February 7, 2025 • 49 mins
Imagine waking up to the irresistible aroma of ragu simmering on the stove, the promise of a leisurely Sunday feast ahead. This episode is a feast for the senses as we explore the rich tapestry of Italian-American cuisine and heritage. Joined by our special guests Andrea, Enzo, and Sebastiano, we unravel the intricate dance between authentic Italian fare and its Italian-American counterpart. Enzo's recent achievement of American citizenship adds a heartfelt layer to our conversation, as we reflect on how our shared love for Italian culture has influenced our lives and shaped our culinary journeys.
As we navigate the cultural crossroads of Italian and American cuisines, we uncover the unique regional influences that have created beloved dishes like gabagool, mortadella, and pasta fazool. From the French and Austrian touches in Northern Italy to the vibrant North African flavors in the South, each region's identity contributes to the diversity of Italian-American cuisine. Our stories reveal how Italian immigrants adapted their beloved recipes to new lands, leading to cherished creations such as chicken parmesan and Fettuccine Alfredo. We even pay homage to New Haven, Connecticut, as a beacon of exceptional pizza, celebrating the blend of tradition and adaptation that defines this culinary fusion.
Throughout our conversation, we tackle cultural stereotypes, discussing the evolution of the Italian-American identity and its impact on language and cuisine. We passionately express concerns about preserving authentic Italian cooking in an ever-evolving culinary world, emphasizing the importance of homemade, quality foods. Running an Italian restaurant has its fiery moments, and we share our experiences of maintaining culinary integrity amidst critiques and stereotypes. As we wrap up, we toast to our audience's enthusiasm and look forward to continuing this vibrant dialogue in future episodes. Ciao for now!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, listen to this.
The Italian movement is real.
Here it is.
We got the Italian connection.
Matter of fact, we're all firstgeneration in a sense, and
fucking even more so, right?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
So here's what we hear.
This episode's gonna be funbecause you guys are full-on
Italian heritage, all cookedtogether.
We've all cooked together here.
You all work greatly underneathin my kitchen and it's fucking
amazing.
So we have a long history.
But first of all, we're goingto talk about a couple things
today.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
What are we?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
going to talk about.
We're going to talk about theItalian-American fucking food
versus Italy's food and themisconception.
Right, and that's the biggestthing.
We're going to talk about theItalian language in American.
Where did it come from?
How?
Meaning marone gabagool fuckingmortadella galamad right.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
What else Pasta di?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
mar, pasta di mar.
What else?
Ganoules, ganoules, bostechok.
Yeah, you know the svoyedel.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Svoyedel Prejute.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
What else?
Pasta fazool, pasta fazool,pasta fazool.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
That's a big one.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
So these are the things we're going to talk about
and kind of where they comefrom right.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Mariner, mariner, mariner.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
And the spaghetti, everything's spaghetti,
spaghetti, spaghetti,everything's spaghetti.
Pasta, rigatoni with sauce,spaghetti, gravy, gravy and what
the fuck is the gravy right?
So this is what we're going totalk about.
This is going to be fun.
This is going to be a learningexperience for me, so I want you
guys to introduce yourself realquick, and I'm going to show
you how diverse we are.
But yet we are from the samefucking place in a sense,
because all of our fuckingfamily is from the same boot, so
(01:33):
it's not like we're generationsremoved.
Here we have direct lineage,and Enzo here in the middle
literally became an Americancitizen yesterday, for became an
American citizen yesterday.
Cheers For real Congratulations.
You were studying that.
You were proud of that.
I remember how, watching himgetting excited and nervous
about it, right, and my fathergot his you know, they went and
got it.
It's got to be nerve-wrackingbecause it's a whole new culture
(01:56):
.
It would be like me going toItaly.
Even though I've gone theresince I was young and I go there
often more as an adult, youstill have to learn.
You don't learn that shit.
I can go to Italy 100 times ayear.
And what are you focusing on?
The historical balance of Italy, right, we're not looking at
who the president is.
(02:17):
We don't do that when we go toItaly.
When you come to America,you're not looking at what a
senator does and the preamble.
You're not looking for it.
So when you come here, you haveto learn something you've never
even expected.
So congratulations, bro.
That's amazing.
So, with that being said, we'regoing to tear this shit up
(02:38):
because we have some stuff tosay.
You're going to probably do alot of smiling.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
So I'm just going to sit back, because this is like
the tables are turned.
Now we have like all men and Ijust get to sit back and watch.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Italian guys talk and I'm only a quarter.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
My family is from Italy as well, but I'm two
generations removed.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
But your palate says it all.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You speak with the Italian tongue when you eat and
everything else.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And your mouth.
You like that too, so it works.
With that mouth You're right inthere With that mouth dude,
with that mouth dude.
So, andrea, go ahead andintroduce yourself where you
come real quick from, and thenwe'll go down the line.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
So I'm Andrea DiCarlo , originally from Brooklyn, new
York, moved to Virginia in 1988.
We opened up a familyrestaurant, cooked in it.
Me and Tony cooked for a longtime, became good, good friends.
Um, that's about it.
I spent all my summers in italy, every summer, until I was
about 13.
So, speaking fluently, um, lovefood, love the culture.
(03:34):
I mean, it's embedded in me, soit's the only culture that's
the only love.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Something else would be loving something else exactly
.
We are who, we are right, right, exactly, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
Enzo, I'm Vincenzo Di Vano and I come here 10 years
ago and I love this place, Ilove being in America.
It was my dream and finally,yesterday I got all my documents
.
And, to be good, to continuethis.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So you're on it.
So Enzo's the guy that comesinto town fucking Mr Italy, all
sexy with his long hair and hisabs and his six-packs and his
mom American dream.
Everybody American dream.
Yeah, you know, he's just aVespa short of the actual
fucking story.
We need to get you a Vespa bro.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, or did you get?
Speaker 4 (04:25):
me a Vespa, a Vespa, a Vespa, get you a scooter just
for here in Summit Point, it'sokay.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, right here, just right around.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Sal?
What about yourself?
My name is Sebastiano Ganci.
I was born here in NorthernVirginia.
I'm first generation Sicilian.
I've been doing restaurants.
That's just what I love to do.
I've been working for you for awhile.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Pizza's your game Pizza yeah, so your family's in
the pizza game Pretty mucheverything.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
We started out with the pizza.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Of course, the Sicilian pizza connection.
We all know what this is.
We all know what's going onaround here.
It's in my blood.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I love to cook.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So now your game is pasta now.
Now you're strong on the pasta.
So Seb makes all.
He's in charge of our pastaprogram, making all the fresh
pastas, the homemade pastas, theactual pasta.
Enzo steps in when he's off, soon down the line, the last
person who wants to touch itanymore is me.
So hopefully you guys' teamstays strong, but if I have to
get in there again, I will.
But however, of course,everybody knows me.
(05:23):
I'm chef antonio caruana.
This is our burnt handsperspective podcast with kristin
crawley, and we're about to getinto some fun shit right now
about this.
Uh, everybody knows and followsme as a chef.
My accolades are out there.
Just google my name and figureit out and, uh, I appreciate all
the support going into this.
So what do you want to talkabout?
First, andre, this is what Iwant to talk about.
Let me hear what you want wantto talk about Go ahead.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
I mean, there's so much.
There's so much to talk about.
Coming into the podcast, I wasthinking about sitting next to
Enzo he's from Naples and I'mfrom me, and Seba from Sicily.
How, in any other part of Italybesides Naples and Sicily, if
you ask them, they say Italian,I'm from Italy.
But if you ask someone fromSicily or from Naples, we're not
(06:03):
Italian, I'm Sicilian and he'sfrom Naples.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So it's almost like a sub-color.
My father would say Roma.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
It's different.
It's different.
South to north is verydifferent.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Sure, of course.
So the further north you go,you're getting a lot more of
that Deutschland, german,austrian, french.
Even If you're going up towardsPiemonte, in Milano, that has
got a lot more French influencebecause you're bordering the
French colonies up there and alot of the food and the
influence comes together.
So you have that corridor whereyou can go to Nice, france, and
(06:36):
experience some really good, ifnot the best, italian food,
whereas if you go up towardsPiemonte, you get a lot of
france, uh, france infusion andinfluence.
Yeah right, if you go towardsthe other side, you're going to
get a lot of the austrianinfluence.
When you're up top right, youmove down towards the middle.
To me I don't say it's middle,it's more south.
(06:58):
But when you go into napoli androma and stuff like that,
you're going to get the pureitalian, where you get a little
bit of the south.
You start creeping up into themiddle and now it just becomes
italian.
Where the kingdoms were beforeitaly was a country yeah am I
right?
you can correct this better thanme.
I'm trying to go from anitalian citizenship over here.
Okay, okay, so, so that that'swhat it is.
(07:20):
So when you go to napoli, roma,you're going to get a much more
true experience.
Now, when you get down towardsCalabria, in the southern part
of the boot of Italy, you'regoing to get some of that
Tunisian, northern African typeof influence, starting to touch
the food, which we know consistsof what?
Pepper, spice.
You know what I mean.
Brightness, sunshine, almondsand nuts, almonds, nuts, all
(07:42):
those things.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Chickpeas stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
What is it, bro?
Chickpeas, chickpeas.
Yeah right, exactly the saffron, All that stuff.
That's kind of influenced fromthe south.
So just as you go to the southof Italy getting influenced from
that part of the world, you goto the north and get influenced
from that part of the world,making it the fucking best food
to Okay.
And what most people don'tunderstand is when we go out,
you know, people go out forItalian food.
(08:04):
So people ask me what's your,is Italian food, your favorite
food?
Listen, it doesn't work thatway.
Chinese people don't go out forChinese, they go out to eat.
They eat, right.
So at home they'll.
Oh, I bet you eat Italian foodall the time.
Yeah, call it what you want,but pasta is pasta.
It's it'sian food, by yourjudgment, because you don't eat
it all the time.
(08:25):
Yeah, so they go out foritalian food, right, we just eat
right we just eat.
Yeah, we go out for vietnamesefood, we go out for american
food, we go out forcheeseburgers uh, we go out for
all that stuff.
Right, to us it's not italianfood, it's food, right.
Everyone else coming to thisrestaurant is coming for Italian
food, because we're producingthe food that we eat.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
And you do it differently here.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
And we do it differently.
So here, what we try and do andthis is where I want to touch
base with you guys, because youall have a different background
in cooking and your experiencewith food, right.
So my touch on things is Itravel around Italy, I'm
inspired by the differentregions, right, and I get
inspired to try and stick tothose regions and the rules of
(09:10):
them best I can, while trying tosatisfy the knowledge of the
American people.
So let's get into the subject.
This is the fun oneItalian-American food.
Italian-american food.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
It already starts laughing Now the Italians that
come here.
It's despicable you think it'sdisgusting, you know what I mean
.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
It's no good right, Mushad, everything's junk.
So you have that.
That's the Italian version ofthis right.
So, and there's understandablewhy, Understandable why so, when
we're calling it gabagool andit's not even close, say it.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Capicolo.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Capicolo Prosciutto, prosciutto, parmigiano-reggiano,
these are things.
Where's the parmesan?
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Parmesan.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Parmesan, you know, I understand.
They don't understand thelanguage, they don't get it.
I get the it deviates from theoriginal core right when it came
from.
So we have things likemortadella, right.
Mortadella goes back centuries,centuries, right, long time ago
, in that one little area, thatone kingdom, typically in
belonging to Italy, where itcomes from, am I wrong?
Speaker 5 (10:18):
No, you're right.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Okay, so let's fast forward now.
Oscar Meyer, 1978, 1970, 1985,1985, when I'm a kid, in a
yellow packet comes out and itsays bologna, and people are
calling it bologna, bologna, andthen it calls bologna.
See how the transition goes.
We're going from mortadella.
People came here from america.
(10:39):
They didn't have theingredients.
So the italians that came herefrom bologna wanted their
mortadella right, yeah, theycouldn't produce the mortadella
properly because they didn'thave the ingredients.
So the italians that came herefrom bologna wanted their
mortadella right, yeah, theycouldn't produce the mortadella
properly because they didn'thave the same indigenous
ingredients.
If you're living in new yorkcity back in the 1800s or early
1900s, where are you going toget the product to make
mortadella?
The fat, the pistachio, allthat stuff?
(10:59):
Where are you going to get it?
