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Brooklyn Trial Proves That Mafia Really Just Comes Down To The Spaghetti and Meat Balls

Mark — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:30:13 +0000

Joseph Massino, a mob boss for the Bonanno Crime Family, has taken the witness stand in Federal Court in Brooklyn. The Bonannos are one of the five families that (allegedly!) control New York’s organized crime and this marks the first time that someone of Massino’s stature in the family is testifying for the government. However, there seems to be more on Massino’s mind than just murder- it’s food! The trial has been more of a chronicling of the city’s restaurants and a listing of favorite dishes rather than a testified account on murder. Massino is a witness against, get this, “Vinnie Gorgeous,” who killed a Bonanno associate named Randolph Pizzolo. Throughout, as the NYT has noted, Massino’s time on the stand the court has been bombarded with references to food. It seems as if every single illegal act that Massino and the Bonanno family committed happened over a plate of spaghetti.

Obviously, the stereotypical association between the mafia and meatballs isn’t something we’ve never heard of before, but Massino’s testimony has comically piled high the allusions to menus and meals – with the references to food only outweighed by the man himself. If the numerous references weren’t enough, Massino’s weight speaks for itself (plus he was a restaurateur and ran a sandwich truck, too). Basically, everything he said had to do one way or the other with food. Here are some of our favorites from his testimony:

- When the prosecutor asked him about a scheme he cooked up in prison to persuade a security guard to sneak in things for him, he responded: “He was bringing in food for us, cold cuts, shrimp, scungilli.”
- During a secretly recorded conversation, also taking place in jail, with the person Massino was testifying against, Massino could still not get food off his mind: “I’m belching, I’ve got a lot of heartburn, a lot of agita…I’ll tell you one thing, that sausage wasn’t bad, bo.”
- When Massino was on parole and couldn’t talk to other known members of the mob he got a job as a “consultant” at King Catering in Long Island. While at King Catering he held meetings about illegal business with his brother-in-law in the walk-in-refrigerator to avoid detection from bugged devices.
- Several restaurants were mentioned as well where crime went down: Cafe on the Green (Bayside, Queens) where a shooting took place; Napa & Sonoma, also in Queens, where the victim of the shooting that was the focus of the trial through a tantrum; and lastly he mentioned Via Oreto on First Avenue where the restaurant was claimed as Bonanno territory over the Genoveses. When Massino was arrested, he owned a restaurant called Casablanca in Maspeth, Queens, but a front man was used as the name on the menu of the owner. Food tour, anyone?

So what have we learned from this? If the opportunity presents itself, always, always, take the cannoli.

[Photo: NYT]

It’s Magic: Induction Powered Cereal Boxes And Self-Cooking Soup

kwinks — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:51:46 +0000

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the largest technology trade show of its kind, took place last month, and probably pumped out a lot of new geeky tech stuff that we could post about. But since this is Phoodie, we had to post about this one. Fulton Innovation is experimenting with induction powered self-cooking soups and light-up cereal boxes. WHA!!?? But, then again, it is Las Vegas. Say hello to crazy overstimulating trips down the grocery store aisles. Read more about it here.

Triple Threat Detected On North Broad: Ready Your Bellies

BrianW — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 20:00:17 +0000

Keep an eye on North Broad, folks. Restauranteurs extraordinnaires Marc Vetri (Vetri, Osteria, Amis) and Stephen Starr (please don’t make us list them all) and catering whiz Joe Volpe (Cescaphe, the Atrium at the Curtis Center, opening-soon Tendenza) have all signed on to open new venues at 600 North Broad Street, just north of Spring Garden. Chatter has been coming down the line all week (here and here and here) about EB Realty Management Corp.‘s proposed $50M transformation of the former Wilkie Buick/Subaru Dealership and Showroom into a mixed-use development, anticipated to open next Fall. The complex sits between Broad & 15th Streets and between Green & Mount Vernon Streets. The three eateries will take over the single-story portion that fronts on Broad, and the residential portion of the development will go into the former showroom at the 15th/Mt. Vernon corner of the site, whose seven stories will be renovated into loft apartments.

Current plans for the new restaurants:
Starr: “[A] casual New England fish house with a wood grill and picnic-style seating” tentatively named Route 6; seating for around 150 in +/- 6,000 sqft.
Vetri: An Italian-themed gastropub “inspired by trips to Rome and visits to neighborhood bars and eateries” tentatively named Birreria 600; serving some 50-70 beers on tap (!); +/- 3,500 sqft.
Volpe: A catering/event space with a 8,000 sqft. commissary for up to 700 guests – so far unnamed.

EB Realty Management Corp. is responsible for the redevelopment of the building at 640 North Broad that houses Vetri’s Osteria on the ground floor, so that already successful business relationship certainly bodes well for this new venture. Additionally, Philadelphia Business Journal tells us that no additional zoning/planning approvals are required since the proposed use for the property is allowed under its current zoning restrictions. Assuming financing and the ever-so-cumbersome Pennsylvania liquor licensing procedures fall into place, this deal seems like a go. We’ll be watching this one closely.

It’s The Great Pumpkin, Standard Tap! Plus: Multiplicity!

