MARIANI’S
Virtual
Gourmet
May 18,
2025
NEWSLETTER
THIS WEEK
EATING AROUND SPLIT, CROATIA
NEW YORK CORNER
QUATORZE BIS
By John Mariani
HÔTEL ALLEMAGNE
CHAPTER TWELVE
By John Mariani
NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
LUIGI BOSCA PIONEERED MALBEC IN
ARGENTINA AS ITS FLAGSHIP WINE
By John Mariani
EATING AROUND SPLIT, CROATIA
By John Mariani
Al Fresco Dining at Dvor
Every
time I return to a Mediterranean country and
eat seafood I am always amazed how so many
of those same species swimming in American
waters
are so inferior in taste and texture.
(By the same token, many American species,
from lobsters to bluefish are superior to
their Mediterranean counterparts.)
It has a great deal to do with the water, the
saltiness, the temperature and what the fish
eat. Pristine, glass-clear waters are not
ideal because they lack plankton and other
fish nourishment. And it
should be noted that nearly all the branzino,
both here and in Europe, is, alas, farm
raised.
I was reminded of all this on a recent trip to
Croatia, whose Dalmatian waters still teem
with excellent seafood and whose restaurants
have daily access to superb examples of
dorade, skate, red mullet, corvina, amberjack
and much more, along with fat shrimp and
langoustines. Most restaurants that specialize
in seafood proudly
display the day’s catch on ice just
inside the entrance.
In the seaside city of Split I dined
exceptionally well at a number of restaurants
whose seafood was nonpareil. In my last column
here I noted the fine meal I had at Konoba
Nikola in nearby Strobreč, but there are many
within the city well worth seeking out.
Not that you’d have to search for the
11-year-old Dvor (Put
Furita 4) , because every local knows of
it as perhaps Split’s finest and most creative
restaurant. Down a few steep, rocky, tricky
steps, the glassed-in dining room is adjacent
to an al fresco verandah overlooking the
water. Inside it is a handsome space, the
tables judiciously set apart from one another,
topped with good linens and a pot of flowers.
The
waitstaff is cordial and quite eager to tell
you about the day’s specials and to point you
to the screed of Croatian wines on the list.
My guest and I left ourselves in the hands of
Chef Hrvoje Zirojević, and soon, well-paced
dishes came to the table. First was a
carpaccio of pristine sea bass with saline
olives, tangy orange and sweet sun-dried
tomatoes, then “canelon” of tuna tagliatelle
with pistachios and 
chicory.
Lightly cooked and very tender squid took on
sweetness from caramelized onions and a
reduction of wine, then followed cold slices
of tuna with Croatian foie gras, a cream of
peas crunchy pistachios and a touch of
caviar.
Risottos are very popular in Croatia and
Dvor’s offers a few: We loved the one with
smoked seafood of mussels and prawns
accompanied by a surprisingly good cream
cheese ice cream.
Having
shown
his talent for seafood, the chef sent out
velvety, succulent pork
belly confit with pickled fennel and carrots
in a rich demi-glace. There was a delicate
millefeuille of potatoes and a dash of
horseradish cream.
For
dessert we shared a kind if gianduia of
chocolate, hazelnuts, marzipan and coffee, as
well as a spring time strawberry with vanilla
elderflower, and a lovely “brezzy” of
mango, vanilla, coconut and lime.
Our bill for all this, plus wine and tax, came
to
213.
A meal at
close to the same level and certainly of the
same quality was one I enjoyed at Kadena 
(Ul. Ivana pl. Zacja 4),
now celebrating its 30th year in
business, in a residential neighborhood Split,
It is quite elegant, with
a long dining room flanked by another. I
wouldn’t use the word “serenade” for the bossa
nova music a lone saxophonist attempted
nearby, but he tat least he took frequent
sufficient.
