What were your favorite foods growing up?
Pizza, my mother's chili and John's deli meatball sandwich on Nicolas Italian rolls.

Where and when did your career in food begin?
It was 1976, working in Sea Side Heights, NJ. But I started to take it seriously in 1983 in San Francisco.

If you didn't become a chef, what would you be?
Charming.

Who/what has shaped your cooking the most over the years?
Giancarlo Bortolotti and Mario Batali, plus traveling to over 28 different countries helped shape my cooking.

What are your favorite culinary weapons in the kitchen?
My hands and high flame burners.

What influences your cooking style and particularly the menu at your restaurant?
My neighborhood butcher (Florence Meat Market), baker (Sullivan St. Bakery), cheese shop (Murray's Cheese Shop), fish monger (Wild Edibles), and the organic produce from Guy Jones of Blooming Hills Farm in Hudson Valley, Upstate New York.

What is your favorite secret ingredient?
Smoked Paprika oil.

If I'm trying to watch my weight and I'm eating at your restaurant, what am I ordering to eat?
Insalati, antipasti and most secondi because with cook with extra virgin olive oil, not butter. Pasta is pasta, but our pasta is good!

What was the most challenging meal you had to make? Why?
Duck Lasagna. We confit the legs, which takes almost two days and everybody is a lasagna critic/expert or has a mother's, grandmother's, or their own recipe.

What was your worst restaurant disaster?
We did a wedding reception and I dropped and broke an arm off a porcelain bride & groom figurine that was for the top of the cake. It was originally the great grandmother's. OUCH!

What is your least favorite food?
Over-cooked liver.

What is your beverage of choice?
BBQ-beer, Dining-Vino and in between, sparkling water.

What are some recent dining and culinary trends you have been observing?
The shrinking of portions and the expansion of prices.

When you are not eating at your own restaurant, where are you eating?
Chef Scott Bryan's Apiary in the East Village or at home. Other than Po, the two best spots in NYC.

What is your best cooking tip for a home enthusiast?
Get fresh seasonal ingredients and cook them simply because that's what they deserve. Most of all, relax and enjoy. When on the plate, drizzle with some good extra virgin olive oil and sea salt.

What do you eat when you are home?
One thing I have is a stocked pantry, canned San Marzano tomatoes, risotto, many kinds of pasta, canned stocks, onions, garlic, spices, etc. So on my way home all I have to do is grab a couple of pieces of meat–chicken, fish and vegetables – whatever looks fresh and good.