The Feast of the Seven Fishes

"Break Out the Baccala, Mama, It's Almost Christmas Eve"

Ah, the traditional Christmas dinner – salt cod, squid, eel, clams with pasta.

What, you were expecting ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and Jell-O salad? Not at a traditional Italian-American table where the Feast of the Seven Fishes crowns the holiday.

Why have fish for Christmas? Two reasons: religion and economics.

In accordance with medieval Roman Catholic tradition, meat was not to be consumed on Fridays and specific holy days, including during Advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas. Generations of Italians grew up observing these restrictions, eating fish instead of meat.

Italians have never been huge meat eaters to begin with. Pork and chicken have always been around, with beef making some dietary inroads in the last century, but seafood has long been the staple of Italian cuisine. Something about being a peninsula surrounded by water, I suppose. This was especially true in the impoverished southern regions of Italy, which is where Festa dei Sette Pesci, also known as La Vigilia, is thought to have started.

Originally, it was a part of the Vigilia di Natale, the watch kept in anticipation of the midnight birth of the Christ child. Although not as widely observed in Italy as it once was, the tradition emigrated to the United States and is now commonly celebrated in Italian-American homes. Of course, what was once a simple meal for the poor in Italy can come at quite a price on contemporary American tables.

Because it is part of La Vigilia, and therefore still under the fasting restrictions imposed by Advent, the Feast of the Seven Fishes actually takes place on Christmas Eve rather than on Christmas Day. (Advent ends at midnight on Christmas Eve.) And there are numerous variations. As the name would imply, the feast usually consists of seven different fish and seafood dishes. Some traditions hold that the number “seven” is relative to the number of sacraments in the Catholic Church. Others believe that seven represents the perfect number: the Holy Trinity plus the four compass points of the Earth combine to represent God on Earth in the form of Jesus Christ. Still more theories abound: Creation took seven days; Mary and Joseph's trip to Bethlehem lasted seven days; the Seven Hills of Rome. Take your pick.

However, among some Italian-American families the feast more often than not expands to include anywhere between eight and thirteen dishes. Some families serve ten dishes in reference to the ten Stations of the Cross. Others prepare thirteen as representative of the twelve disciples, plus Jesus.

Regardless of the religious significance or the exact number of dishes, the menu items are usually similar, beginning with Baccalà. Baccalà is salt cod, usually sold by the slab, and it is a staple in Southern Italy. It can be prepared in a million different ways ranging from boiled, fried,or grilled, to being served in a creamy white sauce or a stew. It is probably the most consistent item among the various festa menus.

Calamari, or squid, is another essential holiday seafood item, and eels are indispensable in many Italian-American homes. Octopus, smelt, sardines, anchovies, shrimp, mussels, oysters, and clams are also popular. Some families incorporate snapper, sea trout, tuna, or salmon into their Seven Fishes celebration.

Also on most menus are a variety of pastas. Lobster ravioli is typical, as are pasta dishes that include clams, mussels, or shrimp. Spaghetti with sardines is another common dish.

An aperitif is traditional before the meal. Wine usually accompanies the various courses and limoncello or espresso are served to complete the feast.

There is no set menu for the Feast of the Seven fishes and no carved in stone order for the service of the meal. Traditionally, an antipasto or antipasti like breaded clams or seafood salad starts the ball rolling. Then comes the primi of simple pasta dishes such as seafood lasagne, lobster ravioli, or lemon pasta with shrimp, followed by the baccalà and a couple of other hearty fish dishes as secondi. Vegetables are served as contorne, and lots of delicious dolci like struffoli or panettone round out the meal.

Always an occasion for gathering family and friends, the Feast of the Seven Fishes is often a “potluck” affair, although more often it is an opportunity for everybody in the family to get involved in the cooking. The meal is usually prepared for late evening consumption, generally timed to conclude with ample time left to attend midnight Mass.