Kadena’s
menu
is long, again focused on the seafood you see
when you enter, which that night offered
scorpionfish,
John Dory, dorade, mullet, bream and
shellfish. Among the cold starters are raw
items like a shrimp and scallop tartare with
balsamic vinegar; a tuna ceviche with chilis,
apple
and capers; and a scampi carpaccio in
lustrous olive oil.
Saffron
ravioli
was plumped up with
sweet blue crab and leeks, while risotto was
enriched with various seafood and cooked in
Prosecco sparkling wine.
We opted for what amounts to a national dish
in Dalmatia called gregada, a steaming
stew thick with fish and shellfish (for two
people). There are meat dishes here, too,
including simple rack of lamb with vegetables
and a beef Wellington I did not try.
Desserts are
pan-European with items like tiramisů and a
Basque cake with berries, but the paradižot
is a signature Dalmatian dessert similar
to baked Alaska, with fluffy poached egg white
meringue, a petit biscuit and vanilla cream.
Dinner for two at Kadena with wine and tax
should run about
€200.
NEW YORK CORNER
1578 First Avenue
212-535-1414
By John Mariani
How naďve of the New York food media to proclaim the French bistro food is back in fashion when it never fell out of it. French bistros have been a fixture in New York ever since they lined the streets of the Theater District back in the 1940s. There were many others elsewhere, not least Quatorze, which Mark Di Giulio and Peter Meltzer opened back in 1984 on 14th Street in the Village and later moved uptown to East 79th Street as Quatorze Bis, then moved again, three blocks away to 81st Street.
Since
Peter Meltzer’s passing, Alex McNeice, the
restaurant’s General Manager from the 79th Street
location, has joined Mark as
a partner at the restaurant’s newest location. So Quatorze (Bis) has been going
string for nearly forty
years. In all that time its classic décor has
changed little. You are still
greeted by the lipstick red façade and yellow
awning, and inside are the same
Parisian posters, red banquettes, crown molding,
white double linens, flowers, and wooden
floors. The yellow menu mimics those of Paris models
and there is a nightly
blackboard menu of specials. For some reason the
cheery lighting of the past, as seen in the photo to
the left,
that allowed you to see everyone in the room has
been lowered at night, so that
now you can’t.The greeting is as warm as ever, especially since Quatorze Bis fills up with a local regular crowd of upper east siders who know not to show up in t-shirts
and
baseball caps. The young staff
seems to bounce on their feet, and their welcome,
menu explanations and
recommendations are
part of the
atmosphere’s bon vitalité. Though it’s a
small room (65 seats, now with
tables outside, and a bar counter for nine) the
noise level never rises to the
distress of some many other places.Over the years I’ve probably sampled every dish and most specials on the menu––now prepared by young Chef Adam Ben'Ous––but some I can never resist ordering time and time. I look at the modest wine list of about 50 selections, choose a simple regional bottling, tear off a piece of a warm baguette and slather it with the generous amount of butter (itself at the right spreadable temperature) provided to a table.
There are oysters of various species available, and from Thursday to Sunday 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm, guests can enjoy a selection priced at $1.50, with gaufrettes potato chips, and a selection of red, white, rosé, and sparkling for $10 a glass.
Outside of a
Jewish or German deli, you don’t often see creamed
herring on a menu, but here
it is––nicely balanced with cream and the briny,
cured taste of the herring.
Always a treat to find is the browned bacon, leek
and Gruyčre tart (left) with a fine
pastry crust, and the plump seafood sausage has been
on the menu for as long as
I can remember for good reason. For a salad, the
chicory with bacon and hot
vinaigrette is a savory starter, but I can never
resist the French onion soup
with its sweet caramelized onions in abundance
covered over with a good slab of
bubbly, golden Gruyere so hot you have to wait
minutes before attempting an
assault 
with
a spoon. Calf’s liver and bacon used to be on every bistro menu, but no longer, so I was very happy to see it still at Quartorze Bis, perfectly cooked till rosy, full of flavor and glazed with sauteed shallots and the fat of the bacon, which goes very well with either the superb frites or mashed potatoes that seem composed of equal parts butter.