Right, you can't.
So they made the closest thingto it and they call it was
called bologna because it wasthe way of bologna, the way of
mortadella.
So then along came the way ofbologna, and then they changed
it and americanized it.
Now bologna comes frommortadella, which comes from
bologna, which is now bologna,bologna.
(11:20):
So see the transition here.
So a lot of people don'tunderstand where italian
american food got its historyand why it is what it is right.
People say fettuccine Alfredo,they want this.
People do what you're doing,but let's think about it.
It's not that bad for anAmerican, because it's what
they're used to.
That's their palate yeah.
(11:41):
What they tried to do atAlfredo's restaurant is it
happened by accident, thehistory of it came along and it
was really pleasing to thepalate, no different than Cacio
Pepe, right?
So Cacio Pepe, beautiful cheese, delicious.
Two different versionsParmigiano-Reggiano, pecorino,
romano, pepper technique.
(12:03):
Okay, well, you can have thesame technique, but you don't
have the same ingredients.
Back in 1965 or whenever it wasAlfredo, it was expensive, it
was expensive, it was hard toget.
So what do they do?
They take the cheese that theyhave.
You can't get the extractedcream because it's not that type
of cheese.
It's close but it's not.
(12:23):
So you have to add maybe alittle bit of cream to make it
like this.
This is how, trying to copy whatthey're used to cacio e pepe,
they've invented fettuccinealfredo because it wasn't the
best, but they had to havesomething close.
American people ate it becausethey've never had cacio pepe and
(12:44):
it's still good.
But it's not cacio pepe, right,it's not.
So where does it?
So when people say I wantfettuccine alfredo, I understand
it, I get it, but I alsounderstand where it came from,
so I can respect it differently.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, so a lot of people don'tunderstand that Chicken parmesan
.
There's no chicken parmesan,bro.
You go to Rome right now.
Is there chicken parmesan inRome?
Speaker 5 (13:04):
No, or in Napoli it doesn't exist in Italy.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
It doesn't exist, no.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
Chicken, parm, all this kind of food, american,
italian food doesn't exist.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
So when you come here , it's a culture shock for you.
Ten years ago you came here 10years ago and I got in one
restaurant.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
They used to do this kind of American Italian.
I was like I'll read the menuFettuccine Alfredo.
What's Fettuccine Alfredo?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Who the hell is.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Alfredo, I don't know how to make it.
Take a little bit of butter andput this.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And then they put the nutmeg sometimes.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
They were right.
What is this?
Speaker 5 (13:41):
I'm sorry, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
And then, when you taste it, you're expecting cacio
e pepe.
You're getting this watereddown version.
Yeah, creamy, thick, heavy,rich.
Three bites One dimensional, butto people who've never had the
real cacio e pepe fettuccine,alfredo is the second best thing
and they love it.
So that that's how this happens.
So the difference betweenItalian American food, even
(14:03):
going back to pizza, you don'teven going back to pizza.
So yeah, pizza.
You have a Napoli pizza.
This goes back a long time inhistory, right, and even in
Italy they have differentvariations of pizza.
There are some places inAmerica I feel I won't brag.
New Haven, connecticut, whereI'm from, has better pizza than
anything I've had in Italy.
And I travel the world and Ieat, I'm a chef, I do it, I've
(14:26):
gone to Italy very many timesand more times to count, and I
still haven't found a pizzabetter than that.
So is it because I'm from thereand that's my origin?
Is that where I started?
It goes backwards the same way.
So Italians come here andthey're so stuck on what they
(14:47):
know because it's where theystarted.
Do I think New Haven pizza isthe best because that's where I
started and I'm trying to run anostalgia?
Speaker 3 (14:55):
My nonna.
When she used to come here sheused to say New York style pizza
.
She loved it.
She loved it better than backhome.
She was in love with it too,new York style is kind of like a
Romana pizza.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
It's more thin, more crunchy at the bottom.
The big slice, the crust is nottoo fluffy, yeah, so that's why
you know I like it too, though.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I'm not going to lie.
Yeah, of course it is good.
It is good, but it has itsplace.
But you're from Napoli, bro.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Pizza Napoletana.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
There's nothing.
You're never going to convinceyou different, bro.
Forget it.
Fuck out of here.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
Get the fuck out of here with this shit.
Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
So now, when I went to Napoli, want pizza anywhere
else because I was used to it acertain way, a style right.
The first time I went to NaplesI had a pizza and it came to my
table, and right away and thisis years ago, a long time, I'm
young right away, I look at thisthing.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Sorry, you don't have to laugh at that.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
You know, you know that hurt.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
So I had this pizza and, yeah, it was so long ago.
It was probably back in the olddays when they were actually
making pizza, Making fire youknow, with sticks.
So this came to my table and I'mnot gonna lie, I looked at it
and I poked it like a, like afucking baby.
I'm like what the hell is goingon.
It looked like a pastry.
You know what I on?
It looked like a pastry.
You know what I mean.
It looked like a pastry.
It didn't look like a pizza tome and it wasn't cut or anything
(16:24):
.
And I'm like what am I going todo?
They don't cut it.
No, they don't cut it, so Ijust take out, rip it.
All the mozzarella falls off,its sauce is all dripping
everywhere.
And I'm trying to get myPellegrino, I'm pounding it, I'm
trying to get through thissituation.
And at the beginning I didn'tlike it.
It took me a long time to likeit.
(16:45):
Now I like it because Iunderstand it.
I'm cultured now.
I wasn't as cultured back thenand now it was just one way.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Well, you're used to what you're used to.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Right.
So now I get it, and that'swhat happened to me is I ate
that big dough ball and it wasjust soggy.
It just wasn't what I was usedto, right.
But the tomatoes, the cheeseand the basil, it was
outstanding.
So what did I do?
I brought my punk ass here backthen.
Years went by and I startedtrying to create a dough that
(17:16):
like the New Haven style or aNew York style with that style
of sauce, and there's now a fewpeople doing it and it works
well for me.
But I think that Napoli doughis.
I'm still not used to that.
It's so filling one slice.
You know what I mean.
The temperature they cook it.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
So hot, that it's like the dough puffs up and the
toppings barely just get hot.
And that's really the beauty ofit, is the honoring the
ingredients on there withoutlike overheating or overcooking
them.
Okay, that's what I think tooabout it is.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
There's a, there's a technique, and a lot of it has
to do with the heat of your oven, and if that heat of the oven
is off, this ab, tell me aboutthis absolutely come out like
shit comes out, like shit youryeast.
It doesn't rise, right, itdoesn't.
You're gonna burn the outsidebecause it's too much.
Oil is burning fast, burningfast.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
It's gonna be all weird like a cracker.
Yeah right, there's all typesof stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
So you have in New Haven.
There's a few places that havebeen doing it since the 20s,
1920s, and the ovens are stillrunning the same way.
So the consistency is the sameevery single time, and that's
the same way as it is in Naples.
I'm sure you know what I mean.
You go to and they have in acertain places you go in, like
here.
There's certain places youdon't go, even as a local.
Right, there's still shit theretoo.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
There's still bad food.
Yeah, I mean, do you thinkthere's bad food in certain
areas?
Speaker 5 (18:29):
yeah, yeah, you know someplace, then they just do it
because.
But they don't, because theydon't try to.
Um, I used to know, Upgradeupdate, yeah, update modern.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Modernizing me like they want to leave it like that
yeah right, but the traditionschange and people as they grow,
they experience more in theworld and in their palates open
up more and they want, yeah, andthey experience more.
Try new things now it right, andI think what happened here in
america with italian food,italian american food, is it got
so bastardized because peoplewere making so much money off of
(19:07):
it, because you can put amediocre time out there and it'd
be okay.
Olive garden, just put right,just put cheese cream and some
ham with a, with a tortellinithat's been frozen for seven
months yeah, you know what I,what I mean?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
People don't care.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
It comes out of the bag and half of it's white from
the freezer, burn and they eatit because it's still going to
be acceptable.
Yeah, and it's still for peoplewho don't go out and eat it at
all.
There's still a lot of flavorin those components.
Those ingredients just releasethings in your taste buds.
It's simple, Simple math.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
And they add more salt and they add things to make
you keep eating it.
Yeah, Right.
That's the American sad dietyeah.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
So I'm going to go down the line here.
Growing up, you're going to seedifferent things and there's
something that happened.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Typical Sunday meal at your house Pasta Forno, which
is like little ring pastas witha boneless ragu peas, and you
bake it like a lasagna uh,spadini veal, uh, wrapped,
skewered with the uh uh aricaprovolone inside and grilled
awesome um, those are good.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
So the spadini is like a spare, that's what.
So it's the stick almost like askewer yeah, like a skewer, you
roll the veal stuff.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
It's fucking amazing bay leaves and you grill it.
And then, uh, for us.
You know we own bakeries, sofor us, cassata, siciliana and
cannolis, literally on the table.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I'm going to have a cassata coffin for you when I
die.
You're going to be layinginside of it.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Cassata, cassata, coffin yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
If there's a tablecloth on the table, he's
like nice.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
If there's a tablecloth on the table, there's
a cassata and semolina bread.
If there's not those two things, someone's walking to the store
because dinner doesn't start tothose two things at the table.
That's pretty much what it wasMeatballs like the ragu people
call the ragu with the meatballsand the um sausage.
We used to put pig's feet in it.
(21:05):
Um, we did that occasionallybut for us it was weird because,
being first generation, likecutlets and chicken parm, my
family in italy doesn't eat it,yeah, but all my family here in
new york, including my uncles atall first generation cutlets on
the table.
It's almost like a given.
(21:25):
It has to be there for likesentimental reasons.
So I think that has to do a lotwith when everyone immigrated
here.
You know availability ofingredients, portability.
You know for people that workin the coal mines of the
factories, they want somethingthat they can just put on a
piece of bread and eat it, and Ithink part of it came from that
.
But we do it.
(21:45):
But like we go to Italy, nocutlets on my aunt's table,
nothing.
But when you go to Brooklyn, tomy uncle's house, there's
always cutlets and that comesalong in an Italian-American
deal.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
So we had the same thing and I used to love going
through my aunt's house and it'dbe the middle of the afternoon
There'd be a plate of chickencutlets with saran wrap over the
top and they were roomtemperature.
You just walk by, break a piece, put some lemonade and walk by,
but that smell of thebreadcrumb would sit and you'd
have the little TV on in thekitchen and you would always
smell.
You would smell the salt in thepasta water.
It resonates, and it was such asmall period of my life because
(22:19):
I was only a kid for this long.
You know what I mean.
We were kids for this long andwhat happened to us resonates
the rest of our life, as we know, good, bad or indifferent, no
matter what it is.
But when it comes to Italianpeople, I can speak for myself
that if you're this long of yourlife, this chapter as being a
kid is this long compared to the50 years I've been alive.
(22:41):
What seven or eight of themwhen I didn't understand what it
was, but it made me who I amnow.
The smells, the vibrance, justthe energy of it, the listening
to the memory.
There's something to be said.
When you take the sauce and youhave the sauce and you put the
ravioli on the table in a bowl,you smell the ricotta inside the
(23:01):
pasta.
You can smell this.
I could walk in your house andknow what you're cooking now or
what you're, what you're knowingnow your, your mom or anybody's
cooking I'm making, because Ican smell it when I'm walking in
door.
Yeah, oh, that's oh, they got,they got.
They got sausage and broccoliravioli.
You fucking shit me.
You walk down the street inBrooklyn or any little Italy
area and you can smell whatthey're cooking inside.
(23:22):
You know what I mean.
You want to go in there and doa house.
What do you call it?
A home invasion?
on that ass breaking andentering yeah so what about you
on a Sunday at home growing?
Speaker 5 (23:31):
up Sunday Naples, Naples.
It's like crazy because it'slike you got to every Sunday
meal.
You got to sacrifice yourselfBecause it's a lot of food.
You start with prosciuttomozzarella, you start smelling
the ragu, then Mom make.
When you wake up in the morning, you smell it With the bread
(23:53):
Before you start eating, you gowith the bread and the sauce.
Yeah, of course you starteating all the.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
They smack your hand.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Stop it, don't eat it .
Speaker 5 (24:02):
Prosciutto mozzarella gnocchi in the oven baked with
mozzarella.
Nice mozzarella from Naples.