Here's a short list of some other Feast of the Seven Fishes favorites:

Calamari Ripieni in Salsa di Pomodori (Stuffed calamari in tomato sauce)

Stuffed-baked quahogs or lobsters

Fried smelts

Fritto di Gamberi e Calamari (Fried Shrimp and Calamari)

Deep fried scallops or cod

Calamari in Padella con Piselli (Pan Fried Calamari with Peas)

Pagello alla Brace alle Erbe Fini (Grilled Sea Bream with Mixed Herbs)

Fritto misto di mare

Seafood Lasagne

Fettuccine con L'Astice al Pomodoro (Lobster Fettuccine with Tomato)

Linguine with clam, tuna, lobster, or anchovy sauce

Spaghetti con Cozze (Spaghetti with Mussels)

Spaghetti con le Vongole all'Aglio e Olio (Spaghetti with Clams in Garlic Oil)

Cod fish balls in tomato sauce

Seafood fra diavolo

Marinated eel

Octopus salad

Whiting

Scungilli in Marinara

Crab stuffed mushrooms

Insalata de Mare (salad of the sea)

Now, on Christmas Day the fasting is over and it's all about the meat. Italians and Italian-Americans often enjoy roasted turkey, capon, or game birds for Christmas dinner. Baked ham or pork roast have become common as well, and a standing rib roast may also grace the holiday table. Risotto and a variety of eggplant and artichoke dishes are popular side items. And, of course, tantalizing desserts.

But for most, the Christmas Day dinner is a pale comparison to the culinary star that shines brightly on Christmas Eve, the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

Buon Natale e buon appetito!

Recipe: Fonduta

Let's start today's lesson with a quiz: how many of you think that Olive Garden is a real Italian restaurant serving real Italian food? Okay, you in the back row. See me after class. The rest of you are probably like me in that you'll go to Olive Garden if there's no authentic alternative.

It was on just such an occasion that I discovered something really good on the menu and determined to replicate it. I love Olive Garden's take on classic Italian fonduta. Among non-Italian speakers, that's fondue, which, in and of itself, is not really Italian, but a Swiss and French dish of melted cheese served up in a big communal pot. Northern Italians in Piemonte and Valle d'Aosta use a young, creamy Fontina cheese in the authentic original, but Olive Garden does some pretty amazing stuff with mozzarella, provolone, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and Pecorino Romano. Of course, they do it with cheap domestic cheeses -- like grated Parmesan and Romano -- but if you make the extra effort to get the real stuff, you'll reap extra rewards.

Here's the scoop:

1 loaf hearty Italian bread, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 cups freshly shredded mozzarella or smoked mozzarella cheese*
3 cups freshly shredded smoked provolone or provolone cheese*
(* It's important that one of these two cheeses be smoked and that the other one be regular unsmoked)
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
3 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino Romano
8 teaspoons fresh diced plum tomatoes
Freshly chopped parsley

Arrange the bread slices flat on a baking sheet and cover them with foil. Set aside until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 450°.

Combine sour cream, thyme, red pepper, cayenne pepper and four cheeses in a large bowl and blend thoroughly.

If serving is to be family-style , spray an 8” x 10” casserole dish with non-stick spray (preferably olive oil spray), then use a spatula to transfer the mixture. For individual servings, spray eight individual heat-resistant serving bowls, such as soufflé cups or ramekins, with the non-stick spray and fill each with 1/2 cup of the mixture. Place the individual bowls on a baking sheet.

Using a large spoon, spread the cheese mixture to create an even surface. Place the casserole dish or baking sheet with the individual bowls on the center rack in the oven. After about five minutes, place the baking sheet with the bread, still covered, on the top rack in the oven. Bake for an additional five minutes.

Remove the bread and the fonduta from the oven. Garnish the casserole dish with diced tomatoes and parsley in the center of the fonduta or divide evenly among the smaller bowls. Arrange the bread slices around the bowl or bowls and serve immediately.

Serves 8

Great as an antipasto with a meal or as part of a party platter. Word of caution: this stuff returns to a solid form pretty quickly as it cools. The first time I served it, I made the mistake of using a fondue pot that was heated by one of those little votive-type candles. Bad move. Direct heat equals burned cheese on the bottom of the pot, the flavor of which taints the whole dish. A chafing dish or other serving apparatus that uses hot water is a much better alternative.

Buon appetito!

Storing and Reheating Leftover Pizza

I was recently asked my opinion on the best way to store and reheat leftover pizza. My immediate response was, "What’s leftover pizza?"

Okay, I admit that every once in awhile I may have a leftover slice or two. How I store them depends on where I got them.

