RonnieD wrote:In reading descriptions of various restaurants I notice that there are at least two prominent ways of identifying the kind of food being served. For example, some restaurants are described as being "Italian" while others are described as having "Italian-style" cuisine. Is there a difference or are these two designations used interchangeably? And who decides which to use?
Ronnie, great question!
I'm not sure that there's a consistent meaning of "style" among all food writers, but when I use it, I try to do so consistently to reflect an effort by the restaurant or chef to make a dish that is closely akin to the authentic original. Volare and Primo make Italian-style dishes because they respectfully seek to replicate Italian originals. Melillo's makes what you might call "Italian-American" or "Italian-immigrant style" because it faithfully replicates the family recipes of Italian immigrants to the U.S. Papa John's isn't Italian-anything.
It gets even more complicated when it comes to pizza because there are so many variations. Primo makes Italian-style. Hero's and Luigi's make New York City-style. Pizza King in Indiana makes Midwest-style. A lot of the local favorites that make very heavily topped thin-crust pies - both Impellizzeris, Clifton's, Wicks, Bearno's - might be called Louisville-style.
Others may have different interpretations, but that's the way I try to do it.
