The NEW YORK ITALIAN FOOD & WINE GUY Blog is dedicated to many things, but mainly to three very GREAT ONES being NEW YORK, ITALIAN FOOD, and ITALIAN WINE. What's greater than these?
Thursday, July 10, 2025
Positano Travel Guide Cookbook by Bellino
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Pacino Spaghetti Aglio Alio Garlic Oil Pasta
The One DISH AL PACINO CAN'T REFUSE
Al Pacino is a Big Fan of a Pasta Dish called Spaghetti Aglio Olio. It’s a Neapolitan dish that features spaghetti noodles, good olive oil, lots of garlic and red pepper flakes for a spicy kick. It goes without saying the pasta dish and the Scarface star have been linked together a lot in recent history.
In 2015, New York’s iconic Serafina restaurant posted on Twitter that they “Love” Pacino, noting how they have a dish called Spaghetti Aglio & Olio “Al Pacino.” That dish is still exists with that incredible name on the current Serafina menu.
Al Pacino’s love of spaghetti aglio e olio also came up in Daniel Bellino Zwicke’s POSITANO The AMALFI COAST - Travel Guide Cookbook. “When I was the wine director at Barbetta Ristorante in New York City, whenever Al came into the restaurant, he would often ask if we could make him a plate as it wasn’t on the menu,” Zwicke wrote. “Al literally made us an offer we couldn’t refuse, naturally we didn’t, and we always gave Mr. Pacino a plate of his beloved Spaghetti Aglio e Olio , just the way he liked it. You’re welcome Al.”
AL PACINO'S FAVORITE PASTA !
- Daniel Bellino-Zwicke: A culinary author and creator of concepts like "Meatball Parm Mondays" and "Sunday Sauce Recipe alla Clemenza alla Bellino alla Pacino". He is known for New York-Italian cuisine inspired by movies like "The Godfather" and "Goodfellas". His blog even features a Spaghetti recipe Daniel says is how Al Pacino likes it.
Wednesday, July 2, 2025
Sicilian Pasta with Meatballs Recipe Sicily
ANGELINA - SERVING Up The MEAL
ANGELINA'S PASTA With MEATBALLS
SICILIAN PASTA with MEATBALLS SICILIANA
For the Dough:
10 ounces Semolina Flour (durum wheat) A pinch of Salt 2 large Eggs
Mix all above together to form a dough. Knead for a few minutes.
Cover the dough and let rest for at least 45 minutes before using.
Roll pasta dough into thin sheets. Roll the sheets up, and cut to 1/8tj inch thickness.
For the Meatballs:
12 ounces Ground Beef 2 tablespoons fresh Parsley, finely chopped 3 ounces grated Caciocavallo Cheese (or Pecorino, if unavailable) 1/4 cup breadcrumbs Salt, to taste Freshly ground Black Pepper, to taste 1 large egg
Mix all above ingredients together. Form into small Meatballs (Polpettini)
For the Broth:
2 tablespoons fresh Parsley, chopped
A handful of Celery leaves
1 medium Carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
½ medium onion, peeled and halved
1 medium Potato
Salt, to taste
1 pound Beef, Veal, or Chicken Bones
Place all above ingredients in a large pot and simmer for 90 minutes
to make the broth. Strain broth, and discard the bones.
To Serve the PASTA with MEATBALLS.
Place Meatballs in broth, and cook at a low simmer for 5 minutes.
Cook the Pasta in boiling Salted water for about 2 minutes.
Drain the pasta in a Colander.
Add the cooked pasta to pot with the Broth & Meatballs. Cook at a low
simmer for 4 minutes.
Serve the Pasta and Meatballs. Remove some pasta and Meatballs and place on a plate, with very little broth, but you do want a bit of broth in each portion.
Serve your guests, with grated Pecorino Cheese on the side to sprinkle over the pasta.
Enjoy !
Saturday, June 28, 2025
Rock Star Pizza Guys Daniel Bellino z
by Daniel Bellino "Z"
.Thursday, June 12, 2025
The Worlds Tastiest Pasta
PICI BOLOGNESE
And The WORLDS BEST EVER RAGU BOLOGNESE RECIPE
by DANNY BOLGONESE
aka Daniel Bellino Zwicke
RECIPE in The RAGU BOLOGNESE COOKBOOK
It's The #BestTHINGever !!!
