Early this year, when Tony Galzin realized that chef Tony Mantuano and his wife Cathy Mantuano were eating at Nicky’s Coal Fired — the restaurant Galzin co-owns in The Nations — he kind of freaked out. “Holy shit,” says Galzin.

“I could not believe they were sitting in my restaurant. I didn’t want to embarrass them, but I had to say something. I am such a big fan. When their cookbook, Spiaggia, came out, I was just a line cook, and after work I would read through it until I fell asleep and come up with fake menus I would serve from it.”