Some of us hum while gardening or wail like a diva in the shower, but precious few warble with abandon while slaving over a hot stove. Among those with lung power and good cheer to spare is Andy LoRusso, the Singing Chef, who gaily belts out Italian tunes, despite bubbling sauces and flaming grills.
On July 19, Santa Marians can join Chef LoRusso in song as he brings his singular talents to Addamo Estate Vineyards. Proving that music and mozzarella make potent partners in the fundraising game, Chef LoRusso teams up with Chef Liz Addamo, co-owner of Addamo Vineyards, to cook and croon for the benefit of youth and recreation programs in the Santa Maria Valley.
Hosted by People for Leisure and Youth, Inc. (P.L.A.Y., Inc.), a nonprofit corporation dedicated to funding innovative Recreation and Parks programs in the Santa Maria area, the evening of wine and lilting voices features a menu of Italian specialties. Openers include antipasti with Gorgonzola, as well as a sweet fennel and orange salad drizzled with toasted walnuts and honey-sherry wine vinaigrette.
“For the main course, we decided on chicken scaloppini with picatta sauce,” LoRusso explained, “and garlic mashed and julienned vegetables.
“Dessert is my Nona Grace’s Sicilian ricotta cheesecake,” he added proudly. “It’s a unique, down-home Sicilian recipe, and a very popular cake.”
In addition to digging into sumptuous Italian dishes and sipping exquisite Addamo wines, guests can expect to be part of a show to remember. As the words to traditional songs, such as “O Sole Mio” and “Arrivederci Roma,” scroll beneath iconic Italian vistas projected on a screen, diners are encouraged to join the vociferous fun.
“This is a total interactive experience,” LoRusso laughed, “a kind of culinary and musical trip to Italy with the Singing Chef. It’s much better than those rubber chicken dinners.
“I’ve been doing this show about eight years,” he said, “in casinos and as fundraisers for theaters, opera companies, whoever needs to raise some money.”
LoRusso sang professionally in his early 20s as a jazz and pop artist at Epic Records, and launched his career as the Singing Chef in 1992. A year later, he published Sing and Cook Italian, a bestseller that included an audiocassette tape (it’s now packaged with a CD) of popular Italian tunes, plus a few arias LoRusso learned from his “88 years young” voice teacher in 1991.
“My Nona Grace used to have Enrico Caruso, Mario Lanza, Luisa Tetrazzini, all those sopranos e tenores of the ’20s and ’30s, playing while she was cooking,” LoRusso explained. “As a boy, I’d watch her cook.
“The family sang in the kitchen and around the kitchen table,” he continued, “and some of that stuck in my brain cells as I grew up.”
LoRusso and Chef Liz Addamo both come by their culinary skills through family tradition, and their pairing promises to provide an evening of good eating and lively entertainment.
“I was one of five daughters,” Chef Addamo said, “and we were always in the restaurant business. My parents had this one restaurant, and all the wait staff were their daughters. It’s in my blood. It’s like a party every night!”
Eleven years ago, Addamo ran her own five-star restaurant in San Juan Bautista, where she often hosted events at local wineries. In 2005, Addamo and her husband founded their winery with a charming bistro to match, and were back in the restaurant business.
Chef LoRusso performed at a P.L.A.Y. fundraiser at the Abel Maldonado Youth Center six years ago, but Sunday’s event marks the first time that chefs Addamo and LoRusso have shared the kitchen—and stage.
“I’m really looking forward to working with Chef Liz,” LoRusso declared. “We’ll have beautiful images of Italy on the screen, and the words, too, so people can sing along with me.”
In addition to performing at fundraisers, casino shows, and private parties across the country, LoRusso teaches an annual cooking class at Roblar Winery. On July 25, he’ll prepare an extensive menu of flatbread pizza with caramelized onion, cracked green olives, and roasted eggplant, as well as grilled eggplant roulade stuffed with mozzarella and ricotta cheeses seasoned with lemon zest.
“Then I’m going to make my special Sicilian Philly cheese steak sandwich,” LoRusso said, “but since I’m from New Jersey, it’s going to be my Sicilian New Jersey Philly steak sandwich.”
LoRusso explained that the guests receive an apron, along with a printed menu, and then “the wine begins to flow.” They watch as he demonstrates his culinary techniques, and then they dig into dinner, raising their voices along with that of the Singing Chef.
“I love what I do!” LoRusso beamed. “Eating, singing, drinking, dancing on the table, if people want to. It’s a total celebration of life, and I absolutely love it!”
K. Reka Badger knows how to hit those high notes. E-mail comments or ideas to rekabadger@hotmail.com.
This article appears in Jul 16-23, 2009.
