic? 

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LP: Dinner.

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AB: Nothing is controversial to me.  

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BN: What’s one rule you live by? And why?

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LP: Caring.

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AB: None.

BN: Luca, your parents owned an Italian deli in Paris, how did this influence you?

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LP: That is my base of inspiration and love for food.

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BN: Alex, when you were 7 years old, your grandfather gave you a camera. As a teenager you would take photographs of Paris nightlife. What did you learn behind the camera?

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‍AB: Everything.