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...
San Fermo Delivers Rustic Italian in a Historic Setting
If you have walked down Ballard Avenue in the past few months, you've probably noticed that the pea-green freestanding house that didn't really fit in with the slick new restaurants and boutiques has been getting a paint job—among other things. "The Pioneer Houses"—in fact, two houses connected—were brought from the International District years ago...
Pietro's Delizioso!
It's always nice when customers leave a restaurant happy and even say thanks for a great meal. But what happened Friday night at Pietro's Pizza Kauai went beyond the usual show of appreciation for a pie done well. Maria Lopez, a professional opera singer on her honeymoon on Kauai, stood up after finishing dinner. "I haven't had p...
La Locanda Ristorante Italiano to celebrate opening in Scottsdale
Italian restaurant La Locanda Italiano will host a grand opening Dec. 27 in Old Town Scottsdale. La Locanda Ristorante Italiano offers an authentic Italian dining experience using the best local ingredients, shop served with flourish. The menu is simple, order with fresh original recipes from the northern regions of Italy. Pasta is fres...
Orangette Lunches With Italy's Most Famous Chef
Molly Wizenberg is co-owner of the Delancey and Essex restaurants in Seattle, founder of the popular Orangette blog, author of A Homemade Life and Delancey, and host of the "Spilled Milk" podcast. She took an afternoon out of her busy schedule to eat a rather unique 16-course lunch, hang with Italy's coolest and most famous chef, and repor...
Plantone’s Italian Market offers iconic East Coast sandwiches
One culinary upside of living in a town full of expatriates is the cross-section of regional delicacies available in the Las Vegas Valley. But two of the northeast corridor's favorite sandwiches, the Newark Italian hot dog and Philadelphia roast pork, have proven fairly elusive — rarely attempted and almost never done properly. Fortunately for...
Italian food truck hopes to make big impression
by Gerald M. Gay As food truck options continue to grow in Tucson, one family is banking that bigger is better. Joseph Sotomayor and his father, Daniel Sotomayor, launched the Jozarelli's Italian Street Food truck earlier this month. They enlisted the Armenco Catering Truck and Hot Dog Cart Manufacturing Co. in Los Angeles to bui...
Costa di Mare stands out from the Strip crowd
Last year was a special dining occasion for me; 2016 marked a decade of writing about Las Vegas restaurants. After eating so much fantastic food in so many electric environments on and off the Strip, the years start to blur together, but the restaurants don't. Certain dishes and flavors will forever stand out in my mind. One of my most mem...
Keeping alive Sunday dinner tradition with generations of beloved recipes
By Holly Prestidge It was the Sunday gravy — that rich sauce of tomatoes and fresh herbs enhanced by meaty beef shank bones and marrow — that made an instant believer of Lee Casazza many years ago. Now the Seattle resident wants to make the authentic Italian-American meals of her husband's family available to everyone. Casazza's cookbook, "B...
Hawaii’s Kitchen: Taormina Sicilian Cuisine
Taormina serves the timeless cuisine of Southern Sicily with contemporary style and flair. Inspired by the authentic flavors of Taormina, a seaside village in Sicily. Executive Chef Hiro Mimura pairs fresh pastas with the highest quality seafoods and meats unspoiled by heavy sauces, Sicilian style pastas are dressed in pure, extra virgin olive...
Chef Carla Pellegrino: Keeping it simple, fresh, fruity and healthy for my guests
By Carla Pellegrino It is that time of year again. Our friend is out and about enjoying his annual "escape the heat" trips to Italy and La Jolla, and we, friends and admirers, are having a ball guest writing for his column and expressing to the world how dear Robin Leach is to us. Thanks, handsome! I hope that you're having a blast and enj...
A legendary pizza maker steps away from the fire By Brett Anderson
One of the few times Chris Bianco, arguably the nation's most revered pizzaiolo, has been at a loss for words was about 15 years ago, when a friend asked him to visit a priest known as Father Joe in hospice care. "I just kind of froze," said Bianco, a normally garrulous chef who ultimately mustered the strength to speak to the dying priest...