During those first few weeks of the Covid-19 outbreak, the Rome newspaper Il Foglio ran a panicky headline that proclaimed “La morte del bacio” (The Death of Kissing). In the age of social distancing, Italians wondered if smooching would soon go the way of the Roman Empire. One hundred and forty miles down the coast, in Naples, where restaurants we...

The eldest brother refers to theirs as a "traditional Italian American upbringing" in Cleveland. Extended family members, he says, were "always forming businesses together and running them together ... sort of the immigrant-family kind of dynamic." So, of course, when Anthony Russo and his younger brother, Joe Russo, decided to become filmmakers, t...

Tucked into Decatur Street in the middle of New Orleans’ French Quarter, Central Grocery and Deli is a third generation, old-fashioned grocery store founded in 1906 by Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian immigrant who was famous for creating the muffuletta. The 115-year-old shop hasn’t changed, and the muffuletta has been sliced and carved the exact same wa...

In our culture we have lost our connection to cooking,” says Teresa Lust, author of "A Blissful Feast, Culinary Adventures in Italy’s Piedmont, Maremma, and Le Marche" ( Pegasus Books 2020; $19.19 Amazon hardcover price). The book was The Readable Feast’s 2020 winner for Best of Food Memoir. Lust, who teaches Italian at Dartmouth University in New...

The pandemic has been devastating to musicians who depend on performances to make a living. Thankfully, Frankie’s Old World Italian Bakery and Café has stepped in to help. Frankie Mamone is the founder of the Cathedral City restaurant. He and his team are behind Project Bread for Musicians, an initiative in which Mamone gives bread to those who don...

Thick, sweet, and creamy: the holy trinity of a world-renowned spread made of hazelnuts, the then substitute to the scarcity of cocoa and the foundation of its fame and fortune. For the taste buds that cry out for sugary delight in breakfast, lathering a spoonful of this gooey cream on toast, pancakes, waffles or a bowl of oatmeal curbs the sweet-t...

Eric Nittolo has lived in Northern Michigan for much of his life. Now, he’s setting out to open his own restaurant in Lake Leelanau, Nittolo’s Pizza, to celebrate good company and good food. “My son Dominic is spear heading it and my whole family is just going to be involved in the summer,” said Nittolo He says for their grand opening on Saturday,...

La Bottega, a high-end Italian market and café from Italy's famed Cipriani family, will make its debut next year at the family's Mr. C Residences in Coconut Grove. Located within the new residential development across the street from Regatta Park, the 5,250-square-foot restaurant and marketplace will offer a selection of imported foods along with h...

Philip M. Mancuso was an institution in his own right, a master cheese maker, raconteur, and water ice wizard who proudly maintained his family’s 81-year-old Italian grocery on East Passyunk Avenue, where he often handed slices of his legendary fresh ricotta to customers with a song. Angelo R. Scuderi led the behind-the-scenes career of a night bak...

A recipe inviting people to add cherry tomatoes to carbonara has caused an outcry, particularly among Italians, after it was published in The New York Times. The newspaper's cooking contributor Kay Chun suggested that tomatoes would “lend a bright tang" to the classic dish, a staple of Italian cuisine. The backlash on social media was instant and s...