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ow spaghetti and meatballs became synonymous with authentic Italian cuisine is still a mystery. As for other "Italian" innovations, such as shrimp scampi, lobster fra diavolo and chicken scarpiallo, restaurant owner Genarro Picone chides, "If you ever find these in Italy, tell me!"


Intimate dining at Gennaro's.

Picone, owner of Gennaro’s located at 665 Amsterdam Ave., says the market is the reason for the creation and perpetuation of such faux-Italian dishes."Everyone has to make money ... most restaurants just stick with seeing what the majority of the people want," says Picone.

What the majority of Americans want is the Little Italy experience – the fettucine alfredo, the red-checkered tablecloths. According to Picone, "Real Italians think Little Italy is a joke."

For Picone, who specializes in regional Italian and Mediterranean cuisine, being authentic is about knowing the flavors.

"People may study under a French or Italian chef, and while they may learn how to do it, the question is, do you really know the flavor? Did you grow up in the region to know what it’s really like?"


Antipasto misto.

Picone, who grew up in Sicily, focuses on the basics: fresh ingredients, expert cooking, perfectly matched oils and herbs. In his hands, classic antipasto misto takes on a new life.

"This is almost like Italy," said Italian-born Gennaro-fan Gino Cionchi, diving into a lobster risotto. "A lot of it depends on the freshly grown vegetables, the olive oil. This is as close as you can get!"

Being authentic is about using the right combination of the right ingredients. The evolution of ethnic food isn't necessarily a bad thing though, says Williams College professor Darra Goldstein. "It represents a certain American inventiveness...It's the way cuisines develop, and we wouldn't want them to be stagnant."

But the experts agree, whether it's "ethnic" or "American," what it comes down to is a certain je ne sais quoi.

 

 




Spaghetti and meatballs?
Not from Italy!

In the 1900s when many Italians immigrated to America, most were more worried about maintaining their financial well-being than preserving culture, says Gennaro Picone, owner of Gennaro's restaurant.

Alexandra Leaf, chairperson of the Culinary Historians of New York, suggests, "The new generations of Italian-Americans might have wanted to show that they weren't poor, so rather than showing tiny servings of meat in a traditional ragu sauce, they put in big fat meatballs."