If I ordered out or brought home leftovers from a neighborhood pizza place, the pizza box is the storage container of choice. Pizza boxes are designed to protect and preserve their contents for delivery or carryout, so why not for storage as well? Simply close the lid on your leftovers and slide the box into the refrigerator. There is even a new “green” pizza box being marketed these days that is kind of convenient. The lid is pre-perforated so that you can tear it into plate-size squares, ideal for serving your fresh or leftover pizza without dirtying dishes (which would then have to be washed) or using paper plates (more solid waste in the landfill.) I’m not fanatical about such things, but it sounds like a good idea.

One big drawback to storing your pizza in the box: storage space in your fridge. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to “reengineer” a pizza box in a hotel or motel, because those little bitty refrigerators are way too small to accommodate a full-size pizza box. Same problem at home sometimes. If the refrigerator is pretty full – which mine usually is – it can be a pain to try to make room for a pizza box.

On to Plan B, the one I use for leftover homemade pizza: aluminum foil and wax paper. I used to just lift the whole wedge of leftover slices out of the box or off the pan, plop it onto a big piece of aluminum foil, and wrap it up. But I’d sometimes wind up with a wedge the size of an entire half of a pizza, which can still create a storage space issue. Then, one day I was using pieces of wax paper as separators for something and the light bulb came on. “Hm-m-m-m!” The next time I had leftover pizza to contend with, I removed the wedge of slices from the box, separated them into individual slices and stacked them up, using pieces of wax paper as separators to keep the slices from sticking together. Depending on your toppings, you can stack two to four slices this way, wrap them in aluminum foil or put them in plastic storage bags or containers, and refrigerate them. They’ll take up a lot less room in the fridge and they’ll still be easy to handle when it’s time to warm them up.

Before addressing reheating techniques, allow me a couple of words about food safety. Oh so many people leave their leftover pizza out on the table or countertop overnight and oh so many people wind up sick as dogs because of it. The USDA and other food safety experts recommend leaving pizza out at room temperature for no more than two hours. After that, every extra hour that you leave it exposed to warmth, humidity, airborne pathogens, bugs, bacteria and other nasties increases the likelihood of a subsequent trip to the hospital and a visit with Mr. Stomach Pump. Or, at the very least, a lot more quality time in the bathroom. You might be able to stretch the exposure on plain cheese or veggie toppings a little, but anything with meat on it really needs to be refrigerated ASAP. And leftover pizza should only be a short-term resident in the refrigerator. Two to four days, max. Now, if the pizza is just the best that man ever created and you can’t bear the thought of throwing any of the leftovers away, but know that you won’t be able to eat them within two to four days, you can freeze leftover pizza as long as you do it within the two hour safety window. Leaving it out all night and then freezing it just means a delayed trip to the hospital.

Now, on to reheating. A lot of people like their leftover pizza cold. To each his own, I suppose. As long as it’s been properly stored, no problem. But if you are going to reheat it, you really need to stay away from that ultimate convenience device – the microwave oven.

In microwave cooking, radio waves penetrate the food and excite water and fat molecules. The food “cooks” from the inside out rather than from the outside in as it would in a conventional oven – a process called “conduction,” by the way. In a microwave, heat doesn’t migrate toward the interior of the food via conduction. The heat is everywhere all at once because the molecules are all excited together. When you “cook” in a microwave, the whole heating process is different because you are actually "exciting atoms" rather than "conducting heat." This is fine if you’re dealing with nice moist food that you want to remain nice and moist. But if you’re talking about a thin and crispy pizza crust, microwaving it – and exciting all those water molecules – will just make it thin and soggy. That’s why they make the nifty little “crisping” trays for pizzas that are sold as “microwaveable.” The tray reacts to the microwave energy by becoming very hot. This exterior heat is then conducted by the tray, allowing the crust to become crispy as it would in a conventional oven.

So, just use a conventional oven to begin with. Or a toaster oven, if you prefer. If you have a baking stone -- or a pizza stone, as they’re often called – warm it up in the oven (350° to 400° is fine if you’re just reheating) and slap your leftover pizza on it for about five minutes. The stone absorbs the heat and redistributes it evenly to the surface of the crust, leaving you with a nice, evenly-heated crispy crust that is hard to tell from fresh. And, they do make baking stones that fit in toaster ovens. If you don’t have a baking stone, try one of those perforated pizza pans that allows heat to circulate as the pizza bakes. If all else fails, just reheat it on the aluminum foil you stored it in. Just remember to remove the wax paper separators! And open the foil packages up. Leaving them closed produces much the same effect as microwaving does. The moisture turns to steam and steams your nice crispy crust to a limp soggy one, leaving you a little steamed when you try to eat it.