I always order trout when I find it, but the sample that night was rather flavorless. It could have used a treatment like amandine. A large portion of half a roast chicken on the other hand was full of flavor and came with crisp skin, so it really didn’t need a somewhat thickened sauce on top.
How
can one
not order some beef at a bistro? So I tucked into a
grilled sirloin as good as I’ve
ever had ––immensely flavorful, with a minerality
and an ideal chew that was
very Parisian indeed, crusted on the exterior and
rose-red as ordered.Other evergreen items on the menu include hearty boeuf ŕ la bourguignonne, choucroute garnie and cassoulet, though they only have so many portions each night, so place your order as soon as you sit down if that’s what you crave.
Desserts are wonderful old favorites, including plump profiteroles (below) with a
deep
dark chocolate; succulent poached poire belle
Hélčne;
and a hot apple tart that was crisp and sweet and
had the real taste of good
apples. There is also cheese available,
if you like, and a number of
after dinner drinks you might consider. As noted, New York has always welcomed good Parisian bistros, not least a slew of newcomers just in the past year that people say they’ve just “discovered,” when the old standbys have been all along been hiding in plain sight. Quatorze Bis has been one of the best and most consistent for four buoyant decades and it now is drawing another generation to its bright red doors.
Open for dinner nightly and for brunch
Open for dinner nightly; For brunch Thurs. -Sun.
HÔTEL ALLEMAGNE
By John Mariani
David reached Borel, who said he’d just gone over the reports his colleagues had filed about the interview with Dr. Baer, which agreed in every respect with David’s own notes.
“Tell me this, Michel, do all the hotels
ask for I.D. of some kind when guests check in?”
“That’s the rule,” said the detective, “but
it is not always strictly adhered to with
important guests.”
“What
about un-important guests?”
“It’s at the discretion of the check-in
desk.”
“But all foreigners would have to surrender
an passport with photo ID?”
“Ideally, yes.”
“So, you checked all those out at the three
hotels?”
Borel said the police had pretty much
followed the process in order to break down
guests into categories. Those who came down with
the disease were discounted as suspicious;
American guests—there were 23 in one hotel, 26 in
another and 28 in the third—were set aside (some
of them also on the sick list), while foreigners
from the Middle East and some of the former French
colonies were put in another pile.”
“What about Russians?”
Borel realized that Dr. Baer must have
revealed her findings about the origin of the
virus and said, “As far as we can tell, there were
only six Russians among all three hotels, and all
of them were long-time regulars and well known to
the concierges as the nouveau riche
Russian millionaires coming to Paris to spend
their money lavishly. There was one ambassador.”
“No hired assassins?” asked David,
wondering if the joke would register.
“No, no jackals that we know of.”
“So, how seriously are you taking Dr.
Baer’s contention that the virus was stolen from a
Russian laboratory and sprayed into the air ducts by
three men in the three hotels?”
“Quite seriously, David, but the fact that
no one has died is very strange. What kind of
message were they sending if they weren’t trying
to kill people?”
“Are there any conventions in the city that
would draw a large number of visitors from one
industry?”
“Paris always has conventions. It would
take some time to check out everyone’s reason to
be in Paris at any moment. Right now we have the
Society of Orthodontists and the International
Wood Construction conventions going on. They don’t
sound very sinister, do they?”
At that moment David heard a policeman
calling to Borel from the next room. Borel said,
“David, I have to hang up. There’s been a shooting
in a western suburb of Paris. A gunman killed
eight people and wounded 30 more. I have
to go.”
Borel hung up and David rushed over to
Katie’s room.
“Katie, you decent?” he said as he knocked
on her door.
Katie opened the door and asked what was
up. David told her about how Borel had hung up
because of a shooting incident.
“Can you turn on the TV to see if there’s
any reporting?”
Katie
did so and the news was on every French channel,
including the English-speaking one. From the
little that was known, a man with an automatic
weapon in Nanterre burst into the city hall
(above) at a late-night council meeting and
began firing. The town’s distraught mayor said, “A man got up. He had
been sitting in the public area. He shot
straight in front of him, and then he moved to
where the council members were sitting. He said
nothing. It was long. It lasted many minutes.”
