Lobster fra Diavolo; Lobster Cardinal; Cioppino?

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

LOBSTER FRA DIAVOLO

   John Mariani wrote an Italian food dictionary.  From his ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
AMERICAN FOOD & DRINK:

   _lobster fra diavolo._  An Italian-American dish whose name translates as
"Lobster Brother Devil" made with lobster cooked in a spicy, peppery tomato
sauce.  It was a creation of SOuthern Italian immigrants, who did not have
American lobsters in Italy (in Italy diswhes termed "alla diavolo" indicate
one made with a good deal of coarsely ground black pepper), and became a
popular dish in Italian-American restaurants in New York by the 1940s.

   1940s?
   From the NEW YORK TIMES, 26 February 1949, pg. 15:

_ENRICO FASANI, ST UP_
_ITALIAN CUISINE HERE_
   Enrico Fasani, owner of the Enrico & Paglieri Restaurant, 66 West Eleventh
Street, died late Thursday in his home at that address of a heart attack
after a briefr illness.  His age was 69.
   The restaurant, which Mr. Fasani established at the same address in 1908
with the late Paul Paglieri, is one of the best-known and oldest in the city
specializing in Italian cuisine.  The partners started in a small way, the
menu at first seldom varying from minestrone, lobster diavolo and chicken.
At that time an entire meal, including wine, could be had for 55 cents.
   In the present restaurant, which occupies three brownstone houses, there
is an electric rotisserie encased in stained glass which turns out
twenty-four chickens every twenty minutes.
   The owners were among the first in New York to establish the garden-type
restaurant in the rear of the enclosed dining room, and their venture started
a considerable vogue of that type.  In 1937 Mr. Fasani was named dean of the
New York Society of Restaurateurs, receiving as a mark of that dignity a gold
spaghetti fork and spoon.  Two years ago he estimated he had served his
customers about 800,000 bottles of wine since opening day.
   For many years Enrico & Paglieri's has been a favorite resort of
celebrities, particularly of the stage and screen.  Among those whose
patronage the management claims to have had have been Enrico Caruso, Mary
Pickford, Mrs. Minnie Maddern Fiske and a number of noted artists and
sculptors.
   Mr. Fasani leaves his wife, Victoria.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------
LOBSTER CARDINAL

   From the NEW YORK TIMES, 6 July 1954, pg. 23:

_FIORENZO BO, CHEF_
   _AND RESTAURATEUR_
   BALTIMORE, July 5--Fiorenzo Bo, noted chef and founder of Marconi's
Restaurant, a favorite of gourmets here, died yesterday in a nursing home
after an illness of seven years.  He was 74 years old.
   In 1935 he was one of ten chefs invited by Cesare Antonio Moneta, a New
York restaurateur, to his birthday party.  The guests were to prepare their
own specialties.  Mr. Bo's was lobster cardinal, but he was unable to attend
the party because of illness.
   He and Mr. Moneta were born in Italy--Mr. Bo in Turin--and both cooked
together at Claridge's in London.  When Mr. Moneta went to New York, Mr. Bo
followed and was associated with several restaurants in New York before
opening his own in Baltimore in 1920.  He named it Marconi's, after the
inventor of the wireless.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------
CIOPPINO?

   1912 would antedate my first "cioppino," but 1935 is too late.
   From the NEW YORK TIMES, 29 January 1949, pg. 13:

      _MIKE GERALDI_
   SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 28--Mike Geraldi, restaurateur on Fisherman's Wharf,
died at his home today of a heart attack.  He was 58 years old.
   Born in Italy, he came to San Francisco as a youth.  In 1912 he started in
a place at the wharf selling fish, and in 1935 established one of the first
restaurants there.  Today it is known as Fisherman's Grotto No. 9.
   Among the many prominent visitors to Mr. Geraldi's restaurant were Pope
Pius XII, when he was Cardinal Pacelli; Anthony Eden, Edward Stattinius, V.
M. Molotov.
   Surviving are his widow; two daughters, Eleanore and Augustine, and four
sons, Mike, Jr., Nino, Al and Lawrence.