I grew up in Queens in a very Italian household where everything centered around the table. Sundays were big, long lunches with pasta and all the classics, and my grandfather was always in an apron, always cooking. My mother’s side was born in Italy, and my father’s side were multi-generation Italian-Americans out of Brooklyn, so that culture was constant.

As a kid, going out to restaurants is what really stuck with me. There was something about sitting down, choosing from a big menu, and not knowing what was coming out of those doors. It felt like magic. That’s what pulled me in. Over time, I realised those menus all come from the same place, the same foundation, which is something I’ve always respected and stayed close to.

It starts with my grandfather. He was from Italy and spent most of his time in the kitchen, making fresh gnocchi, pizza, and the kind of dishes that defined his upbringing. What stayed with me was how he adapted. He was recreating the food he grew up on, but with the ingredients available in New York, which naturally evolved into something more Italian-American. Food was always central in our house, but I came to understand its significance over time. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realised it was just as much about preserving identity and tradition as it was about the cooking itself.

I started cooking when I was still a teenager, just to earn money on the side in the evenings after school and at the weekends, at local restaurants like The Crab Shack in Queens, shucking oysters and clams, before becoming an apprentice at Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo. I went on to train at the Culinary Institute of America, where I met my business partner to this day, Rich Torrisi, on day one. That changed my life.

Early on, I spent time in a range of kitchens that each shaped how I think about food. In New York, I was part of the opening team at Lupa Osteria Romana, and later trained at Wd~50 and Café Boulud, where I was exposed to a more classical French approach. I also spent an extended period in Tuscany working in a small, family-run restaurant for my externship, which gave me a more immersive understanding of traditional Italian cooking. Being able to move between those environments, from very refined to more personal and regional, is what really defined my early years.

Not in the way that it has become. The idea was very simple: to take those local restaurants that I loved growing up, the old Italian-American places, and create my ideal version of them, making the best versions of those dishes. The menu, the service, the theatre, it is all rooted in my memories from growing up, but executed at the highest level we could to create an experiential fine dining experience. You can’t predict how people will respond, we just focused on making something that we believed in. It is an honour that it has become so popular, and something that I am very grateful for.

London was always a priority for us from the moment we opened Carbone in New York. It’s a city that’s always felt familiar. As a New Yorker, it’s one of the few places that moves in a similar way, with the same energy, the same diversity, the same appetite for restaurants. The food scene here is among the best in the world, so it was always a natural fit.

We spent years looking for the right space, and when the former American Embassy in Mayfair became available, it immediately felt right. That part of the city carries a certain weight, and being on Grosvenor Square gives the restaurant a strong sense of place. Opening the terrace and introducing lunch was a natural extension of that, allowing the space to come to life throughout the day and better connect with the rhythm of the neighborhood.

The foundation is Italian-American cooking: the dishes, the structure of the menu, the style of service, the dishes we grew up eating. That core doesn’t change. It’s the identity of the restaurant and what people come for. In London, about 90 per cent of the menu stays the same and the signatures remain the focus. The remaining portion is where we respond to what’s available here at a very high level. English peas are a good example. Their quality has shaped parts of the spring menu and the lunch offerings, like the pea and pecorino salad and spring pea cappellacci. The foundation stays intact, and the differences come through in how the product presents itself in each location.

I love The Devonshire. It looks simple, but there’s a lot of discipline behind it. When you’re working without anything to lean on, every detail has to be right, and they do that at a very high level. It also feels very rooted in London. Having a Guinness there, standing outside, it’s a very specific kind of experience.

I also like Dorian. It’s a proper chef’s restaurant where you’re going in and giving control to the kitchen. That takes confidence, and it’s something you don’t see as often anymore.

For something more casual, I like Marta in Chelsea. They’re doing Roman-style pizza at a very high level, and it works just as well for a quick stop as it does for a longer meal.

I really admire what the JKS group is doing. The level of Asian cuisine in London, whether it’s Indian or Southeast Asian, is exceptional, and it’s something you don’t see in the same way in New York. There’s a real clarity and identity to that cooking, which is always impressive.

Honestly, pretty simply. I spend a lot of time at home cooking very basic food, nothing elaborate. After tasting all day, you want something clean and straightforward. Sundays are different. I like to have people over, cook a proper meal, and eat early. It reminds me of how I grew up. When I’m in London and not at Carbone, I tend to walk. I like being around Mount Street, picking up a cigar from Sautter and a slice of panettone from Marchesi, then sitting in the gardens for a bit. That’s about as good an afternoon as you can have here.

Right now, it’s the risotto primavera we’ve added for spring. It’s not something we’ve been able to do before at Carbone, but the kitchen here allows for a dedicated risotto station, which makes a difference. It’s built around what’s performing best this time of year: English peas, snap peas, broccolini, asparagus, finished with morels, green herb butter, and basil oil. It’s very clean and very seasonal. I know the spicy rigatoni vodka is what people come for, but at the moment, this is what I want to be eating, especially for lunch.