Joe Campanale - Downtown Italian: Recipes Inspired by Italy, Created in New Yorks West Village

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Dedicated To Our Parents

Karen, Janey, Dawn, and Michael,
For their endless love and support

Location

WEST VILLAGE, NEW YORK

JOE CAMPANALE: In the fall of 2007, Katherine, Gabe, and I, along with our business partner August Cardona, opened dellanima restaurant on 8th Avenue in New York Citys historic West Village. I dont think any of us could have imagined that scenario just a few years earlier.

KATHERINE THOMPSON: Joe and I first met while working together at Italian Wine Merchants in Union Square, where I was the private dining chef and he was an intern. He was young, handsome, and the ultimate wine nerd, and our friendship developed over our mutual passions for food and wine. But when he called me a few years later to say that he was thinking of opening a restaurant, I thought he was crazy. When he said he wanted me to consult on the food for the establishment, I knew he was.

JC: My goal at dellanima was to capture the feeling Id had at my favorite neighborhood restaurant in Florence during my sophomore year abroada place that was warm, vibrant, cozy yet energetic, and that pushed the envelope foodwise, interpreting traditional dishes in a whole new way to make them their own.

KT: At the time Joe called, I had just started dating Gabe. Our relationship was brand-new and I had no idea if it was going to last, but one thing I was 100 percent sure of: Gabes food was damn good.

GABRIEL THOMPSON: I had just finished working as a line cook at Del Posto, and Italian cuisine was fresh on my mind. Dellanima was an opportunity for me to cook the food that I wanted to cookwithout following any rules or regulations. So I cooked exactly what I would for myself, with an Italian twist. It was straightforward cooking with my heart and soul poured into every bite. After putting my head down and working nonstop for the first year, I suddenly realized that dellanima had gained a following. We didnt just have regularswe had people who ate there three to five nights a week. It was beyond rewarding. After opening our fourth restaurant, we still have the same regulars.

JC: Before my trip to Italy, I knew that I loved food but I couldnt imagine a career in the industry. When I returned, I couldnt think of anything other than surrounding myself with food and the people who create it. And Im incredibly grateful that I get to do this every day. This book will share the recipes weve created in downtown New York City, an area of cobblestone streets and outdoor cafs, where the neighborhoods feel like neighborhoods, just like the little corner of Florence that I loved so much.

Whether youve been to one of our restaurants or youve never set foot in New York, I hope youll feel when you turn these pages that youre sitting at the chefs counter, enjoying a glass of my favorite Lambrusco or a , watching the action in the kitchen, and enjoying one of the amazing dishes or desserts that Gabe and Katherine have created. All of us believe in providing a warm and welcoming atmosphere, so Id like to welcome you to this book, which captures the spirit and the flavors of our downtown New York restaurants: dellanima, LArtusi, LApicio, and Anfora.

GT: Believe it or not, I actually have a love/hate relationship with Italian food. I love that Italians use simple techniques and barely manipulate the ingredients. I share their passion for seasonality and local ingredients. Im infatuated with salumi, radicchio, Parmesan, Brunello, polenta, Campari... But I also like to break the rules. I like pasta served with a little too much sauce. I like bold flavors: acid, salt, spice. I like taking an Italian idea and pushing it in an American direction, such as replacing the eggplant in eggplant . To me, American cuisine has so many strengths in its flavors and techniques, why not incorporate them into Italian food?

At heart, I like simplicity in cooking. So my hope is that youll find these recipes as simple and approachable as I tried to make them. In fact, my only rules are: Try everythingand dont be intimidated. Most of the recipes are broken down into components, many of which can be made ahead of time. Get creativefeel free to make ingredient substitutions. And taste as you go, so youll know that every bite is going to be delicious. Because no matter what type of cuisine youre making, thats the bottom line.

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I hope youll be inspired to try all of these dishes, from the simplest to the most complex (although, honestly, nothing in this book is terribly complicatedGabe and I like to eat, too, and we dont want to wait all day for it, either!). You may discover, as we have, that its okay not to be 100 percent authentic all the time. The point is to work with great ingredients, treat them right, cook with love, and create something you and everyone else wants to eat right that minute. Have fun!

Just like our restaurants, this book is a team effort. It showcases our individual roles in the restaurants, and the friendship thats been forged there. Were excited to share our recipes with you. The drinks and dishes in these pages have been inspired by Italy, informed by downtown New York City, and crafted with our own personal touch. Theyre our kind of Italian: downtown Italian.

Joe Campanale, Katherine Thompson,
Gabe Thompson

The study of Italian wines could be a lifelong pursuit. With more than 1,000 unique indigenous grapes; 20 political regions, all of which produce wine; and a range of climates from Alpine in the north to desert in the south, there is more diversity and more opportunity to have a truly local experience with wine in Italy than anywhere in the world.

Italy makes a lot of wineonly France produces more each yearand the U.S. is Italys largest export market. So its amazing to think that not much more than a generation ago, Italys wine industry was nearly in ruins. Most wine was not bottled at the winery; instead it was shipped to cities and bottled for domestic consumption or made by large, industrial producers selling huge amounts of anonymous wine. A winemakers job was neither esteemed nor lucrative.