The Big Night!
"In love and life, one big night can change everything."
Just like in the film "Big Night," the Ricchi's had the opportunity to serve a dinner that would forever change the trajectory of their lives. Only after a month of opening their Tuscan restaurant, newly inaugurated President George Herbert Walker Bush came to dinner, creating a media buzz that would firmly establish them as Washington's newest authentic Italian restaurant.
This week's menu highlights i Ricchi dishes that were relatively unknown when they opened in 1989, but which have become customer favorites.
Piemonte, Risotto & Napoleon
In their regional cuisines, Italians understand and celebrate their homegrown specialties, much of which are rooted in long traditions. Piemonte is rich in ingredients ranging from the Alps to the rice paddies of its plains, to the manicured vineyards on the rolling hills of Le Langhe. Our menu this week showcases all of these, embellished with local folklore and historic battle stories.
Leave the gun, take the cannoli!
Many Italian-Americans grow up thinking the specialties prepared by their grandmothers are authentically Italian. Though certainly rooted in recipes from the “old country,” many were changed as immigrants adapted to their new home in America and to the ingredients they could find.
“It is the memories and experiences the Italian immigrants brought with them, coupled with the products they found, that developed into today’s Italian-American cuisine,” says renowned Italian chef and author, Lidia Bastianich.
Much of mainstream America was introduced to this immigrant culture through movies like “The Godfather.” This week’s menu highlights some of the most beloved dishes made famous by the movie.
Kicking off Festival Season in the Italian Riviera
Italy's best kept food secret is the "sagra", a festival organized to show off the typical enogastronomic products of a particular area. During the second week of May the "Sagra del Pesce" is held in Camogli, a stunning seaside village south of Genova on the Ligurian coast, also known as the Italian Riviera. This week we pay homage to the coastal ingredients and spirit of this beautiful region and perhaps remember some of our own summer getaways and beachside picnics.
Spaghetti Westerns & Tuscan Cowboys The original cowboys were Italian! Oh yes they were! The Butteri of southern Tuscany have been an intrinsic part of the Maremma area for centuries, riding and roping long-horned cattle on horseback. Maybe that explains, in part, why Italians have always been intrigued with the American West. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, recognized as one of the top ten films of all time, was an Italian-made Western, emblematic of the widely popular genre of movies directed by Italian, Sergio Leone, in the 1960s and 70s that were ultimately dubbed "Spaghetti Westerns." They were a stark depiction of the Old West, featuring characters who possessed both heroic and villainous traits, the most prominent being "The Man...
