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Anthony LoFrisco had been waiting almost 70 years to find another 1,000-pound provolone. He just didn’t think he’d have to make the seven hour, 673-kilometre drive from Wilson, Connecticut, to Ottawa to get it.
“It’s incredible beyond belief,” said LoFrisco, who arrived in Ottawa on Monday night with his son, Anthony Jr., to get a glimpse on Tuesday morning of the 1,000-pound provolone that arrived in by boat from northern Italy and was delivered by truck to Nicastro’s Italian Food Emporium on Merivale Road. It was unloaded with the help of six men.
LoFriso, a retired lawyer with a lifelong passion for cooking, put a halt on the publication of his Sicilian memoir-cookbook just to drive to Ottawa for the cutting of the provolone — a story he’ll include in his book.
“(LoFrisco’s story) make all my family cry when I tell them. They love it,” said Joe Nicastro, the store’s co-owner. “I told him it’s an honour for me if you want to come to Ottawa.”
To Nicastro, the arrival of the Big Cheese is almost routine, an annual store tradition since the 1980s. But to LoFrisco, the journey to find the same provolone of his childhood was a long time in the making. Growing up as a kid in Brooklyn, New York, during the Second World War, it was impossible to get cheese imported from Italy.
It took six men to unload the giant provolone cheese.
“Once a store depleted its inventory, that was it for the duration of the war,” LoFrisco, 82, writes in a chapter of The LoFriso Family Cookbook: How Josie Brought Sicily to Brooklyn, which will be released in the spring.
But shortly after the war ended, DePalo’s, a local Italian grocer now no longer in existence, received a hulking, 1,000-pound provolone that captured the attention of the whole neighbourhood.
Anthony LoFrisco, 82, left, with Joe Nicastro. LoFrisco travelled from Connecticut to see the 1,000-pound provolone cheese delivered to Nicastro’s on Merivale Road on Tuesday.
During a game of stickball near LoFrisco’s home, a child came sprinting down the street to announce DePalo’s had “just got the biggest cheese in the world,” said LoFrisco. Everyone stopped what they were doing and ran to the store.
Anthony LoFrisco, 82, left, with Joe Nicastro. LoFrisco travelled from Connecticut to the 1,000-pound provolone cheese delivered to Nicastro’s on Merivale Road on Tuesday.
Inside, it was crowded, word having spread. Outside, people craned to get a good look at the cheese, which was still in its twelve-foot-by-three-foot crate.
Anthony LoFrisco, 82, right, watches as Joe Nicastro unveils the 1,000 pound provolone cheese after it was delivered to his store on Merivale Road on Tuesday.
LoFriso returned the next day, when the store keepers said the big reveal would take place, and was not disappointed. Unveiled, the massive cheese sat in one long cylindrical log, preserved in wax and wrapped with rope, unlike anything LoFriso had ever seen before.
It became an instant topic of conversation in the neighbourhood. People had been deprived of a good-tasting, sharp provolone for several years.
“The cheese just made an enormous impression for me because we hadn’t had any cheese during the war,” said LoFrisco, who glowed when Nicastro gave him “the honour” of making the first cut into the cheese on Tuesday. “To see it now is almost like a dream come true. It’s something I never expected to see in my life.”
Anthony LoFrisco, 82, right, samples the first scrape of provolone with Joe Nicastro. LoFrisco travelled from Connecticut to see a 1,000-pound provolone cheese delivered to Nicastro’s on Merivale Road. When he heard about a similar cheese at Nicastro’s last year it reminded him of the 1,000 pound provolone he saw as a boy and had been searching for another for about 70 years.
Since the Big Cheese of 13th Avenue legend was born, LoFrisco had been on the hunt for the perfect provolone, and was keeping an eye out for something like the elusive 1,000-pounder that had enchanted him so long ago.
There was one moment when LoFrisco thought he had found it. He stumbled across a story online about a big provolone cutting event in New Jersey and, ecstatic, followed through with the store’s owner, only to find out that the cheese was a mere 700 pounds and made in Wisconsin, far from Italy.
Disappointed but undeterred, LoFrisco turned back to Google and came across a 2014 Citizen article about a 1,000-pound provolone in Ottawa, Canada, at a family-run Italian gourmet grocery store.
“I was absolutely floored,” he said. “I could not believe it. Then, when I saw video of it, that was exactly the cheese that I saw back in 1947. That’s when I got all excited. I call up (Nicastro) and he was more excited than I was!”
The 11-foot provolone in its entirety is worth between $18,000 and $20,000, selling for $18 a pound. It’s been aged for 14 months, and it typically takes around a month to sell out.
As for how the cheese matched the high expectations of LoFrisco’s childhood memory?
“It’s exactly what I saw 72 years ago.”
He took a bite of the provolone Nicastro had shaved off for him.
