Eat For Good
Famed Los Angeles chef Nancy Silverton will join Hillary Sterling in the kitchen at Ci Siamo on Monday, January 22 for a one-night-only dinner to benefit the Food Bank for New York City. The collab between two of the best chefs in U.S. Italian cuisine kicks off a new series, Eat for Good, pairing New York’s top culinary talent with renowned visiting chefs from around the country.
Tickets are available via Resy for $500 per person, with a five-course menu featuring cast iron focaccia with tomato conserva (Sterling); Nancy's Caesar, egg, leek & anchovy crostini (Silverton); orecchiette, fennel sausage & Swiss chard (Silverton); smoked duck, mushrooms, beans, and black olives (Sterling); and a lemon torta with olive oil and meringue by Sterling with legendary pastry chef Claudia Fleming. Wine pairings are included with the dinner.
The Food Bank for New York City’s goal is to end food poverty in the five boroughs. Founded in 1983, it has become the city’s largest hunger-relief organization. Its Eat for Good series will continue in 2024 with dinners featuring an East Coast/West Coast collaboration between two of David Chang’s restaurants, Majordomo and Momofuku Noodle Bar, and an Austin/NYC seafood dinner featuring Este and Ensenada.
Italian Food as Muse
Appetito Editor-in-Chief Andrew Cotto will give a talk on “Italian Food as a Muse,” Thursday, January 25 at the Columbus Citizens Foundation Townhouse, at 8 E. 69th St. in Manhattan. Tickets are $35 and include a reception starting at 6 pm.
Besides co-founding Appetito, Cotto is an accomplished author whose novels, including Cucina Tipica, Cucina Romana, and Pasta Mike, often feature passages centered on Italian cuisine. A regular contributor to The New York Times and other publications, Cotto is also a frequent speaker at events and a guest on TV shows including Fox 5’s Good Day New York.
Tickets are available at the CCF website.
Brooklyn’s New Italian Destinations (and one in Queens)
One of New York City’s best Italian sandwich shops has added a new location. Regina’s Grocery opened late last week at 1063 Bedford Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, featuring inventive as well as classic Italian heroes, salads, and more. The mini-chain, which last week featured a special sandwich as part of The Sopranos 25th anniversary celebration, first opened on the Lower East Side in 2017, later expanding to Little Italy and the Upper East Side. >>> Time Out Market New York, located at 55 Water St. in Dumbo, Brooklyn, is now home to a second location of Settepani Bakery. Known for their artisanal panettone and baked Italian breads and sweets, Settepani’s new stall will offer panettone by the slice as well as a biscotti, bombolone, and savory items like baked eggs. Settepani also operates an Italian restaurant in Harlem. >>> Another newcomer to Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn is Bar Birba, which opened late last month at 340 Franklin Ave. with a menu focused on pizza al taglio, natural wines, and aperitivi and amari. >>> Fort Greene restaurant Evelina has spawned a new offshoot, Rosticceria Evelina, at 455 Myrtle Ave. employing the Italian concept of an informal restaurant focusing on roasted meats. The menu features an impressive range of small plates, pizzas, and roasted chicken and fish, as well as a smashburger and pork chop Milanese. >>> Just across the street from Rosticceria Evalina is the original Osteria Brooklyn, which has a second location in the DeKalb Market, and now a third in Long Island City. Osteria Brooklyn LIC keeps the name of its home borough as it expands to Queens at 150 50th Ave., offering antipasti, pizza, pasta, crudo, and mains including chicken parm, ribeye steaks, and more.
