Meet & Greet Max Tucci

The Delmonico Way Book Signing & Author Talk with Max Tucci

Join us for a very special conversation between award-winning author, Max Tucci, of  the  #1 best-selling cookbook "The Delmonico Way: Sublime Entertaining & Legendary Recipes from the Restaurant that Made New York! Published by Rizzoli New York and Motivational Speaker, Women's Executive Empowerment Coach and author Christine Mulhearne to learn all about "Delmonico's" the "restaurant that made New York".

Lunch reservations open up at 11:45 a.m. and the author talk will begin at 1 p.m. (please schedule your reservation through RESY at 12:30 p.m. or before). Pre-order the book through Orienta ($45) when you make your reservation and a donation will be made to Food Rescue Fairfield County (foodrescue.us). Your signed cookbook will be available for pickup at the event! Books will also be available for purchase at the event.

Call (203) 489-3394 or email us for more information (info@orientarestaurant.com).

Below, read a short excerpt from The Delmonico Way - the book that TOWN&COUNTRY Magazine says is one of "The Best Books of the year."

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An excerpt from The Delmonico Way!

By the 1980s, crack cocaine had taken hold around New York, murders were on the rise, and gangs were quickly forming. Mario grew concerned and feared guests would abandon dinners at Delmonico’s. So he left the New York location to open a Delmonico’s in Greenwich, Connecticut, near his home in Indian Harbor. Mario considered Connecticut “the new uptown.” He also wanted to raise us in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Florence, Italy. The dangers of Downtown were the perfect invitation for Mario to exit his beloved Manhattan, but there were other reasons Mario decided to leave the original location. There was a wave of families moving out of the city and into the suburbs at the time, but once they arrived, they missed the dining options they had left behind.

The Greenwich Delmonico’s proved to be a success. Delmonico’s in Greenwich followed the refined blueprint of the New York location: Dignitaries, politicians, celebrities, and the elites of Greenwich quickly took to the lush interior, handsome bar, sophisticated dress code, and celebrated classic French and nouvelle cuisine. Mario’s friends and colleagues, such as Vic Damone, Diahann Carroll, Joseph Levine, Rosalie Harrison, Martha Stewart, Sirio Maccioni, Tony May, and our Greenwich neighbor, Ivana Trump, would dine at Delmonico’s. Bing Crosby’s widow, Kathryn Crosby, not only dined at the restaurant but also held her book launch party for her memoir, My Life with Bing, at Delmonico’s. For that evening, Delmonico’s became a gallery of all things Bing Crosby. In short, Delmonico’s offered a new type of dining to that safer but sleepier suburban town. The restaurant brought style, grace, and elegance to a town that before Delmonico’s had few refined options. Mom-and-pop shops peppered the town and Woolworth’s was the main attraction on Greenwich Avenue. Fine dining was a rarity. An old dilapidated steamboat that was practically sinking was the go-to for on-the-water dining experience. Mario changed that. The famous original restaurant of New York paved the road for haute cuisine in Greenwich. It would be years before the kinds of fine dining options that exist in Greenwich today were established. Yet again, Mario was ahead of his time—a time that was cut short three-and-a-half years into operations. Mario’s stroke was a complete shock to the family, his friends, the community, and the industry. With Mario’s death, the king of Delmonico’s was no more. And the Greenwich location closed shortly after. - Max Tucci, The Delmonico Way!