Greenwich Village author Daniel Bellino Zwicke

Author DANIEL BELLINO ZWICKE

BAR TIBERIO

PIAZZA UMBERTO

CAPRI

Author DANIEL BELLINO ZWICKE

Daniel Bellino Zwicke is a best-selling Italian-American cookbook author based in New York City. With over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry, he has worked in several prestigious Italian establishments and famously created Bar Cichetti, which was recognized as America's first Venetian wine bar (bacaro). [1, 2, 3, 4] - Amazon.com

Zwicke is widely known for his books celebrating Italian-American culture, traditional regional Italian recipes, and travel guides. He also runs the popular Instagram page @NewYork.Italian, which has hundreds of thousands of followers. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Notable Books & Cookbooks

Zwicke has written numerous highly-rated culinary and travel guides available on Amazon and other major book retailers: [1, 2]

• Sunday Sauce: When Italian-Americans Cook – One of his most popular best-sellers, detailing the rituals and recipes of Italian-American families. [1, 2]
• Exploring Venice: Travel Guide - Cookbook – A guide mapping out Venice’s best restaurants, historic wine bars (bacari), and sights (including spots frequented by Casanova) paired with regional insights. [1]
• The Feast of the 7 Fish / Italian Christmas – A specialized cookbook dedicated to the traditional Italian Christmas Eve seafood feast. [1, 2, 3]
• Grandma Bellino's Italian Cookbook – A collection of authentic Sicilian recipes passed down from his grandmother. [1, 2, 3]
• Sinatra Sauce: Music Meatballs & Merriment – A fun, thematic look at Italian cooking tied into cultural iconography. [1, 2, 3]
• Got Any Kahlua? The Collected Recipes of The Dude – A pop-culture departure from his traditional Italian works, serving as a cookbook inspired by The Big Big Lebowski. [1]
• ALL BOOKS Available on Amazon.com

BACKGROUND & CULINARY STYLE 

• Location: He lives and writes out of New York's Greenwich Village, a neighborhood that heavily influences his work through its historic Italian cafes, bakeries, and pork stores. [1, 2]
• Education: He attended the New York Technical College to hone his culinary foundations. [1]
• Focus: His writing blends explicit recipe instructions with anecdotal history, personal travel stories, and deep dives into wine pairings, particularly regarding the Chianti region.

DANIEL'S LATEST BOOK

EXPLORING VENICE

TRAVEL GUIDE COOKBOOK

TRAVEL INFO & STORIES

With 40 MOST POPULAR VENETIAN RECIPES

Daniel Bellino Zwicke

AMAZON.com

Daniel Bellino Zwicke

BACK iN VENICE

At All' ARCO WINE BAR

"BELLINO Beat TUCCI"

VENICE, ITALY

2026

Daniel Bellino Zwicke

TEATRO GRECO

SIRACUSA, SICILY

2017

DANIEL on CAPRI

Daniel Bellino Zwicke lives and works in New York City where he has been a Wine and Restaurant Professional for more than 20 years. Creator of Bar Cichetti "America's First Venetian Wine Bar" where Daniel was the Chef, Wine Director and Managing Partner. Attended New York Technical College, Daniel has authored; SUNDAY SAUCE "When Italian-Americans Cook" La TAVOLA, THE FEAST of THE 7 FISH "ITALIAN CHRISTMAS" and GOT ANY KAHLUA ? The Collected Recipes of The Dude, a.k.a. The Big Lebowski Cookbook. Daniel is currently working on a new cookbook, yet to be named and a book on Chianti ... Daniel is one of America's Foremost Authorities of Italian Wine ...

We Proudly Announce that Daniel's Book SUNDAY SAUCE is # 1 on Amazon Best Seller List "Italian Cookbooks"

Also, We are Proud to Announce the publication of my newest book; SEGRETO ITALIANO - Secret Italian Recipes and Favorite Dishes ....

"I've Just Published POSITANO The AMALFI COAST COOKBOOK / Travel Guide today February 8th, 2021 .. "I'm very excited that I finally finished the book and it is now up and Live on Amazon .com ... Hope you all like it." Thanks, Daniel

June 2026 "I've just published my latest book - EXPLORING VENICE - Travel Guide - Cookbook. Stories and Travel info on Venice" - with 40 Recipes of Venice's most popular dishes.

