Latest / Cats & Pudding with Jennifer Dilandro / Food Network’s 100 Cooks: Alexia DiGiglio-Mancini Reveals What REALLY Happened Behind the Scenes

Transcript

Food Network’s 100 Cooks: Alexia DiGiglio-Mancini Reveals What REALLY Happened Behind the Scenes · Cats & Pudding with Jennifer Dilandro

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is the Cats and Pudding Podcast.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: A melting pot of pudding. And now, here's Jen.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: Cats and Pudding. And today, oh my God, not only
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: did I have her as my co-host today, but she
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: did a great job.
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: Lexi, my Lexi. I love her so much.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: This girl needs no introduction. She is one of my
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: favorite people on the planet.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: She is... A chef. She is just a beautiful person
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: all around. And I just love her. How did you
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: come up with You Had Me at Kitchen?
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: You know, You Had Me at Kitchen... came about.
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: Okay did that come from like um you had me at.
• 0:46
  Speaker 5: Hello yes it's a spoof on that because love it
• 0:49
  Speaker 5: you know when um you know i was formerly in
• 0:51
  Speaker 5: the music industry as you know and uh and then
• 0:54
  Speaker 5: i you know i i moved out of that industry
• 0:56
  Speaker 5: and i was just you know what i call a
• 0:58
  Speaker 5: regular person and i say regular person because it was
• 1:01
  Speaker 5: regular for me because i always.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Loved entertaining and being in the entertainment business.
• 1:06
  Speaker 5: And, uh, I, um, I was having another baby, my son, Alex, and, uh,
• 1:13
  Speaker 5: I was looking to buy a new house and my friend, Jenny, he,
• 1:16
  Speaker 5: she was in the kitchen and bath business and, and
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: they had just done their kitchen over and I loved it.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: And I went to like this grand.
• 1:23
  Speaker 5: Reopening of, of their house, housewarming party type thing.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: And, uh, she said, I'm going to, I'm selling my house.
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: I'm like, what?
• 1:31
  Speaker 5: You're selling your house. I'm like, Jenny, I'm like, I just,
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: I love the kitchen. You just did the kitchen. I'm like,
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: I want to buy it.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: And she's like, well, you haven't even seen the rest
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: of the house. I said, you had me at kitchen.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: I love that.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: It was like, you know, Jerry Maguire, you had me
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: at hello.
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: It was like Jerry Maguire-y, kitchen-y food.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Yes, it was.
• 1:51
  Speaker 5: But at the time I wasn't even doing the cooking show.
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: That was 16 years ago. And fast forward, that same
• 1:58
  Speaker 5: friend of mine, Jenny, she kind of, um, you know,
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: put the fire under me to start the blog and
• 2:04
  Speaker 5: start the YouTube channel when I really didn't think I
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: had time for it. You know, because I was just like,
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: you know, putting my food and recipes on Facebook and then,
• 2:14
  Speaker 5: you know, family and friends would come around and they're like, oh,
• 2:16
  Speaker 5: we saw, you know, this recipe, the lasagna, and we
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: want to know how to make this and that. Then
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: I put these chicken cutlets and they went legit viral.
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: But that was like viral back, you know, 10 years ago. So,
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: you know, she encouraged me to start the YouTube So
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: when I decided, let me take a chance on this.
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: I remembered you had me at kitchen and, you know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: I changed it up with a U to make it
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: a little.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: I love it.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: It's, it's my, it's my, you know, my logo. You
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: had me at kitchen. Yes.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: The cutest. And I love, I love your, look at
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: her poster from the.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: You know, and you were also on a hundred cooks. Yeah.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: That's why I'm so proud. This is, This is actually
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: me on the show.
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: And I had that made when I do events and
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: whatnot to show that I was on the biggest cooking
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: competition in Food Network history, 100 cooks.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: And to be cast on that show was really a
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: dream come true. It was nearly two years.
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: Ago that the casting agents reached out to me on
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: Instagram and And of course, I thought it was a joke.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: And I was like, hmm, let me investigate.
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: And I clicked on it and casting Kyle, who's actually
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: from New Jersey. He found me on Instagram two years ago. Now,
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: when I think about that and put that into perspective,
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: two years ago was when they started casting for 100 Cooks. And,
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: you know, through that whole two years, I was meeting
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: with different agents like casting Kyle and then casting Cody. And, um,
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: you know, the show was on, the show was off and,
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: and then they had the California wildfires. So they, they
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: said the show was off. And then September of this year,
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: I got a, a call and it was, it was Cody.
