Pino Luongo Slams White, Carmellini, Batali and Bastianich

Today, one-time prolific restaurateur Pino Luongo talks to Josh Ozersky about the state of Italian cuisine in NYC. Turns out the self-professed "old fart" is not such a fan of the new guard of celebrated pasta masters, and thinks that some of the established red sauce chefs and operators are not getting it done, either.

Pino gripes that Del Posto is the weakest restaurant in the Bastianich/Batali group, and that Eataly is "not touching the surface of what's supposed to be there." Luongo also thinks that Michael White's cooking at Marea is good, but it's not done in "an authentic seafood restaurant's Italian style," and that the food at Andrew Carmellini's Locanda Verde is "miserable," noting that "you have to be masochistic to eat there." Cesare Casella's Salumeria Rosi, however, gets the pass.

Later this winter, Luongo will have a new Italian restaurant to compete with all of these other ones he doesn't like, when his eatery Morso opens in Midtown.
· Pino Luongo Considers His Rivals [Ozersky.TV]
· All Pino Luongo Coverage [~ENY~]