My new book, Dirty Dishes, that I wrote with the great help and talent of Andrew Friedman is now available. I am delighted that we’ve already had favorable reviews by the NY Post and blogger Josh Ozersky of The Feedbag.
In the book I tell my story. I’d like for the book to do well, but I’ll tell you the punch line - I love cooking. Cooking is my passion. I love the creativity involved in cooking and the joy of sharing a meal with friends and family. Cooking has been my passion, my quest, my joy throughout my life.
This passion, and the reality of living in America and speaking only Italian, led me to open a restaurant, and the success of first the led to the 2nd, and a 3rd, … You can order the book at Amazon.
Cooking is who I am.
I cook because I love to eat. I cook because I love to share the meals I make with my family and friends. I cook because it’s my livelihood.
I have been in the restaurant business since I came to America from Italy in 1981. I worked in other people’s restaurants and soon opened my own restaurant, Il Cantinori, in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village.
Over the years, alongside getting married and raising three children, I have opened 16 restaurants and written five cookbooks. Cooking is my life, what I love to do, how I live, and how I make my living.
And after all this cooking, am I tired of cooking? Not at all. Eating is like breathing for me – it’s the oxygen of life. Cooking is creativity and passion.
I cook for my family to share my love of it with my wife and my children. “I am going to make a delicious meal with you while we sing Italian Pop Songs, and we’ll share the meal with a delicious wine and stories of the week.” When we come to the table to share our Sunday supper, we connect. Savoring the bounty of the seasons, unwinding in the methodical process of chopping vegetables, joining together in conversation over the meditative trance of stirring risottos, and relaxing to the rhythm of the pasta tumbling in boiling water – we connect.
I have created this Web site to share my love of cooking with you. I hope you will enjoy cooking, and share this love with your family and friends in your home.