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: And he said, uh, the show's green lit it's back.
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: And you're, you know, one of the main contenders.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: And I was like, wow. So like every two weeks
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: they'd kind of check in with me.
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: And I found out literally the week before, um, that
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: I left for California, I was cast on the show,
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: which was like wild because I had to like get
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: a whole wardrobe together and, uh, get everything, you know, set,
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: you know, before I took off and we could have
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: been there for about three and a half weeks.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: And, um, I made it right to the end.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: I know you did.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: How many times did you get to cook on the show?
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: So I did four, I did four cooks and, uh,
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: So you got picked four times to cook, right?
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes.
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: And I also did another challenge, which they didn't show.
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: It was more of a food trivia. And there was
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: a few things that were cut out of the show
• 4:59
  Speaker 5: because of time constraints. But, you know, the first challenge
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: I did was wild. It was the 30-person, 12-minute egg challenge.
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: Now you think, an egg, an egg dish, that might
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: be easy, but it was very challenging because Because you
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: had to do a composed egg dish in 12 minutes
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: and you had to be on one stove with three people. So,
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: you know, your heart is pounding out of your chest
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: because you don't know what the challenge is. If you
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: are going to get called, it's a lot of waiting around.
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: And when I got called for that, I was very excited,
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: but also really anxious and nervous because.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: You know, it was my first time in the arena.
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: And I was like, you know, I really hope I
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: can execute this properly and not go home on this challenge.
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: But I went back to my Italian American roots and
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: I and I thought of my grandmother making eggs in purgatory.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: And to pull that off.
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: Where the egg was going to be cooked perfectly and
• 6:02
  Speaker 5: the sauce was going.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: To be right.
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: I was like, how am I going to, you know,
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: cook something that takes maybe 40 minutes and In 12 minutes.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: So what I did was, for the base, I did
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: some tomato paste. Okay. And gave it more of a
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: rich flavor.
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: And then I fried the eggs in a separate dish
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: in some olive oil, but I did them under. So
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: then I made like the wells in the sauce. I
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: did Calabrian chili and a lot of garlic, a lot of.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Herbs, basil, parsley.
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: And I did passata, like the tomato puree, which has
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: a lot more flavor than say.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: San Marzano.
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: Right off the bat. So I feel like that has
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: a lot of flavor. And then I made the wells
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: and I finished the egg. And that whole time, we
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: were standing there for about three hours waiting to get judged.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: And my heart was pounding. I'm like, did I cook
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: the egg? Did I not.
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: Cook the egg? The food was sitting there for three hours? Well, yeah.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: We had 30 people on the challenge.
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: Oh, my God.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: But didn't the food get cold and they had to
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: taste it cold? They should be tasting it hot.
• 7:01
  Speaker 5: They expected that it was, you know, I think they
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: held it in proper temperatures. I'm not sure exactly, like,
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: what they did. But we had to make, you know,
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: in that challenge we did one. But in the other
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: challenges we had to make three of each. One for
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: each judge, who was the iconic Alex Guarnicelli, which was
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: a dream come true to cook for her. And then
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: Nick DiGiovanni, social media sensation, amazing chef as well. He's
• 7:28
  Speaker 5: doing so much with the Food Network. To cook for
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: them was a true honor. But when we did the dishes, we.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Had to make two. One for Nick, one for Alex,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: and one for the camera, the beauty shot, you know? Right. And.
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: You know, the four challenges, I did the egg challenge,
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: the 12-minute egg challenge.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: I did Cook's Choice. I did the cheesy challenge. And
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: I did also the.
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: Summer potluck, summer potluck. But I want to mention, this
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: is a great story, the Chef's Choice. That morning, this
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: is a crazy story, but I woke up and it
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: was the anniversary of my father's passing.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: January 26th. And I woke up that day at five
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: o'clock in the morning to get ready.
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: The days were very long, 12 to 15 hours a day.
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: And you had to get up really early, get ready,
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: wait for the bus to come and go into wardrobe
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: and everything. So it was like five and I'm doing
• 8:28
  Speaker 5: my makeup and I just had this warm sensation come
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: over me. And I said, I'm going to cook my
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: father's favorite dish today, which is chicken Alexia. And that
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: is a Italian chicken cutlet.
