Bellino and Pacino

 

AL PACINO

"BELLINO & PACINO"

Daniel Bellino is an Italian-American author who highlights Al Pacino in his cookbooks, particularly focusing on Italian-American cooking, "Sunday Sauce" (meat-based Red Sauce), and shared Sicilian roots, Bellino's family from Lercara Friddi, Sicily, and Al Pacino - "Believe It or Not" hails from Corleone, Sicily.

Bellino's books, such as Grandma Bellino's Cookbook, discuss recipes like Spaghetti Aglio e Olio, which is noted as a favorite of Al Pacino. 

Daniel Bellino's Connection: Daniel Bellino Zwicke is known for writing books about Italian-American life, food, and culture. He features "Sunday Sauce" and mentions Sicilian-American connections.

Daniel writes in his book of the times when he was the Wine Director of Barbetta Ristorante in New York, where Pacino occasionally dined at. When Daniel was taking Mr. Pacino's food order, Al would always ask if the kitchen would make him Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (Spaghetti with Garlic & Olive Oil). "The dish was not on the menu, that why Al asked if we could make us. It was an offer we couldn't refuse," states Bellino. And of course we always made it for Al, and he was a wonderful client to have dining with us." The rest is history, shall we say. Al Pacino's favorite paste was Spaghetti with Garlic & Oil (Aglio e Olio). We know this thanks to Daniel Bellino, who felt with Pacino first hand. Bellino tells this story in his book Sunday Sauce

• Al Pacino & Pasta: In his book Grandma Bellino's Italian Cookbook - Bellino features a "Spaghetti Aglio e Olio" recipe that he associates with Al Pacino. While Pacino is of Sicilian descent, this specific garlic and oil dish is commonly known as a Neapolitan specialty.
• Sunday Sauce: Bellino's recipes, often termed "Sunday Sauce alla Bellino alla Pacino," highlight traditional, slow-simmered sauces featuring meat such as meatballs, sausages, and pork braciola.
• Key Themes: Bellino's work often highlights connections between famous Italian-Americans (like Pacino and Sinatra) and the culinary traditions of New York and New Jersey Italian-American communities.
• Related Works: Other books by Bellino-Zwicke include Sinatra Sauce: Meatballs & Merriment. 

Bellino frequently shares these stories and recipes on his "New York Italian" Instagram and blog, often framing them within the context of classic Italian-American films and culture.

NONNA BELLINO'S COOKBOOK

RECIPES From MY SICILIAN NONNA

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AL APCINO & AGLIO e OLIO

Al Pacino and Aglio Olio you ask? What about it? Well it’s just that Spaghetti Aglio Olio always reminds me of that great fellow New Yorker Sicilian American, the one-and-only Al Pacino from da Bronx. It’s not a big deal, just a wonderful little memory for me. When I was the Wine Director at the famed Barbetta Ristorante on Restaurant Row in New York’s Theater District (where Al often performs on stage), Al Pacino used to come and eat there every now and then. He never wanted anything to fancy, but something that just about all true blooded Italian-American wants, and that dish is Spaghetti Aglio Olio, plain and simple, yet it’s in our blood. That’s what Al wanted and that’s what we gave him, and Al loved it and you will too. 

Note: As has already been noted, you can make Spaghetti w/ Garlic & Oil, simply by making the above recipe, and omitting the Anchovies, and you’ll have it just like Al Pacino does. 

Enjoy!

Excerpted form GRANDMA BELLINO'S ITALIAN COOKBOOK

by Daniel Bellino Zwicke

Author DANIEL BELLINO ZWICKE

Books

.

Cotechino Lenticchie Lentils Italian

COTECHINO & LENTILS For ITALIAN NEW YEARS 

COTECHINO e LENTICCHIE 

LENTILS For GOOD LUCK

ITALIAN NEW YEAR TRADITION

COTECHINO LENTICCHIE

ITALIAN COOKBOOK author DANIEL BELLINO

Wrapping My COTECHINO

PINO'S PRIME MEATS

ITALIAN BUTCHER SHOP

PINO

SUNDAY SAUCE

LASAGNA - MEATBALLS - PASTA

And STORIES of ITALIAN-AMERICAN NEW YORK

by Daniel Bellino Z

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COTECHINO LENTICCHIE "EXPLAINED"

PINA Makes COTECHINO

With LENTILS

Feast of Seven Fish Italian Christmas

La FAMIGLIA

"La VIGILIA"

 

The FEAST of The 7 FISH

"ITALIAN CHRISTMAS"

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The FEAST of The 7 FISH. "ITALIAN CHRISTMAS"

Daniel Bellino-Zwicke is the author of 

The Feast of The 7 Fish, a popular cookbook celebrating the Italian-American Christmas Eve tradition. The book features recipes, stories, and instructions for preparing the multi-course seafood meal, often called La Vigilia. 