Leftover pizza can be even better than fresh sometimes. Something about the way everything marinates and blends, I suppose. But even the best leftover pizza will be bad unless it’s properly stored.

Buon appetito!

Basics of Great Risotto

Recently, an innocent bystander asked me how much cream I put in my risotto. When my eyes receded back into their sockets and the steam stopped blowing out of my ears, I very calmly replied, “Don't – ever – put – cream – in – risotto!”

Turns out my hapless inquirer had read a cookbook containing recipes from a well-known French restaurant in California. At least now I understood how he could ask such a ridiculous question. The French are simply obsessed with cream. Sometime after the 16^th century Italian chefs of Caterina de Medici taught them how to get around in a kitchen, French cooks developed a thing about cream and started putting it in absolutely everything.

But, I say again, there is no cream in a proper risotto.

Risotto is a staple in Northern Italian cooking, especially in Milanese cuisine. Cooks in the northern regions of Italy rely on rice much more than those in the more pasta oriented areas to the south. Lombardia, Piemonte and the Veneto abound in rice paddies.

Some people think "risotto" is the Italian word for rice. Not so. "Riso" is the Italian word for rice. Risotto is a wonderfully rich, creamy way to prepare rice. A lot of people are afraid of risotto because it takes a lot of slow stirring, a lot of attention to detail, and a lot of patience. You can't just put the rice in water, bring it to a boil, turn it down to a simmer, and walk away for fifteen minutes. Risotto demands your attention, but the results are worth the effort.

Unlike American rice dishes, which primarily utilize long grain rice, risotto is made using a short grain rice, such as Arborio, or medium grains like Carnaroli or Vialone Nano. These rices absorb more liquids, release more starches and are stickier than the long grain varieties. In fact, they are graded by their ability to absorb liquids; Carnaroli and Arborio are designated "superfino" (or "extra fine"). Vialone Nano is a "semifino" rice whose grains are capable of absorbing up to twice their own weight in liquid. Vialone Nano and Carnaroli are more commonly used for risotto in Italy, but Arborio is a little more readily available in the United States.

Here's the “food science” reason for why risotto works. All types of rice contain the starches amylose and amylopectin. Different types of rice contain different proportions of amylose and amylopectin. It is this ratio that determines how a particular rice will perform when cooked.

Amylose is a long, straight starch molecule that does not gelatinize during cooking. This tends to make the rice grains fluffy and separate when cooked. Amylopectin molecules are shorter and have lots of little projections or branches sticking out. This makes the rice sticky when released during cooking. Long grain rice has the most amylose and the least amylopectin. Medium grain rice has more amylopectin than amylose, and short grain rice has an even higher amylopectin content with little to no amylose. This kind of rice gives up huge amounts of starch to the surrounding environment as it cooks, resulting in a finished product that is either very creamy or very sticky. Both are essential to a good risotto.

Two other elements essential to a successful risotto are hot liquid and stirring. Lots of stirring. Some cooks even advocate constant stirring, but I have found that frequent stirring will suffice. Stirring is necessary because it helps the rice grains rub off some of their starch and hot liquid is important because cold liquid shocks the rice and causes it to flake on the outside while staying hard at the core.

So how do all these elements come together to make a creamy, delicious risotto? Glad you asked.

First, assemble the following ingredients:

2 cups chicken broth or stock, divided

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 cup Arborio rice

1/4 cup dry white wine, slightly warmed

1 cup water

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 tbsp finely chopped Italian flat leaf parsley

Now, in a medium saucepan, bring the chicken broth to a boil, then lower the heat enough to just keep the broth warm.

In another medium saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté 4 or 5 minutes or until the onion is tender. Add the garlic and continue to sauté for 3 or 4 minutes more. DON'T let the garlic brown or it will turn bitter!

Time to stir in the uncooked rice. Do this gently, making sure that all the rice is coated in the oil and butter, and cook, stirring frequently, until the rice becomes translucent.

