Cooking for pesky Washingtonians represents its own challenges. Cooking for the pope is an entirely different situation.
Italian — and Roman Catholic — Franco Nuschese, who owns Cafe Milano in Georgetown, is busy preparing for the pope’s 81st birthday lunch on Wednesday at the Holy See’s Nunciature to the United States.
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But like a priest listening to confessions, he isn’t spilling any inside dirt.
“It’s top secret,” Nuschese told Yeas & Nays, adding that he can’t even talk about the candles. “I have been asked not to talk about the menus that Cafe Milano is putting together for the party.”
He’ll obviously tell you that it’s being planned and cooked by Cafe Milano’s executive chef Fabio Salvatore [and then prepared at the Nunciature]. Oh, OK, he’ll feed you one more bit: Salvatore said he is cooking what he calls a “special pasta” based on a family recipe handed down from his mom and grandmother.
Of course, this is an opportunity for Milano to show the German pope just how good Italian food can be. “Indeed, I have been in close touch with the Vatican’s representatives in Rome and here in Washington for many weeks. We have been told what the pope likes to eat and doesn’t like to eat. But we pretty much have a free hand on what to prepare.”