Of course Buffalo Buffalo yeah,salsiccia friarielli,
prosciutto tracchulelle, coticadi maiale, that's all in the
ragu.
Come on, man.
And salsiccia frielli,parmigiana, a lot of food like
(24:27):
dessert, fruit, everything Likeyou start, like at 2 pm, you
finish around 7.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Every Sunday.
Every Sunday Wow.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's the best.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
And then by 9 o'clock , you start all over again, yeah
, and you start eating all theleftovers.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so but that's exactly how it is.
When you could smell whenthey're browning the meat inside
the pan, you're not even out ofbed yet and you know you could
smell the browning meat, thesausage and the oil before the
tomatoes even hit inside and youknow right away what time it is
and you already know it's goingto be a good day.
You know what I mean.
(25:01):
It's going to be a good daytoday.
What about you, Saab?
What happens?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
over there.
It was the best you know.
That was our alarm clock.
Wake up smelling tomato, basilin the air and all the pasta,
the chicken cutlets too.
We're the same way.
Pasta al forno.
On the left of the rings, weuse rigatoni.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
So ours is a little bit more.
You know this is different.
It's both still good, but thepasta al forno is.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
We all know.
No matter what pasta you use,it's the same basic principle.
You can either do it with aground meat type of ragu or
Bolognese style of sauce, or youcan do lamb beef.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Yeah.
And then some people put eggs,whatever eggs, beef, yeah.
And then some people put eggswhatever it is.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Pasta al forno is a thing that's gone away.
It needs to come back.
Can we bring it back or what?
Can people stop fucking aroundand get back to the pasta al
forno, please?
Speaker 2 (25:48):
You know what I mean.
Instead of the gravy.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I know that's what I'm saying.
We have a habit of makingthings ridiculously good, right,
and it ends up helping thecustomer here because we do it.
I do it just to try and impressthem.
Every time I test something, Igive it to them to try this, and
it's not because I'm trying toget approval, it's because I
already fucking know it's goodand I want you to feel this
Taste.
This man, this is good.
(26:13):
I want you to be happy.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Eat this, because I know it's going to put you in
the same spot it put me.
I'm not trying to impressnobody.
I've already done that.
I can do that, you know Ialready know that.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
I know I can cook, so I'm not worried about that.
But I want you to feel this,feel something.
You can hit somebody else andbe like.
You know, if you give it to anamerican person who does doesn't
have that background, they'lleat it and be like oh, that's
good chef.
Yeah, would you put in that?
Speaker 2 (26:34):
yeah, they don't know , would you put?
Speaker 1 (26:36):
that you should be eating it going.
Oh, shit, shit, I take it.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
But also the culture.
When you said, like the cultureshock for you guys coming here
because you're newer, likeyou've been here the least
amount of time of everybody, thedifference in cooking and men.
So in Italy, like in theculture, men cook, you learn to
cook, it's part of the culture,the passion and people feel that
here in the Us we don't havethat.
(27:02):
Most men don't cook.
So I mean, how shocking wasthat to you, like when, like
getting used to that, cominghere and women being like oh,
you can cook, like it'ssurprising I don't know it was.
Speaker 5 (27:13):
It was a good feeling because you know you gonna show
what you got and you bring allyour culture here and you know
you try your best to make a goodfood yeah and let them taste it
so I want to know this how Itravel the world and there's no
food better.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
I don't understand how much food culture is in that
peninsula.
Basically yeah you know, I meanthe, the country of italy is
that big, but if you look at it,when it comes to food, luxury,
craftsmanship, everything thatcomes out of that little
peninsula right there,concentrated in there, it's so
much in there.
The flavors, the indigenousflavors, truffle, truffle di
(27:52):
alba, tartufa di bionda, thewhite truffle, how is it?
Only right there.
The tree is a popular tree.
This is the name of the treethat grows popular and they grow
everywhere.
They're in Maine, they're inhere, they're in the woods over
here, it's everywhere.
But it only grows at the baseof those trees in that area.
How is this possible?
It's the Mecca of all things.
(28:14):
Good yeah, like to make aParmesan Reggiano wheel.
You know the 18 months, 24months.
If you go into those factorieswhere they're just lined up head
to ceiling, like this, andyou're walking down there,
people don't realize how goodyeah, you're walking down the
hall.
If you're walking through them,it's like the Red Seas, like
Moses, you're on biblical level.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Biblical cheese.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
You're in the Bible now.
Yeah, it's like that.
You know what I mean.
So did you ever wonder that,like when you come here, you go
to north carolina, people lovethe barbecue?
I understand, I get it.
You took the pig, you did whatyou did because you grew up on
that and it's good.
But in retrospect or comparison, they're missing so much of
this barbecue process that couldreally make this thing crazy
(28:59):
good, yeah, yeah but if I makethat for them, they're like it's
good, but it ain't like this.
And I'm not doubting them.
It's just how different regionsreact to food and how Italy and
Italians react to food.
To me, the only other place Ican see it two other places I
can see it is Thailand, becausethey are all about food there
(29:21):
too.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
They have a great food scene.
Food is amazing.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
And there's other countries out there, don't get
me wrong.
There's so many good countries.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I'm going to get Greece.
I mean, there's a lot of greatculture, food Thailand.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Thailand is good, If you ever eat Thailand they do
have Now you got to go.
Their ingredients areridiculous they have the
connection of food like we do.
It's a lot of indigenousingredients from the ground or
from the animal Very organic.
Very organic and it's veryfresh, very floral, very vibrant
.
Spices, noodles, yeah, and thatjust could be because it
(29:53):
reminds me of Italian food inthe way, the flavors are just
crazy.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
It is simple, but it's good.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
And it's on the opposite way of we eat Same type
of stuff they got the noodles,but it's good.
And it's on the opposite way ofwe eat Same type of stuff they
got the noodles, but they cookit with such different flavors
that it's a whole new world withthe same type of experience.
So if you go to that, that'samazing.
You just said Greece.
Believe it or not?
Fellas, we got some bad newshere.
This year is the first yearGreece beat Italy as the number
(30:19):
one food country, Really thisyear by one half of a point on
the judges' spectrum.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Half of a point.
Half of a point, okay 5.9 to 6.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
And I can't remember what scale it was, but it's a
big one that I followed foryears as a chef, okay, and for
the first time.
But now I go to Greece, yeah,much as I can.
I love Greece and they havesome phenomenal food, but we
share the same waters, the samefish the same thing.
So I'm not.
You know they do have somestuff that we don't.
That is good.
If you get some good fetacheese, all that stuff, I mean,
(30:48):
they do put together some reallygood things that are amazing
Octopus, octopus.
We're running that same thing.
And if you go even further, yougo to Spain.
They also have some good food.
The only thing I find withSpain is a lot of the
ingredients are kind of meshingthe same and they all have that
same.
I can check Spanish food rightnow from Spain.
(31:08):
You know what I mean Spanishfood.
I can smell it and I knowexactly what it is, where it is,
how it is and it's delicious.
Don't get me wrong, I love it.
You know their versions oftheir r is in the paellas and
all that stuff is amazing.
But I think that Italian foodand Italian American food is
some of the best food on theplanet.
That's all I'm going to fuckingsay.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
I think most people.
If you ask them what theirfavorite foods are in the world,
I think always in the top three.
Like, for anybody doesn'tmatter where they live, what
country, if you don't likeItalian food.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
I don't trust you.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
No, I don't trust you .
No, I don't trust you.
I can't trust you If you don'tlike.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Italian food.
I can't trust you.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
You're wearing a wire .
Get the fuck away Me personally, I only eat Italian.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
That's it when I go out.
If I don't eat Italian, I eat acheeseburger.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Yeah right, that's it .
I don't go out for a time.
I don't go Chinese, I don't goVietnamese.
There's no point really.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
My problem is I have a hard time going out.
Now I'll go to a nicesteakhouse, a Thai restaurant,
during the lunch.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
But I have a hard time going out, because no
matter what, even if I'm goingto a restaurant at the beach, I
still want at the pasta and Istill trying to look up to see
if they have any type of pasta.
Yeah, if not, I'll get a pizzawhatever, and I still want.
I still want that it's becauseI don't feel complete unless I'm
eating that way.
I want pasta on my plate, yeah,and I don't care what time it
is I want it now?
yeah, he knows what he's talkingabout, I know so.
So what about now?
What about these guys that aretaking the italian?
(32:36):
I'm watching these guys and I'mfollowing social media.
They fucking make me laughbecause they're all doing it
right, because they're exactlydoing what we did and we still
do, but we do it jokingly andthey're totally doing it
jokingly.
You know, I'm talking aboutthese.
Take care, brush your hair andand uh, hey, mo, and and what
else is the other guys?
uh, I can't remember yeah thoseguys, but they're all good guys,
(32:57):
they're funny and they reallyhit home with all this shit.
But as an italian, do youunderstand what's going on when
they're doing this, or do youfind it like mockery?
Like, uh like insulting or isit a joke, because we know what
they're?
Speaker 4 (33:10):
doing because we yeah yeah, um or is it funny to you?
Speaker 5 (33:15):
yeah, it's funny, but you know, sometimes I got
offended really yeah, yeah whythough?
Because they make a joke, theymake a fun of us yeah, they're
getting, they're getting.
That's the funny thing you'remaking money.
Real.
You know, like I don't knowlike I feel like offended a
little bit, I don't.
Here's the thing thing thatthey're making money.
That's the real.
You know, like I don't know,Like I feel like offended a
little bit, I don't here's thething, though I don't believe
(33:35):
that they're making fun ofItalian people.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
They're making fun of the Italian wannabe people, the
fugazi and the forget about it,and all that shit that's so
stereotypical.
You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (33:47):
The movies Forget about you know what I mean.
Forget about get a bar like theold school mob movies.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Everyone thinks that that's the way everything is,
and it's not, man.
I you know what it's it.
But it's funny though, becauseit's we talk that way still,
yeah I asked the other day.
You know we laugh at it.
The gabagool give me a pass,yeah, pass right, no, never,
never murder.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
So it's, it's but it's.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
It's funny, though, because when you're walking
through the streets and you'rein Brooklyn, for instance,
that's where a lot of this stuffcomes from.
Yeah, and the gravy?
You know, believe it or not,gravy comes from Providence.
That term literally comes fromProvidence.
Speaker 5 (34:20):
Rhode Island is where that started at federal people
Think that a gravy is a saucenot American people, it a
certain few.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
I never thought of it but in Providence, raleigh is
where it came from, and then Ithink it worked its way to New
Jersey.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
Isn't that some gravy ?
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Yeah.
It's not a sauce, I think it'sa sauce, I would say, I think
it's a sauce, because I grew upin Midwest in Michigan, detroit.
So they called tomato saucegravy then.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
No, we called gravy gravy.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Tomato sauce was spaghetti.
You put gravy on turkey, rightTomato sauce was spaghetti.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
That's all we had.
We had spaghetti with red sauceon it.
That was just called spaghetti.
There was no different.
I never learned sauces until Imoved to Virginia.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
So right, that's exactly where I started, so
you're from the Midwest.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Where there's no Italian culture.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
I had no difference between marinara pomodoro
nothing.
Speaker 5 (35:02):
General sauce, yeah, red sauce.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
I'm the only person with an Italian grandmother who
did not cook.
She was the worst cook on theplanet.
What I mean?
Bad.
It was so bad we had to eat.
Holidays was the only she wouldput the jello with the
pistachio.
It was terrible.
Everything was terrible.
God rest her soul.
Speaker 4 (35:24):
She was a terrible cook.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Everything was well done burnt.
It was terrible.
Where was?
Speaker 4 (35:30):
she from in.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Italy.
My great-grandfather was fromPalermo.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
No offense, yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Just saying I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry to everyone
in Italian culture.
I had the one grandfather whocould not cook.
Bro listen, but when?
Speaker 1 (35:43):
I go to Italy.
There's plenty of people.
There are people too, there arehumans too, and it doesn't mean
just because you're.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Italian.
You know how to fucking cook.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
There's people there burning water trying to make
pasta it's the same thing, it'sjust there's less sucky people
at cooking there.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
So I never learned anything Like.
No, my great-grandmother neverspoke Italian, nothing.
They were very American.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Here's what scares me about the Italian heritage in
cooking.
It is really becoming an issue,because when we were growing up
whether you're in Italy, newHaven, brooklyn, it doesn't
matter there was Italianimmigrants and their young would
take on and do it.
