ANDREW CARMELLINI

He’s done French. He’s done Italian. Next up for the classically trained chef: American food without boundaries.

Verde Delicious With Andrew Carmellini at the stove, De Niro’s second try at the Greenwich Hotel hits the bull’s-eye. "This kind of crowd-pleasing cooking isn’t designed to win culinary awards, of course. It’s designed to promote a good time in a casually stylish, relatively economical way, and judging by the crowds of people who are bull-rushing into De Niro’s new restaurant, it’s succeeding"

Best New Chef

Recipes made easy

URBAN ITALIAN
After leaving his job at a top U.S. French restaurant, chef Andrew Carmellini lived in Italy, then devised recipes with wife Gwen Hyman in their tiny New York apartment kitchen. The result? Great ideas for the home cook.

"It's exactly the kind of restaurant New York needed in a year when everything else was heading in the wrong direction," "That is, delicious, smart, consistent food that makes me happy, is easy to share and doesn't ask too much of my brain or wallet."

"My Grandmother's Ravioli is a valentine to its creator, a fresh wash of tomato sauce and a dusting of Parmesan on delicate squares of meat-filled pasta. "Lucky grandson," I think to myself."

"Just point to anything on the menu and expect your friends to share it all with you — lamb-meatball sliders with goat cheese; big, fat gigantoni pasta with Carmellini's rich Sunday-night ragù and sharp provolone; succulent, fatty suckling pig. And on temperate New York nights, Locanda Verde opens its windows and puts tables on the sidewalk, becoming part of one of Manhattan's last true neighborhoods, TriBeCa" Locanda Verde Best New Restaurant 2009

"It’s the kind of dish whose complexity inspires respect for its maker."

"The pastas showcase Carmellini’s spirit and skill—ethereal robiola-cheese ravioli, with tomatoes; maltagliati, randomly torn sheets of perfectly done pasta, tossed with pesto; creamy lemon risotto, rescued from monotony by vibrant chili oil and chives."

"Carmellini, who eventually freed himself from the open kitchen, an “AC” dotting his galley whites, to get his ring kissed. The A-List chef as the star, with the A-ist customer and the A-ist owner in supporting roles. That’s a formula other celebrities could imitate, one that merits De Niro some applause."

Making your own ricotta is incredibly satisfying and surprisingly simple. Here are step-by-step instructions and recipes that will showcase your cheesemaking skill.

Locanda Verde: The best breakfast in New York? "Who knew that an Italian restaurant in Tribeca would produce New York's best breakfast?"

The End (of the Bowl) Is Near: We asked for a wintry recipe, and he gave us one inspired by Friuli, the cold, mountainous region where his nonna was born.

For De Niro’s Hotel, Another Try at Dining

“Duck meatballs are dead,”

Andrew Carmellini: Two Stars & Perfectly Happy

"Locanda Verde's ambience and service are incongruously warm. The food is so flat-out seductive—and reasonably priced—you understand quickly why so many diners are clamoring, like asylum-seekers escaping a war zone, up near the front door (the restaurant is undoubtedly this summer’s big hit)."

"Faced with some downtime between gigs, Andrew Carmellini did what no New York chef has ever done: He started cooking"

"If you love Italian food—and who doesn’t?—you’ll want to have a look at this stunning new book from one of New York City’s most exciting chef-and-writer teams."

"Carmellini’s Italian grandmother lived 35 miles from Nonino, so grappa flows in his blood"