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He’s a worrywart, a raconteur, and a perfectionist. He’s thin-skinned one moment and a charmer the next. His love and loyalty to his family is only exceeded by his ability to drive them crazy. And if you work for him, he can also be an occasional, colossal pain in the ass. In other words, he’s just like my father. One of my many regrets in life is that the two of them never met.
The question needs to be asked: Which is the better Italian restaurant: Circo or Sirio?
The answer is: It depends.
If it’s top flight Italian cheeses and salumi you’re after, Sirio gets the nod. Lamb chops have you licking your chops? Then you won’t find better ones than Chef Vincenzo Scarmiglia’s Pecorino Romano crusted loin ones at Sirio.
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Seven years into its fourth decade, Le Cirque has seen the American dining landscape change, shake, rock, roll, slide, soar, and come back to the need for a sense of refinement that the restaurant has always represented under the Maccioni family (below), which includes paterfamilias Sirio, his wife Egi, and their sons Mario (far left, who runs the Maccioni restaurants in Las Vegas), Marco, and Mauro, whom I have literally watched grow up and become various reflections of their parents while having each his own style and distinct degree of savoir-faire.
Le Cirque–the circus–is still a daily draw for international celebrities, winemakers, Hollywood stars, even royalty, as it has been from the start. Continue reading “LE CIRQUE (New York) Reviewed in The Virtual Gourmet”