Police reacted swiftly and arrested the man,
whose name was Richard Durn. Prime Minister
Lionel Jospin (left) and 
incumbent
President Jacques Chirac (right) rushed
to the scene, with Jospin saying the killing was
a “terrible tragedy” and that “many officials
reacted with great courage to overpower the
lunatic." Chirac denounced the shootings as an
"act of murderous folly."
Katie and David
watched as more details came in over the next
hour. Then, on CNN International, there was
Catherine, outside the town hall in Nanterre,
police lights flashing behind her and the area
cordoned off.
“The gunman is a 33-year-old ecologist
named Richard Durn (below), an avowed
member of the Les Verts—France’s Green Party,” she
reported, “which has been active politically in
France since the 1980s and is now considered very
right wing and opposes the current elections. A
police officer I spoke with said the man clearly
had psychological problems and had spoken of
removing what he called ‘Fascist’ rule in France.
Behind me you can see police trying to have family
members identify the bodies of the eight people
killed here today. This is Catherine Newcombe
reporting from Paris for CNN International.”
Katie and
David left the TV on but started to speak about
the incident.
“What do you think, David? This sound like
it could be related to the hotels incident?”
David shook his head. “I don’t know
anything about this Green Party or what it’s
trying to do. I don’t see any direct connection,
though. Guess we’ll have to speak with Borel when
he has the time to call me. Meanwhile, I’m
starving. How about dinner? We’re not going to
find out much tonight, or at least after we get
back from dinner.”
Katie said she was fine with that idea, so
she checked her guidebook and said, “There’s a
bistro called. . . Le Café d’Angel around here, on
the Rue Brey. Sound okay?”
David would have assented to anything Katie
recommended, so they went downstairs, had the
concierge call ahead for a table and were sitting
down in the pretty, old-fashioned bistro with a
blackboard menu of dishes like a parslied pâté, blanquette
de veau and apple tart at a modest fixed
price. They
ordered a bottle of red house wine and for a while
stayed mostly silent, watching a small TV above
the counter.
David had a feeling
Borel would be up to his neck in the news of the
day and would probably put the hotel events on the
back burner.
© John Mariani, 2024
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LUIGI BOSCA PIONEERED MALBEC IN
ARGENTINA AS ITS FLAGSHIP WINE
By John Mariani
The Vineyards of Luigi Bosca
Only in this
century has the European grape Malbec shown itself
to be worthy of being
enjoyed as more than a Bordeaux blending varietal.
Indeed, today it is the
dominant grape that has come to define Argentina’s
fine wine industry and
global reach. Crucial to Malbec’s rise in favor
and quality was the Bodega Luigi Bosca,
whose international sales director, Roberto
Meli, and
winemaker Pablo Cúneo I interviewed in New York.
How
long has Malbec been recognized as perhaps the
premier grape in Argentina, and
why?
Cúneo (below):
Malbec has been cultivated
in Argentina since the mid-19th century when the
original plants came from
pre-phylloxera populations brought over from France.
They multiplied and did extraordinarily
well in adapting to the terroir of Mendoza and
Argentina.
Although in the 1950s
Malbec accounted for only 22.5%
of Argentina’s vineyard surface, it wasn’t truly
appreciated until the late
1980s. Over time, this led to the development of a
unique, diverse, and
high-quality population, making Malbec a
viticultural heritage of our country. Until then, all
wine produced was consumed
domestically. Then,
Argentine
viticulture began looking for international
markets, so we needed to
identify a type of wine or a grape that could
deliver quality and distinguish
us internationally. Malbec emerged as a variety
capable of producing
expressive, high-quality wines with a distinctive
character.
