Each episode is chock-full of mouthwatering regional specialties ready by cooks everywhere in the nation.
For these desirous to comply with in Stanley Tucci’s footsteps, beneath is an episode-by-episode information to all of the eating places — together with native hangouts and Michelin-starred institutions — the actor visited through the present’s second season.
LIGURIA
The Italian Riviera is broadly thought of to be probably the most glamorous and picturesque shoreline in Europe. Portofino and Cinque Terre, positioned in Liguria, are two of Italy’s most visited locations. With its steep cliffs and wild countryside softened by sporadic villages of candy-colored homes, this idyllic strip of mountainous land has breathtaking views. The harshness of the land has made the individuals ingenious. It is Liguria we now have to thank for pesto, one in every of Tucci’s favourite issues.
Chef Carlo Cracco exhibits Stanley Tucci find out how to make pansotti pasta with preboggion and walnut sauce. “It’s extremely totally different from something I’ve ever tasted,” Tucci stated. “Stanley Tucci: Looking for Italy” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
Cracco Portofino is run by Carlo Cracco — one in every of Italy’s most well-known, Michelin-starred cooks. His menu options dishes which might be linked to the land. For Tucci, he cooked the normal Ligurian dish of ravioli-like pansotti pasta with a mix of greens and herbs referred to as preboggion and walnut sauce. “It’s extremely totally different than something I’ve ever tasted,” Tucci stated as he raved concerning the meal.
Il Genovese is understood for its pesto, which is crushed by hand in an historic mortar. Chef Roberto Panizza, often known as the King of Pesto and the founding father of the Pesto World Championship, made Tucci a pasta dish to showcase the delectable inexperienced sauce. He added inexperienced beans and potatoes to the pasta to make it additional creamy. “So humble, this dish. So humble, identical to me,” Tucci joked.
Antico Forno della Casana makes among the greatest focaccia within the area, in keeping with meals author Laurel Evans. The bread with its signature dimples is a working-class staple that originated in Genoa. The native trick is to eat it the other way up so the salt hits your tongue first and the remainder of the flavors comply with.
When cappon magro — a seafood and greens dish organized into an ornamental pyramid — hit the desk, Stanley Tucci was speechless. “Stanley Tucci: Looking for Italy” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
The Prepare dinner is the new new restaurant of chef Ivano Ricchebono that’s located in a 14th-century palazzo in Genoa. “Wow! Wow! Wow!” Tucci exclaimed as he walked inside and took within the structure. Ricchebono makes a speciality of seasonal and native substances. Tucci got here to strive corzetti, a Genoese pasta, and cappon magro, an ornate seafood dish. When cappon magro hit the desk, Tucci was in awe of the presentation.
Ittiturismo, constructed into the cliffs of Cinque Terre, is each a household house and their restaurant. The top chef is the son, Pietro Galletti, who cooks the recent fish foraged by his father, Guido. Tucci joined the household for lunch on their terrace. They feasted on pasta with fish sauce and fried anchovies full of cheese and herbs then lined in breadcrumbs.
PUGLIA
Puglia is known for its aromatic olive oil, lovely greens, scrumptious cheeses and flavorful durum wheat. Continuously referred to as the boot of Italy, this southern area represents the nation’s culinary scene at its most elementary — easy, recent, domestically produced delicacies. Regardless of being one in every of Italy’s poorest areas, Puglia is coming into its personal, and Tucci discovers that there is a newfound pleasure in its gastronomic roots.
Italian chef Celso Laforgia cooks up spaghetti all’assassina, or murderer’s pasta. This spicy dish delivers explosive warmth. “Stanley Tucci: Looking for Italy” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
At City Bistrot in Bari, chef Celso Laforgia cooks up pasta all’assassina (murderer pasta). The spicy and charred dish is made by placing the pasta in a pan with olive oil and spices — however no water — till it is burnt and crispy. “Truthfully, I’ve by no means seen something like that earlier than,” Tucci stated. “And I have been round too.” In response to Laforgia, the dish received its identify after the primary one who tried it referred to as the chef a killer as a result of it was so spicy.
