Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

In January of 1996, I put on an event at the DC Convention Center called Capital Cooks with Books. It was modeled on Philly's Cook and the Book. (I had Gourmet, USAirways and the Beard Foundation as sponsors. I also had 36" of snow on the ground during the event. Which was why there was no second year.) As I was working on the project, I became involved with the old Food and Drink Network on AOL (Which I eventually hosted for 7 years.) My screen name Capcooks was just blatant self promotion. And even though I left the AOL fold years ago, I still keep the name so old interwebs friends can still find me,

Been to Minibar three times. In fact, I took a chef friend the second time (and a client the third.) Never disappointed. Point of reference José spent time in Ferran Adria's kitchen... and Katsuya Fukushima (his exec chef at Minibar) gets props too. They (and the working chefs who actually prep and present to 34 course menu in front of you like a sushi bar) spend time during the day experimenting like Adria's atelier does in Barcelona. José has a series on PBS called Made in Spain... which is a travel/cooking show and where he shows some of his simply techniques. It's worth the investment in the DVD... just to here his astonishing enthusiasm. The rest of his "empire" consists of 3 Jaleo locations (tapas), Zaytina (middle eastern small plates), Oyamel (Mexican) and they're opening a hotel near the Beverly Centre in LA. Anyhow. Minibar is a real treat. And while cutting edge experimental cooking/ thinking is great for special occasions, all the other places offer lots of great tastes too.

Geeeeeeeeze! All this who-ha about Italian vs Italian American! You'd think either one was homogeneous. Venetian pasta and saucing is different from Sicilian, Piedmontese differs from Neapolitan... and where your grandmother came from shapes the tastes of your perception of Italian American. Hell, even Chef Boy-Ar-Dee (aka Boiardi) from your childhood (or worse, Franco American) helped shape your opinon. Some of you act as if your sophistication sprang full-blown on your 21st birthday.
Instead, isn't it enough to acknowledge that Batali has a bias toward AUTHENTIC Italian -- and more specifically, probably, Tuscan. Perhaps tempered by the Bastianich Istrian influences (which are sometimes in history Croatian.) And unless I miss my guess Mark Bittman's grandmother's pasta probably had its roots in kugel. And he adjusts his recipes to the (generic) American palate and to American obsession with increasing fiber and protein and reducing fats and carbs.
Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way. It just has to taste good. If not, the insinkerator doesn't really care what it tastes like.