The
first concrete step in elevating Malbec’s status
was the creation of the Luján de Cuyo Controlled
Denomination of Origin (DOC),
which not only highlighted the grape but also the
old Malbec vineyards and the
Lujan de Cuyo region. Leoncio Arizu came from fourth
generations of pioneering
winemakers in Europe, and settle Mendoza, where he
found Luján de Cuyo reminded
him of his native land, so he became deeply inspired
and began planting
vineyards with European vines, including Malbec.
Under the guidance of the
Arizu family, Luigi Bosca became a driving force and
founding promoter of
Argentina’s
first DOC.
From the
late 1990s, Malbec established itself as
Argentina’s flagship variety. Owing to its ability
to produce deeply colored
wines with expressive fruit and a smooth, silky
texture that quickly won over
consumers in Argentina and abroad. It is also a
variety capable of producing
wines across various price points without losing its
identity or character.
What
does
adding Cabernet Sauvignon do for Malbec?
Cúneo:
Malbec naturally has a deep
color and low tannin levels, which gives it its
smooth and fleshy texture. When
blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, it gains body and
structure, thanks to the
latter’s tannins. Aromatically, Cabernet Sauvignon
contributes richness and
complexity, adding spicy, peppery and herbal notes.
When
did you begin focusing on Chardonnay? Your
Chardonnay De Sangre is a blend with
two other varietals. Why?
Cúneo:
At Luigi Bosca, we’ve been
making Chardonnay since the 1980s; the first vintage
was in 1986, and it became
a benchmark for the variety in Argentina.
De Sangre White Blend is a wine based on
Chardonnay (50%) with Semillon
(35%) and Sauvignon Blanc (15%). With this wine, we
aim to express the
high-altitude character of our mountain vineyards
through aromatic freshness
and mineral acidity, as well as the harmony and
flavor richness achieved by
blending Chardonnay with the other two varieties.
Semillon adds herbal
aromas, weight, and sweetness on
the palate entry, while Sauvignon Blanc brings
freshness, acidity, and tension
to the mouthfeel. The result is a wine with great
aromatic complexity and
consistency on the palate.
Paraiso
is
now your newest red wine and your most expensive.
What is unique about it?
Cúneo:
Paraiso is a blend of Malbec
and Cabernet Sauvignon sourced each year from
selected plots within our best
vineyards in Mendoza. It reflects the Luigi Bosca
style, which is defined by
purity of aroma, complexity, harmony, and elegance.
To craft Paraiso, we taste
over 800 barrels or lots of wine and select those
that best embody our style.
The name pays tribute to
"El Paraíso," the
house where four generations of the Arizu family
lived and where the entire
Luigi Bosca story and inspiration began.
Cúneo: The alcohol levels of your wines seem
quite reasonable at a time when
so many other producers aim for 14.5%. How have
you maintained your levels,
especially with global warming?
Wine’s expression and grace
depend on the balance of
all its components. Alcohol contributes weight,
volume, and warmth, but if it's
not balanced with the rest, it can negatively impact
the grape’s typicity and
terroir expression.
The combination of vineyard
location, vineyard
management and the timing of the harvest are
fundamental factors in achieving
balanced ripeness with moderate alcohol levels.
To reach this, we start
with vineyards located in
temperate to cool, high-altitude areas that are
balanced in terms of
production. We aim for controlled yields and water
management that allow the
vine to work efficiently and healthily.
The decision of when to
harvest is crucial for
ensuring varietal and terroir expression while
avoiding over-ripeness. We begin
sensory and analytical monitoring of the grapes more
than a month before
harvest. At this stage, it's essential to be out in
the vineyard, walking it,
and staying closely attuned to its development.
How do
the climates of Argentina and Chile—both along the
Andes—differ?
Cúneo:
The main difference between
the winegrowing climates of Argentina and Chile is
that Argentina has a
strictly continental climate with no ocean
influence, while Chile has a
maritime-influenced climate thanks to the Pacific
Ocean. Argentina’s wine
regions stretch from 23° to 45° south latitude, at
the foot of the Andes. The
terroir conditions are defined by a desert
climate—dry, with naturally healthy
conditions for grape growing, strong sunlight, and
high temperatures.
