It’s a tale of two Tuccis!
New York restauranteur Max Tucci wants Meryl Streep to keep her award-winning nose out of it.
There are a pair of otherwise unrelated Tuccis — the actor Stanley Tucci and Max — who have become very closely associated with Italian food.
Stanley has written a string of bestselling books and made a couple of shows about the national cuisine and loves nothing more than to inhale deeply of a ripe San Marzano for America’s viewing pleasure.
Meanwhile, Max is the global ambassador for legendary New York restaurant Delmonicos and owns hip Noho Italian spot, Tucci.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it seems to create some confusion — which Stanley noted during a press stop at LADbible for the “Devil Wears Prada 2.”
“There is a guy. That is his name, so he’s legally allowed to use [the name “Tucci” on his restaurant],” the actor said, referring to Max, after his “Prada” co-star Simone Ashley mentioned she passed by Tucci all the time.
But Streep suggested to Stanley that the “guy” “should pay you a little something” because “everybody thinks it’s yours.”
Touché! Or perhaps Tuccí!
“Meryl needs to mind her business!” Max joked to Page Six. In realtiy, the boisterious Italian hopes she minds it at Tucci!
“I want them all to join me for dinner on the house,” he said. “Unlike ‘Housewives’ and reality stars, only real celebrities get to dine with me.”
We assume that was a dig at former “Real Housewives of New York City” star Sonja Morgan, who was blacklisted from his restaurant after she allegedly caused a scene by demanding a comped meal because, “I’m a celebrity!” (Morgan told us at the time that the whole thing had been a miscommunication, and that she’d been under the impression she was getting a free meal in exchange for posting about it on social media).
In the meantime, Max had better perfect his risotto shall the “Prada” crew take him up on his offer. A good risotto is Stanley’s litmus test for a proficient Italian restaurant. “I think one of the most difficult dishes to make is a risotto, right, in any form,” he said in a conversation with Josh Horowitz at the 92nd Street Y in New York City last week.
“If a restaurant can make a good risotto, it means that they can usually make everything else pretty well,” Stanley concluded.
Buonissimo!
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