Where to Actually Eat Well in NYC’s Little Italy
Manhattan’s Little Italy is home to a seemingly endless collection of overpriced, wildly mediocre restaurants packed with nostalgic tourists twirling spaghetti on their forks. Let’s face it: New Yorkers don’t eat in Little Italy. At least, they don’t really eat in the Little Italy of today, a honkytonk stretch of Mulberry Street north of Canal, ext...
Chef Tied To 'World's Best Restaurant' To Open New Gowanus Eatery
When Chef Paul D'Avino first started searching the five boroughs for a space to open his own restaurant, he envisioned opening an izakaya, or the Japanese version of a neighborhood bar. That was, until he found the storefront at 272 Third Ave. The corner space, it turns out, was across the street from where his great-grandfather had settled when he...
Buffalo’s Italian Cultural Center cooks up new video series with renowned pastry chef Camille Le Caër
Buffalo’s Italian Cultural Center at Delaware and Hertel is cooking up a new series on video with a renowned pastry chef. CCI Buffalo just announced a new partnership with chef Camille Le Caër, the new Youtube show will be filmed in the center’s state-of-the-art kitchen. Chef Camille has appeared on other cooking shows, had his own restaurant and w...
Coffee, Italian Style, in East Harlem
An Italian-style coffee roaster has come to East Harlem. Michele Maturo, a native of Milan and a coffee aficionado, is consulting with Jake Leonti, a professional roaster, to process green beans from various countries into blends, both Italian and American style, to sell retail and wholesale. Beyond the handsome dark navy brick facade punctuated wi...
Is Lodi Too Good for Rockefeller Center?
When somebody says a restaurant’s food is better than it has to be, it’s only half a compliment. Usually they mean that the food isn’t great, but it could be worse than it is and crowds would still keep coming because the place has other things going for it, like location or view. Lodi, an Italian cafe that touched down near the end of the summer i...
At Caffe Reggio, a Rich History is Poured into Every Cup
The café that made the first cappuccino in the United States is — like its coffee — still going strong thanks to second-generation owner Fabrizio Cavallacci. Born in Italy and brought to the United States as an infant, he grew up in the family business, as his mother bought Caffe Reggio in 1955, the year before his birth. For the last 30 years, he...
Primavera Pizza moves from Montauk to Mattituck
If you’ve visited Montauk in the past few years, you may recognize the name “Primavera Pizza” as you drive by the new red sign on Main Road in Mattituck. While it’s swapped one waterfront community for another, Primavera Pizza is indeed the same authentic New York pizzeria that used to service Montauk. “Montauk is a really small community,” said ow...
A Florentine sandwich takes over the Big Apple
1989. The Berlin Wall fell. Brazil had its first election in nearly three decades. Ana Oxa sang Ti lascerò at Sanremo. And, in the center of Florence, the Mazzanti family opened a small wine bar with snacks. Unknown to them, they would leave a legacy that would travel far. The family’s primary idea was to serve square sandwiches with fresh, seasona...
Longtime Italian bakery closes in Gates, at least for now
The Martusciello family, which has been baking Italian breads in the Rochester area since the late 1950s, is calling it quits — at least for now. Casa Saratoga, until recently known as Martusciello Bakery, has closed its doors at 2280 Lyell Ave. in Gates. "We're all taking a break," said Frank Martusciello, 68, who has been working in the family bu...
9 Places to Scoop Up Light and Airy Tiramisu in NYC
Tiramisu is as ubiquitous on Italian menus as pasta. And just like pasta, not all tiramisu are equal. The key to success is in its name: “Tira mi su” translates literally to “lift me up”— wherein lies the secret. The lighter the lift, the better the dessert. And this is what makes tiramisu so coveted; it’s not an easy lift, so to speak. A great tir...
At DiTondo, a new generation of Italian classics
After a century of feeding Buffalonians at 370 Seneca St., DiTondo’s Tavern served its last spaghetti parm on Oct. 16, 2018. Three years later, DiTondo opened at the same address, with an Italian-from-Italy chef offering regional Italian cuisine, like Calabrian swordfish rolls Scilla style, focaccia Pugliese with tomatoes and olives, and gnocchi wi...
Bellucci Is Back: Infamous Pizza Chef Opens Another Astoria Spot
Infamous pizza chef Andrew Bellucci is opening a pizzeria in Astoria down the street from another slice joint that he helped open, and then walked out of, last year. Bellucci's Pizzeria will start taking orders out of 37-08 30th Avenue in the next couple of weeks, Bellucci told Patch on Jan. 18. (Eater was the first to report this story.) This n...