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<\/p>\nHe’s cooked for popes, presidents and celebrities. Now, former Vatican Chef Salvo Lo Castro is plating up pasta for everyday New Yorkers at his restaurant in SoHo.<\/p>\n
CasaSalvo, Lo Castro’s first restaurant in New York City, opened in July.<\/p>\n
“All my life, New York is the capital of the world”<\/p>\n
Lo Castro said he started working at the Vatican during the Great Jubilee in 2000 and stayed on until 2010, cooking for Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.<\/p>\n
“Normally, I prepare for the pope before your guests,” he said. “It’s a very big experience in my life for 10 years.”<\/p>\n
But now, he’s bringing his secret sauces from Sicily to New York City.<\/p>\n
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CasaSalvo, Chef Salvo Lo Castro’s first restaurant in New York City, opened in July 2025.<\/p>\n
CBS News New York<\/p>\n
“All my life, New York is the capital of the world. I don’t think one day I’m staying in New York, I’m living in New York, I have a restaurant in New York,” he said. “This is just my dream, but now my dream is reality.”<\/p>\n
Lo Castro says New York is his “big family” and the restaurant is his home \u2013 he’s there 18 hours a day.<\/p>\n
“I go in the kitchen. I don’t have a telephone. I don’t have email. I don’t have nothing. I speak just with my fish, my beef, the chicken,” he said.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Chef Salvo Lo Castro is bringing his secret sauces from Sicily to New York City.<\/p>\n
CBS News New York<\/p>\n
And, of course, the one ingredient he says he never forgets:\u00a0 “The gold of Italy \u2013 the parmigiano.”<\/p>\n
Lo Castro says right now, he’s serving up specials for the U.S. Open.<\/p>\n