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: With reguata cheese, baby garlicky spinach, a San Marzano tomato sauce,
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: some beautiful tomatoes on top, mozzarella and pecorino, some basil.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: It's a great dish that I created. My father named
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: it chicken Alexi. It was his favorite. So when I
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: got to set and it was like the third challenge
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: of the day and they said chef's choice and they
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: called my name, I was like, wow. And then they
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: said it could be grilled or fried. And- Chicken cutlet.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Pan fry it, right?
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: And when I was being judged, I was at the
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: stove and the stove broke down and we were like
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: struggling to find a stove. So I was like, culinary,
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: I need a blowtorch. So I'm blowtorching the cheese to
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: make it melt. And when I went up, Alex, you know,
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: they were commenting on my dish and I looked at
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: Alex and I saw a butterfly necklace and I was like,
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: You know, after, you know, I was judged and I
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: told the story, it was my father's passing. That was
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: the day. And I made his favorite dish, what the
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: dish meant to me. And I said, wow, you have
• 9:48
  Speaker 5: a butterfly on. I said, I said, whenever I see
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: a butterfly, I think of my father. And she said,
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: right before she went on stage.
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: She saw a butterfly?
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: She changed her necklace. She said an omen went over her.
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: And she said, I got to change this necklace. And
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: she put on the butterfly. And the girl at the
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: same station was Maxine. Maxine and I had the oven complication.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: So that was on. We called back and they verified
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: the oven was broke down.
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: But the show was great. Terry Crews was the host.
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: Best dressed and nicest man in Hollywood.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Love that guy. He's a genuine guy. I talk about
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: him all the time.
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: The gentleman.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Love him. Love him.
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: So it was a great experience for you. So that's awesome.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: It was great.
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: Working with the Food Network was the best. Everything I
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: thought it would be and more. It was a very
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: challenging competition, grueling. I always say it was the most mentally, physically,
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: and emotionally draining, but the most actual, inspirational, and like, Well.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: Don't you agree that the most rewarding things are the hardest?
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you're right. Right?
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: If things were easy, they wouldn't be rewarding. If everything
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: came so easy, you wouldn't appreciate it and it wouldn't
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: be rewarding.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: That's true.
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: And that is true.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: It is true.
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: And, you know, I put my heart and soul into
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: the competition. I was happy to make it to the end.
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: I was on every episode, went back for the finale.
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: I was so happy for my fellow castmates that did
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: so well. I learned so much about so many people.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: I learned so.
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: Many things from all of the talent people we really
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: became friends. We developed a bond between us. And it
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: was just a dream come true.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: To be on.
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: I'm now addicted to food, cooking, competition shows, Food Network.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: I hope you call me for the next one. I
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: heard season two is underway.
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: Come on, let's call her up. Let's call her up.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: I'd love to be back. And some of our other friends, too,
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: get them on.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely.
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: Well, that's amazing. And so what started you with all this?
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, were you always an amateur chef? Was this
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: something you were always interested in? What sparked this whole
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: thing for you?
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: So, you know, as far as food goes... I mean,
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: we're all Italian. Food's very important to us. Exactly.
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: Growing up Italian-American... There was nothing like it.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Every Sunday, we'd go to church, and then we'd go visiting.
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: You know, back in those days, we'd go visiting, you know,
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: and go to cousins, aunts, uncles, and we'd always end
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: up at my grandmother's house for Sunday dinner.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: Yep. Do you say sauce or gravy?
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: I say gravy. Rhode Island, we say gravy.
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: I know, and it's so wrong. I don't care what
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: anybody calls it.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: But as long as we can, it's absolutely delicious. I
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: always say if it has meatball, sausage, pork, pepperoni, beef, Brazil,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: it's gravy.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: All right. Lex, gravy's brown.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: We call it gravy.
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: I also do call turkey gravy, gravy or whatever, but
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: you know, that's just how I grew up.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: So, you know, that's, that was like our way of
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: saying it, our tradition.
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: But, you know, um, Getting back to Sunday dinner, I
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: just came out with my debut cookbook.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: I'm so happy and proud to share with you and
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: your audience.
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: It's an homage to my childhood. I dedicated this to
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: my grandmother, Mama Mary. This has all authentic recipes from
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: my childhood. That's a cabbage and bean bruschetta garlic bread.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: Oh my God, I love that. That's a good one.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: You know, I put my heart and soul into this.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: I can't wait to get my copy so I can.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: You know, it's simple, straightforward, classic Italian-American recipes that I'm
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: so happy to share with, you know, the world. And
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: how I got started with You Had Me at Kitchen was,
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: you know, I was always in entertainment. I used to
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: be in the music industry. I started off as a
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: teen rapper. But prior to that, my whole childhood, I
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: grew up. entertaining my family, whether it be break dancing,
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: impersonating Michael Jackson in a talent show at the mall,
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: doing the cricket, like that was what I did. And
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: I just had a passion for entertaining. So, you know,
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: when I was younger, I was writing a lot of songs.
