Steve Schirripa Has No Problem With Little Italy, Steaks
In his new cable cooking show, Steve Schirripa’s Hungry (Lifeskool network, debuting December 6), Uncle June’s faithful manservant Bobby Baccalieri tours his favorite New York Italian kitchens and takes some sauce-splattered pointers from pals like Rao’s Frank Pellegrino and Peasant’s Frank De Carlo. Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld asked the man Tony Soprano immortalized as a “calzone with legs” to expound on his favorite pastime — eating on and off the set.
There are a lot of cooking shows out there these days. What distinguishes yours from the competition?
This is a real guy going into a real kitchen; I think after you watch this, you’re really going to learn how to make the meatballs from Rao’s. It’s a combination of talking, comedy, and how-to.
Who does the cooking at home?
My wife; I eat, she cooks. Which is why I’m doing this new show. They’re teaching me how to cook.
In one episode, you spotlight the Mulberry Street restaurant Il Cortile. Do you think that Little Italy gets a bad rap?
I think it does. First of all, it’s a lot of fun down there. There’s a lot of tourists, but Il Cortile is as good an Italian restaurant as any in the city.
Mediavore
Restaurants Sue to Keep Calorie Info Out of Sight; Online Reservations DominateThe New York State Restaurant Association sues the city to stop having to reveal calorie information. [Nation’s Restaurant News]
The days of making, and keeping, reservations off-line are over: OpenTable has come to dominate the restaurant business. [NYT]
In a Times op-ed, the Zagats plead for real regional Chinese cooking to come and save us from egg foo yong. It would be a revelation, they say — “Imagine … what it would be like to discover for the first time Memphis-style barbecue, New York deli food, soul food and Creole, Tex-Mex, Southwestern, California and Hawaiian cuisines all at once.” [NYT]
Mediavore
New Hope for the Moondance DinerWell-heeled fans of the soon-to-be-closed Moondance Diner consider jacking the place up and moving it somewhere else. [NYT]
Related: Well, It’s a Marvelous Night for Luxury Condos [Daily Intel]
Rachael Ray seizes control of her own E! True Hollywood Story. [Buffalo News]
The only difference between the Rao’s in New York and the Rao’s in Las Vegas: The latter has a terrace overlooking the Caesar’s Palace hotel pool. And you can actually eat at the Vegas location. [NYS]
User’s Guide
Got $25,000? A Learjet and a Table at Mozza Await
How can a Batali completist visit the chef’s new place in L.A. and get back in time to pay the babysitter? Here’s one option: Dial-A-Dinner, the concierge service that dispatches tuxedoed drivers to deliver grub from upscale eateries, runs a side business called Jet Dining. Founder David Blum says George Hamilton, Paris and Nicky Hilton, and Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman are among the clients who’ve requested, on as little as four hours’ notice, private jets to take them to far-flung restaurants. We dialed what Blum confusingly calls the “unlisted listed number” (212-643-1222) to find out how much it would set us back to check out some recently opened NYC-restaurant sister eateries around the country. (Blum says you can request an onboard meal from your favorite local eatery, but we discovered that you might have to settle for substitutions.)