Dining at Rao's
To celebrate another great season of television, my kitchen crew from TV and I decided to go out on the town.  Where to go? The decision was unanimous! Our destination was to be Rao's. Rao's happens to be notorious for being one of the most difficult restaurants in New York in which to get a reservation. Yearlong waits for one of its ten tables are not uncommon. In fact, if you call for a reservation, a recording states that, " As of now, 2010 is completely filled and we are not accepting any reservations." Fortunately, I have a little pull there at Rao's and Nikki Elkins, Nora Singley, Thomas Joseph, Sarah Mastracco, Sarah Carey and Kevin Sharkey joined me for a most memorable evening. Please enjoy!
1 Nikki Elkins, Kevin Sharkey, and Sarah Mastracco
2 Here I am with Nikki and Sarah.
3 Visiting in the kitchen with Michael Lanza who was up to his elbows with.....
4 the filling for Rao's famous stuffed clams - yum!
5 Meatballs, ready to go into the gravy
6 Meatballs simmering away
7 Dom the butcher sharing a laugh with Michael
8 The walls of Rao's are covered with memories.
9 Thomas Joesph and Nora Singley
10 Another shot of Nikki and Sarah
11 Here I am with Kevin.
12 The roasted peppers were to die for.
13 As was the seafood salad
14 The steamed mussels in white wine were sublime!
15 The baked clams were perfect.
16 Sarah Carey sitting next to Joe Ciccone, the manager
17 'D', the bartender in background
18 Waiter Hilton in background
19 Orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe alongside shells with fresh ricotta
20 A platter of luscious meatballs
21 We ate and ate.
22 Having fun yet?
23 Kevin and Sarah
24 Tom, Nora, and me
25 This is Dino.
26 Josh, another friendly waiter
27 A plate of tartufo and a plate of black raspberry ice cream and coffee ice cream - amazing!
28 Here I am with 'Nickki Vest' - the bartender.
29 Busy in the kitchen with Dino, Lidya, Pauli, and Dom
30 Posing with Dino, the chef
31 And here I am with Jerry.
32 The fellow in the background is Ron Straci, the owner.
33 The bill was paid with cash.
Is Kevin's closet stocked with blue only?
Posted by: Joash | May 5th, 2010 at 2:12 am
Hi Martha,
As in a ‘blast from the past’ one of my favorite Living shows is the one you filmed at Rao’s. You helped the owner Frank Pellegrino cook lemon chicken and ‘gravy’ for the pappardelle. I’ll never forget ‘segreto’ which is what he called tossing the pasta with some of the hot sauce to flavor it before putting it in a bowl and then the rest of the sauce went in another bowl. Who wouldn’t love to go to Rao’s, but since we can’t, it’s nice that you have some recipes from his book on this site. So far I found the Lemon Chicken and Papparadelle with Hot Sausage Sauce. Yum! And of course this blog wouldn’t be complete without a picture of Nickki Vest! I bet he has thousands of vests by now.
~
It looks like everyone had a great time thanks to you and now they can tell all their friends they went to Rao’s. I want to go to Rao’s too. Boo hoo! Trish
Posted by: Trish | May 5th, 2010 at 8:33 am
I gained 5# just drooling over these photos. And then I had to look up "tartufo" for even more potential calories. Ice-cream truffles? yes.
Posted by: IowaCowgirl | May 5th, 2010 at 11:04 am
Hi Martha love the show just so you know, someone on your show just minutes ago said that Prince (musician) was 45 yrs. old this is false, he was born in 1958.
Posted by: Shannon | May 5th, 2010 at 11:40 am
Now I want to eat at Rao's...I don't think I have quite the pull you do, but maybe this is a good reason to plan an NY trip very far in advance! Glad you had fun!
xoxo- Kate a' la Southern Belle Simple
Posted by: Southern Belle Simple | May 5th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Hi Martha, How fun that you blogged about going to dinner at Rao. I remember way back when you had a visit to Rao on your original MSL TV Show. That first visit was wonderful and this one was wonderful, too. Everyone with you looked like they were having a marvelous time. The food looked spectacular and your photos are making me very hungry! I remember the bartender, Nickki Vest who had a different vest on everyday. Thanks for the delightful memories. Love, Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | May 5th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Eep! That's a big stack of $50s! Perhaps they weren't all $50s. Were they all $50s? lol. Beautiful picture of the clams on a spoon. I'm glad to see even Martha takes pics of her restaurant food. I took a cooking/tasting class on pork belly last night and felt a little self conscious pulling out my camera before I tucked in. As soon as I did, 3 other people whipped out their cameras and took a quick snap before they gnashed.
Posted by: Karen - The Art of Doing Stuff | May 5th, 2010 at 10:57 pm
What fun! Is is lunch time yet? I was laughing at your last photo "paid in cash" hahaha.... that's the Polish lady in you. My grandmother keeps her "stack of cash" in her bra!!!! When I waws little, I was always so embarrassed when she'd whip it out at the grocery store. Now, I just smile.
Posted by: NeatNicole from Illinois | May 6th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Oh Martha, I'm in NYC right now and will be until the 10th. I wish I could have gone out on the town with you guys. I did your show on Wed 5/5 the 2 PM taping and loved visiting the set. You are even more BEAUTIFUL in person! WOW!!!! Just lovely. Take care. I'm on my way right now to go do David Letterman Show.
Posted by: KLBrown | May 6th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Fun
Posted by: Claudiastrauss | May 9th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
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Uptown Felicity!!
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Looks like the star power rush of Anthony's Pier 4 in Boston. Have you been there?
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I love Boston. My life is wallpapered with it. However, New York is most personally the 'apple' of my eye.
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Hope the Stewart party had an evening of nonpareil delight --- and that your signature has been applied to the fine diners' wall!
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Spencerian of Anthony's
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Posted by: andrea and the weimaraners | May 10th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Where can I find the recipes by Frank Pellegnen?
Thank you
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