On Amazon.com

Hope You All It,

Daniel

June 1, 2026

 

Dinner at Babbo

 

BABBO

Greenwich Village, New York NY

December 4, 2025

New York, NY

We had an amazing dinner at Babbo last night. Babe, the restaurant created by Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich (mostly Mario). Mario Batali became famous with Babbo, and a show on The Food Network simultaneously. The year was 1998. Anyway, Mario was (still is) a marvellous chef with tons of personality. He gained fame, became a celebrity chef and TV personality. Then he had a fall from grace, lost his TV show, and eventually sold his share in Babbo and other restaurants he owned with Joe Bastianich. After Mario left, Babbo began to slide, and lost much of its cache, which was Mario. Babo has never been the same post Mario.

Mark Ladner worked for Joe B & Mario during the duo's glory days. Mark was the chef of Lupa, and later the Executive Chef of Del Pesto. Mark is very talented, and so when restaurant impresario Stephen Starr bought Babbo and Lupa from Lida and Joe Bastianich, Starr hired Ladner as the executive chef of Babbo. Good move. Mark's food is amazing. Our dinner last night proved that. My cousin Joe made the statement that we had eaten at Babbo many times, and he said "This was our best meal here ever." I tend to agree. The food was amazing, we had some phenomenal wines, and I was with my cousins Joe, Eddie, and Tommy, and our good friend Max. We are all heavily into food and wine, and we are quite knowledgeable and versed on these subjects.

The food was quite wonderful. There were 6 of us, and we ordered more than half of the items on the menu.  We had the 48 Day Minestrone, whatever that means. It was delicious. Everybody at the table loved it. Then for antipasti, we ordered Sweetbreads, Vitello Tunato, salad, and Carne Cruda. 

We had two pasta courses. We ordered ; Tagliatelle with White Truffles, Beef Cheek Ravioli, Cavatelli with Rabbit Ragu, Spaghetti Vongole, and Tagliatelle Bolognese. All of these pasta dishes were amazing. The Truffles were sublimed. The Tagliatelle Bolognese was spectacular, a true Ragu of Bologna, "So Good." I loved it. Everyone, including me loved the Cavatelli with Rabbit Ragu. Really Tasty. And I always have loved eating the Beef Cheek Ravioli. I must say the pasta course was the highlight of the meal. Totally awesome.

We had started the meal with a Pigato, which I picked. Not many people would have ever heard of Pigato, a wine and grape varietal that comes from Liguria. It's a refreshing tasty white wine, and everyone at the table loved it. After the Pigato, my cousin Eddie ordered a magnum bottle of Barolo "Francia" 2001 from Giacomo Conterno, which is considered along with it sibling wine "Monfortino" to be the very best Barolos in the World. The wine was in perfect condition, and we all just loved it.

Our second pasta course came. The famed 100 Layer Lasagna by Chef Mark Ladner. This is becoming the signature dish of the restaurant and Chef Ladner. It's $100 a Pop. Not Cheap, but dammed good. Everybody in our group loved it.

For the main course, we had a T-bone Steak, Veal Chop Marsala, and Swordfish Milanese. The Steak was phenomenal. Loved it. The Veal Marsala was really good as well, but again, "The Steak," seriously good. The Swordfish was OK.

For dessert we had Saffron Zabiglione which was quite good, Panna Cotta (so-so), and Olive Oil Chocolate Cake which was one of the best-tastiest Chocolate Cakes that I've ever had. "So Good." we drank Averna Amaro with our desserts. The meal was phenomenal, and we all had a wonderful time.Thanks Joe. Cousin Joe who bought us all dinner. Not Joe B, he's gone.

And thanks to Chef Mark Ladner, and the whole crew at Babbo. Great job, we really enjoyed.

Thanks,

Daniel Bellino

GIACOMO CONTERNO

BAROLO "FRANCIA" 2002

"One of the Best BAROLOS I've ever had"

CHEF MARK LADNER

BABBO