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: And I worked at my cousin's dough boy shop and
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: I was serving ice cream and dough boys. And, you know,
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: my cousin really always believed in my talents and he
• 14:19
  Speaker 5: always had a band.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: So one day he said, hey, go out and rap.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, all right. I had no, I wasn't scared.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: I had no stage fright. So when I did it.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: So you started rapping too?
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Rapping.
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Because I wrote all my own raps. Give me a
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: little rap. Give me a little rap. Want me to
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: give you an old school one?
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: Give me a little rap.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: Here we go.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: This was my old one.
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: Let's go.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: Two, three. You can't touch the rhymes I recite on
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: the mic.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: I got a fresh style. That's too damn hot. Cause
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: the guy's feet. I hear them scream. I get applause
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: like Rocky when I walk on the scene. I'm Alexia D.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: And I'm coming to rock female rappers. Don't you bother
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: to step to me. Because what I'll do, I'll spit
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: lyrics in your face till your face turn blue.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: That was like one of my raps when I was 14.
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: But you know, I got discovered that night and a
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: local guy, Bobby Bergeau, who has.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: He's like a comedic rapper.
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: You definitely do because he has a lot of songs
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: out and he has one that's really famous called Everyone's
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: Italian on Christmas Eve.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: Yes, you know him. And he's like a comedic rapper.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: He's excellent.
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: And he took me under his wing, gave me my
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: first studio experience, you know, from the air. I worked
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: with local producers. In the 90s, I wrote a pop song.
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: I started my own indie record label called Zia Recordings,
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: released the song, and I was promoting that song like
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: a grassroots effort, selling it out of the trunk of
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: my car, going to every radio station, play my song,
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: play my song, and one guy, Joe Lembo, put it
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: on Hot 106, and from there, I was touring on
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: my own like I was going to the Twin Cities
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: concert Fort Wayne, Indiana, Miami, like any, any city like
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: that would have me.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: And I was in on two record stores, strawberries, kangaroos.
• 16:11
  Speaker 5: And then I got signed with a strictly rhythm after
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: being on a compilation with, um, it was like this compilation.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: It had like Madonna or Montel Jordan, jelly bean beneath.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: There's all these.
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: Oh my God. Jelly bean.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: And he was actually a label made of mine at strictly. But, um,
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: when I got signed, you know, It was like this.
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: And then after I got signed, it was like one
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: of those true Hollywood stories. The label went through transition.
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: My song got shelved. I couldn't do anything for three years.
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: I was stuck in my career. And when I finally
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: got out, I was really discouraged, really sad. It was
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: really heartbreaking because I had worked so hard for so
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: many years. And then to know that what I did
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: just got buried, it was really sad. It was a
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: bad time. But, you know, I kind of just, like,
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: started working with some artists, writing. I was kind of
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: like a little talent scout. And then I just kind of, like,
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: fell into regular life. I got married, had kids, went
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: to work at my mother's travel agency. So I always
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: still was in food and travel. And because my mother
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: owns the travel agency, I had the opportunity to travel
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: the world, got to experience cultures, cuisines, visit.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: My family in Italy, and... You know, I just started
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: doing a lot more cooking.
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: And, you know, I wouldn't trade the path for the
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: world because my sons are everything to me, you know.
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: When I started, you had me a kitchen with the
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: encouragement of my friend. And here it is eight years later.
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: Wow. And you know what? You had to go down
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: that road to get to where you are.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: I always believed that, that you have to go through
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: certain roads, through certain paths to get to where you are.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: there's reasons why that had to happen. Because maybe that
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: wasn't supposed to be your path. This is supposed to
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: be your path.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: Right? Yeah.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: And maybe if you would have made it big, you
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: wouldn't have had your children, you wouldn't have gotten married.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: And you wouldn't have children right now.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: So that's your legacy.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: I would never trade one minute of it for the world. See?
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: It was what was meant to be.
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: A hundred percent.
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: I look at my career, like in music, and it
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: really prepared me for today.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Like, you know, being on stage. And, you know, I'm
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: not just, you know, people say, are you a chef?
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: Do you cater?
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: Do you have a restaurant?
