THIS WEEK
AS LA GRENOUILLE RE-OPENS
IS THE FUTURE OF
FINE DINING IN DOUBT?
By John Mariani NEW YORK CORNER
PERIYALI
By John Mariani
THE MAGDALENE LAUNDRIES
CHAPTER THREE
By John Mariani
NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
BIG RED WINES FOR
A VERY COLD WINTER By John Mariani
❖❖❖
LA
GRENOUILLE RE-OPENS BUT
THE BUILDING'S UP FOR SALE.
IS THE FUTURE OF
FINE DINING IN DOUBT?
By John
Mariani
Is the Frog Pond drying up? That
was the nickname for New York’s most famous
high-end French restaurant, La Grenouille,
long known for its fashion and power crowds,
attracting everyone from Charlie
Chaplin, Sir Laurence Olivier and
Paul Newman toLiz
Taylor, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and Mick
Jagger, and (below) Jackie and
Aristotle Onassis. Now, closed since last fall, La
Grenouille’s is finally re-opening this month,
but the building is for sale. It brings up
again the question of whether or not fine
French dining is fading. Of all the city’s
surviving classic French restaurants of dozens
that once dotted midtown Manhattan—dubbed the
“Le and La crowd”—La Grenouille was immune to
culinary trends and changes in the way people
preferred to eat out in the 21st century. Famous
for its huge flower displays, archaic gilded
luxury and snooty waiters in tuxedos and
overseen by the Masson family since opening in
1962, its clientele was rigorously faithful
and for the next three decades grew an
increasing number of Asians to its tables. In their heyday Monsieur Charles and
Madame Gisele would prowl their dining room as
if giving a papal blessing to those guests
they favored and a stiffened chin to those
they did not. The death of the senior Massons
drove their sons Philippe and Charles Jr
(below) to titanic battles of will, with
Philippe finally taking control until its
closure. And so, La
Grenouille follows in the wake of other
illustrious French restaurants like Lutèce, La
Caravelle, La Côte Basque and Le Périgord.
Their demise seemed to indicate that that
effusive style of dining, with starched white
tablecloths, red banquettes, vases of roses
and open display of cold appetizers was due to
a younger, less sophisticated public’s
distaste for formality and for what was
perceived as the snobbish French hauteur used
to put people in their place rather than
merely seat them. Yet, a closer look at the history of
such restaurants, and the thriving of haute
cuisine restaurants that have replaced them,
shows only that there were once more of
them—many merely copycats of each other in
décor and menu, with varying degrees of
quality. More
important, as with any industry, and
especially the highly competitive restaurant
business in New York, places like La
Grenouille closed for all sorts of reasons
that had nothing to do with falling out of
favor. The historic fact is that most of the
old-line French palaces closed for the same
reasons many businesses do: Le Pavillon, which
came out of the 1939 New York’s World’s Fair,
reigned for decades before its owner, Henri
Soulé (left), died and his successor
failed to carry on; The deaths of
paterfamilias of Le Veau d’Or, Le Cirque and
Le Périgord robbed regulars of the cosseting
they’d come to cherish. Lutèce, whose chef
André Soltner owned the restaurant’s
townhouse,simply retired at the age of 72; so,
too, did the owners of La Côte Basque and La
Petite Marmite. The owners of La Caravelle
lost their lease after the landlord tried to
hike the rent exorbitantly. Yet, French haute cuisine in stunning,
newer restaurants thrives in New York. Getting
a table at Restaurant Daniel, whose owner
Daniel Boulud opened a new version of Le
Pavillon in
2022, is as tough as ever, just as it is at
Jean-Georges, Le CouCou, Essential by
Christophe and L’Abeille. Meanwhile, the
French seafood restaurant Le Bernardin is at
the top of every list as one of the best
restaurants in the world. Even if not French
by name, haute cuisine restaurants like Per Se
are booked weeks in advance. Numerous other very high-end luxury
restaurants are also packed every night whose
chefs were trained in French kitchens, like
the vegetarian Eleven Madison Park, Blue Hill,
The Modern, Gotham and Gramercy Tavern, which
all serve the kinds of dishes that have always
been part of the French repertoire. Add
to those the somewhat less expensive, more
casual restaurants like Daniel Boulud’s Le
Gigot, Boulud Sud and Café Boulud, Alain
Ducasse’s Benoit, the trendy bistros
Frenchette and Pastis, the long-running La
Goulue, the Japanese-inflected 15 East
Tocqueville, old standbys like Café Luxembourg
and Chez Napoleonand
the impossible to get into Balthazar (left),
and you’ll find French food of every stripe
all over town, from SoHo to the Upper West
Side and Brooklyn. The expansiveness and
diversity of all kinds of restaurants in New
York has never been more astounding,
especially in light of the Covid epidemic.
