We are back with our new Guest Chef and wine expert for the Italian Food Lovers Chef Network, Chef and partner of Spiaggia Restaurant Tony Mantuano and wine expert Cathy Mantuano.
We interviewed via email Tony and Cathy, and asked them a couple of questions about their Chef and wine experience and their love for Italian food.
Chef Tony Mantuano wanted to be a Chef because he “loves to cook“, as simple as that. According Chef tony Mantuano, “the secret of being a top Chef is being smart enough to know to leave out an ingredient. The most important ingredient in any dish is the one you leave out“, he said to us.
Chef Tony Mantuano’s favorite food is Cape Cod Potato Chips and his favorite cooking style is “Regional Italian food that respects tradition“. His definition of Italian cuisine is “Food that has respect for Italian culture and tradition“, while his definition of Italian gourmet is “Traditional food presented in a modern fashion for today’s palate“.
Check out this video we found on Google Video, if you want to get more Italian Chef insight, knowledge and philosophy from Chef Tony Mantuano!
We also interviewed wine expert Cathy Mantuano, and she told us that her favorite food is “pasta because there are so many kinds of pasta and so many different sauces and preparations for it“, while talking about her cooking style she stated that she is “a fan of any cuisine that uses fresh, seasonal products as a base for its dishes. I like spicy dishes, as in Thai and Chinese food. I also like Japanese food. I love the spices of Middle Eastern cuisine“.
When asked about her definition of Italian cuisine Cathy Mantuano said that “Italian cuisine highlights top quality ingredients in season, prepared simply, using few ingredients“, while her definition of Italian gourmet is “freshly picked produce, handmade pasta, farm raised poultry and meat, artisanal cheese, estate wines“.
As we reported on our latest post, Cathy and Tony Mantuano are co-authors of the Italian cookbooks “Wine Bar Food: Mediterranean Flavors to Crave with Wines to Match” and “The Spiaggia Cookbook: Eleganza Italiana in Cucina“, both available online at Barnes and Noble’s and Amazon.com’s online stores. Wine Bar Food is also available at CrateandBarrel.com.
Some of the recipes from Cathy and Tony’s cookbooks feature Academia Barilla products (as well as in their Chicago restaurants Spiaggia, Café Spiaggia, and Private Dining Rooms of Spiaggia) and we got permission from the authors to share with you some of their Italian gourmet creations - so here we go with the first one… only that we want to publish the recipe on a clean new post, so you can print it and take it with you to the kitchen - stay tuned for the recipe post coming up tomorrow!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 12:54 am and is filed under academia barilla, academia barilla chef, celebrity chef, celebrity chefs, chef network, culinary arts, food industry and media, gastronomy tradition, gourmet menus, gourmet products, gourmet recipes, gourmet restaurants, innovative recipes, italian cookbooks, italian culinary tradition, italian food, regional olive oils, regional specialties, traditional italian cheeses, traditional recipes, videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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I visit Italy often and love Italian food and flavors, and find it so hard to find an italian restaurant that can bring that to life here in the USA while keeping it simple. I can’t wait to see what you’ll post for me to try at home!
The passion that Tony puts into his cooking is a gift to all of us who are fortunate to partake in his work. Cathy’s love for all things wine is the perfect match for Tony’s cooking. Spiaggia in Chicago and Mangia, their restaurant in Kenosha, WI are places where one can take a trip to Italy without leaving the heartland.
Good people making great memories from food and drink are to be treasured.
Does anyone remember Chef Tony’s Pizza House that was located on the west side of Aurora, across from the Aurora Village? They had what I thought was the best pizza on the planet, with using a very thin pizza dough that had no crust and a stinky cheese that was an oily, see trough type that had this amazing flavor. I have never tasted any cheese that matches the distinct taste that was so incredible. We ate there through the entire decade of the 60’s and I think they had a son who went to Shoreline Highschool, must have been in the 1st graduating class and opened up another Chef Tony’s in Everett around the 1980’s. Jeanne from Innis Arden
Thanks for all your comments, we are very happy to have Chef Tony Mantuano among our Italian Food Lovers’ Guest Chefs - you fans of Tony Mantuano stay tuned, more recipes from Tony coming in the next few weeks!!!