Mario Carbone talks about the inspiration for his newest restaurant, Carbone, with Patrick Martins on this week’s episode of The Main Course. Find out about Mario’s childhood in Queens, and his culinary training with greats like Daniel Boulud and Wylie Dufresne. What attracted Mario to the old-style of New York Italian restaurants? Hear about the customer’s ‘food IQ’, and why Mario updates classic Italian with fresh, local ingredients. Later, Matt Molina calls into the program. Trained at the Los Angeles Culinary Institute, Matt Molina got his start in cuisine at Campanile, where he worked his way from line cook to chef de cuisine. After six years under Nancy Silverton at Campanile, Molina left the West Coast to delve further into contemporary Italian cuisine at Del Posto. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Molina was more than ready for his executive chef post at Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza, Green Restaurant Association-certified additions to LA’s Italian culinary scene courtesy of Silverton, Mario Batali, and longtime partner Joe Bastianich. Since assuming charge of the restaurants—and taking on a very proactive role in their standards of sustainability, environmentalism, and organics—Chef Molina has earned three stars from the LA Times. In 2008, Osteria Mozza was nominated for “Best New Restaurant” award by the James Beard Foundation and in 2012 Molina himself was nominated for “Best Chef: Pacific.” This program was sponsored by White Oak Pastures. Thanks to Idgy Dean for today’s music.

“It’s difficult to cook a dish that people have eaten hundreds of times… The idea is not to make the food unfamiliar to the guest, but take a little more care with the ingredients.” [18:10]

— Mario Carbone on The Main Course

“Japanese cuisine has a huge influence on Los Angeles given our geography.” [40:20]

— Matt Molina on The Main Course