Michelin-starred chef rates 21 Italian dishes from movies and TV for realism

Chef and restaurateur Cesare Casella breaks down Italian cuisine scenes from movies and TV based on realism.

Casella discusses the accuracy of the meatballs from “The Godfather,” pasta sauce and thin garlic in “Goodfellas,” and capicola in “The Sopranos.” He also analyzes a dish from “Lady and the Tramp” (1955), timpano from “Big Night,” the tiramisu in “Superbad,” and carbonara from “Master of None.” He breaks down the pasta twirling technique from “Brooklyn,” cannoli from “The Bear,” and calzone from “Parks and Rec.” Casella reviews proper pizza throwing technique from “Seinfeld,” pizza-eating form in “Eat Pray Love,” lasagna-making in “Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties,” mozzarella sandwiches from “Bicycle Thieves,” take-out salads from “Family Guy,” Italian kitchen-table dining in “Amarcord,” and trenette al pesto from “Luca.”

Casella has been cooking for more than 50 years and served as the head chef at the Michelin-starred restaurant Vipore in Italy. He then moved to the United States and worked at several fine-dining Italian restaurants in New York City such as Beppe and Salumeria Rosi. Today, Casella is head of the Department of Nourishment Arts at the Center for Discovery, a residential facility in upstate New York for the medically fragile. He oversees a team of chefs, nutritionists, therapists, farmers, and educators.

You can find Cesare on Instagram.