Italian chef explores Alaska cuisine in Fairbanks
By Kevin Baird Chef Alberto Bessi, of Fanano, Italy, spent the past week in Fairbanks, and, after the eye-opening experience, he is planning to visit next year. When he was asked about his experience with cooking moose meat and eating it, the chef's eyes widened and a smile crossed his face. With only a small grasp of the English language, he...
Digging Into Carbone
One of the most buzzed-about restaurant openings of the next few months is Carbone, which is slated to open its doors in Aria in October. The restaurant is a spinoff of the popular Greenwich Village restaurant of the same name, which is known for its Italian-American cuisine and tableside preparations, and which was a finalist for the James Beard a...
Nora’s Italian Cuisine Passed Down to the Next Generation
By Al Mancini When Marcello Mauro and his parents broke ground on his new restaurant on January 26, it signified a passing of the torch. When Marcello was still in high school, his parents, Nora and Gino, handled the day-to-day operations of the original 12-seat Nora's Italian Cuisinewhich opened in 1991. Today, Nora and Gino are...
Station Casinos Teams With Tony Gemignani to Open Three Restaurants This Spring
Station Casinos LLC is partnering with 11-time World Pizza Champion Tony Gemignani to open three new restaurants in spring 2015. New eateries include Slice House by Tony Gemignani and the award-winning Pizza Rock, both joining Green Valley Ranch Resort, and Little Tony's, a new Italian concept opening at Palace Station. Read more...
A look inside Merlino Foods, supplier to Seattle’s best restaurants
What do Seattle's best restaurants have in common? If you’ve eaten at Ba Bar, Bar del Corso, Bar Sajor, Barjot, Belle Epicurean, Bitterroot BBQ, the Blind Pig Bistro or the Boat Street Cafe, you’ve eaten Merlino Foods — and that’s just a few highlights from the B’s. The printout of their customer list is half an inch thick. Merlino’s — tha...
Le Nonne: A little taste of Italy in Logan
Spring break is a perfect time to take a trip with friends. Most people I chat with are headed somewhere beautiful and warm, like California or Mexico. I almost feel left out, but then I remember... I'm going to Italy for spring break! Le Nonne is literally two minutes from my apartment. All I have to do is drive, park and walk in the door...
Reno's Great Italian Festival gives crowds a nostalgic feel of home
Italian sausage, herbs, wine – lots of wine – and the Lazzarone secret family ingredient were just a few things Gina Lazzarone was cooking up early Sunday for the annual Eldorado Great Italian Festival in downtown Reno. Her grandmother's sauce has been a tradition in the festival's sauce-cookers competition, and after 33 years, it finally...
Daytripper: A taste of Italy in Portland
Take I-5 South toward Portland, Ore. Once in Portland, do yourself a scenic favor and ride into downtown via the Fremont Bridge. It’s majestic. Other transportation options include the train, which has wonderful scenic views in the daytime. Plus the architecture and interiors of the Seattle and Portland stations are a sight to see. For mor...
Entertainment Diet: John Arena
John Arena started making pizzas professionally in 1967, at age 13, in his family's pizzeria in New York. He and his cousin Sam Facchini came to Las Vegas from New York in 1980, driving a borrowed car. They had freshly minted college degrees — Arena's in communications, Facchini's in accounting — but they'd end up opening a pizzeria; all they had,...
Italian Festival of Arizona in Scottsdale, 3/21-22
You might feel like you're in Venice if you visit the Italian Festival of Arizona this weekend at SouthBridge in Scottsdale. Umbrella-shaded tables will be placed along the bridge to re-create the ambiance of the canal-laced city in northeastern Italy. "People can look over the canal while they eat dinner, kind of like you're in Venic...
First-time diners get warm welcome at North Beach Italian Bistro
By Heidi Knapp Rinella Tips come in from many different places, and in this case it was a regular reader and dedicated fan of a restaurant who just wouldn't give up. But, I told him, I'd looked at the menu on the restaurant's website and didn't think it was much different from any other Italian restaurant in the valley. Ah, but he tol...
Renata’s Figlia Americana Officially Opens December 23, Menus Revealed
by Mattie John Bamman Figlia Americana, the new Italian-American cafe serving breakfast and lunch, opens Friday, December 23, at 1100 SE Grand Ave. (inside the Rejuvenation lighting and hardware store). Figlia is the follow-up to Renata (The Oregonian's 2015 Restaurant of the Year), and owners Sandra and Nick Arnerich say they hadn't plann...