Now come the liquids. Stir in the slightly warmed wine and cook for a minute or two until the liquid evaporates. Reduce the heat to low and add about 1/2 cup of the warm chicken broth. Stir until the liquid is absorbed. When you can pull the spoon through the rice and see the bottom of the pan, it's time to add more liquid, so pour in another 1/2 cup of broth. Stir and repeat. When you reach the point where about 3/4 of the broth has been added and stirred in, start tasting for doneness. If the rice is still a little dry at the center, keep adding the remaining liquid until it becomes creamy and just barely al dente, just like you would with pasta. You may not need all the liquid, or you may need a few tablespoons more, in which case a little hot water will work just fine. Test for seasoning and add a little salt only if you think you really need it.

At this point, stir in the grated cheese and the chopped parsley, making sure everything is thoroughly incorporated. This is also the point at which you would add any additional flavorings, such as mushrooms or spinach or whatever. Unless you're making Risotto Milanese, wherein you would add a pinch of saffron along with the wine.

And in defense of the French, you could add cream to your risotto as a flavor component, but if you need cream to make it creamy, then you've done something horribly wrong.

There are two schools of thought regarding the seving of risotto. Fancy restaurants will serve very firm risotto formed in ring molds or something, but most Italians just enjoy it "all'onda" or "on the wave," a looser, creamier preparation usually served family style.

Buon appetito!

Recipe: Arancini

Arancini, or arancini di riso, is a traditional Sicilian creation thought to date back to the 10^th century. Wonderful as an antipasto, they are essentially little fried, stuffed rice balls. The Italian word for orange is arancia. In the delightfully imaginative Italian manner, arancini are so named because, when cooked, they resemble little oranges.

I always use risotto in making arancini, but "regular" rice will work, too. Arancini are a great way to use up leftover rice. You'll need: 

2 cups risotto (or other cooked rice)

2 eggs, divided (1 beaten)

1 tablespoon milk

4 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into 3/4 inch cubes

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup dry bread crumbs

Vegetable oil for frying

If using freshly prepared risotto, allow it to cool slightly.

Stir the beaten egg into the risotto. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining egg and milk with a fork. For each ball, roll 2 tablespoons of the risotto into a ball. Press a piece of the mozzarella cheese into the center, and roll to enclose. Coat lightly with flour, dip into the milk mixture, then roll in bread crumbs to coat.

Heat oil for frying in a deep-fryer or large deep saucepan to 350°. Fry the balls in small batches until evenly golden, turning as needed. Drain on paper towels. Keep warm in a low oven while the rest are frying.

Yields approximately 18 pieces

Arancini freeze well before or after frying. Fry frozen uncooked rice balls as indicated. For already fried, reheat in a preheated 350° oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

You can also add small cubes of ham or chicken along with the mozzarella for a flavorful variation.

Buon appetito!

The Real “Chef Boyardee”

Stop me if you've heard this one: There is no real “Chef Boyardee.” Like “Betty Crocker” and “Mrs. Butterworth,” he's just a made-up marketing tool created by joining parts of the names of the company's three founders – Boyd, Art, and Dennis.

I don't know how these things get started, but this one belongs in the annals of urban legends, right up there with “Life cereal's Mikey ate a whole bag of Pop Rocks, slammed a Coke and died when his stomach exploded.” Or man-eating alligators lurking in the sewer.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, millions of Italians emigrated to the United States. One of them was a young man named Ettore Boiardi.

Ettore was born to Giuseppe and Maria Maffi Boiardi in Piacenza in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. Some sources list his birthday as October 22, 1897 while others cite 1898 as the year of his birth. All sources agree, however, that Ettore was an experienced hand in the kitchen when he and his family left Italy, bound for New York, in 1914.

Arriving at Ellis Island aboard the French-registered ship La Lorraine on May 9, 1914, young Ettore traded in his traditional Italian name for its more Americanized version, Hector. Calling on his already extensive culinary experience, Hector soon followed his older brother, Paul, into the kitchens of New York's Plaza Hotel, where Paul worked as a waiter. Brother Mario was also a chef. Hector followed his stint at the Plaza with turns at the Ritz-Carlton and at the historic Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. While at the Greenbriar, Boiardi supervised the catering of President Woodrow Wilson's second wedding reception in 1915. Quite an accomplishment for a teenage immigrant chef.

In fact, whether or not he actually encountered many questions about his age, he seemed to feel self-conscious about it. As a result, he grew a stylish mustache in order to make himself appear older, a look he sported for the rest of his life.

Hector married Helen Wroblewski on April 7, 1923. They had one son, Mario.

