Rao's cookbook serves up spicy anecdotes with the meatballs
Rao's cookbook serves up spicy anecdotes with the meatballs
Some "serious society types" made inquiries for Bieber, according to an anecdote in the new cookbook, "Rao's Classics."
The first thing to know is that Rao's has only 10 tables, serving 60-ish diners a night — one leisurely seating only (and no lunch.) The next is that these tables have been assigned for years.
If you really want a table at Rao's, probably the best place to try is in Vegas, where the 10-year-old Rao's at Caesar's Palace occupies 10,000 square feet — "about five New York Rao's in one," quips Pellegrino — serving 400-600 people a night (and 800 large meatballs a day.) There's also been an outpost in Hollywood since 2013.
Pellegrino Jr. spends most of his time out west, while his father, Frank Sr., presides over the Manhattan locale, which opened in 1896.
[...] in the kitchen, a huge pot of marinara sauce is being tended by Paulie Sanchez, who's been with the restaurant some 15 years.
On a tiny shelf — there's not much wall space — sits a jar of the famous Rao's sauce sold in stores by the restaurant's specialty food business.
An older man, a mobster nicknamed "Louie Lump Lump," admonished him, more insults were traded, and Louie ended up pulling a gun and killing the younger man.
Pellegrino's favorite dishes include the pork chop with cherry peppers — a 450-year-old recipe — and the shells with ricotta.