About Daniel Bellino-Zwicke: 

He is a long-time Italian food and wine professional from New York.

• He has worked as a chef, wine director, and managing partner at various restaurants, including 
  Bar Cichetti
  , which he founded.
• Bellino-Zwicke has authored several best-selling Italian cookbooks, including Sunday Sauce, Ragu Bolognese Cookbook, and Positano The Amalfi Coast Cookbook.
• He often writes about Italian-American cuisine and culture, incorporating personal stories and travel experiences. 
• About the book, The Feast of The 7 Fish: 

The book serves as both a cookbook and a cultural guide to the traditional meal.

• It provides historical context for the Southern Italian and Italian-American Christmas Eve feast.
• The recipes include traditional dishes such as Baked Clams Oreganta, Seafood Salad, Linguine with Clam Sauce, and Mussels Marinara.
• The book aims to preserve and share the family tradition, which has often been passed down orally through generations. 
• The tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes: 
• Origin: It is an Italian-American tradition that evolved from the Catholic practice of abstaining from meat on the eve of holy days. While fish-centric meals are common in Southern Italy, the specific "seven fishes" tradition is largely an American development.

• Symbolism: The number seven can symbolize various things, including the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, the seven hills of Rome, or the seven days of creation.
• The meal: It is a multi-course dinner featuring a variety of seafood, which can include baccalà (salt cod), calamari, clams, mussels, and eel. The specific dishes often vary by region and family tradition. 

SETTE PESCI

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

Bellino and Pacino

 

CLEMENZA SAUCE

PETE CLEMENZA Teaches MICHAEL CORLEONE 

HOW to MAKE SUNDAY SAUCE

RICHARD CASTELLANO & AL PACINO

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA'S "The GODFATHER"

Based on recent culinary publications, the connection between Al Pacino and Daniel Bellino-Zwicke is a recipe for Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil, which Bellino-Zwicke named "Spaghetti alla Pacino"

. The recipe was featured in Bellino-Zwicke's 2025 book Sunday Sauce and was based on a dish the actor supposedly enjoyed at a New York restaurant. 

The story behind the recipe:

Culinary author Daniel Bellino-Zwicke was inspired to write about the dish after hearing that Al Pacino enjoyed a simple pasta with garlic and oil while dining at the restaurant Barbetta in New York.

• Bellino-Zwicke included his version of the recipe, along with the story of Pacino's meal, in his cookbook Sunday Sauce.
• Following the book's publication and coverage by Parade Magazine in April 2025, the story of "Pacino's favorite pasta" gained widespread attention. 
• No credible sources indicate a more substantive or personal connection between the two individuals. The association appears to be centered entirely on Bellino-Zwicke naming a recipe after the actor. 

Daniel Bellino-Zwicke is a culinary author and chef known for creating New York-Italian cuisine inspired by classic mafia movies like 

The Godfather. His connection to actor Al Pacino comes from writing about Pacino's favorite pasta dish. 

The story behind "Pacino Pasta": 

Bellino-Zwicke previously worked as a chef at 

Barbetta Ristorante

, a New York City restaurant that Al Pacino frequented.

• He prepared Pacino's favorite dish, spaghetti with garlic and oil (aglio e olio), for him multiple times.
• Bellino-Zwicke included the story and the recipe, which he named "Spaghetti alla Pacino," in his book Sunday Sauce.
• The story gained wider attention when it was featured in Parade Magazine in April 2025. 
• Other links to Al Pacino
• The Godfather Cookbook: Bellino-Zwicke has promoted a cookbook inspired by The Godfather, with recipes for dishes like "Sunday Sauce alla Clemenza".

• Online content: Bellino-Zwicke writes about his New York-Italian food and the Pacino story on his websites and social media. 
• 
  
• Daniel Bellino-Zwicke's background -
• He is a New York-based Italian-American chef and food writer.