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: No, I am what is an entertainer. And I love
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: to cook. And I love to share my recipes. So
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: I've combined my passion for food, people, music. And that
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: is why I do what I do.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: And, you know, I do a lot of live TV.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: I go on the Roadshow in Rhode Island.
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: I love impromptu live and just all these things that
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: are happening, like meeting you and all of the influencers
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: that I'm doing collaborations with.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: It's just so exciting to me. And it's like, I
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: feel like this was my calling.
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: This is what I've been, you.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Know, meant to do my whole life. And I love it.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: I love every second of it.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: So when you're doing, when you're doing the road show
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: in Rhode Island, what, what, what, I don't, I've never
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: seen that show.
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: So what, tell me what that show is about.
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: So, you know, The Roadshow is a local show. It's
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: like Good Morning America or.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: The Today Show in Rhode Island.
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: So it's like Good Day New York. Yeah. It was
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: at a show.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: I want to go on that. Good Day New York.
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: You know, they have a cooking segment. So, you know,
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: they give me free reign, whatever I want to make.
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: And like this week I was on, I was promoting
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: my cookbook.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: So I picked a.
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: Recipe that I love from the cookbook. and I show
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: up and you don't know what's going to happen because
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: it's live.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Right. So, you know, I prep my ingredients. We go in.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: We cook live. We talk. We laugh.
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: We talk about what's happening, and I enjoy it so much.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: I love the feeling of live TV and that anything
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: can happen.
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: You know, I want to say that really helped me
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: with the 100 Cook Show on the Food Network because...
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: you know, you had to be ready for anything. You
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: had to, you had to improvise. You have to, if
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: something went wrong, you had to know how to fix it.
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: And having that experience from the road show has really
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: helped me in, um, what I'm doing today.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: So I love that. I love it. I love to
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: be impromptu, you know, and it's a great show.
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: And I also do a segment on the show sometimes
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: called the roadie roundup where we talk about lifestyle and
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: what's happening.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: And it It's a little bit of comedy. So it's
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: really cool.
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: That's cool.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: And how many do you do that once a week
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: or you do it once?
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: Will they just ask you to do it?
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm a recurring guest. So, you know, one
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: week it was funny because I went on three days
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: in a row.
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: I did a roadie roundup. I did a cooking segment
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: on Friday. Then I went back on the Monday.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: So I was there like three days in a row.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: So they're like, you should just sleep here for the weekend.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: You know, it's whenever they call.
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: But, you know, I'm always receptive because they've given me
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: a huge opportunity, you know, to share what I do.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: So I just love them. They're like family. I love Will, Audrey,
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Brendan so much. They're just wonderful people.
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: And then Ashley and Audrey have a show called Spotlight
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: in New England that I go on as well.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: But they're just one big family to me.
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: I love that. Yeah, I love that. I love it.
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: So maybe you'll be ready for your own show one
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: of these days.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Well, that's that's my dream. That's my goal. You know,
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: I want to do, you know, I'm doing it on
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: my channel. I have a YouTube. I have an Instagram.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: I have a Facebook. I have a TikTok.
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: And everyone, please follow me at YouHadMeAtKitchen. Everything's YouHadMeAtKitchen with
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: a U. But my goal and dream is to have
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: my own cooking show on the Food Network.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Of course, right?
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: That'd be amazing. The Food Network's where it's at.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: And, you know.
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: Years back, I had a reality show on TV called
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: Bring Back Sunday Dinner. It was doing so well. And
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: it was basically the premise of my cookbook. People would
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: come to my house. We would cook old school Sunday
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: dinner recipes. And I'd have my family and friends come on.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: We'd have a crooner come on, St. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin.
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: It was really fun. But right at COVID, it got
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: shut down. So that no longer existed. So then I
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: kind of, merged into doing, you know, stuff on social
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: media and then working as an ambassador to different brands
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: like Pastine. I don't know if you know the Pastine company.
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: I recipe created for them. I went on different shows
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: with them and it was a thrill.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: For me because I grew up with that brand, you know?
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: But, you know, I'm open to so many different Italian
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: American brands reaching out to me and You know, if
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: I taste the product and I believe in it, I'm
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: going to promote it.
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: I love that. I have to believe in it, though.
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: You have to believe in it.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: I have to believe in it.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: I'm the same way. I have to believe in a product.
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: You have to believe in it. And also, you know, with,
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: you know, people. Like, you know, just I love.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: you know, meeting you and seeing what you're doing. The
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: podcast is amazing. I love what you do, especially your
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: funny videos. You're hilarious. Thank you.
