New York Chef Marco Canora to the rescue; 10 years in, he and his staff at Hearth are still serving ... [+]
Can chefs be superheroes?
Well, in the ten years since Chef Marco Canora launched Brodo, his wildly popular broth business out of a side window in his East Village restaurant Hearth, he has not only rescued himself, but he’s raised awareness ten-fold of the health benefits from the low, slow process of producing real bone broth, and has officially done so one cup at a time--5 million times over. And guess what? He’s beaming.
Like believers at an alter, people continue to flock to the now famous window on 1st Avenue, and grab a cup of his magic elixir, with the same gusto most show when grabbing their morning coffee or tea. And besides a little, fancier upgrade to the space and some new product packaging, the mission of creating warmth and nourishment in a cup or pouch, in the most authentic way, carries on.
Origin Story
Amidst his own health issues over a decade ago, Brodo was born out of necessity. Canora, who earned a James Beard Best Chef in New York award in 2017, took what he calls the world’s first comfort food--of which every culture on the planet has a version--and turned it into a present day phenomenon. By replacing a few of his many daily cups of coffee with the broth he and his team at Hearth were already making, he brought the old world and new world together in one fell swoop; he upended years of health issues for himself, and poured wellness into a cup for every passerby.
Real ingredients in every cup of broth. It is something Chef Canora feels deeply passionate about.
“Working that window full time for the first few months will go down as some of the best months of my life,” Canora mentioned over a few hot cups of broth together at Hearth. “There was something so small and grassrootsy about it, especially in New York. I’m just really proud of the fact that we’ve done something that has never been done; it’s just the coolest thing.”
Everything was boot strapped and on the fly. “That very first day, we had an electric burner and a 2 liter thermo pump pot of three broths and five squeeze bottles," he remembered. “We had three sizes, just a white coffee cup with Brodo stamped on the bottom." Soon they needed more and more pots. And a lot more cups. And, despite having to occasionally explain that brodo is broth in Italian, “it really caught fire,” Canora recalled.
Behind the window today, Canora and his staff have created a nook that feels like it’s equal parts culinary playground and science laboratory. There are kettles, cups and blenders, and fresh herbs, spices, or oils about; all things to take some of the classic cups of broth to the next level. Amidst the blending or pouring, you see heads popping into the window from the street ordering from the latest menu--some of the most popular being: Tuscan Sun, Tom Yum, Oishi, Oishi or the Spicy Nonna.
Health in a cup, Brodo uses natural ingredients and low, slow cooking methods.
“I still get the bug, when new people come to the window. It’s so fun,” Canora said after helping his team as a line of customers formed outside. “It really puts me in a place of gratitude.” No matter how many cups have sold or how expansive the wellness industry has become--now encompassing numerous bone broth brands heralding similar claims of deliciousness or health benefits--Canora assures consumers that Brodo practices what they preach.
Proof is in the Pot
In addition to the window and cups that started it all, Brodo comes in packaged pouches sold directly to consumers, however, Canora tried his hand at selling them to grocery stores. The model--as it stands today--just doesn’t support the process in which the product is made, nor is it cost-effective or wise, environmentally. By the time the broths are made, packaged, distributed and delivered under the current grocery store model--within an already low margin--it is certainly a lose-lose situation.
And, Canora will not compromise his principles surrounding the process. No powders or unidentifiable ingredients allowed under the Brodo mission. Can you imagine? Nonnas past and present would revile in protest.
There are two 35 gallon kettles beneath Hearth where production for the Brodo window takes place. “When we load them up with raw bones and water, what we skim off,” Canora explains, “is actually gross. But, the magic that happens over time, over night, the transformation that comes after you strain it; its golden,” he noted. “It’s the epitome of the witchcraft.”
The original window connected to Hearth Restaurant is part laboratory, mixology bar, and community ... [+]
“I’m filling pots with bones and fresh vegetables, getting 50% yield, in 8-12 hour cook times, emptying the spent bones. We sell the pouches at $5 each, and even at an expensive $5 bucks, there’s not a lot of margin,” Canora stated. At the very least, what he does get is the satisfaction of truth behind the advertised story.
Canora stills says people ask about the science behind bone broth--of which there are more studies than there were ten years ago, and yet not enough to sway the potentially unswayable. To that? “I don’t need a study to tell me this liquid, where you boil bones overnight and turns into this valuable, gelatinous delicious thing that I’m drinking instead of soda is not good for me,” he said. “At the end of the day, we are doing something real and we’re finding our people.”
Any length of time spent with Canora and he’ll wax philosophical about broth’s humble beginnings; he’ll clarify the differences between stock and broth or the nuances between French and Italian cooking techniques; he’ll lament for consumers who are still sucked in by false truths; but circle back to his continued mission to fight the good fight of authenticity with wholesome ingredients.
Canora has been cooking in New York City for 30 years and on his corner in the East Village for nearly 22. He says he feels continued gratitude for his staff and what he’s built and gets a kick out of seeing those who’ve worked for him go onto to start their own places. He still shops for ingredients at the Union Square Greenmarket every week buying from farmers he established relationships with over two decades ago.
“Handing people hot cups of broth, watching them respond to it, and feel so nourished by it is so gratifying,” Canora said. “We’re creating food that is made and sourced the right way. And for all the right reasons.”
Parade of flavors from traditional chicken or beef to Coconut, Line or Mushroom.
After years working with and training under Danny Meyer and Tom Colicchio at Gramercy Tavern and Craft, Marco opened Hearth in the East Village in 2003, before the neighborhood was a culinary destination. In 2016, he re-invented the restaurant to reflect his change in diet and lifestyle. The menu re-design takes a fresh look and sharpened commitment to ingredient transparency and nutrient-dense, delicious food, featuring high-quality fats, grains milled in-house, grass-fed butter and sustainable, local fish, all influenced by Marco’s Italian heritage.
