You don't need a 40-pound wheel of Parmesan or a rich baritone voice to make the best fettuccine Alfredo, says Victor Ciepiel.

        But it doesn't hurt.

        Mr. Ciepiel (cee-PEE-el), who owns Vito's Cafe in Fort Thomas with his wife, Mary, is the son of a Sicilian mother. He knows how to authentically toss the pasta with butter, Parmesan and cream. And he can also sing Wish I Were a Rich Man with the best of them, having earned his master's degree in voice from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music in 1980.

        Like many CCM students, Victor was introduced to the restaurant business by working as a singing waiter at Forest View Gardens, a German-themed restaurant in Monfort Heights that closed last year. He met his wifeat Forest View (she was a customer), wooing her with his “lust for life.”

        “It certainly wasn't his waiting ability that impressed me,” Mary says with a grin.

        He is a natural-born singer — not a natural waiter.

Victor Ciepiel prepares fettuccine Alfredo in a wheel of cheese (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        “One time I dumped a strawberry daiquiri on this kid's communion suit,” says Victor, a stout man with sandy beard and ponytail. “I'm still trying to live that one down.”

        After graduating from CCM, he moved to New York to break into show business. Tiring of a long-distance relationship, he and Mary married and settled in the Big Apple four years later. While auditioning for roles in Broadway shows and the opera, Victor fell back on his restaurant resume, working as a singing bartender, dining room manager and as singing maitre d' at Asti, the Manhattan restaurant that originated the singing waiter concept.

        All the while, he and Mary, who managed dining rooms in private clubs, were dreaming about opening their own restaurant. They recruited financial backers and then lost them.

        “Finally, we just decided it was too expensive to open a restaurant in New York,” Victor says. “So we moved back to the Midwest.”

        Last year, he called Trudie Seybold, owner of Forest View Gardens, to ask if he could work for her again. A restaurant manager and waiter for more than 20 years, Victor felt he still needed kitchen experience. He stayed on at Forest View, cooking three days a week, until Ms. Seybold closed the restaurant in June.

        When the Ciepiels were about to open Vito's in November, fettuccine Alfredo was one of the first dishes they put on the menu.

        “At first, we thought we'd have the generic kind of Alfredo,” Victor says. “But we'd seen it prepared table-side in Italy and in New York, so we thought we'd try this way.”

        The Ciepiels worked with their chef, Jon Spencer, for a month to develop their Alfredo recipe, which is beautifully simple — no basil, no parsley, not even garlic. The secret is using the best ingredients, especially the Parmesan.

        “And you shouldn't grate the cheese until the last minute,” he says.

        Tossing the pasta in a hollowed cheese wheel is impressive, he says. But you can make it at home without a wheel — just plenty of good cheese.

        Vito's cooks prepare most of the fettuccine Alfredo in the kitchen. But if customers see Victor tossing it — or hear him singing — they'll ask him to prepare their Alfredo table-side.

        He believes his restaurant is one of only a few in the world that still prepares fettuccine Alfredo so dramatically. And it's probably the only dining room where the owner croons while tossing the pasta.
       

The original Alfredo

        The original owner of Alfredo's Restaurant in Rome, Alfredo Di Lelio, created the rich dish in 1914 to restore the appetite of his wife after she gave birth to their son, according to John Mariani's Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink (Broadway; $17). Tossed with triple-rich butter in the core of a Parmesan wheel, the pasta dish became famous after movie stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks dined at Alfredo's while on their honeymoon in Rome in 1927. The newlyweds helped popularize the dish in America when they returned home, but it wasn't known as fettuccine Alfredo until after World War II.
        Vito's Cafe, 654 Highland Ave., Fort Thomas; (859) 442-9444.

Vito's Fettuccine Alfredo

       2 cups heavy cream
       1 pound dry fettuccine
       4 tablespoons unsalted butter
       8 ounces (2 cups) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (Parmesan)
       Salt and pepper, to taste

        Bring cream to simmer and reduce gently, uncovered, by half to 1 cup. Set aside. (Cream can be reduced ahead, covered and refrigerated.)

        Boil fettuccine in salted water until al dente. Drain.

        Melt butter in large saute pan over medium heat. Add cooked pasta and toss to coat well. Add reduced cream and grated cheese and toss well. If necessary, add a little hot water to thin sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes 2 generous servings.

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