{"id":173531,"date":"2025-08-25T05:20:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T05:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/173531\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T05:20:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T05:20:16","slug":"chef-who-cooked-for-two-popes-opens-italian-restaurant-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/173531\/","title":{"rendered":"Chef who cooked for two popes opens Italian restaurant in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"IEP4BZ6REBE6DDLWOODBRHP4GQ\">Alvo Lo Castro, a world-renowned chef who once served Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, is reportedly blessing New Yorkers with his new Italian restaurant in downtown Manhattan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"XHATP33EQNERNJXJD6TIYSAXCU\">The 52-year-old chef has been more than a bit busy since opening his first full-service restaurant a month ago. His menu features personal touches, including his mother\u2019s meatball recipe and signature fettuccine dishes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"W2WPPJ5JQVELLJUWHYQIWUYVZ4\">\u201cThe name is a very big deal for my guests. Casasalvo, this is my house, and every day I live here 18 hours a day,\u201d Lo Castro told <a href=\"https:\/\/pix11.com\/news\/local-news\/manhattan\/former-vatican-chef-opens-italian-restaurant-in-nyc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PIX11<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"EOZASIP3YRGONMHHBZQWQ7S4DA\">During his time at the Vatican, Lo Castro prepared daily meals for about two dozen people, including the pontiffs, each with their own specific preferences. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"RF2JZQ664VF45OCS42VIKLD3ZY\">At the same time, Lo Castro has also whipped up meals for world leaders including Muammar Gaddafi and the Saudi royal family and celebrities the likes of Tom Cruise and Robert De Niro. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"3ONMUJGQAVBVJAFJ7LNIZOVF7M\">Regardless of whether you\u2019re a world leader or an Oscar winner, though, anyone who pulls up a seat at his table is treated like royalty, he told the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/08\/18\/lifestyle\/former-vatican-chef-trades-crosses-for-crosswalks-with-first-nyc-restaurant-it-doesnt-matter-if-im-cooking-for-a-pope-president-or-ordinary-person\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New York Post<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"PIGVDY5UDJBI3FSGWLWMJXT6WY\">\u201cEvery man I cook for is a king, and every woman I cook for is a queen,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"VKCSGHLAVFBQJIEUMIJIYCYQO4\">In addition to Casasalvo, Lo Castro manages three Manhattan espresso bars, often beginning his day around 5 a.m. whipping around the city on his Vespa. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"3E7YICTPIRCIHHPPUG7BYNLATQ\">His Upper West Side location alone serves 1,500 customers daily, he calculated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"6UIMDWD4FFF43NXUPMXPKYHNFI\">\u201cNew York is the capital of the world,\u201d he said. \u201cIt makes me want to work every day seriously for my guests, company and city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advancelocal.com\/advancelocalUserAgreement\/user-agreement.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advancelocal.com\/advancelocalUserAgreement\/privacy-policy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alvo Lo Castro, a world-renowned chef who once served Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":173532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,98803,61815,22907,65141,2770,98804,98805,17175,98806,98807,49758,98808,98809,98810,98811,9300,13938,405,403,5226,5225,98812,5228,5227,20517,98813,98814,34294,98815,80396,32861,98816,67,586,132,5230,98817,68,2969,22062,16314],"class_list":{"0":"post-173531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-april-2025","10":"tag-architectural-design","11":"tag-cultural-heritage","12":"tag-daily-life","13":"tag-date","14":"tag-dome","15":"tag-european-city","16":"tag-exterior","17":"tag-famous-site","18":"tag-historical-building","19":"tag-historical-site","20":"tag-iconic-structure","21":"tag-international-destination","22":"tag-italia","23":"tag-jaap-arriens","24":"tag-landmark","25":"tag-location","26":"tag-new-york","27":"tag-new-york-city","28":"tag-newyork","29":"tag-newyorkcity","30":"tag-nurphoto","31":"tag-ny","32":"tag-nyc","33":"tag-photo","34":"tag-religious-building","35":"tag-roma","36":"tag-rome","37":"tag-sightseeing","38":"tag-skyline","39":"tag-st-pauls-cathedral","40":"tag-travel-photography","41":"tag-united-states","42":"tag-united-states-of-america","43":"tag-unitedstates","44":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","45":"tag-urban-landscape","46":"tag-us","47":"tag-usa","48":"tag-vatican-city","49":"tag-visual-art"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}