With this post, we would like to bid farewell to Gianfranco Sorrentino, who has sadly passed away. Italian Wine Podcast remembers him as a warm, unpretentious gentleman whose dedication to hospitality was unmatched, and a pioneer of upscale Italian cuisine in NYC.
Steve Raye, host of the Italian Wine Podcast show “Get US Market Ready With Italian Wine People”, provided the following tribute.
Funny, positive, energetic, and passionate are the first words that come to mind to describe Gianfranco Sorrentino. While he was born in Naples, for most of his life he spoke of himself as a New Yorker. His passing is heartbreaking, his legacy lives on.
I had the pleasure of interviewing him for my show on the Italian Wine Podcast, just as we were emerging from Covid in March 2021. In the interview, you can hear the humor and infectious enthusiasm that defined him, even in a time of significant pressures from the Pandemic. Here’s a link to listen.
Gianfranco was committed to adapting the concepts of modern Italian cuisine in everything he did. Basing his dishes on traditional Southern Italian recipes, made with fresh ingredients and simple cooking techniques, all served in an environment that fostered the definitively Italian concept of being in the moment, in Italian “dolce far niente”. He described it as sharing, discussing, drinking and dining, where the food and wine make the table more than a place just to eat, but a place to slow down and simply enjoy and engage in conversation and company. And that’s what differentiated and defined his restaurants…making a meal something greater than its parts.
Sure, I get that in today’s post-Covid world that might come across as sappy and sentimental. But for Gianfranco, it was his boldly expressed life’s mission. Whether his guests were famous, such as Paul McCartney and the King of Spain, or just plain folks like me, dining at his restaurants was always special.
As an elder statesman in the NY restaurant world, he was founder and president of the non-profit Gruppo Italiano, which is dedicated to fostering Italian culinary culture and authentic products through educational series and scholarships.
I re-listened to the interview to write this and suggest you might want to tune in. You’ll get a unique insight into a man who lived life as an authentic Italian New Yorker and unofficial ambassador of the modern-day Italian “la dolce vita.”
