“It’s the weirdest thing in the world. I mean, sometimes you’ll get a great piece of pizza at a gas station and you’re just like ‘What?’” Stanley Tucci said on the Rich Eisen show while promoting the first season of Searching for Italy. And that’s why I take my American friends and family who come to visit me in Italy to gas stations. I know it see...

When you’re planning to dine out but aren’t up for challenging “new” food, or trying to find Downtown parking, go where you know comfort food and the neighborhood family vibe are king—go to Capri di Nuovo in West Allis. This much beloved Italian restaurant, which was operated as simply “Capri” under the previous owners, has maintained much of its f...

Lee's Farmers Market looks like a little house tucked away off of Highway 17 in Murrells Inlet, SC, near Myrtle Beach. The Italian market is owned by Scott Lee and Ed “Skeeter” Dombrowski, who ironically are not Italian but are from the northeast. It opened in 1999 as a produce stand, because that was Skeeter's background. Then he brought in the ch...

In 2023, dairy producers and commercial operators within the Consortium of Parmigiano Reggiano PDO navigated a challenging landscape, marked by macroeconomic uncertainties and inflationary pressures dampening household purchasing power.  Despite these headwinds, the past year proved notably buoyant. Overall, consumer turnover for Parmigiano Reggian...

Mia Sorella 202, a new Italian restaurant, has officially opened on the Bridgewater and Branchburg border. Mia Sorella 202 opened on Tuesday, March 26 at 793 Route 202 in Bridgewater between the Milltown Road intersection and the North Branch River. The location was formerly home to a slew of businesses including a COVID-19 testing site during the...

Forty minutes drive from Ragusa or Noto, and nestled within a valley formed by four hills, lies the spectacular town of Modica. One of eight UNESCO Heritage ‘Val di Noto’ towns and cities in south-eastern Sicily whose architectural landscape changed forever following the devastating earthquake of 1693, the medieval old town once carved into rock ha...

Russo's New York Pizzeria & Italian Kitchen is set to open a multi-unit location in San Joaquin, Danville, Stockton, Modesto, California, in the summer of 2024. The Upscale Pizza restaurants will be owned and operated by first-time franchisees Dr. Shaukat Shah and his son Asad Shah. The California location will be our casual pizza & Italian Restaur...

It's rare to have a dining experience that's so enjoyable you feel as though you're at a close friend's home. That's exactly how my friend Nicole and I felt during our recent dinner at Maisano’s Little Italian Kitchen, at 7831 Cleveland Ave. NW. Before the grand opening of Maisano’s, I had a lengthy conversation with Therese Maisano Schneider, who...

Nutty and crumbly, rainbow cookies certainly make a colorful statement on a dessert tray featuring three times the color. The traditional cookie is colored red, white, and green after the Italian flag. Given the homage, diners likely think that the dessert originated in Italy. However, rainbow cookies were actually created in America, although they...

There are many versions of pizza. Some deny it. Others accept it. We have cheese pizzas, pizzas with basil, thin, round, and square pizzas, Chicago pizza, New York pizza, and much more. With plenty of fast food slices as well as freezer buys from the grocery store, pizza is beyond popular. And with how popular this food is, the question of where ou...