With a reputation which means “historic flavors,” Antichi Sapori in Montegrosso is understood for remodeling easy, humble substances into world-class delicacies. Such is the case with its signature dish, burnt acquire orecchiette in a fava bean cream served with burrata cheese and charred black olives. Fava beans are a favourite in Puglia; they add a clean, creaminess to the pasta. “It is the steadiness of flavors,” stated chef Pietro Zito as he served the dish to Tucci. “That is wonderful,” Tucci stated. “Now, I am unable to cease consuming.”
Trattoria Bere Vecchie, tucked within the labyrinth of alleyways of the hilltop city of Cisternino, is a butcher store that does not simply promote meats, it cooks them on the spot. The store is run by younger restaurateur Vito Zurlo. Traditionally, this constructing was a pharmacy, now it serves up meat spit-roasted in a approach paying homage to Turkish fashion kebabs. Tucci tried bombette (rolls of pork full of cheese, herbs and purple pepper) and gnumareddi (lamb wrapped in intestines).
Caseificio Dicecca is a one-of-a-kind cheese bar, the place cheesemaker Vito Dicecca created one thing unprecedented on this area: Apulian blue cheese. Over time, he is developed 66 various kinds of blue cheese. He served Tucci focaccia with burrata, which Dicecca’s mom use to make for his college lunches.
Ristorante Vitantonio Lombardo is an deserted cave within the historic city of Matera that is been was a Michelin star restaurant. Chef Vitantonio Lombardo whips up dishes with ingenious names like “I dropped the Egg within the Backyard” and “Drone View of the Murgia.” For Tucci, he made “Poverty and the Aristocracy with a purple wine sauce.” The dish is a veal filet and veal throat, or sweetbread, lined in black breadcrumb to seem like a black truffle — an emblem of decadence. It is then served with a potato puree and a red-wine discount sauce. “That’s f**king wonderful,” Tucci stated.
SARDINIA
Sardinia is probably the most distant area of Italy. Lower off from the Italian peninsula, this island has developed its personal customs and delicacies. Consuming right here is like happening the culinary equal of an archaeological dig since so many waves of settlers all through historical past have influenced the meals. Whereas stopping right here, Tucci found two sides to this fascinating area: the coast with its seafood and a stunning mixture of cultures drawn from across the Mediterranean; and the inside — a steep, rocky panorama the place locals stubbornly cling to their historic traditions and freedoms.
Fregola, a couscous-like dish, is a central ingredient in Sardinian delicacies. Stanley Tucci visits the area and learns about its wealthy historical past. “Stanley Tucci: Looking for Italy” air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
Fradis Minoris will get its provide of recent seafood every day from the encircling waters. The restaurant’s sustainable menu earned it a coveted Michelin Inexperienced Star — the primary in Sardinia. When Tucci swung by, chef Francesco Stara made fregola ai frutti di mare, an area staple. The star of the dish is the fregola, which is a North African-inspired, couscous-like pasta.
At Luigi Pomata, chef and proprietor Luigi Pomata is named the king of tuna. Uncooked seafood, together with tuna, takes heart stage on his menu. Throughout Tucci’s go to, Pomata cooked up native bluefin tuna with pesto in a standard pasta dish referred to as cassulli alla carlofortina. A lot to Tucci’s shock, Pomata prepares it by taking the recent tuna stomach and boiling it. “That is scrumptious,” Tucci stated after sampling the dish.
Al Forno, positioned within the medieval metropolis of Alghero often known as little Barcelona, is a small bakery. Tucci ordered panada — a kind of Sardinian savory pie stated to have acquired its identify from empanada, an identical pastry dish thought to have originated in Spain. “Oh my God!” Tucci proclaimed. “It is like Italy and Spain collectively in my mouth.”
Alghero is world well-known for its lobster. It is so good Queen Elizabeth II herself requested it for her marriage ceremony reception. “Stanley Tucci: Looking for Italy” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on CNN.
