Chefs of New York expands into downtown Modesto
Vinny Altadonna is about the most colorful person I have interviewed since starting this column and certainly the most expressive. Altadonna recently opened Chefs of New York in downtown Modesto. The restaurant is an offshoot of Chefs of New York on Oakdale Road, which Altadonna bought in 2006, almost on a whim. At the time, Altadonna said, he...
Rita’s West LA’s Grand Opening Will Offer Complimentary Italian Ice for a Year to First 50 Customers
Rita's Italian Ice of West LA is offering Angelenos an incredible giveaway that will generate chills at its official grand opening Friday, September 12, 2014. Presenting a unique blend of Italian Ice and old-fashioned frozen custard, first recognized and loved by East Coasters, every guest who visits the West LA location during the grand o...
Mario Batali Launches Organic Line of Cured Meats with Belcampo
Celebrity chef and Daily Meal Council member Mario Batali has partnered with California's Belcampo Meat Co. for a special line of organic, slow-cured salumi products, featuring both traditional Italian and Italian-American curing techniques. Using Belcampo Farms' free-range heritage pork, Belcampo by Mario Batali features traditional salami, s...
Oakland's Genova Delicatessen Closing After 90 Years
Sad news for fans of one of the cornerstone businesses of Oakland's Temescal neighborhood: Genova Delicatessen is packing it in and closing up shop later this week, on April 30. The Italian deli is, as the Mercury-News tells it, one of the last reminders of Temescal's long-ago identity as an Italian-American enclave, and the same family, the DeVinc...
Toscana Café & Wine Bar is the perfect convention dining spot in San Diego, CA
by Chelsea Madren Sean Shoja, proprietor of ASAN Restaurant Concepts, is a great restaurateur of San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter. In 2007, he purchased a coffee shop on the corner of 5th and K Streets and renovated it into Toscana Café & Wine Bar. Within very short walking distance from the San Diego Convention Center, it's the perfect set...
Making it in America: Family business spelled success for Italian Americans
The bay area is an eclectic mix of houses and people reflecting a unique blending of styles and cultures. Perhaps that's why this area was the chosen home for my Italian grandparents, uncles and aunts who came to America during the great Migration. The different styles and backgrounds they brought with them grace our family heritage with p...
Spin Neapolitan Pizza pushes further into California
Spin Neapolitan Pizza is continuing to aggressively expand into California.Its first franchisee, Hofman Hospitality Group, has sealed plans for another two restaurants in Orange County, Calif. It's part of the group's plans to open 37 Spin restaurants in the state over the next decade. In December 2013, one restaurant will open in Los Alamitos at...
This isn't your father's pasta: The future of Italian cuisine has arrived
The future of Italian cuisine has arrived. And while it's nothing short of a revolution in Los Angeles, it's a movement that has mostly evaded Orange County. It used to be that if you went out for Italian cuisine, you knew what to expect. You knew before you got there exactly what you would be eating: Caprese salad, fried calamari, brusche...
Taste of the Valley
After three years at the culinary helm of the Michelin-recommended restaurant and bar Goose & Gander, in St. Helena, chef Kelly McCown will be returning to Sacramento to join the corporate team at Selland Family Restaurants (SFR). McCown cites his excitement for the expanding dining scene in Sacramento and the desire to work again with the SFR...
Vino California: the leading Italian wine showcase on the West Coast
by Valerio Viale On May 12th, a grand celebration of the best wine varietals from across the Italian peninsula took place at Valentino restaurant in Santa Monica. The fifth annual edition of Vino California, the leading showcase of its kind on the West Coast, was organized by the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce West (IACCW), a private...
A Rich Nod to Old Elegance
Few of the old-school Italian restaurants remain in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood — the kind of places where the waiters wear red jackets, the wine list is bound in leather and the menu's size makes it hard to see one's tablemates. As if to accentuate their difference from the down-market chianti-bottle-and-checkered-tablecloth trattori...
Q&A: Francis Ford Coppola Explains His Passion For Wine
by Larry Olmsted Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola is still best known for his movies, especially his early successes Patton, Apocalypse Now, and the mega-hits, The Godfather and the Godfather Part II, which have become two of the most lauded and popular films in history. All of these critically acclaimed bombshells were made in the 1970s, an...