‘It tastes like spring’: Pietramala’s chef on why he loves asparagus

“Asparagus is nutty, though that’s not how a lot of people would describe it,” said chef Ian Graye of Pietramala in Northern Liberties. “They may say it tastes green, like chlorophyll. But there’s flavor in asparagus. It’s juicy, and it tastes like spring.”

You may assume asparagus is just about its spears. “The spears are just its shoots,” Graye said. “It actually grows into a really big plant. And then it sprouts and flowers. But we’re so used to seeing it in one stage of its life cycle.”

Asparagus is one of springtime’s mystical gifts, though don’t expect it to linger for the entire season.

“It’s a really interesting plant that people don’t really think about,” he said.

Pietramala is vegan, but to simply describe it as a vegan restaurant would be to flatten the experience one can have there. Because it’s not about avoiding certain foods to serve a restrictive menu, Pietramala is a joyous celebration of vegetables, mushrooms, seeds, oils, and ferments.

Each of the dishes from its tight, frequently changing menu is a careful layering of textures and a balance of freshness and preservation, whether it’s a paper-thin fan of shaved cremini mushrooms, or half a doll-sized creamy roasted squash, crusted in seeds and set in a puddle of tahini made from the squash’s seeds.

Named for his mother’s family’s Italian surname and the Tuscan town from which they come from, Pietramala is a bit of a curiosity. The golden-lit temple to vegetables almost didn’t exist. Graye moved to Philly in 2020, hoping to work for chefs around town. But the pandemic ensured nobody was hiring, which forced him to forge his own path — one that eventually led to opening Pietramala.

In 2011, Graye was working as a dishwasher at Champs Diner in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He worked his way up to line cook, then sous chef, and then, finally, the chef running the kitchen. It involved a lot of “opening packages and reheating things,” according to Graye. “It was pretty easy.”

Then, three years in, came a catalyst for change. “I watched Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” said the chef, who had been vegan throughout his professional kitchen career. “I wanted to work harder and dedicate myself to cooking.”

He quit the diner and swore he would aim higher, seeking out plant-based chef Neal Harden and working for him in two restaurants over the next three years. It was the second time in Graye’s life that he made a promise to himself that would alter the course of his cooking.

“Animal welfare was always part of my life growing up. I was raised not eating any mammals. We ate poultry and eggs and dairy and seafood. I’ve never eaten beef or pork or lamb or game,” he said.

In his 20s, he decided to become a vegetarian, which lasted about a year. He faced a moral conundrum: Why is it OK to eat some animals and not others? He became vegan after realizing that he was still participating in the meat industry by purchasing animal products like eggs and milk.

“With a lot of vegetables and produce, you can eat it your whole life, and then at some point realize what it actually tastes like when you eat a version that’s five times stronger than what you’ve experienced,” Graye said.

He had grown up in Queens drinking orange juice from concentrate and Sunny D. Later in life, he took his first bite of a satsuma mandarin at its in-season peak.

“It was the difference between my experience with orange flavor and the true flavor of orange. It’s a vast, vast difference.”

He had a similar experience with asparagus, which was once to him “flavorless, fibrous — old asparagus that had been sitting on a truck and then a supermarket, already starting to sprout. The head isn’t tight anymore.”

Indeed, you can buy asparagus from any supermarket year-round, but what you’re getting is simply a facsimile of locally grown spring asparagus.

In springtime, the asparagus in supermarkets can be good. As soon as April arrives, chefs may even rush to purchase asparagus grown in California.

“But the second you cut asparagus, it starts to lose its magical qualities. Every second counts. Every hour. So go to the farmers market,” advised Graye. “Cook it immediately, or even just take a bite out of it right there. You can’t walk into a supermarket, grab a stalk of asparagus, take a bite, and have it be delicious.”

Graye gushed about Rineer Family Farms’ asparagus, grown in Pequea in southern Lancaster County (they set up at Rittenhouse Farmers’ Market and the Chestnut Hill Farmers’ Market). “But any farmers market asparagus is going to be great,” he said.

Asparagus takes skill and around three years for farmers to cultivate before they become strong, perennial plants that yield decent harvests. “The work that goes into it is incredible,” Graye said.

Here is Graye’s way of celebrating the beauty of young asparagus.

Makes enough for 6 people

2 bunches asparagus (2 pounds)

Slice off the very bottom of the stalks and peel the fibrous skin from the midpoint down to the cut part. Slice on a slight bias up to the tip, leaving the tips whole.

This dressing will begin to homogenize and dull in flavor after a few hours. It is not recommended to be made ahead of time.

136 grams extra virgin olive oil (1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon)

21 grams white miso (1 tablespoon)

6 grams lemon zest (zest of 2 lemons)

27 grams lemon juice (juice of 2 lemons)

2 grams freshly cracked black pepper (about 12 grinds of a pepper mill)

5 grams sliced scallions, green tops only (2 tablespoons)

3 grams minced fresh serrano chili (1 teaspoon)

5 grams minced fresh parsley (2 tablespoons)

3 grams sliced fresh mint (2 tablespoons)

1.25 grams minced garlic (1 teaspoon)

5 grams kosher salt (1 1/2 teaspoons)

21 grams chopped black walnuts or walnuts (3 tablespoons)

Add the olive oil and miso to a wide bowl. Using a fork or whisk, mash the miso into the oil while stirring until all lumps have been incorporated. Add all remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Allow to marinate for about 10 minutes.

Chopped walnuts

Mint leaves

Parsley leaves

Sliced scallions (green part only)

Pea shoots or baby arugula

Add the sliced asparagus to the salmoriglio and stir thoroughly. Arrange in a large bowl to serve or individual bowls and garnish with walnuts, mint leaves, parsley leaves, sliced scallion, and pea shoots.