Italy

What's the Garlickiest Dish in NYC (and Immediate Vicinity)?

Rocambole is said to be the strongest form of garlic, and has a dirty appearance due to its purplish coloration. My Irish grandfather Ned Lafferty loved garlic so much, he was known to take out two pieces of white bread, spread them heavily with mayonnaise, then coarsely chop an entire head of gar ... More >>

Porsena's Monday Night Abruzzi Menu

First course: local sardines A friend and I went to Porsena last week to check out the menu from Abruzzi being mounted there every Monday in February (including tonight and next Monday night) as part of a regular series of regional menus from Italy. Abruzzi is the remote region which lies on the o ... More >>

Mozzarella in Carrozza, Italian or Italian-American?

The app called Carrozza at East Village pizzeria Nicoletta is Dish #8 in our countdown. Welcome to 100 Dishes to Eat Now, the tasty countdown leading up to our "Best of 2012" issue. Tune in each day (weekends too!) for a new dish from the Fork in the Road team. [See More 100 Dishes: Mozzarella in ... More >>

What Is the Reason for the Colors of the Mexican Flag

Cooking With Frozen Porcinis From Buon Italia

Here is what they look like just out of the freezer case. [See More Market Watch: Mountain Sweet Berry Farm Sells Tristar Strawberry Sorbet | Wild Bush Blueberries] Categorized taxonomically as Boletus edulis, porcinis are one of the world's most flavorful mushrooms. They're indispensible to the ... More >>

What To Look for in the Farmers' Markets This Week: Shishito Peppers

Every 10th pepper -- Watch out! [See More Market Watch: First Cantaloupes Appear | Monster Jackfruits Invade Jackson Heights | First Corn Appears] These are exciting times in the city's farmers' markets, as the vegetables and fruits that take the longest to grow (eggplants, melons, dirt tomatoes, ... More >>

Oh, Those Penalty Kicks!

Euro 2012 has been so enjoyable so far that I hate to nit-pick. But... Didn't you have a feeling about 10 minutes into Italy vs. England on Saturday that if it wasn't a question of watching all that gorgeous ebb-and-flow that it is supposed to be what soccer's appeal is really all about. I mean, if ... More >>

Three Good Things: Rome, Pok Pok, Ice Cream

1 Layne Mosler of Taxi Gourmet writes about her experience with Italian taxi drivers and shares her top six cabbie-recommended restaurants in Rome. [The Guardian] 2 This great tour of Andy Ricker's pantry at Pok Pok (the Thai restaurant I reviewed last week) that includes dried flower pistils, sun- ... More >>

Is Dolce Vizio, The City's Only Tiramisu Parlor, Down for the Count?

Yesterday, workmen were seen briefly visiting the premises. I'm not the world's biggest fan of tiramisu. Rather than being an ancient Italian creation, it was invented in 1969 at restaurant near Treviso, a region in far northeastern Italy. (Yes, there may have been earlier pastries that inspired i ... More >>

NYC's Strangest Ravioli? Casunzei Ampezzani at Trattoria Machiavelli

Apparent culinary mayhem at Machiavelli When the ravioli arrives, it looks like a battlefield, or the work of a mass murderer: half-moon purses bulging with something so red, that it recalls beef tartare, or maybe human flesh.

The Wild Outdoors: Trace Amounts Cocaine and Weed are Floating in the Air

​Remember when your parents used to constantly bug you to go outside? They may have been acting like nothing more than common pushers. According to ScienceNow, researchers in Italy have found that trace amounts of illicit drugs float in the atmosphere at a higher rate near areas with more dru ... More >>

What's Happening This Week: Drinking Italian, Pondering Vegetables

Our weekly dining and drinking newsletter features all the hottest epicurean events in the city. Sign up for it here! Tour of Italy Wine Tasting I Trulli Ristorante and Vino Wine & Spirits Monday, September 26, 6:30 p.m. Taste Italy's indigenous wine varieties at this walk-around tasting of about 1 ... More >>

St. Anselm Invents the Cooked Caprese

​The dish is called "grilled tomato and burrata," but you'll recognize it for what it really is -- a Caprese salad, named after Italy's Isle of Capri. You'd think someone would have tried it before: Except only the English grill their fresh tomatoes* (maybe as a throwback to the days when th ... More >>

Carmen Quagliata of the Union Square Cafe on His Favorite Cookbooks and the Advice He Gives to His Chefs: Interview Part 2

Photo courtesy Carmen QuagliataCarmen Quagliata always checks the oven temperature now​Yesterday we spoke with the Union Square Cafe's chef, Carmen Quagliata, about his favorite and most hated foods, and learned all about his bean trellis hobby. Today we switch the focus to learn more about h ... More >>

Affogato: Like a Gourmet Red Bull, and Love Is Where You Find It

​Served in a tall glass, Love's affogato is on the verge of becoming a milkshake. You won't find affogato in most of today's fancy coffee bars. That's because, no matter how particular they are about the coffee and how they make it, they can't be bothered stocking gelato fine enough to go wit ... More >>

Bus Driver Steers With Elbows While on Two Cell Phones, Could Not Give Less of a Shit

The good sir has been suspended from his job in Rome, so might we suggest a move to New York City? It's illegal here, too, but at least we appreciate a badass.

Eataly Has "The Caper Problem"

shoppingblog.comIt's Eataly, not Italy​Grist has a really interesting article about Eataly, noting that it embodies "The Caper Problem," which occurs after all the ingredients on one's shopping list have been placed in the shopping cart and the customer realizes he has forgotten the capers (or ... More >>

Gelato University Lures Dairy Fanatics and Unemployed

Flavio/Flickr​Just as the commercial kitchens of Long Island City may provide a measure of respite for the laid-off, it seems that Italy is also doing its part for the newly unemployed.