So there'd be no problemwalking through an Italian
street and you smell the bakery.
You go inside, you get the loafof bread, you break it.
(36:27):
You have a choice between yoursourdough, your country, your
Tuscon or your fucking thatsemolina Bread, whatever it may
be, and you could break off thateat.
It is delicious, if fucking.
Now you can't do that anymore.
And it's not because peopledon't want it.
It's because the youngergenerations of Italians, the,
the fifth and sixth generations,could give a shit less.
They don't want it until theyget about 30 years old, and then
(36:50):
they want it again.
But now it's too late becausethe craft is gone.
Now you have to go to thegrocery store, the big package
grocery store, and get that crapthat they put there, and you're
just sitting there againchewing the fucking Naples dough
.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
It's okay, it's okay.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
He's about to have an aneurysm.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Yeah, I'm about to get shot, he's gonna throw
something he'll put in his twoweek notice.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
This is bullshit he's about to give up his
citizenship?
No, but you know what I?
Speaker 2 (37:21):
mean, I love Napoli pizza don't get me wrong, but
it's just a joke.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
However, when you eat that fucking stuff.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I wanna go, I wanna try we're all going my point is
though I want to try.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Oh yeah, we got to go , we're going, we're all going,
we're all going, we're not goingto go.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Well, yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
But my point is, though, is the craft is gone.
I'm trying and I'm no longerspring, I'm not young anymore.
I still think I'm young.
I still think I'm a youngergeneration trying to keep it
going.
Yeah, but I'm 50 years old man,I'm still thinking I'm a young
generation.
I'm the guy that needs to bereplaced soon, but I'm worried
about who the hell is going toreplace me, because the window
(37:57):
is closing, man, it's closing,and it scares me that people are
going to buy frozen meatballsand not learning how to make
their own.
If it's meatballs is your style, now we know in Italy,
meatballs isn't a big thing.
It's more of an appetizer.
You cook it in a sauce, giveyour sauce flavor, and then you
eat the meatball by itself.
Ricotta cheese, maybe somebread as a snack, or something
at lunch.
But the spaghetti and meatballthing, that's another
(38:20):
American-Italian thing, it's anadaptation.
It's an adaptation and behonest with you.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
We're just going to do his face.
We're going to do your face,like every time when it's made
right, it's not a bad deal.
No, when it's made right, it'snot a bad deal.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
I'd rather have a great bowl of spaghetti and
meatballs than a great steak.
You know, what I mean If I hada really good spaghetti and
meatballs I'm talking about agood one and a really good steak
.
I would rather have spaghettiand meatballs.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Do you?
Speaker 2 (38:48):
have the review.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
I do.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Okay, should we hit it.
So we need to hit so we alwaysdo at the end of these a bad
review, like someone who left abad comment online.
So he's going to read it andwe're going to let you you can
go off on them in Italian,because they won't know what
you're saying so curse them outin Italian yeah, yeah, it's your
moment.
It's your moment, it's yourmoment, sunshine, you're the
(39:13):
purebred.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
You're the purebred.
The fuckery amongst us all isreal and we talk some shit and
we have some fun and we cooksome great food and we say my
own.
We don't say mamma mia, do we?
Speaker 4 (39:28):
Mamma mia Sometimes, sometimes.
Yeah.
So I'm going to read thisreview.
We don't say mama mia, do we?
Speaker 1 (39:33):
mama mia sometimes, sometimes yeah, yeah, get into
it.
So I'm gonna read this review.
At the end of every episode, weused to read the reviews and
then we got so intense,sometimes with conversations
that are time, so now we'rebringing it back it's coming
back so italian job what it isis this we work our asses off,
we're in the kitchen, we'reproducing our culture's food,
and none us here, none of us,would let something slide
(39:55):
because it's not acceptable.
We wouldn't accept it.
It just doesn't happen Ifsomething's not broken, broken
sauce, too much cheese.
If something has to change, wechange it, we don't let it go
out.
So I know that part of it'scovered, right.
So I like to just attack andhere's one of my favorite ones,
because this is one of mybiggest pet peeves and I'll
explain it why.
Ready, I got to thank MissNikki over here.
(40:18):
Nikki went and got our as usualbehind the scenes over there
keeping it going.
I believe the restaurant isoverrated.
As a New Yorker, I'm familiarwith high quality food and
service, so my husband and Iwere eager to try this place
after relocating.
We arrived without reservationson a Friday night around 6 45
PM, only to be told that thehostess that we couldn't be
(40:41):
seated until 8 15 due to thelack of a reservation
Disappointed we head back to thecar.
I decided to check on Rezzy anddiscovered that there were
actually reservations availablestarting at 7.15 for every 15
minutes.
Thereafter, Feeling misled, Ireturned to the restaurant where
the hostess claimed a table hadsuddenly become available, but
I knew that wasn't true becauseof the amount of reservations
(41:02):
available.
When we were seated in the backroom, I noticed three
unoccupied tables.
Clearly I hadn't been told thetruth.
Once seated, my husband asked tosubstitute chicken for veal in
the dish, offering to pay thesame price, but the kitchen
refused.
We opted for $80 dry-agedribeye instead.
(41:24):
Unfortunately, the steak was amajor disappointment.
The exterior was tough and ithadn't been trimmed properly,
and the steak lacked tenderness,making it far from worth the
price.
I ordered the Wagyu meatballand the gnocchi from the special
menu.
The flavors were good, but thesauce was overly greasy, with a
(41:46):
pool of oil surrounding my plate, let's see.
Dessert was all right.
It was the highlight.
I recommend it Okay.
Overall, while the ambiance waspleasant, the food fell short
of expectations and the steak inparticular felt like a waste of
money.
All right Now I'm going to haveto say this You're absolutely
(42:09):
right, ziana, zaina, what do youcall it, zaina?
What does that say, right there?
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Zaina.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
You're absolutely right.
We absolutely lied to you.
That really happened.
We absolutely lied to you.
We did not want you to come inhere.
We don't want customers wemanipulate Rezi to lie and we
tell everybody they cannot comein.
That is why I have won the bestchef award in 2024.
Our restaurant that we producethe best fucking food.
(42:41):
We won every fucking awardpossible in the state of
Virginia locally.
That's why because we lie toyou we don't let no one in here.
It's all a joke.
So you're right.
You're absolutely right.
You nailed that one.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Yeah, genius, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
So this whole thing about you being a New Yorker-
Let Andrea take that.
Speaker 4 (43:03):
You know and and I hate when fucking people say
that, because it makes that'slike two percent of the people
that left new york because ofthat mentality that they go
other places and they flash itlike it's a badge.
Like I'm from new york, I'mexpert on fucking everything,
including italian food, justjust for starters.
Second, being from new yorkdoesn't make you an expert on
(43:23):
fucking italian food, especiallywith a non-italian name.
First of all, first.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
So so here's, here's my take on it.
Bro, I don't give a shit ifyou're from new york, new jersey
or anything.
Yeah, if a guy came here fromfucking rome and said this food
is not right now I'm going tolisten to you.
I don't cook New Yorkan food.
I cook Italian food.
We cook Italian culture.
I don't cook.
There's no New York food.
Yeah, what is New York food?
(43:49):
I understand people say I'mfrom New York.
Speaker 5 (43:51):
Some people think that New York is Italy.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
I know, bro, they tell me this.
Oh, they tell me this.
Speaker 5 (43:56):
Oh, I'm from New York .
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Tell the chef I'm from New York.
Hopefully this is good.
Trust me, I'm from New York.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
I don't give a shit.
What the fuck does that mean?
I'm from New York, okay.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
You're from New York.
What does that mean, bro?
You know how many shittyrestaurants are in New York.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
Yeah, there's a lot of shitty restaurants.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Do they even have a health department in New Yorkers
?
But the second you tell meyou're from New York, I'm going
to tell you right away I don'tgive a shit where you're from.
Yeah, it doesn't matter, youcould be from fucking Cincinnati
.
What does that mean?
I know, Okay, I'm not cookingNew York food, All right so
let's break down.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
We're going to let the sauce, like the saucier side
, go.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
Yeah, okay, let's see .
So the sauce.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
I'm sorry.
I guess they don't like oliveoil.
I don't know what to tell youreally, but really.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
was there a pool of oil in this?
What pool of?
Speaker 3 (44:42):
fuck was that?
We got a standard.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
What pool of oil is she talking about?
I don't think she understandswhat she's talking about.
Speaker 3 (44:48):
I don't know what she's talking about.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
So now, if you take a gnoc oil that you don't even
understand what you're eating,because I don't understand what
pool of oil you're talking aboutthis?
Is absolutely ridiculous.
These are the type of now, asfar as the lies, everything here
(45:09):
is reserved out.
Every night of the week, everydinner time, we are reserved
Everything.
If you walk in, customers willwalk in and they'll see some
tables open.
You walked in at 6.15, thosetables are going to be here at
6.45.
Again, I've said this a milliontimes.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
You can't sit out and eat 30 minutes.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
Right, it's waiting for the reservation.
It's not that we don't want you, we're just kind of snickering
a little bit that you thoughtyou can get into the best place
in town with no reservation andthen you're mad at us.
Okay, we welcome walk-ins, wewelcome everybody stuck up.
I'm only talking to this levelbecause I'm combating their
(45:43):
level of ignorance when they puta post like this online when my
staff is the reason we are whowe are.
Okay, I can't do it by myself.
There's no way it would happen,right?
So the whole team suffers.
When somebody says this, it'snot just me, this just hurts my
ego a little bit because it's,it's bullshit.
Um, the dry age steak.
Learn how to eat a dry-agedsteak.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
Right away, learn how to eat a dry-aged steak.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
When you have something that's been sitting on
a rack for 44 fucking days, thewhole point of it is to draw
out the moisture, let the musclefibers loosen on its own,
naturally, and then it breaksdown and becomes tender in its
own way because of the breakdownof elasticity in the muscle
fiber.
There's a lot of science to itand you have to know what it is
(46:22):
you're eating.
A lot of people think it stinks.
It does.
It has a funk on it.
It's been sitting there A lotof the times.
The outside is drier and alittle bit more chunky than the
middle, because it doesn't dryfrom the motherfucking inside
out.
It drives from the outside in.
So you trim it as much as youcan, but that is part of the
experience of eating it andpeople don't understand that.
(46:48):
So when they take the firstlittle bite of the first piece
and it's a little bit dry it'snot, the title is dry age it
might be a little dry in thefirst bite, Get into the middle
of it and you're going to die.
You don't send it back afterthe first.
You know you got to cut it downthe middle and enjoy the
process that took place.
We know what we do.
We don't dry age sides of primebeef at hundreds and hundreds
(47:12):
of dollars to do it wrong.
You know what I mean.
We don't serve it for $80.
So Zayana can tell us we don'tknow what we're doing when we
have people who are experiencedin eating as a profession or as
a such a talent or a hobby thatit becomes their life, telling
us it's the best one they'veever had.
Yeah, so am I going to listento Olive Oil Girl or the fucking
(47:32):
ones that come in here?
Speaker 2 (47:33):
I think you should let them.
They can close it out and tellpeople what they really think.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
Yeah, I think so.
Let me just make sure I'm notmissing anything on this chick.
Speaker 2 (47:43):
I don't think she deserves any more time than this
.
Yeah, you're right.
That's why we work goodtogether.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
She'll stop me in this freaking crate.
Speaker 2 (47:50):
He'll get into this for a while.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
Say something about this fucking thing.
Go ahead and curse out.
Speaker 2 (47:54):
You know what?
Speaker 4 (47:55):
Fuck you.
That's it.
Speaker 5 (48:00):
Fuck you.
That's it.
Speaker 3 (48:02):
Couldn't have said it better, go fuck yourself.
Just got, so hot I'm going tobook you in there.
No, it's okay hey listen, wetake pride in what we're doing.
You're going to come here firstoff.
You start out from New York.
You know what?
Speaker 1 (48:13):
Right away, Right away you're from New York.
Speaker 3 (48:17):
Everything we got here is high quality products
and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
Now there are reviews out there that get our
attention.
None of that was one of them,because I know it's all her
opinion and I'm not basing whatI do and what we've done on her
opinion.
Right, exactly, and I'll takeit.
However, educate yourselfbefore you go online and get
tore up on my show, because wehave a way to come back and
we're going to clap Clap, clap,clap and we're going to clap
Clap, clap, clap.