Irrigation is essential and, when combined with the
region’s alluvial soils low
in organic matter, becomes a powerful tool for
vineyard management. Elevation
is the only way to seek cooler climate conditions
and balance latitude. In
short, Argentina’s wines combine mountain coolness
with intense sun, resulting
in wines with energy, color, concentration, and
freshness.
In Chile, the main
temperature regulator is the
Pacific Ocean.
Argentina
has
the highest rate of inflation in the world. How
does the wine industry cope
with that? Are all international sales in U.S.
dollars?
Meli: Operating from Argentina does come
with well-known
macroeconomic challenges. In our case, we try to
stay focused on what we can
control: the quality of our wines, building a strong
brand, and working closely
with our international partners. Most of our exports
are handled in U.S.
dollars, which provides a more stable basis for
planning. In the end, what
keeps us moving forward is consistency year after
year, offering wines with
identity and authenticity that resonate with
consumers at a stable price.
According
to
the president of Wines of Argentina, Alejandro
Vigil, “Argentina has gone
through a complicated economic process, with an
extremely backward dollar and
serious supply problems . . . especially in
markets like the United States at
the base of our pyramid, in wines that are below
$35 per case, which is
practically impossible to export, given the dollar
we currently have. . . and
where wine consumption has decreased sharply,
especially for countries like
ours.” How are you coping with these problems?
Meli: Entry-level wines are indeed under
pressure in today’s
environment, especially in competitive markets like
the U.S. Our focus has
always been on the premium segment, where there’s
more room to build long-term
value and where quality is clearly recognized and
can support the increasing
costs. At the same time, we believe success in any
market comes from strong
local partnerships. We work closely with our
importers and distributors to
adapt our strategy—adjusting pricing, portfolio, and
trade programs based on
the market context. It’s a hands-on approach, but
it’s what allows us to keep
growing.
How
do
you feel the Trump tariffs will affect Argentina’s
wine industry?
Meli: There’s always some uncertainty
when the rules change, but we
prefer to focus on the fundamentals. U.S. consumers
are increasingly drawn to
wines with character and authenticity—that doesn’t
change with a tariff. If new
trade measures come into play, we’ll adapt alongside
our partners. The most
important thing is to maintain strong, long-term
relationships, deliver on our
promises, and continue to rely on quality as our
main driver.
You
have
a history of progressively buying more vineyard
land over the past couple
of decades. Where do you see Luigi Bosca
positioned five years from now?
Meli: Luigi Bosca owns 530 hectares
(1,309 acres) of vineyards
located in the various oasis of Mendoza. Many are
old, high-quality vineyards
in areas like Vistalba (Luján de Cuyo), along with
newer ones in the Uco
Valley. We also source grapes from neighboring
growers and other regions,
maintaining long-term relationships with them. This
approach allows us to
ensure both diversity and quality in our grape
supply.
Looking ahead, we’re not
planning to substantially
increase our vineyard surface. Instead, we want to
strengthen our ties with our
current growers and, perhaps, plant new vineyards in
specific high-altitude
areas of the Uco Valley.
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ARTICLES
WE NEVER FINISHED READING
"Hosting Is Way Less Stressful When You Have Folding Dining Chairs" By Francky Knapp, Eater.com (4/15)
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Any of John Mariani's books below may be ordered from amazon.com.
The Hound in Heaven
(21st Century Lion Books) is a novella, and
for anyone who loves dogs, Christmas, romance,
inspiration, even the supernatural, I hope you'll find
this to be a treasured favorite. The story
concerns how, after a New England teacher, his wife and
their two daughters adopt a stray puppy found in their
barn in northern Maine, their lives seem full of promise.
But when tragedy strikes, their wonderful dog Lazarus and
the spirit of Christmas are the only things that may bring
his master back from the edge of despair. WATCH THE VIDEO!