Fact is, despite Covid, economic boom and
bust, and supposed cutbacks in expense
allowances, New York has for decades always
had between 22,000 and 25,000 eating
establishments in all the boroughs.
Fortunately, you don’t have to look very hard
among them for a French restaurant, and
chances are it will be as good or even better
than La Grenouille ever was.
❖❖❖
NEW YORK CORNER
PERIYALI
35 West 20th Street
212-463-7890
By
John Mariani
Photos by Liz
Clayton
If you
asked just about any New Yorker over the age
of fifty their earliest recollection of a
wonderful Greek restaurant in Manhattan,
it’s highly likely they’d say Periyali,
because for so many years, since 1987, it
was the pre-eminent Greek restaurant in the
city, with a winsome taverna-like décor
evoking the Ionian isles and a menu of
classic, homey dishes others would come to
imitate. Periyali
was
not the first Greek restaurant in New York,or
even the first in Manhattan, for those who may
recall Piraeus My Love, Mykonos and the
Pantheon. But, when Nicola Kotsoni and Steve
Tzolis Periyali, with consulting chefs Irene
and Victor Gouras, opened on West 29th Street,
Periyali defined the Greek genre and menu for
years to come. Not least is its extensive list
of Greek wines, which has grown significantly
in number and quality. Periyali
maintained a very regular clientele over the
years and consistent reputation for quality
and service. Closed during Covid, it has been
re-opened by Kotsoni and Tzolis, carefully
refreshed and brightened, its muslin drapes on
the ceilings still billowing, its sturdy white
wooden chairs and red roses on
the tablecloths, still one of the loveliest
dining rooms in Manhattan. The menu, originally based
on the Gourases’ restaurant on Patmos, hasn’t
changed post-pandemic, on the belief that
people will want to eat those comfort foods
they had so long enjoyed, including the
platter of five mezzes ($30)
like creamy fish roe spread (cod or mullet) taramosalata
(à la carte $14); the
smoky charred eggplant and garlicky
melitzanosalata ($14); tzatziki yogurt
flavored with dill and cucumber ($14); yellow
split peas and red onions called kremidaki
($14); and marinated lima beans with
herbs and garlic called gigandas
skordalia ($16). These all come with
warm whole wheat pita bread, which is unusual
and not as pliant as white wheat pitas. Appetizers are
larger portions than the mezzes,
and the
oktapodisharas is terrific: tender,
grilled and olive oil-dressed octopus
tentacles that have been marinated in red wine
($28). Calamarakia
tiganita ($21) are flavorful calamari
served with skordalia
garlic condiment. The
delightful, light
spanakopita ($19)is
a good item to share, a phyllo tart stuffed
with spinach and cheese with crispy zucchini
fritters kolokithokeftedes.
I
do wish that Periyali served a wider variety
of Mediterranean fish, rather than just
branzino and salmon (although there is a “fish
of the day”), for it is from the sea that
Greek food culture flourishes. But the
branzino from the Canary Islands is expertly
cooked and dressed with olive oil and lemon,
and grilled tiger shrimp garides
psites ($41) is a hefty dish served with
spinach and rice. Lamb is the basis for Greek non-seafood
cookery, and arni
Youvetsi ($41), often served as a
Sunday lunch in Greece, is
a generous, succulent braised lamb shank
with tomato, orzo, and Eastern spices. Kouneli
stifado (a pricey $51) was similar as a
braised dish, tough the rabbit hadn’t much
flavor of itself. Of course, you must have moussaka
at a Greek restaurant, made with layers of
ground meat and sweet eggplant lavished with a
creamy béchamel ($31). My favorite greens are
braised
horta, which means wild greens, ($14). Desserts ($14) keep within the Greek
repertoire, including an orange cake called ortokalopita
soaked in orange-scented syrup;
karidopita, rich with walnuts and
perfumedwith
cinnamon; and baklava pastry. Best of all are
the buttery, crunchy, sugar-dusted almond
cookies called kourabiedes.