We're going to clap back at you.
So here we are.
(48:43):
Anyway, guys, it was greattalking to you.
We're going to have anothershow, because you always got to
get the bugs out first.
Right, you got to get thenervousness out, and then we're
going to have a good show.
We're going to come backtogether here in the next season
three, yeah, based on theItalian-American traditions, and
we'll even maybe do somecooking and some experimenting
and shit like that.
Speaker 5 (49:00):
I think the cooking would be fun, it would be, fun.
Speaker 2 (49:02):
Oh, my God, I love it .
Speaker 1 (49:03):
So now we just get warmed up, and now our time is
up.
But anyhow, listen, I say itevery time great having you.
Ciao, for now, ciao, ciao.
Speaker 4 (49:12):
Alla prossima Arrivederci.
Okay, listen to this.
The Italian movement is real.
Here it is.
We got the Italian connection.
Matter of fact, we're all firstgeneration in a sense, and
fucking even more so, right?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
So here's what we hear.
This episode's gonna be funbecause you guys are full-on
Italian heritage, all cookedtogether.
We've all cooked together here.
You all work greatly underneathin my kitchen and it's fucking
amazing.
So we have a long history.
But first of all, we're goingto talk about a couple things
today.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
What are we?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
going to talk about.
We're going to talk about theItalian-American fucking food
versus Italy's food and themisconception.
Right, and that's the biggestthing.
We're going to talk about theItalian language in American.
Where did it come from?
How?
Meaning marone gabagool fuckingmortadella galamad right.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
What else Pasta di?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
mar, pasta di mar.
What else?
Ganoules, ganoules, bostechok.
Yeah, you know the svoyedel.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Svoyedel Prejute.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
What else?
Pasta fazool, pasta fazool,pasta fazool.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
That's a big one.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
So these are the things we're going to talk about
and kind of where they comefrom right.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Mariner, mariner, mariner.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
And the spaghetti, everything's spaghetti,
spaghetti, spaghetti,everything's spaghetti.
Pasta, rigatoni with sauce,spaghetti, gravy, gravy and what
the fuck is the gravy right?
So this is what we're going totalk about.
This is going to be fun.
This is going to be a learningexperience for me, so I want you
guys to introduce yourself realquick, and I'm going to show
you how diverse we are.
But yet we are from the samefucking place in a sense,
because all of our fuckingfamily is from the same boot, so
(01:33):
it's not like we're generationsremoved.
Here we have direct lineage,and Enzo here in the middle
literally became an Americancitizen yesterday, for became an
American citizen yesterday.
Cheers For real Congratulations.
You were studying that.
You were proud of that.
I remember how, watching himgetting excited and nervous
about it, right, and my fathergot his you know, they went and
got it.
It's got to be nerve-wrackingbecause it's a whole new culture
(01:56):
.
It would be like me going toItaly.
Even though I've gone theresince I was young and I go there
often more as an adult, youstill have to learn.
You don't learn that shit.
I can go to Italy 100 times ayear.
And what are you focusing on?
The historical balance of Italy, right, we're not looking at
who the president is.
(02:17):
We don't do that when we go toItaly.
When you come to America,you're not looking at what a
senator does and the preamble.
You're not looking for it.
So when you come here, you haveto learn something you've never
even expected.
So congratulations, bro.
That's amazing.
So, with that being said, we'regoing to tear this shit up
(02:38):
because we have some stuff tosay.
You're going to probably do alot of smiling.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
So I'm just going to sit back, because this is like
the tables are turned.
Now we have like all men and Ijust get to sit back and watch.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Italian guys talk and I'm only a quarter.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
My family is from Italy as well, but I'm two
generations removed.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
But your palate says it all.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You speak with the Italian tongue when you eat and
everything else.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And your mouth.
You like that too, so it works.
With that mouth You're right inthere With that mouth dude,
with that mouth dude.
So, andrea, go ahead andintroduce yourself where you
come real quick from, and thenwe'll go down the line.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
So I'm Andrea DiCarlo , originally from Brooklyn, new
York, moved to Virginia in 1988.
We opened up a familyrestaurant, cooked in it.
Me and Tony cooked for a longtime, became good, good friends.
Um, that's about it.
I spent all my summers in italy, every summer, until I was
about 13.
So, speaking fluently, um, lovefood, love the culture.
(03:34):
I mean, it's embedded in me, soit's the only culture that's
the only love.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Something else would be loving something else exactly
.
We are who, we are right, right, exactly, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
Enzo, I'm Vincenzo Di Vano and I come here 10 years
ago and I love this place, Ilove being in America.
It was my dream and finally,yesterday I got all my documents
.
And, to be good, to continuethis.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So you're on it.
So Enzo's the guy that comesinto town fucking Mr Italy, all
sexy with his long hair and hisabs and his six-packs and his
mom American dream.
Everybody American dream.
Yeah, you know, he's just aVespa short of the actual
fucking story.
We need to get you a Vespa bro.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, or did you get?
Speaker 4 (04:25):
me a Vespa, a Vespa, a Vespa, get you a scooter just
for here in Summit Point, it'sokay.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, right here, just right around.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Sal?
What about yourself?
My name is Sebastiano Ganci.
I was born here in NorthernVirginia.
I'm first generation Sicilian.
I've been doing restaurants.
That's just what I love to do.
I've been working for you for awhile.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Pizza's your game Pizza yeah, so your family's in
the pizza game Pretty mucheverything.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
We started out with the pizza.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Of course, the Sicilian pizza connection.
We all know what this is.
We all know what's going onaround here.
It's in my blood.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I love to cook.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So now your game is pasta now.
Now you're strong on the pasta.
So Seb makes all.
He's in charge of our pastaprogram, making all the fresh
pastas, the homemade pastas, theactual pasta.
Enzo steps in when he's off, soon down the line, the last
person who wants to touch itanymore is me.
So hopefully you guys' teamstays strong, but if I have to
get in there again, I will.
But however, of course,everybody knows me.
(05:23):
I'm chef antonio caruana.
This is our burnt handsperspective podcast with kristin
crawley, and we're about to getinto some fun shit right now
about this.
Uh, everybody knows and followsme as a chef.
My accolades are out there.
Just google my name and figureit out and, uh, I appreciate all
the support going into this.
So what do you want to talkabout?
First, andre, this is what Iwant to talk about.
Let me hear what you want wantto talk about Go ahead.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
I mean, there's so much.
There's so much to talk about.
Coming into the podcast, I wasthinking about sitting next to
Enzo he's from Naples and I'mfrom me, and Seba from Sicily.
How, in any other part of Italybesides Naples and Sicily, if
you ask them, they say Italian,I'm from Italy.
But if you ask someone fromSicily or from Naples, we're not
(06:03):
Italian, I'm Sicilian and he'sfrom Naples.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So it's almost like a sub-color.
My father would say Roma.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
It's different.
It's different.
South to north is verydifferent.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Sure, of course.
So the further north you go,you're getting a lot more of
that Deutschland, german,austrian, french.
Even If you're going up towardsPiemonte, in Milano, that has
got a lot more French influencebecause you're bordering the
French colonies up there and alot of the food and the
influence comes together.
So you have that corridor whereyou can go to Nice, france, and
(06:36):
experience some really good, ifnot the best, italian food,
whereas if you go up towardsPiemonte, you get a lot of
france, uh, france infusion andinfluence.
Yeah right, if you go towardsthe other side, you're going to
get a lot of the austrianinfluence.
When you're up top right, youmove down towards the middle.
To me I don't say it's middle,it's more south.
(06:58):
But when you go into napoli androma and stuff like that,
you're going to get the pureitalian, where you get a little
bit of the south.
You start creeping up into themiddle and now it just becomes
italian.
Where the kingdoms were beforeitaly was a country yeah am I
right?
you can correct this better thanme.
I'm trying to go from anitalian citizenship over here.
Okay, okay, so, so that that'swhat it is.
(07:20):
So when you go to napoli, roma,you're going to get a much more
true experience.
Now, when you get down towardsCalabria, in the southern part
of the boot of Italy, you'regoing to get some of that
Tunisian, northern African typeof influence, starting to touch
the food, which we know consistsof what?
Pepper, spice.
You know what I mean.
Brightness, sunshine, almondsand nuts, almonds, nuts, all
(07:42):
those things.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Chickpeas stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
What is it, bro?
Chickpeas, chickpeas.
Yeah right, exactly the saffron, All that stuff.
That's kind of influenced fromthe south.
So just as you go to the southof Italy getting influenced from
that part of the world, you goto the north and get influenced
from that part of the world,making it the fucking best food
to Okay.
And what most people don'tunderstand is when we go out,
you know, people go out forItalian food.
(08:04):
So people ask me what's your,is Italian food, your favorite
food?
Listen, it doesn't work thatway.
Chinese people don't go out forChinese, they go out to eat.
They eat, right.
So at home they'll.
Oh, I bet you eat Italian foodall the time.
Yeah, call it what you want,but pasta is pasta.
It's it'sian food, by yourjudgment, because you don't eat
it all the time.
(08:25):
Yeah, so they go out foritalian food, right, we just eat
right we just eat.
Yeah, we go out for vietnamesefood, we go out for american
food, we go out forcheeseburgers uh, we go out for
all that stuff.
Right, to us it's not italianfood, it's food, right.
Everyone else coming to thisrestaurant is coming for Italian
food, because we're producingthe food that we eat.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
And you do it differently here.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
And we do it differently.
So here, what we try and do andthis is where I want to touch
base with you guys, because youall have a different background
in cooking and your experiencewith food, right.
So my touch on things is Itravel around Italy, I'm
inspired by the differentregions, right, and I get
inspired to try and stick tothose regions and the rules of
(09:10):
them best I can, while trying tosatisfy the knowledge of the
American people.
So let's get into the subject.
This is the fun oneItalian-American food.
Italian-american food.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
It already starts laughing Now the Italians that
come here.
It's despicable you think it'sdisgusting, you know what I mean
.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
It's no good right, Mushad, everything's junk.
So you have that.
That's the Italian version ofthis right.
So, and there's understandablewhy, Understandable why so, when
we're calling it gabagool andit's not even close, say it.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Capicolo.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Capicolo Prosciutto, prosciutto, parmigiano-reggiano,
these are things.
Where's the parmesan?
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Parmesan.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Parmesan, you know, I understand.
They don't understand thelanguage, they don't get it.
I get the it deviates from theoriginal core right when it came
from.
So we have things likemortadella, right.
Mortadella goes back centuries,centuries, right, long time ago
, in that one little area, thatone kingdom, typically in
belonging to Italy, where itcomes from, am I wrong?
Speaker 5 (10:18):
No, you're right.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Okay, so let's fast forward now.
Oscar Meyer, 1978, 1970, 1985,1985, when I'm a kid, in a
yellow packet comes out and itsays bologna, and people are
calling it bologna, bologna, andthen it calls bologna.
See how the transition goes.
We're going from mortadella.
People came here from america.
(10:39):
They didn't have theingredients.
So the italians that came herefrom bologna wanted their
mortadella right, yeah, theycouldn't produce the mortadella
properly because they didn'thave the ingredients.
So the italians that came herefrom bologna wanted their
mortadella right, yeah, theycouldn't produce the mortadella
properly because they didn'thave the same indigenous
ingredients.
If you're living in new yorkcity back in the 1800s or early
1900s, where are you going toget the product to make
mortadella?
The fat, the pistachio, allthat stuff?
(10:59):
Where are you going to get it?
Right, you can't.
So they made the closest thingto it and they call it was
called bologna because it wasthe way of bologna, the way of
mortadella.
So then along came the way ofbologna, and then they changed
it and americanized it.
Now bologna comes frommortadella, which comes from
bologna, which is now bologna,bologna.
(11:20):
So see the transition here.
So a lot of people don'tunderstand where italian
american food got its historyand why it is what it is right.
People say fettuccine Alfredo,they want this.
People do what you're doing,but let's think about it.
It's not that bad for anAmerican, because it's what
they're used to.
That's their palate yeah.
(11:41):
What they tried to do atAlfredo's restaurant is it
happened by accident, thehistory of it came along and it
was really pleasing to thepalate, no different than Cacio
Pepe, right?
So Cacio Pepe, beautiful cheese, delicious.
