This issue of Esquire is dedicated to the memor y of our friend and colleague, Russell Norman.
The founder of the Polpo restaurant group, which began with a tiny, high-spirited Venetianstyle joint in Soho before spreading its tentacles across the capital, then the country, Russell was a restaurateur of genius. After his exit from Polpo in 2020, he opened an even more atmospheric and inviting restaurant: Brutto, in Farringdon.
He was also an accomplished writer. He published a series of beautifully illustrated books displaying his deep knowledge of, and fierce passion for, food and cooking and the culture of restaurants — predominantly but not exclusively Italian. And he was Esquire’s “Accidental Cook”: our food columnist for five years up to 2018.
When that column came to an end, he and I stayed in touch. I claim no great intimacy, but we were friends. Russell was a brilliant, sensitive and thoughtful man. Also handsome, dashing, exceptionally convivial and, like all the best people, full of mischief.
I inter viewed him for the issue of Esquire that preceded this one, ahead of the publication of his latest book, Brutto: A (Simple) Florentine Cookbook. A photo of him by his frequent collaborator Jenny Zarins opened our Bulletin section. There he was, slightly out of focus, standing alone on a street in Florence, sipping an espresso, stylish in sunglasses and a pale suit, jacket sleeves rolled up, as they always were, ready for action: Russell in excelsis.
That story was published in November, just two weeks before Russell died. The inter view had taken place in September, at Brutto. I had my kids with me that day. He spoilt them with plates of cicchetti and entertained them with a novelty Die Hard advent calendar he’d bought — and which I now realise he never had the chance to use. Somehow, he got into a debate with my 14 -year-old daughter about the origin of penne alla vodka, one of the recipes in his new book. She claimed, to his bafflement, that the dish had been invented by Gigi Hadid, the supermodel. He begged, quite firmly, to differ. Much to his amusement, she wasn’t to be swayed. She’d seen Gigi’s version online. Oh, yeah? And had she been to Gigi Hadid’s celebrated Italian trattoria? Maybe not, she countered, but precisely how many Instagram followers did he have?
