Author Andrew Cotto Digs Into the Inspiration for His New Italian Adventure Novel
![](https://andrewcotto.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Italian-Family-Dinner-ftr.jpg)
Say the word “Italian” and the word “food” almost always immediately comes to mind. The Italians know how to cook and they know how to eat. This isn’t news to author Andrew Cotto, whose new novel, Cucina Tipica: An Italian Adventure follows an American who travels to Italy and falls in love with just about…
A Restaurant Job That Comes With an Education
![](https://assets.tastecooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DSC_6648.jpg)
At an innovative restaurant in Brooklyn, paid kitchen internships give refugees formal restaurant training. Emma’s Torch, a new restaurant and culinary training center in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn, is named in honor of Emma Lazarus, the 19th-century American poet whose words are etched into the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your…
Old School Italian in Queens: Red Sauce, Yes; Cellphones, No
![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/07/08/nyregion/08joint2/merlin_139353387_1e7df8d5-9046-492f-ad03-3c5a75e8ae74-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)
The facade of Il Triangolo, a wedge of a restaurant in north-central Queens at the sharply angled intersection of Corona Avenue and Junction Boulevard, isn’t much broader than the door. But the entryway opens to a space that widens in both directions, like arms extended for a hug. This is a gesture not atypical for…
How Johnny Temple, Book Publisher and Rocker, Spends His Sundays
![](https://andrewcotto.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/merlin_137512209_3372e4e3-79a3-4618-8898-0ff618ca09e7-superJumbo.jpg)
“The first sip of coffee as I begin to read is perhaps my favorite moment of the day,” Mr. Temple said.CreditJulius Constantine Motal for The New York Times Johnny Temple is the publisher and editor in chief of Akashic Books and also plays bass guitar in three bands. He lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, with…
Orthodox Jew, Unorthodox Boxing Teacher
![](https://andrewcotto.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/merlin_132333233_302d51a0-76b6-46f3-b29a-9798b0e4ef31-superJumbo.jpg)
Yuri Foreman, left, spars with a student. Credit Mark Abramson for The New York Times A punch line might be expected when a boxer and a rabbi walk into a cultural center on the Upper East Side. But in this case, the boxer and the rabbi are the same person, and his influence at the…