Daniele Bartolo Polito

That “wow” can be seen in the back of the house as well as at the table. “When I’m explaining to my cooks how we make our dry durum wheat pasta from scratch, I get a flashback of cooking with my mother and grandparents.” Of course, Polito’s elders didn’t have the equipment found in the kitchen at Dai Forni: copper wood ovens fired with imported Italian timber for focaccia, Neapolitan pizza and whole fish; top-of-the-line pasta makers/ravioli shapers from La Monferrina and Bottene; and a meat slicer that shaves house-made charcuterie into whisper-thin antipasti.

“I can tell when people grasp the difference between authentic Italian and what some restaurants serve to please their clientele. They look at me like, ‘Wow.’”