Eventually, Boiardi made his way to Cleveland, Ohio where he was employed at the new Hotel Winton before opening his own restaurant in 1926. Il Giardino d'Italia, or “The Garden of Italy” was located at the corner of East 9^th Street and Woodland Avenue in Cleveland's “Little Italy.”

Bear in mind, this was an era in which the only way Americans could experience Italian cuisine was to seek out Italian restaurants, usually found only in immigrant neighborhoods in large cities. There were no Italian cookbooks for home cooks and no “Italian food” sections in neighborhood groceries.

The fare at “Il Giardino d'Italia” proved to be immensely popular. Patrons were especially partial to Hector's spaghetti sauce, to the point where the chef began sending portions of the sauce home with his customers, packaged in old milk bottles. Word about Chef Boiardi's spaghetti sauce got around and soon sales of the sauce outpaced overall sales at the restaurant. Hector acquired an adjacent building to serve as a production plant to meet the demand for his sauce.

Responding to customer comments about an inability to find good pasta for home use, Hector began packaging portions of dry spaghetti and packets of cheese to accompany his best-selling sauce, foreshadowing the product that was soon to make him famous the world over.

Inspired by local success, Boiardi began to think nationally. By 1929, he was marketing his packaged spaghetti dinner to the general public. Around 1936, as the product's popularity grew, so did the chef's frustration with people's inability to pronounce his name. So he began spelling it phonetically and “Chef Boy-Ar-Dee” was born.

Hector moved production to a factory in Milton, Pennsylvania in 1938 and began expanding the product line to include beef ravioli, which rapidly became one of the company's most popular products, a distinction it still holds today. At fourteen ravioli per can, Americans consume more than fourteen billion meat-filled pasta pockets each year.

Obsessed with freshness and quality, Boiardi started out growing his own tomatoes and mushrooms at the Milton facility.

Hector Boiardi is widely credited with introducing much of mainstream America to Italian food. He is also cited as a major supplier of comestibles to American and Allied troops during World War II. Boardi's company prepared millions of rations for servicemen, making it one of the government's largest military suppliers. His war efforts were recognized when he was awarded a gold star of excellence from the United States War Department.

Unfortunately, Hector's company rapidly outgrew him. Unable to personally control cashflow and internal growth issues, he sold his brand to American Home Foods (later International Home Foods) in 1946 for six million dollars. He invested his profits in steel mills, which helped produce materiel for the Korean War.

Boiardi remained associated with his former company for the remainder of his life. His face became an advertising icon and he appeared in numerous print and television advertisements for his eponymous brand throughout the '40s, '50s, and '60s. His last commercial as “Chef Boyardee” aired in 1979. He continued developing new Italian food products for the company, owned by ConAgra Foods since 2000, until his death in Parma, Ohio on June 21, 1985. His familiar likeness is still found on every package that bears his equally familiar name.

The venerable old chef who helped change America's eating habits is buried in All Souls Cemetery in Chardon, Ohio, beside his wife of more than fifty years, Helen, who died in 1995. Their only son, Mario, passed away in November, 2007. The Boiardi line is continued by Hector's two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

A culinary legend and an American success story, at the time of his death the products he inspired and created were registering annual sales of around five hundred million dollars.

Scenes from an Italian Restaurant

A Beginner’s Guide to Italian Restaurants

There’s little doubt that Italian cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines in the world. Just a glance at the yellow pages of any big city (or not so big city, for that matter) telephone directory will testify to the popularity of Italian restaurants.

But a closer look will reveal that not all Italian restaurants are created equal. One establishment may bill itself as a “ristorante” while its neighbor down the block is a “trattoria.” You’re just looking for good Italian food, so what’s the difference?

Once upon a time in Italy, eating establishments were strictly defined by the type of food they served. These days, as the global popularity of Italian cuisine spreads to levels previously enjoyed only by its French cousin, terms like “ristorante” are more often than not just fancy words employed to enhance a restaurant’s pretensions. This is particularly true in the United States. With that in mind, for the purists among you, here are a few terms and definitions that might help you in your quest for il ristorante italiano perfetto.