The RAGU BOLOGNESE COOKBOOK
And The WORLDS BEST BOLOGNESE SAUCE
by Danny Bolognese
There are many great dishes in the World, and of many different international cuisines, but nothing quite like a well made "Ragu Bolognes," trust me. I love a great Bouf Bourgonnone, Coq au Vin, Foe Gras, Vietnamese PHO, lush American BBQ Ribs, the perfect Hamburger, a juicy Prime New York CUt Sirloin Steak, Tandoori Chicken, a NY Pastrami Sandwich, Belgian Chocolate, perfectly Roast Chicken, I could go on and on, I love these dishes and a couple hundred more, but there is no dish that I love more than a properly made Bolognese, and no Bolognese Sauce that is better than mine, "None," not Marcella's, not anywhere in Bologna, Italy, nor anywhere in all of Emelia Romagna the region it comes from. I know it may sound pompous and egotistical for me to brag about my Bolgonese as I do, and I know people would call me insane, for me to think that of all the great Italian Chefs all over Italy and especially in Emeia Romagan, that I would have the nerve to think that I make "The Worlds Best Bolognese," but it's TRUE, "I do!" I make without a doubt, the single Best Ragu Bolognese in the entire World. Yes it may sound absurd, but absurd it's not. Just ask the some four or five-hundred people who've had it, they'll all confirm the fact that the worlds single best tasting most perfect Bolognese Sauce is made by none other than Italian-American Italian-Cookbook Author (formerChef) Daniel Bellino Zwicke of Greenwich Village, New York.
I was taught the recipe of this the Worlds Greatest Bolognese when I was a cook at the now defunct Caio Bella Restaurant, up on Thrid Avenue at 75th Street in New York back in 1987 by Chef Pasquale, sorry I can't remember his last name. Anyway, Chef Pasquale was from Brindisi Italy, a city in the South of Italy in the region of Puglia. Pasquale started working in kitchens in Brindisi where he first honed his craft. He later went on to work in kitchens in Milan, Bologna, Parma, London, and Tokyo, Japan before moving to New York and becoming the Head Chef at the restaurant Mezzaluna, the 1st restaurant to make and serve real Italian Pizza made in a wood-burning Pizza Oven in New York and in the United States. The restaurant was a big hit, and a couple of the waiters at the restaurant, a guy named Rocco and my ex-boss Enrico Proetti wanted to go out on their own and open their own restaurant, and so they did. They got togehter with a wealthy older Italian man "Fred" who became their partner and put up all the cash to open the restuarant up the street, called Caio Bella. Caio Bella was a big success, and a quick one at that, and it was soon one of the hottest restaurant of the day, back in 1987 when I went in looking for a job. I met Pasquale, we chatted, I told him about my background and my asperations with Italian Food. Pasquale hired me, and the rest is history. I had mostly worked in French Restaurants before that, and I'd gone to New York Technical College in Brooklyn where they taught Classical French Cusisine, which is the food I wanted to cook when I first got started. Yes I first wanted to cook French. But after I made my first trip to my ancestral home of Italy in the Summer of 1985, I caught the bug, and from then on, i wanted to cook authentic Italian Food. I soaked up and learn all I could of true Italian Food, made the Italian way, and I don't mean Italian-American, but by Italians. So I decided I needed to get a job at a great Italian Restaurant in New York that had a great Italian Chef from Italy. I went to Sandro's and Arqua first, and they both offered me jobs, but when I went up to Caio Bella and Chef Pasquale hired me as a line-cook, I decided to take the job at Caio Bella.
Pasquale was a great teacher, and he showed me personally how to make all the dishes on the menu, including his great recipe for Ragu Bolognese. I made it just the way Pasquale showed me how to make it, and from then on, I was the person at Caio Bella who always made the Ragu Bolognese. Pasquale liked the way I made it, exactly the way he showed me, and that was that. And I've always made my Bolognese just like that. No matter what others may tell you, every Bolognese is at least a little different from all others, and so was Pasquale's which latter became mine, and ever since I've made it at Caio Bella in 1987, I've never tasted one quite like mine, which as you know by now, is "The Worlds Best Ragu Bolonese Ever." No Brag, Just Fact as Walter Brennan used to say in his Cowboy TV Show back in the 60s.
In 1998 I finally acheived my dream of opening my own restaurant. I opened up what turned out to be the 1st Ever Venetian Wine Bar (Bacaro) in the United States of America in Bar Cichetti. I was the Chef / Wine Director and managing partner of Bar Cichetti. I received numerous accolades from the New York Times, Time Out Magazine, New York Magazine and other publications, including my favorite one of all, a 5 page spread about me and my restaurant Bar Cichetti, and my favvorite line of all from The Journal of Italian Food Wine & Travel Magazine which saide, "Daniel (Bellino Zwicke0 makes the Best Ragu Bolognese in America." Yes they said that, I couldn't agree with them more.
#BestThingYouEverATE !!!
Sunday, June 8, 2025
My Sicily - Daniel Bellino