Rao’s Cookbook by Frank Pellegrino

Hardcover

Rao’s, the hundred-year-old restaurant with a mere ten tables tucked in a corner of East Harlem in what was once a legendary Italian neighborhood, is one of the most sought-after restaurants in all of Manhattan. Its tables are booked months in advance by regulars who go to enjoy what The New York Times calls its “exquisitely simple Italian cooking” from traditional recipes, many as old as Rao’s itself. You may not get a table at Rao’s, but now with this book you can prepare the best Italian home-style food in the world in your own kitchen. Here for the first time are recipes for all of Rao’s fabulous classics—its famous marinara sauce, seafood salad, roasted peppers with pine nuts and raisins, baked clams, lemon chicken, chicken scarpariello, and on and on.

The recipes are accompanied by photographs that re-create Rao’s magic and testimonials from loyal Rao’s fans. Here too is a brief history of the restaurant by Nicholas Pileggi and a Preface by Dick Schaap. Both will convince you that what you have in your hands is a national treasure, a piece of history, and a collection of the best Italian American recipes you will ever find.