BrendanW — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:11:42 +0000

According to a very handsome bird on our shoulder, The Standard Tap is getting ready to install a twenty-tap system into their bar. The Tap is already known for having a ton of delicious local beers on tap at all times, so goodness knows what lagers and ales will flow out of that new tap system. Word on the street is that the taps have arrived, they just need to be installed. The sooner, the better. GET ON IT WILLIAM!
The tap is also having a Pumpkin Beer Celebration on Thursday, October 29th. The first twenty people to arrive will have the option to enjoy local pumpkin ales served out of actual carved-out pumpkins. Breweries that will showcase their pumpkin ales include: Dockstreet, Stoudts, Weyerbacher, Dogfish Head, and Manayunk. What better way to prep for Halloween weekend then to work a pumpkin flavored buzz out of an actual pumpkin?

I’m Christophuh, And This Is My Tequiluh

tips — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:52:54 +0000

Proving that, now more than ever, tequila is the new vodka (meaning that tequila is the new status liquor, finally conferring the douche status onto the bev that comes with bottle service), Michael Imperioli has become the new brand ambassador for 1800 Tequila. And Imperioli’s TV spots try and poke fun at that same Kade-ian image of tequila, while somehow invoking them in their own right. I mean, what kind of person kicks a bottle of Patron off the table? Freakin’ animals over here.

How To Lose The Steak Wars: Not Paying Union Contractors Millions Is One Sure Way To Do It

tips — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:55:39 +0000

All last week, we’d been hearing tell of an email circulating from a disgruntled local union employee to friends and certain members of local press, containing a fairly stunning charge: That the ownership behind Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse at 15th and Chestnut had stiffed union contractors to the tune of millions after the steakhouse had opened in late November. Today, Michael Klein confirms that strange things were (and are) afoot at Del Frisco’s, although it’s much more messy than a simple dine-and-dash for Del Frisco’s. In total, there are currently eight lawsuits surrounding the construction of the steakhouse, and they run every which way: Contractors suing Del Frisco’s, Del Frisco suing its general contractor, and smaller contractors suing the general contractor. On the line are millions upon millions of dollars. This is a whopper, to be sure — a climax in a string of bad luck for Del Frisco’s that includes a lowly one bell review last week from Craig LaBan, as well as a growing rep for being the very douchiest of the new generation of Philly steakhouses (among them Butcher & Singer and Union Trust), all vying for the same dollars within a ten-block Center City radius. And that’s not even counting the court of public opinion, where the notion of stiffing a bunch of Joe Plumbers in these trying times is akin to such crimes as, oh, I dunno, AIG bonuses or denying the Holocaust. Del Frisco’s, good luck to you. You’re gonna need it.

Memo To All Philly Restaurants: For The Love Of Pete, We Beg Of You, Tear Down Your Annoying Flash Intros

BrendanW — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:31:36 +0000

Dear Philadelphia Restaurants,
Believe it or not, we’re not going to your home page to see yuppied-out flash introductions. They’re a colossal waste of our super important tick-tocks, so please cut the dumb little movies and get to the meat (menu) and potatoes (where you’re located). While we may not have graduated from Johnson and Wales, it’s safe to say that no amount of tasteful animation on your website can have any effect on the taste of your food . That being said, brand identity is important for any business, but godammit, we’ve had it up to here. Imagine the money/time/effort wasted creating all of this useless flash; if we could somehow get it all back and redirect said energies into something useful, we could probably have flying cars or those wicked skateboards from Back to the Future II. Capiche?

Philly Is Cheesier Than The Other 5 Boroughs

CEF — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:53:04 +0000

We love cheese. Everything from artisan dairy to nuclear Cheese Whiz tastes. Fucking. Awesome. The current issue of Wine Spectator features the best cheeses and most hardcore cheese shops around the world and lookit! We got 2 major big-ups on a very short list of mentions. As we suspected, DiBruno’s got a nice high five, but the lesser-known Chestnut Hill Cheeseshop got a soild amount of ink, too. We’re so proud. Now lets go eat some cheese.

Dept. Of Uncomfortable Conversations: GigaChef’s “Kitchen Spanish” Dictionary

tips — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:18:54 +0000

For Professional Dopes like Joey Vento, just mention the subject of non-English-speaking help in the kitchens of America, and prepare for fireworks coming out of the neck and steam coming out of the ears. (You could steam a dumpling with it!) But the fact of the matter is, according to GigaChef.com, the restaurant industry employs 13.1 million people, of
which approximately 17% are Hispanic, and many of those, as anyone who’s ever worked in the industry will tell you, tote varying degrees of broken/barely existing English to get through their days. It’s a problem that touches any number of cross-cultural flashpoints, so kudos to GigaChef for approaching the problem in a grown-up way that says, “Yes. The problem exists. And it’s going to be a long time before it’s ever rectified, so let’s pour some knowledge and understanding on it.” Their answer? The Kitchen Spanish dictionary:

The Kitchen Spanish Talking Dictionary on GigaChef.com will help improve communication and increase productivity in the kitchen. Available online in the Library section of the website, the dictionary is free to users.
Often, Spanish-speaking employees are given a demonstration of their tasks and occasionally, bi-lingual employees act as interpreters. This tool will allow both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking staff to communicate more easily with each other. By simultaneously seeing and hearing industry words in Spanish and English, language learners will feel more confident pronouncing words that are new to them. [...]
The dictionary is organized by categories such as cooking terms, herbs and spices, job titles, and kitchen equipment, and also alphabetically so users can select the way that they want to search words.

To log onto the GigaChef site at all, you must register. But by the by, this is one of the best in-the-biz sites we’ve seen thus far. Check it out, and let the healing/learning begin.