Two different versionsParmigiano-Reggiano, pecorino,
romano, pepper technique.
(12:03):
Okay, well, you can have thesame technique, but you don't
have the same ingredients.
Back in 1965 or whenever it wasAlfredo, it was expensive, it
was expensive, it was hard toget.
So what do they do?
They take the cheese that theyhave.
You can't get the extractedcream because it's not that type
of cheese.
It's close but it's not.
(12:23):
So you have to add maybe alittle bit of cream to make it
like this.
This is how, trying to copy whatthey're used to cacio e pepe,
they've invented fettuccinealfredo because it wasn't the
best, but they had to havesomething close.
American people ate it becausethey've never had cacio pepe and
(12:44):
it's still good.
But it's not cacio pepe, right,it's not.
So where does it?
So when people say I wantfettuccine alfredo, I understand
it, I get it, but I alsounderstand where it came from,
so I can respect it differently.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, so a lot of people don'tunderstand that Chicken parmesan
.
There's no chicken parmesan,bro.
You go to Rome right now.
Is there chicken parmesan inRome?
Speaker 5 (13:04):
No, or in Napoli it doesn't exist in Italy.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
It doesn't exist, no.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
Chicken, parm, all this kind of food, american,
italian food doesn't exist.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
So when you come here , it's a culture shock for you.
Ten years ago you came here 10years ago and I got in one
restaurant.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
They used to do this kind of American Italian.
I was like I'll read the menuFettuccine Alfredo.
What's Fettuccine Alfredo?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Who the hell is.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Alfredo, I don't know how to make it.
Take a little bit of butter andput this.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And then they put the nutmeg sometimes.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
They were right.
What is this?
Speaker 5 (13:41):
I'm sorry, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
And then, when you taste it, you're expecting cacio
e pepe.
You're getting this watereddown version.
Yeah, creamy, thick, heavy,rich.
Three bites One dimensional, butto people who've never had the
real cacio e pepe fettuccine,alfredo is the second best thing
and they love it.
So that that's how this happens.
So the difference betweenItalian American food, even
(14:03):
going back to pizza, you don'teven going back to pizza.
So yeah, pizza.
You have a Napoli pizza.
This goes back a long time inhistory, right, and even in
Italy they have differentvariations of pizza.
There are some places inAmerica I feel I won't brag.
New Haven, connecticut, whereI'm from, has better pizza than
anything I've had in Italy.
And I travel the world and Ieat, I'm a chef, I do it, I've
(14:26):
gone to Italy very many timesand more times to count, and I
still haven't found a pizzabetter than that.
So is it because I'm from thereand that's my origin?
Is that where I started?
It goes backwards the same way.
So Italians come here andthey're so stuck on what they
(14:47):
know because it's where theystarted.
Do I think New Haven pizza isthe best because that's where I
started and I'm trying to run anostalgia?
Speaker 3 (14:55):
My nonna.
When she used to come here sheused to say New York style pizza
.
She loved it.
She loved it better than backhome.
She was in love with it too,new York style is kind of like a
Romana pizza.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
It's more thin, more crunchy at the bottom.
The big slice, the crust is nottoo fluffy, yeah, so that's why
you know I like it too, though.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I'm not going to lie.
Yeah, of course it is good.
It is good, but it has itsplace.
But you're from Napoli, bro.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Pizza Napoletana.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
There's nothing.
You're never going to convinceyou different, bro.
Forget it.
Fuck out of here.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
Get the fuck out of here with this shit.
Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
So now, when I went to Napoli, want pizza anywhere
else because I was used to it acertain way, a style right.
The first time I went to NaplesI had a pizza and it came to my
table, and right away and thisis years ago, a long time, I'm
young right away, I look at thisthing.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Sorry, you don't have to laugh at that.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
You know, you know that hurt.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
So I had this pizza and, yeah, it was so long ago.
It was probably back in the olddays when they were actually
making pizza, Making fire youknow, with sticks.
So this came to my table and I'mnot gonna lie, I looked at it
and I poked it like a, like afucking baby.
I'm like what the hell is goingon.
It looked like a pastry.
You know what I on?
It looked like a pastry.
You know what I mean.
It looked like a pastry.
It didn't look like a pizza tome and it wasn't cut or anything
(16:24):
.
And I'm like what am I going todo?
They don't cut it.
No, they don't cut it, so Ijust take out, rip it.
All the mozzarella falls off,its sauce is all dripping
everywhere.
And I'm trying to get myPellegrino, I'm pounding it, I'm
trying to get through thissituation.
And at the beginning I didn'tlike it.
It took me a long time to likeit.
(16:45):
Now I like it because Iunderstand it.
I'm cultured now.
I wasn't as cultured back thenand now it was just one way.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Well, you're used to what you're used to.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Right.
So now I get it, and that'swhat happened to me is I ate
that big dough ball and it wasjust soggy.
It just wasn't what I was usedto, right.
But the tomatoes, the cheeseand the basil, it was
outstanding.
So what did I do?
I brought my punk ass here backthen.
Years went by and I startedtrying to create a dough that
(17:16):
like the New Haven style or aNew York style with that style
of sauce, and there's now a fewpeople doing it and it works
well for me.
But I think that Napoli doughis.
I'm still not used to that.
It's so filling one slice.
You know what I mean.
The temperature they cook it.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
So hot, that it's like the dough puffs up and the
toppings barely just get hot.
And that's really the beauty ofit, is the honoring the
ingredients on there withoutlike overheating or overcooking
them.
Okay, that's what I think tooabout it is.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
There's a, there's a technique, and a lot of it has
to do with the heat of your oven, and if that heat of the oven
is off, this ab, tell me aboutthis absolutely come out like
shit comes out, like shit youryeast.
It doesn't rise, right, itdoesn't.
You're gonna burn the outsidebecause it's too much.
Oil is burning fast, burningfast.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
It's gonna be all weird like a cracker.
Yeah right, there's all typesof stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
So you have in New Haven.
There's a few places that havebeen doing it since the 20s,
1920s, and the ovens are stillrunning the same way.
So the consistency is the sameevery single time, and that's
the same way as it is in Naples.
I'm sure you know what I mean.
You go to and they have in acertain places you go in, like
here.
There's certain places youdon't go, even as a local.
Right, there's still shit theretoo.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
There's still bad food.
Yeah, I mean, do you thinkthere's bad food in certain
areas?
Speaker 5 (18:29):
yeah, yeah, you know someplace, then they just do it
because.
But they don't, because theydon't try to.
Um, I used to know, Upgradeupdate, yeah, update modern.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Modernizing me like they want to leave it like that
yeah right, but the traditionschange and people as they grow,
they experience more in theworld and in their palates open
up more and they want, yeah, andthey experience more.
Try new things now it right, andI think what happened here in
america with italian food,italian american food, is it got
so bastardized because peoplewere making so much money off of
(19:07):
it, because you can put amediocre time out there and it'd
be okay.
Olive garden, just put right,just put cheese cream and some
ham with a, with a tortellinithat's been frozen for seven
months yeah, you know what I,what I mean?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
People don't care.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
It comes out of the bag and half of it's white from
the freezer, burn and they eatit because it's still going to
be acceptable.
Yeah, and it's still for peoplewho don't go out and eat it at
all.
There's still a lot of flavorin those components.
Those ingredients just releasethings in your taste buds.
It's simple, Simple math.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
And they add more salt and they add things to make
you keep eating it.
Yeah, Right.
That's the American sad dietyeah.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
So I'm going to go down the line here.
Growing up, you're going to seedifferent things and there's
something that happened.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Typical Sunday meal at your house Pasta Forno, which
is like little ring pastas witha boneless ragu peas, and you
bake it like a lasagna uh,spadini veal, uh, wrapped,
skewered with the uh uh aricaprovolone inside and grilled
awesome um, those are good.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
So the spadini is like a spare, that's what.
So it's the stick almost like askewer yeah, like a skewer, you
roll the veal stuff.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
It's fucking amazing bay leaves and you grill it.
And then, uh, for us.
You know we own bakeries, sofor us, cassata, siciliana and
cannolis, literally on the table.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I'm going to have a cassata coffin for you when I
die.
You're going to be layinginside of it.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Cassata, cassata, coffin yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
If there's a tablecloth on the table, he's
like nice.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
If there's a tablecloth on the table, there's
a cassata and semolina bread.
If there's not those two things, someone's walking to the store
because dinner doesn't start tothose two things at the table.
That's pretty much what it wasMeatballs like the ragu people
call the ragu with the meatballsand the um sausage.
We used to put pig's feet in it.
(21:05):
Um, we did that occasionallybut for us it was weird because,
being first generation, likecutlets and chicken parm, my
family in italy doesn't eat it,yeah, but all my family here in
new york, including my uncles atall first generation cutlets on
the table.
It's almost like a given.
(21:25):
It has to be there for likesentimental reasons.
So I think that has to do a lotwith when everyone immigrated
here.
You know availability ofingredients, portability.
You know for people that workin the coal mines of the
factories, they want somethingthat they can just put on a
piece of bread and eat it, and Ithink part of it came from that
.
But we do it.
(21:45):
But like we go to Italy, nocutlets on my aunt's table,
nothing.
But when you go to Brooklyn, tomy uncle's house, there's
always cutlets and that comesalong in an Italian-American
deal.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
So we had the same thing and I used to love going
through my aunt's house and it'dbe the middle of the afternoon
There'd be a plate of chickencutlets with saran wrap over the
top and they were roomtemperature.
You just walk by, break a piece, put some lemonade and walk by,
but that smell of thebreadcrumb would sit and you'd
have the little TV on in thekitchen and you would always
smell.
You would smell the salt in thepasta water.
It resonates, and it was such asmall period of my life because
(22:19):
I was only a kid for this long.
You know what I mean.
We were kids for this long andwhat happened to us resonates
the rest of our life, as we know, good, bad or indifferent, no
matter what it is.
But when it comes to Italianpeople, I can speak for myself
that if you're this long of yourlife, this chapter as being a
kid is this long compared to the50 years I've been alive.
(22:41):
What seven or eight of themwhen I didn't understand what it
was, but it made me who I amnow.
The smells, the vibrance, justthe energy of it, the listening
to the memory.
There's something to be said.
When you take the sauce and youhave the sauce and you put the
ravioli on the table in a bowl,you smell the ricotta inside the
(23:01):
pasta.
You can smell this.
I could walk in your house andknow what you're cooking now or
what you're, what you're knowingnow your, your mom or anybody's
cooking I'm making, because Ican smell it when I'm walking in
door.
Yeah, oh, that's oh, they got,they got.
They got sausage and broccoliravioli.
You fucking shit me.
You walk down the street inBrooklyn or any little Italy
area and you can smell whatthey're cooking inside.
(23:22):
You know what I mean.
You want to go in there and doa house.
What do you call it?
A home invasion?
on that ass breaking andentering yeah so what about you
on a Sunday at home growing?
Speaker 5 (23:31):
up Sunday Naples, Naples.
It's like crazy because it'slike you got to every Sunday
meal.
You got to sacrifice yourselfBecause it's a lot of food.
You start with prosciuttomozzarella, you start smelling
the ragu, then Mom make.
When you wake up in the morning, you smell it With the bread
(23:53):
Before you start eating, you gowith the bread and the sauce.
Yeah, of course you starteating all the.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
They smack your hand.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Stop it, don't eat it .
Speaker 5 (24:02):
Prosciutto mozzarella gnocchi in the oven baked with
mozzarella.
Nice mozzarella from Naples.
Of course Buffalo Buffalo yeah,salsiccia friarielli,
prosciutto tracchulelle, coticadi maiale, that's all in the
ragu.
Come on, man.
And salsiccia frielli,parmigiana, a lot of food like
(24:27):
dessert, fruit, everything Likeyou start, like at 2 pm, you
finish around 7.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Every Sunday.
Every Sunday Wow.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's the best.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
And then by 9 o'clock , you start all over again, yeah
, and you start eating all theleftovers.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so but that's exactly how it is.
When you could smell whenthey're browning the meat inside
the pan, you're not even out ofbed yet and you know you could
smell the browning meat, thesausage and the oil before the
tomatoes even hit inside and youknow right away what time it is
and you already know it's goingto be a good day.
You know what I mean.
(25:01):
It's going to be a good daytoday.
What about you, Saab?
What happens?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
over there.
It was the best you know.
That was our alarm clock.
