Mia Lucci’s a mix of Italian style, casual fare
By Caroline Lee In an Adirondack-style building on Central Avenue, where Truman's Restaurant used to be, Mia Lucci's, a new restaurant, makes wood-fired pizza and other casual food. Traditional Adirondack-style buildings are made with materials from the environment in which they are found, and they are designed to bring serenity to the surrou...
DaVinci’s Eataly and Italian Market Well Received in Ship Bottom
By Maria Scandale DaVinci's, in Ship Bottom, one of a very few new Island businesses to open this summer, quickly gained repeat customers to its inviting Eataly and Italian market. "Eataly" is a created word, and it does require a more made-to-order term than "eatery" to describe DaVinci's. Owners Marc and Virginia Zanone coaxed flavor an...
Carluccio’s opens 2nd U.S. location at Pike & Rose
U.K.-based Carluccio's, a chain of Italian markets and restaurants named after British TV chef and cookbook author Antonio Carluccio, opened its second U.S. location in North Bethesda at the Pike & Rose development Monday. Carluccio's opened its first U.S. location in Old Town Alexandria last year. It has more than 100 locations throug...
Long-awaited restaurant finally racing toward opening at Monmouth Park
Plans for building a new restaurant at historic Monmouth Park Racetrack have been in the works since 2012, but destruction from Hurricane Sandy temporarily delayed the project. Nearly two years later, in 2014, ground was broken on the planned mid- to high-end restaurant, as well as a planned 7,500-seat amphitheater that was also subsequent...
Gnocco offers an intimate experience at the bar
By Wesley Case In June, chef-owner Brian Lavin opened Gnocco, a love letter to his time not long ago studying abroad — and eating and drinking — through Italy and Spain as a University of Maryland, College Park student. An August Baltimore Sun review of Lavin's cuisine called the Brewers Hill establishment "a restaurant you don't want to overlook....
Bryan Voltaggio to open restaurant in Baltimore
By Richard Gorelick Bryan Voltaggio, the chef behind the acclaimed restaurants Volt and Family Meal in his hometown of Frederick, and Range in Washington, will open his first restaurant in Baltimore. The restaurant, Aggio, will be Voltaggio's second Italian fine-dining restaurant. It will open at 616 Water St., in the space now occupied by Tatu A...
New agreement signed by Italian Culinary University and the United States
The agreement was signed in Washington nearly one month ago. The two parties involved are Uds (Università dei Sapori, lit. Culinary University), a Perugia-based centre occupied with culture and education about food, and the Art Institute, a group of colleges with a total of fifty locations across Canada and the US, counting around 70 thousand stude...
Retired chef receives President’s Medallion
John Minniti of Treasure Island, a retired chef from New Jersey, was among 22 foodservice professionals nationwide to be honored with President's Medallions at the American Culinary Federation convention in Orlando July 30-Aug. 3. The medallions honor those who contribute significantly to the culinary profession. Minniti has been gran...
Italian Restaurant Piattino Opens its Second New Jersey Location
By Patrick Lombardi Summit shines with culture and entertainment, and with Piattino opening its doors, the borough just got a little brighter. This traditional Italian restaurant features a dining area reminiscent of an elegant Brooklyn eatery and is fit for a number of outings, from romantic date nights to dinners out with friends. There is even...
Raise Your Glass For The 11th Annual Highlandtown Wine Festival
by Ron Matz The bells of Our Lady of Pompei, the white marble steps, DiPasquale's Italian Marketplace: This is Highlandtown. "It started out as a campfire sort of thing in the courtyard of the church," said Joe DiPasquale, festival. "A few wine makers showed up. We compared our wines, and now we usually have about 1000 people, and the...
N.J.'s best Italian restaurant: Is this really 'the world's best spaghetti'?
The sign at both Joe Italiano's Maplewood Inn locations — in Mays Landing and Hammonton — leaves no room for debate. "Home of the World's Best Spaghetti.'' The Hammonton restaurant is one of 40 semifinalists in our search for N.J.'s best Italian restaurant. We started with reader recommendations for 450 restaurants, all of which were...
Andrea's hopes to meet challenge of competitive restaurant business
Andrea Maletta-Bussel has a clear picture of the type of eating establishment she wants "Andrea's'' to be. Now it is her challenge to make the West Mill Road restaurant that is named after her to meet the lofty goals she has set. "My vision is a really pretty place to go in the area,'' Maleta-Bussel said. "There is nothing else around...