Mabrouk is a former Sixteenth-century monastery transformed right into a restaurant. Chef Antonietta Salaris works with the native lobster that is identified to be among the greatest on the earth. She makes the regionally in style lobster a la Catalana. Within the US, lobster eggs are sometimes thrown out, however Salaris provides them to the sauce for a salty sweetness. “That is so f***ing scrumptious,” Tucci stated.
Arimani, within the ancestral village of Battista in northern Sardinia, is a culinary college, so right here you have to prepare dinner your personal lunch earlier than feasting. Chef Simonetta Bazzu has devoted her life to preserving Sardinia’s conventional delicacies and historic recipes. For Tucci, she made pane carasau — a skinny, crispy bread relationship again to at the very least 1000 BC — and a zuppa gallurese, pane carasau soaked in sheep broth, topped with heaps of cheese and wild mint and baked into the woodfire oven.
CALABRIA
Of all of the areas of Italy, Calabria holds probably the most that means for Tucci. It is his ancestral homeland and a spot he had dreamed of visiting since he was a boy. “I wish to get to know the area my household left behind,” Tucci stated on the present. This wild, rugged area makes up the “toe” of the nation’s boot-shaped peninsula. It is identified for its sprawling seashores, mountains and regional meals, together with conventional salami, candy purple onions and chili peppers.
Panificio Cuti, run by baker Pina Olivetti, has been serving conventional Calabrian bread — a sourdough yeast bread referred to as pane de cuti — since 1985. The spot is positioned in Marzi, which is named the valley of wheat. When Tucci swung by the bakery, he tried pane di cuti, a 100-year-old recipe. For Tucci and his hungry dad and mom, she additionally made morsello, a bread bowl full of sausage and broccoli rabe. This moveable meal was as soon as a favourite amongst farmers and hunters who needed to hold a not-so-little slice of house with them wherever they went. At the moment, this dish is usually served at weddings and celebrations.
Tropea is known for its purple onions. They’re so candy, they are often served in pasta, preserves and ice cream. Tune in Sundays at 9 p.m. ET to look at all-new episodes of “Stanley Tucci: Looking for Italy.”
At Osteria della Cipolla Rossa (Pink Onion Inn), run by Michele Pugliese and Romana Schiariti, the specialty is the unapologetically easy purple onion spaghetti. The important thing ingredient is the area’s famend candy purple onions, referred to as cipolla rossa, which solely develop alongside the small stretch of shoreline surrounding the town of Tropea. The onions are so candy that, through the episode, Tucci bit right into a uncooked one as if it had been an apple.
Il Principe di Scilla is a family-run restaurant in Scilla, Italy, that’s all concerning the native swordfish, probably the most revered or prized sea creature in Calabria — and for a area surrounded by water on three sides, that is actually saying one thing. “It is like prosciutto and smoked salmon had a love little one,” Tucci stated as he sampled the recent uncooked swordfish with restaurant proprietor Johnny Giordano. Tucci additionally tried scialiatelli alla ghiotta, which is sort of a swordfish ragu. “It is nothing in need of unimaginable,” Giordano stated of the pasta dish.
Within the dishes at Qafiz, tucked within the Aspromonte mountains, chef Nino Rossi makes use of native substances. He ready for Tucci the signature dessert that helped the restaurant snag a Michelin star: hearth. Impressed by the thought of renewed development after the 2021 wildfires, the aptly named dish is product of meringue flavored with charcoal, sliced apple and white chocolate foam. “It is like one million totally different flavors in there,” Tucci stated as he dove in for seconds.
La Collinetta, positioned within the mountain city of Martone, is run by farmer and chef Pino Trimboli. When Tucci visited, Trimboli made lamb in clay, an historic Greek dish. The lamb is surrounded by moist clay earlier than it is baked to seal within the delicate flavors and juices. This historic method comes with a tradeoff: Every dish takes over 4 hours to prepare dinner. However Tucci stated the ensuing “fall off the bone” lamb was definitely worth the wait.
Keep tuned for updates as Tucci travels to 2 extra areas of Italy. Earlier this 12 months, Tucci traveled to Piedmont, Umbria, Venice and London. For a information to all of the locations he visited throughout season one, click on right here.
