{"id":175803,"date":"2025-08-26T01:52:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T01:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/175803\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T01:52:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T01:52:26","slug":"from-vatican-city-to-the-city-that-never-sleeps-former-papal-chef-opens-new-york-city-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/175803\/","title":{"rendered":"From Vatican City to the city that never sleeps: Former papal chef opens New York City restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n \"Francesca
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

By Francesca Pollio Fenton<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

CNA Staff, Aug 25, 2025 \/
\n 17:27 pm<\/p>\n

Known as \u201cthe papal chef,\u201d Salvo Lo Castro spent 10 years at the Vatican cooking meals for Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Now, he\u2019s opened his first restaurant in New York City\u2019s SoHo neighborhood called Casasalvo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new Italian restaurant opened in July and has quickly gained popularity, particularly for Lo Castro\u2019s mother\u2019s meatball recipe \u2014 which was also a big hit among the two popes he served.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 52-year-old Sicilian chef said that for those who eat at his new restaurant, it\u2019s like eating a meal in his home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe restaurant is my home, and the people who dine with me aren\u2019t clients \u2014 they\u2019re guests who come to my home,\u201d he said in an interview with the New York Post<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During his time cooking for the two popes, he shared that in his eyes \u201cevery pope is a normal person,\u201d and \u201c[w]hile John Paul was very charismatic, for me the best was Benedict.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that while during the last years of John Paul II\u2019s life he had a very light diet, Benedict was a fan of his meatballs and schnitzel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHis eyes were magnetic, and his voice to me was God in the world,\u201d Lo Castro said of Pope Benedict.<\/p>\n

Lo Castro\u2019s experience cooking meals for notable figures doesn\u2019t end with popes. He\u2019s cooked for Moammar Gadhafi, the Saudi royal family, and actors Tom Cruise and Robert De Niro, among others. He will soon welcome Leonardo DiCaprio and tennis champion Roger Federer into his new restaurant for an event with the brand Rolex.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally, for other people, it is not normal, but for me, it doesn\u2019t matter if I\u2019m cooking for a pope, president, or ordinary person,\u201d Lo Castro said. \u201cEvery man I cook for is a king, and every woman I cook for is a queen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chef also pointed out that while he typically freely invents new dishes for his menu, during Church holidays his menu has the least amount of leeway.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery religious period for the Catholic Church, like Christmas, is very strict when it comes to what food to serve,\u201d he said. \u201cOn Easter, for example, I\u2019d prepare lamb and it\u2019s all very traditional.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the future, Lo Castro said he hopes to open more restaurants around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest satisfaction is that I came from a small town, and now I\u2019m cooking for the world,\u201d he said. \u201cBut at the same time, I\u2019m still a very normal man.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n \"Francesca
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Francesca is a staff reporter for Catholic News Agency. She received her degree in Communications with an emphasis in Digital Media from the University of Colorado – Denver. She is also in charge of the social media for Catholic News Agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Francesca Pollio Fenton CNA Staff, Aug 25, 2025 \/ 17:27 pm Known as \u201cthe papal chef,\u201d Salvo…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":175804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,99904,17159,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,99905,91040,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-175803","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-catholic-chef","10":"tag-catholic-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-papal-chefs","18":"tag-pope-benedict","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115092569735339095","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175803","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=175803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}