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: And it's just a thrill to meet you and to
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: today do all, you know, my podcast with you, to
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: co-host with the Mob Wives, to co-host with Mobbyaki.
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: It was fun, right? It was really thrilling for me.
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: And I appreciate the opportunity so greatly. And, you know,
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: the support that we're giving one another today. Because we're
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: all in this together.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: We are.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: And it's fun to.
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: But Italians need to stick together. We need to.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: Never go against the family.
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: Never go against the family. But Italians need to stick together.
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: And I feel like a lot, especially in social media,
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: I feel like there's a lot of bickering in certain people.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: I stay out of it all.
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: I live in a... What.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Is it called? Rose-colored glasses in a bubble? Yes.
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: Well, that's good.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: I mean, I'm adjacent because my main shtick is, you know,
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: obviously my business, but I'm adjacent. The Italian influencers, let's
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: call them. But there is a lot of side bickering
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: in between them. And you guys are foodies, so it's
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: a little bit different. But in the Italian influencer world,
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: it just seems that there is And I know I've
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: talked about this to other influencers that have been on
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: my podcast. I think we all, as Italians, need to
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: stick together because it's important.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: Definitely.
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: It's very important.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: I love to support.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: I don't know what it is with our culture that
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: everybody feels like they have to be in competition.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: I don't know. It's just been like that. It's just been...
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: Now it's like we need to stick together.
• 24:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: Especially women... And in our genre, we need to stick together.
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: That's the way I feel.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: I'm with you. I love, I love supporting.
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: Um, I haven't had those experiences thankfully, and I hope
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: to never have them, but I will say that, um,
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: you know, I love what, what a lot of the.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: People in, in the industry are doing.
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: Um, I, I love to see what people are, are
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: doing on social media, uh, their talents, their cooking abilities, and, uh,
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: Just meeting different people.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: I'm very, you know, thrilled to be a part of everything,
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: you know. And, you know, you asked me to come
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: on the float. I wish I could come on the float.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: I would love to come on the float.
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: I wish you could come on the float for the
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: San Gennaro Feast. I wish you could come on.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: That's going to be wild. But I'm doing an event
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: at Foxwoods. That's another thing I do. I host these.
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: I'm coming to the next one.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: You are coming to the next.
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: I'm totally coming to the next one.
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: It is a dream come true to have that opportunity
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: at Foxwoods.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: And I've been doing it now.
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: Tell everybody about that.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: Yes, it's really great. So.
• 25:47
  Speaker 5: Foxwoods invites their chairman and diamond players to private events
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: that I host and curate. And I do a real
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: Sunday dinner. You know, I've done La Vigilia for them.
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: I've done the St. Joseph's Day, just regular Sunday dinner.
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: I have one coming up on 925 that I'm doing
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: a sit down, really nice dinner with recipes from my cookbook.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: And it's a cookbook signing event. So it's at View 24.
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: It's 185 people.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: We have music. We have dancing. We have everyone's waving
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: the napkin, singing, that's amore. And, you know, it's open bar.
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: And it's also an immersive experience where I talk to
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: each guest.
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: I love it.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: And I want to talk to each guest because they're
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: there to see me.
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: And it means so much to me that they've taken
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: the time to come to my show.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: And I just love it. It's a very special moment.
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: Well, I love you. I love you more. Tell everybody
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: where they can find you.
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: You guys can find me at youhadmeatkitchen, with a U,
• 26:52
  Speaker 5: all socials. And I would love you guys to check
• 26:56
  Speaker 5: out my new cookbook. It's also available, Bring Back Sunday Dinner,
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: on my website, youhadmeatkitchen.com.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: And if you guys haven't seen the show 100 Cooks,
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: check it out. It's on Food Network. When you rerun it,
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: it's called.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: On Demand.
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: It's On Demand.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: On Demand and HBO Max.
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: I'm so glad that you came on tonight.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: I'm so happy to be here.
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: It was a pleasure, and I'm so glad you were
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: my co-host all day.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's co-host all day.
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: And I hope you come back again.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: Three outfit changes, three different hats, three different cheeks. She
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: looks great.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: Everybody, thank you so much for tuning in today. And
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: thank you so much for being on the podcast.
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: Thank you for having me.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: And I love you. I love you more.
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: I love you more. Ciao, Bella.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: Everybody, please hit that subscribe button. Apple, Spotify, YouTube. I'm
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: coming to get you.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: Like, share, and enjoy.
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: Caption. Cats and pudding, baby.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: Cats and pudding.
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: Have a great day.