December 26, 2004: Headlines: Cooking: Culinary Arts: Oregon Live: RPCV Vito DiLullo is looking forward to welcoming friends to his table for what he hopes will become a New Year's Eve tradition
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December 26, 2004: Headlines: Cooking: Culinary Arts: Oregon Live: RPCV Vito DiLullo is looking forward to welcoming friends to his table for what he hopes will become a New Year's Eve tradition
RPCV Vito DiLullo is looking forward to welcoming friends to his table for what he hopes will become a New Year's Eve tradition
RPCV Vito DiLullo is looking forward to welcoming friends to his table for what he hopes will become a New Year's Eve tradition
Fellowship through food at Ciao Vito
Sunday, December 26, 2004
V ito DiLullo is looking forward to welcoming friends to his table for what he hopes will become a New Year's Eve tradition. He will be in the kitchen of his Northeast restaurant, Ciao Vito, and his friends will be customers who can't imagine spending the evening anywhere else.
Since Ciao Vito opened in April, the Concordia neighborhood trattoria has become the nightly gathering place for a diverse clientele who know and appreciate chef DiLullo's casual-yet-fine-dining menu featuring several of his grandmother's recipes that he has re-created..
Born into a large extended family, DiLullo grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, where his grandmother, Irene DiLullo, settled in the early 1900s. From the Abruzzi region in central Italy, Irene DiLullo emigrated because of an arranged marriage, even though she ended up marrying another man. Vito's grandfather, Gaetano DiLullo, was 11 years older than his bride and, after fathering six children, died of tuberculosis, leaving Irene to raise the children and work as a cook in the Youngstown sanitarium where he had been hospitalized.
Life in the DiLullo household revolved around family and food. As a young boy, Vito remembers living in his grandmother's house with his twin brother, his parents and various aunts, uncles and cousins. The large and rambling house had two kitchens: the traditional kitchen on the first floor and the one his grandmother preferred in the basement. It was there that his grandmother made fresh pasta every day along with many of the other dishes the family enjoyed.
"In my grandmother's house, food was always offered as a way of welcoming anyone who happened to come by, including the mailman," he recalls.
"In those days, the guys in our family didn't cook," he adds. "I took it all for granted until I was in the Peace Corps in West Africa and began cooking for myself and trying to re-create her recipes."
Culinary school and a series of chef positions at well-known Portland restaurants, including Zefiro, Higgins and Caffe Mingo, have honed and seasoned DiLullo's craft, and he has come full circle to embrace his grandmother's philosophy.
"My heart leaps when I think of the help and support I have received from my friends and neighbors, and it gives me great joy to know that I can feed and welcome them here."
Spitzad is an antipasto dish that his grandmother made, and it is one that chef DiLullo will be serving on his New Year's Eve menu. Simple to prepare, it is made with either chicken or veal that is coated with a bright, lemony, mesmerizing sauce. DiLullo suggests accompanying it with a glass of crisp vernacci wine to toast the new year.
Ciao Vito is at 2203 N.E. Alberta St.; 503-282-5522; open nightly for dinner.
Sara Perry: sara@saraperry.com; The Oregonian, 1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland, OR 97201
When this story was posted in December 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| The World's Broken Promise to our Children Former Director Carol Bellamy, now head of Unicef, says that the appalling conditions endured today by half the world's children speak to a broken promise. Too many governments are doing worse than neglecting children -- they are making deliberate, informed choices that hurt children. Read her op-ed and Unicef's report on the State of the World's Children 2005. |
| Our debt to Bill Moyers Former Peace Corps Deputy Director Bill Moyers leaves PBS next week to begin writing his memoir of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Read what Moyers says about journalism under fire, the value of a free press, and the yearning for democracy. "We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country," he warns, "or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia." |
| Is Gaddi Leaving? Rumors are swirling that Peace Corps Director Vasquez may be leaving the administration. We think Director Vasquez has been doing a good job and if he decides to stay to the end of the administration, he could possibly have the same sort of impact as a Loret Ruppe Miller. If Vasquez has decided to leave, then Bob Taft, Peter McPherson, Chris Shays, or Jody Olsen would be good candidates to run the agency. Latest: For the record, Peace Corps has no comment on the rumors. |
| The Birth of the Peace Corps UMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn. |
| Charges possible in 1976 PCV slaying Congressman Norm Dicks has asked the U.S. attorney in Seattle to consider pursuing charges against Dennis Priven, the man accused of killing Peace Corps Volunteer Deborah Gardner on the South Pacific island of Tonga 28 years ago. Background on this story here and here. |
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Story Source: Oregon Live
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Cooking; Culinary Arts
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