And do end off with thick Greek coffee. Medium
sweet. It’s
not just good to see Periyali back up and
running, fresher than ever, but that regulars
are coming back and newcomers in that neck of
the Manhattan woods are just discovering why
it was exemplary from the start.
Open for dinner nightly;
lunch Mon.-Fri. (including a two-course $39
prix fixe lunch as well as à la carte)
❖❖❖
THE
MAGDALENE LAUNDRIES By John Mariani
CHAPTER THREE
Her doorbell
rang, Katie put down her wooden spoon, glanced
in the hallway mirror, put her fingers through
her hair and opened the door to find Joseph
standing there with a big smile on his face. “You’ve grown a beard!” Katie exclaimed.
“Lemme look at you. It looks good, really.” Then
she hugged him as closely as he did in return. “And you still look like the girl in high
school whose test papers I used to peek at to get
the answer.” “Like you weren’t way smarter than me?” “I think we split the liberal arts and
sciences down the middle. Hey, what smells so
good?You
made your mother’s meat sauce?” The black-bearded Joseph faked a faint at
the thought of Mrs. Cavuto’s meat sauce, and after
all those years he could identify its aromacoming
from the window of Katie’s apartment. “Come in, come in,” she said, noticing her
priest friend was dressed in what they called
“civvies,” just regular clothes, not even a white
collar. That didn’t really surprise Katie, for so
many priests now doffed their black suits and
shirts away from the premises of their schools and
residences.Even
many of the Jesuits still at Fordham showed up to
teach class in civvies. Katie was in shorts and an
old Fordham University t-shirt. They both went into the kitchen where Katie
attended to the sauce, saying, “I got some fresh
mozzarella and bread.Help
yourself. Open the wine, too.” Joseph happily did as he was told, slicing
the wet, cream-rich Italian cheese and seeded
bread loaf onto plates and opening up a bottle of
white wine. “Place looks great, Katie. Only thing it
needs is a man.” Katie rolled her eyes and said, “Not you,
too! I’ve got half the Bronx on my back to get
married. I don’t need a priest to pile on.” They toasted themselves and said, “Cent’anni!”—a
hundred
years!—then Katie drained the spaghetti, put it
back into the hot pot and poured on some of the
glistening, aromatic sauce, just enough to coat
the pasta. Joseph swirled it on his fork and closed
his eyes. “I swear to you, Katie, I have had
nothing this good to eat in the past five years.
Not even close.” They began to eat together, slowing down
their conversation in order to enjoy the food and
wine. “You want some more?” she asked. “You’re
too skinny.” “No, I’m good.” “So,” she began, “what are you doing home
and for how long?” Joseph wiped his mouth and put his napkin
on the table then took a sip of the remaining
wine. “I don’t know, Katie.Maybe
forever.” “You got transferred back to New York?” “No. I came back on my own.” Katie squinted, feeling she knew what was
coming. “Don’t tell me you quit the priesthood,
Joey.” The young man looked his friend straight in
the eye and said, “Remember when we were in school
together and they told us, a Catholic can leave
the church but he can never stop being a
Catholic?” Katie nodded and said, “Many times. I
always thought it was a very sad thing to say.” “Not really. In a way it’s a very hopeful
thing to say. Because, yes, I have left the
Church, or at least I’ve left the priesthood, but
I feel closer to Christ than I ever have since I
was an altar boy.” Katie shook her head very slightly, not
knowing what to say, feeling she should express
the formality of sorrow but sensing that Joseph
didn’t want her to feel that for him.She just
asked, “So what happened?” Joseph Evangelista breathed in deeply then
sighed as someone about to make a confession. “It’s not a simple story, Katie,” he began.
Joey
related with remembered of anxious joy his first
arriving in Cebu City, which had been the first
Spanish settlement in the Philippines—1525--and
had accordingly acquired renown as one of
Christianity’s first footholds in Asia.There
had been pitched battles between Christians and
Muslims, rebellions against Spanish dominion, a
slave trade and in World War II occupation by the
Japanese. By the end of the century, however, the
large industrial city was still 80% Catholic.The
Jesuits’ Mother of Mercy School had been
established in 1955, eventually educating students
from kindergarten through twelfth grade. “It was a wonderful school,” he continued.