• His work often blends his family's Sicilian-American culinary traditions with references to Italian-American culture, including movies and mob history.

SPAGHETTI AGLI e OLIO

"GARLIC & OLIVE OIL"

AL PACINO'S FAVORITE PASTA

RECIPE

SUNDAY SAUCE

SUNDAY SAUCE & MEATBALLS

SPAGHETTI alla PACINO

And MORE ....

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Faicco's Italian Pork Store Greenwich Village

 

FAICCO'S

by GREENWICH VILLAGE Artist ELLEN BRADSHAW

EllenBradshaw.com

Faicco's Pork Store has been open since 1900.

The 120-year-old butcher shop started out on Elizabeth Street and then was at 152-154 Thompson (photo), for 40 years, before moving to 260 Bleecker in 1951, when the family bought the current building.

The building of the 1911-1951 store (photo) is now at the corner of Houston and Thompson. The buildings on the left were demolished for IND subway construction.

In 1896, founder Eduardo Faicco (1858 - Jan 3, 1934) immigrated from Sorrento (near Naples), where he raised livestock and learned butchering.

In America, he started out in a livery and carting business, delivering bananas and watermelons by horse and buggy, over plank roads in New Jersey. He was listed by Dun and Bradstreet in 1890. He married Anna (born 1861) in 1882. They had 10 children.

Living in the Lower East Side, one day in 1900, family lore has Eduardo finding a wooden splinter in a sausage from a local shop. He was furious and got into argument with the owner. That motivated to him to launch his own sausage shop on Elizabeth Street to run that guy out of business (which he supposedly did), without knowing anything about sausage making.

His son Joseph Faicco (born 1892) opened a larger store in Dyker Heights (Brooklyn) in 1943. He and wife Marta (born 1903) had 4 daughters (Anna, Clara, Julia, Sylvia) and 2 younger sons Joseph M. (Dec 18, 1935-May 5, 2001) and Edward Joseph (Jul 28, 1934 - Feb 24, 2002) at 358 Bay Ridge Ave. Edward later took over the Brooklyn store, helped by his kids Eddie, Louis, and Matthew who took over in the 1980s.

Joseph Sr helped buy the store at Bleecker and 1951, and later Joseph Jr took over the Bleecker store.

Eduardo's granddaughter Ann.Faicco, at 26, got noted as “New York's only lady butcher” by James Beard in 1973 at the Bleecker store. She worked side by side with brothers Edward and late brother Tom, working 12-hour days, preparing sausages. New York Times food critic Craig Claiborne would buy dried sausages, cervelat (seasoned with provolone cheese), and caul‐wrapped liver with bay leaf to go.

Ann started working after school in her teens. Her first task ever was to make fegatini (calf's liver wrapped in caul fat with a bay leaf). She then advanced to spareribs or pork chops.

Until 1970, most customers were middle-aged or older. By 1975, customers in their 20s and 30s were regulars.. Ann advised customers on how to cook meat braciole or skin braciole (stuffed rolls of meat or pork skin lightly filled with garlic, pepper, salt, parsley and grated Romano cheese).

Sweet (Neapolitan) or spicy (Abbruzzi‐style) salamis are made and dried at the store. Joseph Jr would retire in 1996.

His nephew Eddie Faicco, son of Edward, grandson of Joseph Sr, and great grandson of Eduardo, now runs the Bleecker store as a 4th generation owner, offering Italian sandwiches and Soppressata. He started working at the family store from ages 8-9.

“Faicco’s Pork Store” sold meat and groceries. Eddie changed it to “Faicco’s Italian Specialties” in 1999 to sell prepared foods like Italian sandwiches, lasagna, baked ziti, eggplant parmesan, and rice balls (arancini) in the back of the store in a small kitchen, using family recipes. The family tomato sauce recipe has been used for 35+ years. The sausage and broccoli rabe sandwich became popular as well as the chicken parm with homemade mozzarella.

Salamis no longer hang over the counter. The 2nd floor has a temperature-controlled curing room. Daughter Jillian Faicco, now 18, became the 5th Generation to work at Faicco’s, on weekends.

His brothers Louis and Matthew continued working at the 6511 11th Ave store in Brooklyn, still open today. .

READ About FAICCO'S

In SUNDAY SAUCE !

SUNDAY SAUCE

alla BELLINO alla PACINO

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