A ristorante (ree-sto-RAHN-tay) should be a full-fledged, full-service restaurant. In Italy, the term came into use after the Risorgimento to describe elegant and sophisticated dining establishments. These are the kind of places that usually have a lot of forks or stars after their names in the travel guides. Usually reservations are required and the places are replete with varying degrees of “authentic” Italian décor. There should be a host or hostess to seat you. The wait staff, including a sommelier, should be experienced with foods and wines as well as with proper service etiquette. You should expect complete or à la carte offerings presented on a printed menu with fixed prices. Your food should be prepared by a professional kitchen staff and should represent selections from several ordered courses. Expect to pay a premium price for the food and the service – as well as for the ambiance.

A trattoria (tra-toh-REE-ah) is less formal than a ristorante. Here you’ll find medium-priced fare and casual service. In fact, if you were in Italy and wanted to find an inexpensive restaurant, you might ask, “Può consigliare una trattoria?” There probably won’t be a host or hostess; just pick a table and sit down. Maybe there’s a printed menu; maybe not. You might find today’s offerings handwritten on a chalkboard, or your server may just recite them. The food is generally quite good; modest but plentiful and sometimes presented family-style. Trattoria food is often available for take out. Serving local foods and wines in an open and unostentatious setting, a trattoria in Italy is frequently family owned and operated and can usually be found in neighborhoods, small towns or rural areas. In America, all too often the name is just tacked onto an average restaurant to make it sound more Italian.

An osteria (oh-stay-REE-ah) is the least formal among the formal classifications of restaurant. Originally an osteria was an inn that provided lodging and served simple food and wine. Today’s osteria is more of a gathering place that serves wine and some basic foods, much like an American tavern. Actually, the word “tavern” is derived from the Greek “taverna,” which simply meant “shed” or “workshop.” In some cases, an osteria and a taverna may be interchangeable, although conceptually speaking, an osteria is more a cousin to a locanda; that is to say an inn or a guest house. Here, too, though, the modern idea of a locanda is of a simple restaurant rather than a place that offers lodging. This type of establishment is fading a little from the Italian scene as lines between categories become more blurred, but it hasn’t completely disappeared. In America you’ll find a few places bearing the name osteria in the predominantly Italian neighborhoods of the larger cities, but more places tend to call themselves trattoria or ristorante. Surprisingly, a lot of American eateries employ locanda in their designations, but often this is merely a coat of bohemian paint applied to a pedestrian facade.

The pizzeria (peets-ay-REE-ah) has become ubiquitous not only in its native region but around the world. Originally specializing in one food only, pizza, the pizza parlor was initially popularized in Naples and spread quickly throughout the south of Italy before taking over the planet. A true pizzeria serves up its specialty, baked by a pizzaiolo, in a wood-fired oven. Pizza may be eaten on the premises or taken out. Real Neapolitan pizza is usually folded into a packet and eaten like a sandwich, making it an ideal food for “on the go” consumption. The concept of pizza delivery service is an American invention. Easily now the most popular type of eatery in Italy – and elsewhere – today’s pizzeria no longer limits its menu choices to pizza, but often provides other dishes, usually in an informal atmosphere with correspondingly informal prices.

A paninoteca (pan-ee-no-TAY-kah) is essentially an Italian sandwich shop featuring a great variety of hot and cold sandwiches and coffee.

A caffè (kaff-EH), on the other hand, is a coffee shop that sometimes serves sandwiches, although usually breakfast (colazione) is the main bill of fare. Most of these coffee shops also serve alcohol.

Tea and pastries are found at a sala da tè (sal-ah-dah-TAY), a tea room.

Finally, always popular in Italy and catching on fast in America is the gelateria (jay-lah-tay-REE-ah). This is the Italian ice cream parlor. But rich, creamy Italian gelato is so far superior to its pale American relative as to be barely comparable. In fact, it would be illegal in the United States to call Italian gelati ice creams, as ice cream is defined by the FDA as a frozen product with no less than 10 percent butterfat. Gelato is usually made with whole milk which is 3 to 4 percent butterfat. Unlike ice cream, gelato ingredients are not homogenized, resulting in a product that melts faster. If you are, say, a hundred years old and remember how real ice cream used to be made, then you’ll have an idea of why there’s a gelateria in the heart of downtown Austin, Texas, for example. Buy it by the cone or by the cup in a delightful variety of flavors.

So whether you’re planning to dine at Alfredo’s in Roma, Italia or at Alfredo’s in Atlanta, Georgia, I wish you buon appetito! Mangiare bene e mangiare felice!