“I picked up Spanish pretty quickly, and the
interaction of the teachers and students reminded
me of what it was like when I was back in grammar
school. The kids were very good natured, proudly
Filipino, some Chinese, proudly Catholic, and
although we weren’t at all isolated from the city,
there was a real sense of community and mission.Latin
was taught in high school and there was a pretty
remarkable Chinese language course of studies
available, too.” Joseph went on to describe his first year
at Mother of Mercy as a radiant blossoming within
himself that convinced him he had chosen the
absolute best path in his life both towards
personal and religious fulfillment through Christ,
serving by teaching, challenging his students and
himself every day he entered a classroom and every
time he said the Mass. “Saying the Mass, Katie, was always
wondrous for me. I’d be up in front of the church
at the altar, and there’d be hundreds of my
students, all dressed in clean uniforms and
praying along with me. And yet when I was up there
I also felt sublimely alone, full of fervor, full
of. . . grace.I could not have been happier.” Katie was smiling, even though she knew
Joseph’s story was soon to take a turn. “It all
sounds pretty wonderful, Joey.” Joseph nodded and went on. “And I got along
with my colleagues very well for the most part.
There were a lot of lay teachers among us Jebbies,
and the rapport was overall pretty good, despite
the usual gripings about salaries and allocating
resources. “Our rector was a priest named Juan
Santiago and he’d been at the school for ages.
He’d served in the Vatican for a while and
was immensely intelligent. I always thought he’d
turn out to be one of the Church’s true
theological scholars, but he seemed more than
content being a rector in his own country.” He paused, then asked, “Is there any more
of that wine left?” Katie grabbed the bottle and half-filled
his glass. “So for the first three years, I was very
happy, very content,” he said. “I had my
disagreements, a few battles over curriculum and
the fact that the boys’ programs were always
better funded than the girls’. The usual academic
and bureaucratic b.s.But then
there were a couple of incidents that were
curiously out of the ordinary and seemed shrouded
in a secrecy only certain members of the community
shared.” “What happened?” asked Katie.
Very good wines are
abundant from every continent save Antarctica, but
some are very special because of the way they
express a balance of varietal character, terroir and
a knitting together of fruit, acid and tannins in a
way distinct from others of their kind. When it
comes to red wines, the options are legion these
days, but here are some new to the market, even
though from older vintages, that strike me as
everything a red wine should exemplify.
CHARLES KRUG GENERATIONS 2019 ($85).
Dating back to 1861 and long within the Peter
Mondavi family estate holdings, Krug has had an
indelible imprint in Napa Valley. This limited
production Family Reserve blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 6%
Petit Verdot is very much a Bordeaux-style red, aged
in French oak. You might be put off by a 15.1%
alcohol level, but four years of aging has tamed
down the tannins and given the wine a bold
complexity that should only improve over the next
half decade.
SAPAIO
VOLPOLO
BOLGHERI 2021 ($40). The wines of the Bolgheri
region within Tuscany are prestigious for producing
red wines outside the formulas mandated for DOCG
Tuscan wines, like Chianti Classico and Brunello di
Montalcino. Owner Massimo
Piccin founded Podere Sapaio in 1999, with 62
cultivated acres that grow grapes for 25 wines that
he blends into two wines using Bordeaux varietals of
Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit
Verdot. The Volpolo is made from 70% Cabernet
Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 15% Petit Verdot, aged for
16 months in new and used French oak barriques, then
in larger casks before aging for four months in
bottle. It definitely tastes like an Italian-style
Bordeaux, though it is more fruit forward and
denser, and a couple more years can only improve it.
ARNIONE
CAMPO ALLA SUGHERA BOLGHERI SUPERIORE 2016 ($41).
While we’re on the subject of Bolgheri, co-owner and
geologist Isabel Knauf, together with winemaker Stéphane
Derenoncourt, makes superior wines from
the region by the shoreline and sells them at
remarkably good prices. A Bordeaux blend, it was
established in 2001, this vintage released in 2019
and still available, showing maturity and the
elegance that these Tuscan Bordeaux-style reds can
achieve. The name Arnione refers to a kind of
alabaster used in plaster production. Perfect with
pastas of any kind of meat sauces or funghi
porcini.
MIRTO
RAMÓN BILBAO RIOJA 2004 ($82). In the last century
you never really knew what you got, or where the
grapes came from in Rioja, but stringency of rules
and individuality have made wines like Mirto Ramon’s
outstanding examples of modern Iberian viniculture.
Remarkably, you can still find this twenty-year-old
vintage, which was considered one of the best of the
decade, and it has fully matured and is fresh,
vibrant and distinctive, with 14% alcohol, made from
Tempranillo and Tinto Fino grapes in Ábelos and Alavesa. Their flagship wine,
Mirto, was first made in 1999, always aiming for a
fruitier profile than other Riojas. They are not
filtered or clarified, giving them richer body.
