Tag Archives: Vinny Dotolo

[UPDATED] Who’s Your Daddy? Unleashing Animal Pizzeria on the East Coast for Harry’s Chef Pop No.6

Posted on May 16, 2012 by | Leave a comment

A Schwartz sandwich! Vinny Dotolo (left) and Jon Shook (right) lead Animal Pizzeria’s pre-shift meeting at Harry’s before service last night

Update: Huge thanks to Jon & Vinny for making Michael’s Genuine & Harry’s their Animal Houses for the weekend.  See photos from Saturday & Sunday’s prep on our Flickr, and visit Twitter #AnimalPizzeria for a sample of the collective experience of the evening, as well as the final dishes courtesy Food for Thought Miami. Today’s pizza special is a delicious aftermath of a few dishes.

Vinny works on Michael’s cookbook pop-up dinner menu in Animal’s kitchen (Los Angeles, May 2011.)

Tickets for Animal Pizzeria are now live on this link! HINT: Great Father’s Day gift!

After wowing us by hosting Michael for a Genuine Animal dinner celebrating his cookbook in LA last year, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo are South Florida-bound where it all began for them in culinary school to cook at Harry’s. We cannot wait to get it on.  Hope they don’t mind trading their two story kitchen clearance for our little closet!

After esteemed visiting guest chefs Gabrielle Hamilton, Jonathan Waxman, Marc Vetri, Jonathon Sawyer, and Kevin Sbraga (a mere tinsel of tickets left for SBRAGA Pizzeria on 5/22,) Michael welcomes the chef/owners of Animal and Son of a Gun in Los Angeles to Harry’s Pizzeria on Sunday, June 17 at 7:00 p.m.  Check them out in this weekend’s Wall Street Journalfor their shrimp toast!  We may even get a shout, too. : )

Jon & Vinny’s smoked fish dip from Son of a Gun at Marc Vetri’s Alex’s Lemonade Stand event in Philadelphia last summer.

As with all chef pops, seating for Animal Pizzeria is first come, first served. Making new friends is encouraged and easy when you’ve got a welcome cocktail in hand with hors d’oeuvre, four courses, free-flowing wines by The Genuine Hospitality Group sommelier and Wine Director Eric Larkee and our tap beers at your disposal.  Go home with a special gift from the guys, too. All that and tax and gratuity are included in the ticket price.  Claim your spot today, exclusively online at Brown Paper Tickets.  Ready… GO!

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Posted in Chef Pops, Harry's Pizzeria, Special Event

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Babes in La La Land

Posted on November 9, 2011 by | 3 Comments

Hedy's new handwriting font on display.

The stars were out this past weekend!  Answering the call of sweet duty, executive pastry chef Hedy Goldsmith and her sous Trew Sterling represented us in Los Angeles on Sunday for L.A. Loves Alex’s Lemonade Stand.  Alex’s, a national non-profit committed to finding a cure for all childhood cancers, has successfully created a culinary roadshow of sorts, traveling the country each year to fundraise by popping up events in select cities thanks to host chefs who embrace the cause.  Michael attended for the first time in Philly over the summer on the invitation of hometown friend Marc Vetri; Jonathan Waxman will bring it to New York for the first time in December with Lemon NYC.

Now you tell ME who is the movie star? Yeah @trewgenuine!

The La La land satellite is hosted by Suzanne Goin, and Hedy brought her A game to the table in a conundrum of candies — Smoked Hazelnut, Bourbon & Bacon Brittle, Curried Cashew Brittle, & Thai Peanut Brittle, as well as blocks of Roasted White Chocolate & Smoked Bittersweet Chocolate, supplied by our west coast cacao cronies at TCHO. Satisfying us for a moment, pictures of her spread are here, courtesy Heidi Ladell (both the images and the art direction that would make Sandra Lee weep tablescape tears of joy.)  But we wanted more. We had questions! What’s the juice from Hollywood?  Last night the answers arrived in our inbox:

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Posted in Away Game, Behind the Scenes, Food Philanthropy, Special Event, Sweet

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Unleashing the Genuine Animal on the West Coast

Posted on March 16, 2011 by | 1 Comment

We're fired up about our trip out west, especially this sunset at Pebble Beach.

You may have noticed some California love on our events calendar.  We’re heading out west at the end of April, where Michael spent some time cooking early in his career (for Wolfgang Puck at Chinois.)  The first stop is the Inn at Spanish Bay to participate in one of the world’s most picturesque and talent-rich culinary festivals. Then we’ll head down to the City of Angels where a pair of chefs known for their carnivorous leaning have offered Michael their restaurant kitchen for a night. Could it get any better? I don’t think so. Continue reading →

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Posted in Away Game, Cookbook, Special Event, What's Cooking

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