Wake up smelling tomato, basilin the air and all the pasta,
the chicken cutlets too.
We're the same way.
Pasta al forno.
On the left of the rings, weuse rigatoni.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
So ours is a little bit more.
You know this is different.
It's both still good, but thepasta al forno is.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
We all know.
No matter what pasta you use,it's the same basic principle.
You can either do it with aground meat type of ragu or
Bolognese style of sauce, or youcan do lamb beef.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Yeah.
And then some people put eggs,whatever eggs, beef, yeah.
And then some people put eggswhatever it is.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Pasta al forno is a thing that's gone away.
It needs to come back.
Can we bring it back or what?
Can people stop fucking aroundand get back to the pasta al
forno, please?
Speaker 2 (25:48):
You know what I mean.
Instead of the gravy.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I know that's what I'm saying.
We have a habit of makingthings ridiculously good, right,
and it ends up helping thecustomer here because we do it.
I do it just to try and impressthem.
Every time I test something, Igive it to them to try this, and
it's not because I'm trying toget approval, it's because I
already fucking know it's goodand I want you to feel this
Taste.
This man, this is good.
(26:13):
I want you to be happy.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Eat this, because I know it's going to put you in
the same spot it put me.
I'm not trying to impressnobody.
I've already done that.
I can do that, you know Ialready know that.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
I know I can cook, so I'm not worried about that.
But I want you to feel this,feel something.
You can hit somebody else andbe like.
You know, if you give it to anamerican person who does doesn't
have that background, they'lleat it and be like oh, that's
good chef.
Yeah, would you put in that?
Speaker 2 (26:34):
yeah, they don't know , would you put?
Speaker 1 (26:36):
that you should be eating it going.
Oh, shit, shit, I take it.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
But also the culture.
When you said, like the cultureshock for you guys coming here
because you're newer, likeyou've been here the least
amount of time of everybody, thedifference in cooking and men.
So in Italy, like in theculture, men cook, you learn to
cook, it's part of the culture,the passion and people feel that
here in the Us we don't havethat.
(27:02):
Most men don't cook.
So I mean, how shocking wasthat to you, like when, like
getting used to that, cominghere and women being like oh,
you can cook, like it'ssurprising I don't know it was.
Speaker 5 (27:13):
It was a good feeling because you know you gonna show
what you got and you bring allyour culture here and you know
you try your best to make a goodfood yeah and let them taste it
so I want to know this how Itravel the world and there's no
food better.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
I don't understand how much food culture is in that
peninsula.
Basically yeah you know, I meanthe, the country of italy is
that big, but if you look at it,when it comes to food, luxury,
craftsmanship, everything thatcomes out of that little
peninsula right there,concentrated in there, it's so
much in there.
The flavors, the indigenousflavors, truffle, truffle di
(27:52):
alba, tartufa di bionda, thewhite truffle, how is it?
Only right there.
The tree is a popular tree.
This is the name of the treethat grows popular and they grow
everywhere.
They're in Maine, they're inhere, they're in the woods over
here, it's everywhere.
But it only grows at the baseof those trees in that area.
How is this possible?
It's the Mecca of all things.
(28:14):
Good yeah, like to make aParmesan Reggiano wheel.
You know the 18 months, 24months.
If you go into those factorieswhere they're just lined up head
to ceiling, like this, andyou're walking down there,
people don't realize how goodyeah, you're walking down the
hall.
If you're walking through them,it's like the Red Seas, like
Moses, you're on biblical level.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Biblical cheese.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
You're in the Bible now.
Yeah, it's like that.
You know what I mean.
So did you ever wonder that,like when you come here, you go
to north carolina, people lovethe barbecue?
I understand, I get it.
You took the pig, you did whatyou did because you grew up on
that and it's good.
But in retrospect or comparison, they're missing so much of
this barbecue process that couldreally make this thing crazy
(28:59):
good, yeah, yeah but if I makethat for them, they're like it's
good, but it ain't like this.
And I'm not doubting them.
It's just how different regionsreact to food and how Italy and
Italians react to food.
To me, the only other place Ican see it two other places I
can see it is Thailand, becausethey are all about food there
(29:21):
too.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
They have a great food scene.
Food is amazing.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
And there's other countries out there, don't get
me wrong.
There's so many good countries.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I'm going to get Greece.
I mean, there's a lot of greatculture, food Thailand.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Thailand is good, If you ever eat Thailand they do
have Now you got to go.
Their ingredients areridiculous they have the
connection of food like we do.
It's a lot of indigenousingredients from the ground or
from the animal Very organic.
Very organic and it's veryfresh, very floral, very vibrant
.
Spices, noodles, yeah, and thatjust could be because it
(29:53):
reminds me of Italian food inthe way, the flavors are just
crazy.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
It is simple, but it's good.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
And it's on the opposite way of we eat Same type
of stuff they got the noodles,but it's good.
And it's on the opposite way ofwe eat Same type of stuff they
got the noodles, but they cookit with such different flavors
that it's a whole new world withthe same type of experience.
So if you go to that, that'samazing.
You just said Greece.
Believe it or not?
Fellas, we got some bad newshere.
This year is the first yearGreece beat Italy as the number
(30:19):
one food country, Really thisyear by one half of a point on
the judges' spectrum.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Half of a point.
Half of a point, okay 5.9 to 6.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
And I can't remember what scale it was, but it's a
big one that I followed foryears as a chef, okay, and for
the first time.
But now I go to Greece, yeah,much as I can.
I love Greece and they havesome phenomenal food, but we
share the same waters, the samefish the same thing.
So I'm not.
You know they do have somestuff that we don't.
That is good.
If you get some good fetacheese, all that stuff, I mean,
(30:48):
they do put together some reallygood things that are amazing
Octopus, octopus.
We're running that same thing.
And if you go even further, yougo to Spain.
They also have some good food.
The only thing I find withSpain is a lot of the
ingredients are kind of meshingthe same and they all have that
same.
I can check Spanish food rightnow from Spain.
(31:08):
You know what I mean Spanishfood.
I can smell it and I knowexactly what it is, where it is,
how it is and it's delicious.
Don't get me wrong, I love it.
You know their versions oftheir r is in the paellas and
all that stuff is amazing.
But I think that Italian foodand Italian American food is
some of the best food on theplanet.
That's all I'm going to fuckingsay.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
I think most people.
If you ask them what theirfavorite foods are in the world,
I think always in the top three.
Like, for anybody doesn'tmatter where they live, what
country, if you don't likeItalian food.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
I don't trust you.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
No, I don't trust you .
No, I don't trust you.
I can't trust you If you don'tlike.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Italian food.
I can't trust you.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
You're wearing a wire .
Get the fuck away Me personally, I only eat Italian.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
That's it when I go out.
If I don't eat Italian, I eat acheeseburger.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Yeah right, that's it .
I don't go out for a time.
I don't go Chinese, I don't goVietnamese.
There's no point really.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
My problem is I have a hard time going out.
Now I'll go to a nicesteakhouse, a Thai restaurant,
during the lunch.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
But I have a hard time going out, because no
matter what, even if I'm goingto a restaurant at the beach, I
still want at the pasta and Istill trying to look up to see
if they have any type of pasta.
Yeah, if not, I'll get a pizzawhatever, and I still want.
I still want that it's becauseI don't feel complete unless I'm
eating that way.
I want pasta on my plate, yeah,and I don't care what time it
is I want it now?
yeah, he knows what he's talkingabout, I know so.
So what about now?
What about these guys that aretaking the italian?
(32:36):
I'm watching these guys and I'mfollowing social media.
They fucking make me laughbecause they're all doing it
right, because they're exactlydoing what we did and we still
do, but we do it jokingly andthey're totally doing it
jokingly.
You know, I'm talking aboutthese.
Take care, brush your hair andand uh, hey, mo, and and what
else is the other guys?
uh, I can't remember yeah thoseguys, but they're all good guys,
(32:57):
they're funny and they reallyhit home with all this shit.
But as an italian, do youunderstand what's going on when
they're doing this, or do youfind it like mockery?
Like, uh like insulting or isit a joke, because we know what
they're?
Speaker 4 (33:10):
doing because we yeah yeah, um or is it funny to you?
Speaker 5 (33:15):
yeah, it's funny, but you know, sometimes I got
offended really yeah, yeah whythough?
Because they make a joke, theymake a fun of us yeah, they're
getting, they're getting.
That's the funny thing you'remaking money.
Real.
You know, like I don't knowlike I feel like offended a
little bit, I don't.
Here's the thing thing thatthey're making money.
That's the real.
You know, like I don't know,Like I feel like offended a
little bit, I don't here's thething, though I don't believe
(33:35):
that they're making fun ofItalian people.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
They're making fun of the Italian wannabe people, the
fugazi and the forget about it,and all that shit that's so
stereotypical.
You know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (33:47):
The movies Forget about you know what I mean.
Forget about get a bar like theold school mob movies.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Everyone thinks that that's the way everything is,
and it's not, man.
I you know what it's it.
But it's funny though, becauseit's we talk that way still,
yeah I asked the other day.
You know we laugh at it.
The gabagool give me a pass,yeah, pass right, no, never,
never murder.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
So it's, it's but it's.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
It's funny, though, because when you're walking
through the streets and you'rein Brooklyn, for instance,
that's where a lot of this stuffcomes from.
Yeah, and the gravy?
You know, believe it or not,gravy comes from Providence.
That term literally comes fromProvidence.
Speaker 5 (34:20):
Rhode Island is where that started at federal people
Think that a gravy is a saucenot American people, it a
certain few.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
I never thought of it but in Providence, raleigh is
where it came from, and then Ithink it worked its way to New
Jersey.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
Isn't that some gravy ?
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Yeah.
It's not a sauce, I think it'sa sauce, I would say, I think
it's a sauce, because I grew upin Midwest in Michigan, detroit.
So they called tomato saucegravy then.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
No, we called gravy gravy.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Tomato sauce was spaghetti.
You put gravy on turkey, rightTomato sauce was spaghetti.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
That's all we had.
We had spaghetti with red sauceon it.
That was just called spaghetti.
There was no different.
I never learned sauces until Imoved to Virginia.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
So right, that's exactly where I started, so
you're from the Midwest.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Where there's no Italian culture.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
I had no difference between marinara pomodoro
nothing.
Speaker 5 (35:02):
General sauce, yeah, red sauce.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
I'm the only person with an Italian grandmother who
did not cook.
She was the worst cook on theplanet.
What I mean?
Bad.
It was so bad we had to eat.
Holidays was the only she wouldput the jello with the
pistachio.
It was terrible.
Everything was terrible.
God rest her soul.
Speaker 4 (35:24):
She was a terrible cook.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Everything was well done burnt.
It was terrible.
Where was?
Speaker 4 (35:30):
she from in.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Italy.
My great-grandfather was fromPalermo.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
No offense, yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Just saying I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry to everyone
in Italian culture.
I had the one grandfather whocould not cook.
Bro listen, but when?
Speaker 1 (35:43):
I go to Italy.
There's plenty of people.
There are people too, there arehumans too, and it doesn't mean
just because you're.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Italian.
You know how to fucking cook.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
There's people there burning water trying to make
pasta it's the same thing, it'sjust there's less sucky people
at cooking there.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
So I never learned anything Like.
No, my great-grandmother neverspoke Italian, nothing.
They were very American.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Here's what scares me about the Italian heritage in
cooking.
It is really becoming an issue,because when we were growing up
whether you're in Italy, newHaven, brooklyn, it doesn't
matter there was Italianimmigrants and their young would
take on and do it.
So there'd be no problemwalking through an Italian
street and you smell the bakery.
You go inside, you get the loafof bread, you break it.
(36:27):
You have a choice between yoursourdough, your country, your
Tuscon or your fucking thatsemolina Bread, whatever it may
be, and you could break off thateat.
It is delicious, if fucking.
Now you can't do that anymore.
And it's not because peopledon't want it.
It's because the youngergenerations of Italians, the,
the fifth and sixth generations,could give a shit less.
They don't want it until theyget about 30 years old, and then
(36:50):
they want it again.
But now it's too late becausethe craft is gone.
Now you have to go to thegrocery store, the big package
grocery store, and get that crapthat they put there, and you're
just sitting there againchewing the fucking Naples dough
.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
It's okay, it's okay.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
He's about to have an aneurysm.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Yeah, I'm about to get shot, he's gonna throw
something he'll put in his twoweek notice.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
This is bullshit he's about to give up his
citizenship?