VALDEMAR
ESTATES
WALLA WALLA CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2020 ($70). In 1889 Joaquin Martínez Bujanda
began making wine in the northern Spanish town of
Oyón, and his son Jesús and grandson Don Jesús
Martínez Bujanda founded Bodegas
Valdemar in the 1980s, now led by fifth
generation Jesús Martínez Bujanda, current CEO, and
his sister, Ana Martínez Bujanda, COO. While a
student at the University of Washington, Jesús came
to believe that the Walla Walla Valley would be
perfect for winemaking, so they moved there to
create Valdemar Estates with his sister, and
winemaker Devyani Isabel
Gupta, to produce their Cabernet
Sauvignon, planted in
solid basalt rock that provide small clusters of
grapes, 76%
Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 12% Malbec,
spending 19
months in 25% new and 75% used French Oak,
emerging at a hefty 14.7% alcohol.
JOSEPH PHELPS NAPA
VALLEY CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2021($100).
If
any California winery can be said to make classic
red wines, it is certainly Joseph Phelps, whose
winery dates to the mid-1970s with his Insignia
label that has long distinguished Napa viniculture.
Insignia is priced at $300, but this second label,
for $100, is a stellar blend of 92% Cabernet
Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1%
Merlot and 1% Malbec, all of which provide nuance to
the brawny Cabernet Sauvignon from a mild vintage
year. It is aged in French and American oak for 16
months to really mellow out, and it’s ready to drink
now or for the next five years.
VIÑA
SAN PEDRO CABO DE HORNOS 2018 ($80). This Chilean
wine from Cachapoal Valley is named after the
explorers who discovered Cape Horn. The grapes grow
at 500 meters altitude in volcanic soil at the
foothills of the Andes. Winemaker Gabriel Mustakis
allows the Cabernet Sauvignon to ripen slowly, and
it shows how far Chilean wines have come since this
winery opened in 1985. At 14.5% alcohol, it is very
velvety and the tannins have loosened, while still
holding a grip that makes it ideal with chargrilled
meats.
QUIVIRA
BLACK BOAR ZINFANDEL DRY CREEK VALLEY 2020 ($55). To
drink a powerful Zinfandel like this you should plan
on serving food that will hold up to it, from a
thick ribeye to chile-seasoned Mexican dishes,
especially pork. Quivira makes several from 2020,
including Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel ($28),Anderson
Ranch ($50) and this mighty Zin that mixes wines
from both those ranches. Wild boars actually do roam
the valley, hence the name. It’s a blend of 78% Zin
with a big dose of 22% Petite Syrah that ups the
jam-like fruitiness. The grapes were not crushed but
transferred to open-top fermenters or closed-top
stainless steel for 3-7 days of cold-soak followed
by 7-10 days fermentation, basket pressed, then
finished in French and American oak for 18 months. I
really like to drink it as I would Port or Madeira,
with chestnuts and cheeses.
❖❖❖
DEPT. OF WRETCHED EXCESS, NO. 2,388
Rod Stewart left
a £10,000 tip at the five-star Gleneagles
Hotelin Perthshire.
❖❖❖
Any of John Mariani's
books below may be ordered from amazon.com.
The Hound in Heaven
(21st Century Lion Books) is a novella, and
for anyone who loves dogs, Christmas, romance,
inspiration, even the supernatural, I hope you'll find
this to be a treasured favorite. The story
concerns how, after a New England teacher, his wife and
their two daughters adopt a stray puppy found in their
barn in northern Maine, their lives seem full of promise.
But when tragedy strikes, their wonderful dog Lazarus and
the spirit of Christmas are the only things that may bring
his master back from the edge of despair.
“What a huge surprise turn this story took! I was
completely stunned! I truly enjoyed this book and its
message.” – Actress Ali MacGraw
“He had me at Page One. The amount of heart, human insight,
soul searching, and deft literary strength that John Mariani
pours into this airtight novella is vertigo-inducing.
Perhaps ‘wow’ would be the best comment.” – James
Dalessandro, author of Bohemian
Heart and 1906.
