Douglaston in spotlight on ‘Best Thing I Ever Ate’
Owners of Il Toscano restaurant beam with pride over Cooking Channel appearance
BY JENNA BAGCAL
A renowned Italian
restaurant in Douglaston
will be featured on a popular
Cooking Channel program
this June.
Earlier this month,
the owners of Il Toscano
Restaurant at 42-05 235th St.
broke the news that it will be
appearing on “The Best Thing
I Ever Ate.” The program
features celebrity chefs
describing the best dishes
they have tried at restaurants
around the United States.
Chef and co-owner Alex
Privilegi said that the Cooking
Channel reached out to
him and his father Mauro
Privilegi in 2018 following a
nomination from celebrity
chef Michael Psilakis.
“He nominated us and he’s
eaten at the restaurant at least
a half-dozen times or more,”
Privilegi said, adding that only
establishments nominated by
chefs can be featured on the
program.
Privilegi said that the
New York-based chef and
restaurateur chose the
Lobster Il Toscano, which he
and his father developed in
the early 1990s. The decadent
dish consists of two one and
one-quarter pound lobsters
cut into pieces and sautéed in
extra virgin olive oil, garlic,
lemon, Calabrian chilies and
white wine.
Diners also have the option
of ordering whole lobsters,
which is how the Il Toscano
originally served the dish.
According to Privilegi, he and
his father refined the dish
over a two-month period and it
was an “instant success” once
it hit the menu.
Filming for the June 17
episode took place in November
2018 and involved nearly six
hours of interviews, cooking
and capturing shots of diners
eating the finished product.
“It was a lot of fun,”
Privilegi said. “I was ecstatic
and honored to be featured
because it’s a validation of
what we do.”
Mauro Privilegi opened Il
Il Toscano’s signature Lobster Il Toscano will be featured on “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”
Toscano in 1985 after working
at New York City’s Hotel
Pierre for 19 years. Today,
Mauro runs the restaurant
with his son Alex and his
two daughters.
According to Alex, the
restaurant’s practices are
rooted in the Italian philosophy
of using fresh, seasonal
Photo courtesy of facebook.com/pg/iltoscanony
ingredients. He shared that
he regularly visits the Hunts
Point Produce Market in the
Bronx in order to have the
freshest ingredients on hand
and control the food quality.
The chef said that he was
a fan of “The Best Thing I
Ever Ate” even before Psilakis
nominated Il Toscano.
“In this industry, it’s
important to keep up with
what others are doing — you
can’t rest on your laurels. New
restaurants open every day,”
Privilegi said.
“The Best Thing I Ever
Ate” featuring Il Toscano will
air on the Cooking Channel on
Monday, June 17, at 9 p.m.
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