“What a huge surprise turn this story took! I was completely stunned! I truly enjoyed this book and its message.” – Actress Ali MacGraw
“He had me at Page One. The amount of heart, human insight, soul searching, and deft literary strength that John Mariani pours into this airtight novella is vertigo-inducing. Perhaps ‘wow’ would be the best comment.” – James Dalessandro, author of Bohemian Heart and 1906.
“John Mariani’s Hound in Heaven starts with a well-painted portrayal of an American family, along with the requisite dog. A surprise event flips the action of the novel and captures us for a voyage leading to a hopeful and heart-warming message. A page turning, one sitting read, it’s the perfect antidote for the winter and promotion of holiday celebration.” – Ann Pearlman, author of The Christmas Cookie Club and A Gift for my Sister.
“John Mariani’s concise, achingly beautiful novella pulls a literary rabbit out of a hat – a mash-up of the cosmic and the intimate, the tragic and the heart-warming – a Christmas tale for all ages, and all faiths. Read it to your children, read it to yourself… but read it. Early and often. Highly recommended.” – Jay Bonansinga, New York Times bestselling author of Pinkerton’s War, The Sinking of The Eastland, and The Walking Dead: The Road To Woodbury.
“Amazing things happen when you open your heart to an animal. The Hound in Heaven delivers a powerful story of healing that is forged in the spiritual relationship between a man and his best friend. The book brings a message of hope that can enrich our images of family, love, and loss.” – Dr. Barbara Royal, author of The Royal Treatment.
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The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink by John F. Mariani (Bloomsbury USA, $35) Modesty forbids me to praise my own new book, but let me proudly say that it is an extensive revision of the 4th edition that appeared more than a decade ago, before locavores, molecular cuisine, modernist cuisine, the Food Network and so much more, now included. Word origins have been completely updated, as have per capita consumption and production stats. Most important, for the first time since publication in the 1980s, the book includes more than 100 biographies of Americans who have changed the way we cook, eat and drink -- from Fannie Farmer and Julia Child to Robert Mondavi and Thomas Keller. "This book is amazing! It has entries for everything from `abalone' to `zwieback,' plus more than 500 recipes for classic American dishes and drinks."--Devra First, The Boston Globe. "Much needed in any kitchen library."--Bon Appetit. |
"Eating Italian will never be the same after reading John Mariani's entertaining and savory gastronomical history of the cuisine of Italy and how it won over appetites worldwide. . . . This book is such a tasteful narrative that it will literally make you hungry for Italian food and arouse your appetite for gastronomical history."--Don Oldenburg, USA Today. "Italian
restaurants--some good, some glitzy--far
outnumber their French rivals. Many of
these establishments are zestfully described
in How Italian Food Conquered the World, an
entertaining and fact-filled chronicle by
food-and-wine correspondent John F.
Mariani."--Aram Bakshian Jr., Wall Street
Journal.
"Equal parts
history, sociology, gastronomy, and just
plain fun, How Italian Food Conquered the
World tells the captivating and delicious
story of the (let's face it) everybody's
favorite cuisine with clarity, verve and
more than one surprise."--Colman Andrews,
editorial director of The Daily
Meal.com. "A fantastic and fascinating
read, covering everything from the influence
of Venice's spice trade to the impact of
Italian immigrants in America and the
evolution of alta cucina. This book will
serve as a terrific resource to anyone
interested in the real story of Italian
food."--Mary Ann Esposito, host of PBS-TV's
Ciao
Italia. "John Mariani has written the
definitive history of how Italians won their
way into our hearts, minds, and
stomachs. It's a story of pleasure over
pomp and taste over technique."--Danny Meyer,
owner of NYC restaurants Union Square
Cafe, The Modern, and Maialino.
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MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET
NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Publisher: John Mariani. Editor: Walter Bagley. Contributing Writers: Christopher
Mariani, Misha Mariani, John A. Curtas, Gerry Dawes, Geoff Kalish.
Contributing
Photographer: Galina Dargery. Technical
Advisor: Gerry
McLoughlin.
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© copyright John Mariani 2025