“John Mariani’s Hound in
Heaven starts with a well-painted portrayal of an
American family, along with the requisite dog. A surprise
event flips the action of the novel and captures us for a
voyage leading to a hopeful and heart-warming message. A
page turning, one sitting read, it’s the perfect antidote
for the winter and promotion of holiday celebration.” – Ann
Pearlman, author of The
Christmas Cookie Club and A Gift for my Sister.
“John Mariani’s concise, achingly beautiful novella pulls a
literary rabbit out of a hat – a mash-up of the cosmic and
the intimate, the tragic and the heart-warming – a Christmas
tale for all ages, and all faiths. Read it to your children,
read it to yourself… but read it. Early and often. Highly
recommended.” – Jay Bonansinga, New York Times bestselling
author of Pinkerton’s War,
The Sinking of The Eastland, and The Walking Dead: The Road To
Woodbury.
“Amazing things happen when you open your heart to an
animal. The Hound in
Heaven delivers a powerful story of healing that
is forged in the spiritual relationship between a man and
his best friend. The book brings a message of hope that can
enrich our images of family, love, and loss.” – Dr. Barbara
Royal, author of The
Royal Treatment.
Modesty forbids me to praise my own new book, but
let me proudly say that it is an extensive
revision of the 4th edition that appeared more
than a decade ago, before locavores, molecular
cuisine, modernist cuisine, the Food Network and
so much more, now included. Word origins have been
completely updated, as have per capita consumption
and production stats. Most important, for the
first time since publication in the 1980s, the
book includes more than 100 biographies of
Americans who have changed the way we cook, eat
and drink -- from Fannie Farmer and Julia Child to
Robert Mondavi and Thomas Keller.
"This book is amazing! It has entries for
everything from `abalone' to `zwieback,' plus more
than 500 recipes for classic American dishes and
drinks."--Devra First, The Boston Globe.
"Much needed in any kitchen library."--Bon Appetit.
Now in Paperback,
too--How Italian Food Conquered the
World (Palgrave Macmillan) has won top prize from the
Gourmand
World Cookbook Awards. It is
a rollicking history of the food culture of
Italy and its ravenous embrace in the 21st
century by the entire world. From ancient Rome
to la dolce
vita of post-war Italy, from Italian
immigrant cooks to celebrity chefs, from
pizzerias to high-class ristoranti,
this chronicle of a culinary diaspora is as
much about the world's changing tastes,
prejudices, and dietary fads as about
our obsessions with culinary fashion and
style.--John Mariani
"Eating Italian will
never be the same after reading
John Mariani's entertaining and
savory gastronomical history of
the cuisine of Italy and how it
won over appetites worldwide. . .
. This book is such a tasteful
narrative that it will literally
make you hungry for Italian food
and arouse your appetite for
gastronomical history."--Don
Oldenburg, USA Today.
"Italian
restaurants--some good, some glitzy--far
outnumber their French rivals. Many of
these establishments are zestfully described
in How Italian Food Conquered the World, an
entertaining and fact-filled chronicle by
food-and-wine correspondent John F.
Mariani."--Aram Bakshian Jr., Wall Street
Journal.
"Mariani
admirably dishes out the story of
Italy’s remarkable global ascent
to virtual culinary
hegemony....Like a chef gladly
divulging a cherished family
recipe, Mariani’s book reveals the
secret sauce about how Italy’s
cuisine put gusto in gusto!"--David
Lincoln Ross,
thedailybeast.com
"Equal parts
history, sociology, gastronomy, and just
plain fun, How Italian Food Conquered the
World tells the captivating and delicious
story of the (let's face it) everybody's
favorite cuisine with clarity, verve and
more than one surprise."--Colman Andrews,
editorial director of The Daily
Meal.com.
"A fantastic and fascinating
read, covering everything from the influence
of Venice's spice trade to the impact of
Italian immigrants in America and the
evolution of alta cucina. This book will
serve as a terrific resource to anyone
interested in the real story of Italian
food."--Mary Ann Esposito, host of PBS-TV's
Ciao
Italia.
"John Mariani has written the
definitive history of how Italians won their
way into our hearts, minds, and
stomachs. It's a story of pleasure over
pomp and taste over technique."--Danny Meyer,
owner of NYC restaurants Union Square
Cafe, The Modern, and Maialino.
MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET
NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Publisher: John Mariani. Editor: Walter Bagley. Contributing Writers: Christopher
Mariani, Misha Mariani, John A. Curtas, Gerry Dawes, Geoff Kalish.
Contributing
Photographer: Galina Dargery. Technical
Advisor: Gerry
McLoughlin.