No, but you know what I?
Speaker 2 (37:21):
mean, I love Napoli pizza don't get me wrong, but
it's just a joke.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
However, when you eat that fucking stuff.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I wanna go, I wanna try we're all going my point is
though I want to try.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Oh yeah, we got to go , we're going, we're all going,
we're all going, we're not goingto go.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Well, yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
But my point is, though, is the craft is gone.
I'm trying and I'm no longerspring, I'm not young anymore.
I still think I'm young.
I still think I'm a youngergeneration trying to keep it
going.
Yeah, but I'm 50 years old man,I'm still thinking I'm a young
generation.
I'm the guy that needs to bereplaced soon, but I'm worried
about who the hell is going toreplace me, because the window
(37:57):
is closing, man, it's closing,and it scares me that people are
going to buy frozen meatballsand not learning how to make
their own.
If it's meatballs is your style, now we know in Italy,
meatballs isn't a big thing.
It's more of an appetizer.
You cook it in a sauce, giveyour sauce flavor, and then you
eat the meatball by itself.
Ricotta cheese, maybe somebread as a snack, or something
at lunch.
But the spaghetti and meatballthing, that's another
(38:20):
American-Italian thing, it's anadaptation.
It's an adaptation and behonest with you.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
We're just going to do his face.
We're going to do your face,like every time when it's made
right, it's not a bad deal.
No, when it's made right, it'snot a bad deal.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
I'd rather have a great bowl of spaghetti and
meatballs than a great steak.
You know, what I mean If I hada really good spaghetti and
meatballs I'm talking about agood one and a really good steak
.
I would rather have spaghettiand meatballs.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Do you?
Speaker 2 (38:48):
have the review.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
I do.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Okay, should we hit it.
So we need to hit so we alwaysdo at the end of these a bad
review, like someone who left abad comment online.
So he's going to read it andwe're going to let you you can
go off on them in Italian,because they won't know what
you're saying so curse them outin Italian yeah, yeah, it's your
moment.
It's your moment, it's yourmoment, sunshine, you're the
(39:13):
purebred.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
You're the purebred.
The fuckery amongst us all isreal and we talk some shit and
we have some fun and we cooksome great food and we say my
own.
We don't say mamma mia, do we?
Speaker 4 (39:28):
Mamma mia Sometimes, sometimes.
Yeah.
So I'm going to read thisreview.
We don't say mama mia, do we?
Speaker 1 (39:33):
mama mia sometimes, sometimes yeah, yeah, get into
it.
So I'm gonna read this review.
At the end of every episode, weused to read the reviews and
then we got so intense,sometimes with conversations
that are time, so now we'rebringing it back it's coming
back so italian job what it isis this we work our asses off,
we're in the kitchen, we'reproducing our culture's food,
and none us here, none of us,would let something slide
(39:55):
because it's not acceptable.
We wouldn't accept it.
It just doesn't happen Ifsomething's not broken, broken
sauce, too much cheese.
If something has to change, wechange it, we don't let it go
out.
So I know that part of it'scovered, right.
So I like to just attack andhere's one of my favorite ones,
because this is one of mybiggest pet peeves and I'll
explain it why.
Ready, I got to thank MissNikki over here.
(40:18):
Nikki went and got our as usualbehind the scenes over there
keeping it going.
I believe the restaurant isoverrated.
As a New Yorker, I'm familiarwith high quality food and
service, so my husband and Iwere eager to try this place
after relocating.
We arrived without reservationson a Friday night around 6 45
PM, only to be told that thehostess that we couldn't be
(40:41):
seated until 8 15 due to thelack of a reservation
Disappointed we head back to thecar.
I decided to check on Rezzy anddiscovered that there were
actually reservations availablestarting at 7.15 for every 15
minutes.
Thereafter, Feeling misled, Ireturned to the restaurant where
the hostess claimed a table hadsuddenly become available, but
I knew that wasn't true becauseof the amount of reservations
(41:02):
available.
When we were seated in the backroom, I noticed three
unoccupied tables.
Clearly I hadn't been told thetruth.
Once seated, my husband asked tosubstitute chicken for veal in
the dish, offering to pay thesame price, but the kitchen
refused.
We opted for $80 dry-agedribeye instead.
(41:24):
Unfortunately, the steak was amajor disappointment.
The exterior was tough and ithadn't been trimmed properly,
and the steak lacked tenderness,making it far from worth the
price.
I ordered the Wagyu meatballand the gnocchi from the special
menu.
The flavors were good, but thesauce was overly greasy, with a
(41:46):
pool of oil surrounding my plate, let's see.
Dessert was all right.
It was the highlight.
I recommend it Okay.
Overall, while the ambiance waspleasant, the food fell short
of expectations and the steak inparticular felt like a waste of
money.
All right Now I'm going to haveto say this You're absolutely
(42:09):
right, ziana, zaina, what do youcall it, zaina?
What does that say, right there?
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Zaina.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
You're absolutely right.
We absolutely lied to you.
That really happened.
We absolutely lied to you.
We did not want you to come inhere.
We don't want customers wemanipulate Rezi to lie and we
tell everybody they cannot comein.
That is why I have won the bestchef award in 2024.
Our restaurant that we producethe best fucking food.
(42:41):
We won every fucking awardpossible in the state of
Virginia locally.
That's why because we lie toyou we don't let no one in here.
It's all a joke.
So you're right.
You're absolutely right.
You nailed that one.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Yeah, genius, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
So this whole thing about you being a New Yorker-
Let Andrea take that.
Speaker 4 (43:03):
You know and and I hate when fucking people say
that, because it makes that'slike two percent of the people
that left new york because ofthat mentality that they go
other places and they flash itlike it's a badge.
Like I'm from new york, I'mexpert on fucking everything,
including italian food, justjust for starters.
Second, being from new yorkdoesn't make you an expert on
(43:23):
fucking italian food, especiallywith a non-italian name.
First of all, first.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
So so here's, here's my take on it.
Bro, I don't give a shit ifyou're from new york, new jersey
or anything.
Yeah, if a guy came here fromfucking rome and said this food
is not right now I'm going tolisten to you.
I don't cook New Yorkan food.
I cook Italian food.
We cook Italian culture.
I don't cook.
There's no New York food.
Yeah, what is New York food?
(43:49):
I understand people say I'mfrom New York.
Speaker 5 (43:51):
Some people think that New York is Italy.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
I know, bro, they tell me this.
Oh, they tell me this.
Speaker 5 (43:56):
Oh, I'm from New York .
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Tell the chef I'm from New York.
Hopefully this is good.
Trust me, I'm from New York.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
I don't give a shit.
What the fuck does that mean?
I'm from New York, okay.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
You're from New York.
What does that mean, bro?
You know how many shittyrestaurants are in New York.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
Yeah, there's a lot of shitty restaurants.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Do they even have a health department in New Yorkers
?
But the second you tell meyou're from New York, I'm going
to tell you right away I don'tgive a shit where you're from.
Yeah, it doesn't matter, youcould be from fucking Cincinnati
.
What does that mean?
I know, Okay, I'm not cookingNew York food, All right so
let's break down.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
We're going to let the sauce, like the saucier side
, go.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
Yeah, okay, let's see .
So the sauce.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
I'm sorry.
I guess they don't like oliveoil.
I don't know what to tell youreally, but really.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
was there a pool of oil in this?
What pool of?
Speaker 3 (44:42):
fuck was that?
We got a standard.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
What pool of oil is she talking about?
I don't think she understandswhat she's talking about.
Speaker 3 (44:48):
I don't know what she's talking about.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
So now, if you take a gnoc oil that you don't even
understand what you're eating,because I don't understand what
pool of oil you're talking aboutthis?
Is absolutely ridiculous.
These are the type of now, asfar as the lies, everything here
(45:09):
is reserved out.
Every night of the week, everydinner time, we are reserved
Everything.
If you walk in, customers willwalk in and they'll see some
tables open.
You walked in at 6.15, thosetables are going to be here at
6.45.
Again, I've said this a milliontimes.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
You can't sit out and eat 30 minutes.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
Right, it's waiting for the reservation.
It's not that we don't want you, we're just kind of snickering
a little bit that you thoughtyou can get into the best place
in town with no reservation andthen you're mad at us.
Okay, we welcome walk-ins, wewelcome everybody stuck up.
I'm only talking to this levelbecause I'm combating their
(45:43):
level of ignorance when they puta post like this online when my
staff is the reason we are whowe are.
Okay, I can't do it by myself.
There's no way it would happen,right?
So the whole team suffers.
When somebody says this, it'snot just me, this just hurts my
ego a little bit because it's,it's bullshit.
Um, the dry age steak.
Learn how to eat a dry-agedsteak.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
Right away, learn how to eat a dry-aged steak.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
When you have something that's been sitting on
a rack for 44 fucking days, thewhole point of it is to draw
out the moisture, let the musclefibers loosen on its own,
naturally, and then it breaksdown and becomes tender in its
own way because of the breakdownof elasticity in the muscle
fiber.
There's a lot of science to itand you have to know what it is
(46:22):
you're eating.
A lot of people think it stinks.
It does.
It has a funk on it.
It's been sitting there A lotof the times.
The outside is drier and alittle bit more chunky than the
middle, because it doesn't dryfrom the motherfucking inside
out.
It drives from the outside in.
So you trim it as much as youcan, but that is part of the
experience of eating it andpeople don't understand that.
(46:48):
So when they take the firstlittle bite of the first piece
and it's a little bit dry it'snot, the title is dry age it
might be a little dry in thefirst bite, Get into the middle
of it and you're going to die.
You don't send it back afterthe first.
You know you got to cut it downthe middle and enjoy the
process that took place.
We know what we do.
We don't dry age sides of primebeef at hundreds and hundreds
(47:12):
of dollars to do it wrong.
You know what I mean.
We don't serve it for $80.
So Zayana can tell us we don'tknow what we're doing when we
have people who are experiencedin eating as a profession or as
a such a talent or a hobby thatit becomes their life, telling
us it's the best one they'veever had.
Yeah, so am I going to listento Olive Oil Girl or the fucking
(47:32):
ones that come in here?
Speaker 2 (47:33):
I think you should let them.
They can close it out and tellpeople what they really think.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
Yeah, I think so.
Let me just make sure I'm notmissing anything on this chick.
Speaker 2 (47:43):
I don't think she deserves any more time than this
.
Yeah, you're right.
That's why we work goodtogether.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
She'll stop me in this freaking crate.
Speaker 2 (47:50):
He'll get into this for a while.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
Say something about this fucking thing.
Go ahead and curse out.
Speaker 2 (47:54):
You know what?
Speaker 4 (47:55):
Fuck you.
That's it.
Speaker 5 (48:00):
Fuck you.
That's it.
Speaker 3 (48:02):
Couldn't have said it better, go fuck yourself.
Just got, so hot I'm going tobook you in there.
No, it's okay hey listen, wetake pride in what we're doing.
You're going to come here firstoff.
You start out from New York.
You know what?
Speaker 1 (48:13):
Right away, Right away you're from New York.
Speaker 3 (48:17):
Everything we got here is high quality products
and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
Now there are reviews out there that get our
attention.
None of that was one of them,because I know it's all her
opinion and I'm not basing whatI do and what we've done on her
opinion.
Right, exactly, and I'll takeit.
However, educate yourselfbefore you go online and get
tore up on my show, because wehave a way to come back and
we're going to clap Clap, clap,clap and we're going to clap
Clap, clap, clap.
We're going to clap back at you.
So here we are.
(48:43):
Anyway, guys, it was greattalking to you.
We're going to have anothershow, because you always got to
get the bugs out first.
Right, you got to get thenervousness out, and then we're
going to have a good show.
We're going to come backtogether here in the next season
three, yeah, based on theItalian-American traditions, and
we'll even maybe do somecooking and some experimenting
and shit like that.
Speaker 5 (49:00):
I think the cooking would be fun, it would be, fun.
Speaker 2 (49:02):
Oh, my God, I love it .
Speaker 1 (49:03):
So now we just get warmed up, and now our time is
up.
But anyhow, listen, I say itevery time great having you.
Ciao, for now, ciao, ciao.
Speaker 4 (49:12):
Alla prossima Arrivederci.
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