I have a new food-related crush. It could be because he reminds me of my first boyfriend, Eddy Marsala (that's his real name, I swear), who worked in the pizzeria close to the 7 Train in Queens. It could be because he talks like everyone who lived in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. Or it could simply be because he's a man who can make a cheese steak like they do in Philadelphia.
In any event, when Steve Martorano, owner of Cafe Martorano, was on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night, I was enraptured. Martorano has that Jersey swagger -- the kind of man who probably beats the crap out of the guy who stands up his little sister and then cries at Disney films -- then helps Mom make Sunday gravy in the kitchen.
Calling Kimmel "Cuz," Martorano demonstrated his Philly pizza steak,
making it with "buddah" and "two cloves, four cloves -- what difference
does it make?" of garlic.
As he eats raw beef to test the
freshness -- "Hey! It's like carpaccio" -- he tells us about the time Kimmel
invited him to dinner as a guest -- "dis guy -- he made me cook!"
As
Martorano tried to demonstrate the "Philly bend," a move to help keep
your clothes from getting stained with meat juices, Kimmel tried to bite
into his pizza steak. Martorano just sighed and said "Fuhgeddaboudit!
Let's eat."
Hey -- dis is part one:
Yo -- dis here's part two:
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