NYC NOISE

A look back at No Wave

Giveaway: Five Pairs Of Tickets To See Phoenix At Madison Square Garden Next Week

​Oh, indeed. The gala Phoenix/Dirty Projectors/Wavves show hitting MSG Wednesday, October 20th is a big we-made-it moment for the maximalist, SOTC-beloved French pop-rockers; we think it'd be great if you got to see it in person. We have five pairs of tickets. And since is this is a bigger dea ... More >>

Italy's CampariSoda Eliminates Mixing Campari and Soda

Chantal MartineauJust pour.​Spotted in the hotel minibar in Italy: CampariSoda, a bottled cocktail of Campari and soda that requires nothing more than a bottle opener to access and enjoy.

The Street Food of the 2010 San Gennaro Festival, NYC -- A Visitor's Guide

​Patron saint of Naples, San Gennaro casts his eyes heavenward, in despair over the preponderance of fried food at his festival. San Gennaro (English: Saint Januarius) is the patron saint of Naples, Italy, a Catholic bishop who was martyred in the Diocletianic Persecution of 305. The festival ... More >>

The Mediterranean Diet May Be Given UNESCO 'Heritage' Status

snowpea&bokchoi/FlickrIn need of the world's protection?​To the list of chefs, dietitians, and people who want to sell you things who extol the Mediterranean diet, we may be able to add UNECSCO.

The $2.70 Mortadella Panino at Il Cantuccio in the West Village

​The mortadella panino is made with traditional saltless Tuscan bread. One of the best sandwich deals in town is found, not at a deli or sandwich shop, but at a Central Italian bakery called Il Cantuccio, open only a few months in the West Village.

What Can You Do Do Do With a Cardoon?

​ Cardoon is a green, leafy, weed-like vegetable with a crisp stalk. Yesterday, Sarah DiGregorio provided a guide to the vegetables commonly available at this time of the year in local farmers' markets. Today, here's a report on a vegetable that was harder to find: cardoon.

Tripe Cometh

​Tripe is perhaps the starter-gut of the offal universe. Aside from a very slight (and sometimes pleasant) wet-doggy undertone, it doesn't challenge the eater the way that an strongly iron-tasting liver might; cooked properly, it doesn't demand the crunchy mouth-workout that some intestines do ... More >>

Stalking the Single White Truffle

​A couple of weeks ago, desperate for a taste of Central Italy, I bought a black summer truffle at Buon Italia, and scrambled it up with some free-range eggs. I found the taste somewhat disappointing, mild and flinty, though the bargain price of $10 hadn't been horribly expensive, and it had b ... More >>

Romanesco: What the Hell Is It and Why Does It Look Like It Came from the Moon?

​Not to be confused with the Spanish sauce romesco, romanesco is a very strange cultivar of common cauliflower.

And You Thought Fresh Black Truffles From Italy Were Too Expensive to Contemplate?

​ Dug days ago in Umbria, this imported black truffle may not be as expensive as you think. If you're one of those people who dislike the hideous truffle oil, and spend much of the year crying into your glass of vino nobile de montepulciano that you can't get a taste of truffles except once i ... More >>

Cookbook Tester: Lidia Cooks From the Heart of Italy

Polenta with white beans and black kale​ Lidia Cooks From the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes, due for release on October 20th, is Lidia Bastianich's sixth cookbook. This time, the prolific chef and author winds her way through the lesser-known parts of Italy--leaving aside, f ... More >>

When Good (and Expensive) Pasta Goes Bad

This is not the first time an expensive pasta disaster has occurred. Friends were coming over, so we bought the nicest pasta we could find, made in Italy from durum wheat, molded on copper dies, et cetera. It costs a lot, like $8, but it's just a once-in-a-while splurge. But somehow, upon immersi ... More >>

Times Writer on Amanda Knox and Those Cuh-razey Eyetalians

There's a long and curious post in the Times' Outpost section protesting the innocence of Amanda Knox, a Seattle student in Italy (or, as the author Timothy Egan likes to refer to her, una studentessa di Seattle) who's been in jail a year awaiting trial on charges of murdering a young British woman ... More >>

What to 'B' to a Certain Argentinean In Williamsburg Awaiting Its Liquor License

Every week or so in 'What to B When You BYOB' we ask a local wine shop to recommend a few good wines under $20 to pair with the food at a nearby BYOB restaurant. This week, we talk to Beau Rapier of Uva Wines in Williamsburg about a certain newish Argentinean restaurant still awaiting its wine-and- ... More >>

What to 'B' to a New Nolita Joint Flying Liquor License-less for the Moment

Every week or so in 'What to B When You BYOB' we ask a local wine shop to recommend a few good wines under $20 to pair with the food at a nearby BYOB restaurant. This week, we talk to Maya Pedersen and Jean-Baptiste Humbert of Wine Therapy in Nolita about what to bring to a nearby recently opened ... More >>

A Real Italian Christmas

The Most Fabulous Destinations in the World

Italian Women Make Delicious Wine

Robin Hood Rests

Front Street Pizza joint discovers a new region of Italy

Leave the Gun, Take the Marinara

Umbertos moves its tasty crustaceans and shellfish to the Bronx

'The Fallen'

I, Doofus: The History Men Who Changed Rome

Rack Focus

Nudies

New Clinton Street trattoria kicks the Spotted Pig's ass

You Like Fresh Clams?

A market tour of the other Little Italy

Another Little Italy

Roman Road

Theater

Hot Tickets

Medieval Tribeca

Homeboy Shakespeare

New Greenpoint Outpost of Southern Cooking