Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained by pressing whole olives, the fruit of Olea europaea, a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, and extracting the oil.
Thomas Aloysius Keller is an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation, notably the Best California Chef in 1996, and the Best Chef in America in 1997. The restaurant was a perennial winner in the annual Restaurant list of the Top 50 Restaurants of the World; the voting process has since been changed to disallow previous winners from being considered.
Rao's is an Italian-American restaurant founded in 1896. It is located at 455 East 114th Street, on the corner of Pleasant Avenue in East Harlem, New York City. Rao's has a sister restaurant in Los Angeles.
The smoke point, also referred to as the burning point, is the temperature at which an oil or fat begins to produce a continuous bluish smoke that becomes clearly visible, dependent upon specific and defined conditions. Smoke point values can vary greatly, depending on factors such as the volume of oil utilized, the size of the container, the presence of air currents, the type and source of light as well as the quality of the oil and its acidity content, otherwise known as free fatty acid (FFA) content. The more FFA an oil contains, the quicker it will break down and start smoking. The lower the value of FFA, the higher the smoke point. However, the FFA content typically represents less than 1% of the total oil and consequently renders smoke point a poor indicator of the capacity of a fat or oil to withstand heat.
Bertolli is a brand of Italian food products produced by multiple companies around the world with the trademark owned by Mizkan Holdings. Originating as a brand of extra-virgin olive oil, in which it was the global market leader, pasta sauces and ready meals are now sold under the brand name as well.
Aquavit is a Scandinavian restaurant located at 65 East 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. In November 2016, an outpost was launched in London by Philip Hamilton.
Spaghetti aglio e olio is a pasta dish typical of the city of Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. It is a typical dish of Neapolitan cuisine and is widely popular. Its popularity can be attributed to it being simple to prepare and the fact that it makes use of inexpensive, readily available ingredients that have long shelf lives in a pantry.
Pamela Sheldon Johns is the author of seventeen cookbooks specializing in Italian traditional and regional ingredients. Her career, for more than twenty years, has included teaching, food photography/food styling, cooking school administration, food writing, innkeeping, and agriculture. She lives at Poggio Etrusco, www.Poggio-Etrusco.com, her organic farm and Bed & Breakfast in southern Tuscany, and produces an extra-virgin olive oil called "Pace da Poggio Etrusco."
Kevin Gillespie is an American chef, author and former Top Chef contestant. He is a former co-owner and executive chef at Woodfire Grill in Atlanta. He opened Gunshow, a restaurant in Atlanta, in 2013 and Revival, a restaurant in Decatur, Georgia, in 2015. Gillespie also started Red Beard Restaurants, allowing Gillespie to expand and provide consulting services to other start-ups. Kevin Gillespie's Gamechanger opened in August 2017 on the 200 concourse western end zone of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. In May 2024, Gillespie opened Nadair in Atlanta, a restaurant showcasing his Scottish heritage.
Missy Robbins is an American chef who has held a Michelin star at two restaurants, and a contestant on season four of Top Chef Masters. Robbins specializes in Italian cuisine and owns two Italian restaurants in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Lilia and Misi, which opened in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
The Cronut is a pastry created and trademarked in 2013 by the French pastry chef Dominique Ansel. It resembles a doughnut and is made from croissant-like dough filled with flavored cream and fried in grapeseed oil.
Colavita is an Italian company best known for its olive oil.
Porter House Bar and Grill is an upscale steakhouse located on the fourth floor of the Deutsche Bank Center near Masa and Per Se. The restaurant was opened by Michael Lomonaco in 2006, the former executive chef of Windows on the World restaurant atop the World Trade Center's North Tower, which was destroyed by the September 11 attacks. Porter House specializes in serving USDA Prime dry-aged beef but also has a large selection of fish, poultry, and wild game.
Michael Solomonov is an Israeli chef known for his restaurants in Center City, Philadelphia. His first restaurant Zahav, founded in 2008, has received national recognition including the James Beard Foundation "Outstanding Restaurant" in 2019. Solomonov was also awarded Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic in 2011, Cookbook of the Year in 2016, and Outstanding Chef in 2017 from the James Beard Foundation. In 2021, The New York Times named his restaurant Laser Wolf as one of "the 50 places in America we're most excited about right now."
Ataula was a Spanish and Catalan restaurant in Portland, Oregon, in the United States. The restaurant earned Jose Chesa a James Beard Foundation Award nomination in the Best Chef: Northwest category.
Sebastiano's' is a Sicilian delicatessen, bakery, and market in Portland, Oregon's Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood, in the United States. Established in 2020, the business previously operated in the Montavilla neighborhood.
Randazzo's Clam Bar is an Italian Restaurant, opened in 1959, in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. It was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 but was able to reopen 6 months later.
Brennan & Carr is a roast beef sandwich shop in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn open since 1938. It appeared on Man v. Food.
Tom's Restaurant is a family-owned diner, currently in its third generation, with locations in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn and Coney Island opened in 1936.
Ferdinando's Focacceria, founded in 1904, is New York City's oldest Sicilian restaurant. It is the third oldest Italian restaurant behind Rao's and Bamonte's. It is located at 151 Union Street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