“That’s really good cheese. You should charge a premium price, it’s so good.”
查看原文...
“It’s incredible beyond belief,” said LoFrisco, who arrived in Ottawa on Monday night with his son, Anthony Jr., to get a glimpse on Tuesday morning of the 1,000-pound provolone that arrived in by boat from northern Italy and was delivered by truck to Nicastro’s Italian Food Emporium on Merivale Road. It was unloaded with the help of six men.
LoFriso, a retired lawyer with a lifelong passion for cooking, put a halt on the publication of his Sicilian memoir-cookbook just to drive to Ottawa for the cutting of the provolone — a story he’ll include in his book.
“(LoFrisco’s story) make all my family cry when I tell them. They love it,” said Joe Nicastro, the store’s co-owner. “I told him it’s an honour for me if you want to come to Ottawa.”
To Nicastro, the arrival of the Big Cheese is almost routine, an annual store tradition since the 1980s. But to LoFrisco, the journey to find the same provolone of his childhood was a long time in the making. Growing up as a kid in Brooklyn, New York, during the Second World War, it was impossible to get cheese imported from Italy.
It took six men to unload the giant provolone cheese.
“Once a store depleted its inventory, that was it for the duration of the war,” LoFrisco, 82, writes in a chapter of The LoFriso Family Cookbook: How Josie Brought Sicily to Brooklyn, which will be released in the spring.
But shortly after the war ended, DePalo’s, a local Italian grocer now no longer in existence, received a hulking, 1,000-pound provolone that captured the attention of the whole neighbourhood.
Anthony LoFrisco, 82, left, with Joe Nicastro. LoFrisco travelled from Connecticut to see the 1,000-pound provolone cheese delivered to Nicastro’s on Merivale Road on Tuesday.
During a game of stickball near LoFrisco’s home, a child came sprinting down the street to announce DePalo’s had “just got the biggest cheese in the world,” said LoFrisco. Everyone stopped what they were doing and ran to the store.
Anthony LoFrisco, 82, left, with Joe Nicastro. LoFrisco travelled from Connecticut to the 1,000-pound provolone cheese delivered to Nicastro’s on Merivale Road on Tuesday.
Inside, it was crowded, word having spread. Outside, people craned to get a good look at the cheese, which was still in its twelve-foot-by-three-foot crate.
Anthony LoFrisco, 82, right, watches as Joe Nicastro unveils the 1,000 pound provolone cheese after it was delivered to his store on Merivale Road on Tuesday.
LoFriso returned the next day, when the store keepers said the big reveal would take place, and was not disappointed. Unveiled, the massive cheese sat in one long cylindrical log, preserved in wax and wrapped with rope, unlike anything LoFriso had ever seen before.
It became an instant topic of conversation in the neighbourhood. People had been deprived of a good-tasting, sharp provolone for several years.
“The cheese just made an enormous impression for me because we hadn’t had any cheese during the war,” said LoFrisco, who glowed when Nicastro gave him “the honour” of making the first cut into the cheese on Tuesday. “To see it now is almost like a dream come true. It’s something I never expected to see in my life.”
Anthony LoFrisco, 82, right, samples the first scrape of provolone with Joe Nicastro. LoFrisco travelled from Connecticut to see a 1,000-pound provolone cheese delivered to Nicastro’s on Merivale Road. When he heard about a similar cheese at Nicastro’s last year it reminded him of the 1,000 pound provolone he saw as a boy and had been searching for another for about 70 years.
Since the Big Cheese of 13th Avenue legend was born, LoFrisco had been on the hunt for the perfect provolone, and was keeping an eye out for something like the elusive 1,000-pounder that had enchanted him so long ago.
There was one moment when LoFrisco thought he had found it. He stumbled across a story online about a big provolone cutting event in New Jersey and, ecstatic, followed through with the store’s owner, only to find out that the cheese was a mere 700 pounds and made in Wisconsin, far from Italy.
Disappointed but undeterred, LoFrisco turned back to Google and came across a 2014 Citizen article about a 1,000-pound provolone in Ottawa, Canada, at a family-run Italian gourmet grocery store.
“I was absolutely floored,” he said. “I could not believe it. Then, when I saw video of it, that was exactly the cheese that I saw back in 1947. That’s when I got all excited. I call up (Nicastro) and he was more excited than I was!”
The 11-foot provolone in its entirety is worth between $18,000 and $20,000, selling for $18 a pound. It’s been aged for 14 months, and it typically takes around a month to sell out.
As for how the cheese matched the high expectations of LoFrisco’s childhood memory?
“It’s exactly what I saw 72 years ago.”
He took a bite of the provolone Nicastro had shaved off for him.
“That’s really good cheese. You should charge a premium price, it’s so good.”
查看原文...
