{"id":9230,"date":"2016-09-20T11:56:42","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T16:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.wnpt.org\/mediaupdate\/?p=9230"},"modified":"2016-09-20T11:56:42","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T16:56:42","slug":"lidia-at-mangia-nashville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.wnpt.org\/mediaupdate\/2016\/09\/20\/lidia-at-mangia-nashville\/","title":{"rendered":"Dine with Public TV Chef at NPT’s Lidia Bastianich at Mangia Nashville Event"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"lidia-bastianich\"<\/a>On Tuesday, Oct. 25, Nashville Public Television will present an evening with famed Italian chef, best-selling cookbook author and Emmy Award-winning public television personality Lidia Bastianich at Mangia Nashville<\/a>.<\/strong> The event will feature a five-course meal inspired by Bastianich\u2019s latest cookbook, Lidia\u2019s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine,<\/em> curated by Mangia Nashville\u2019s Nick Pellegrino, and including wine and sparkling water.<\/p>\n

When setting the menu, Pellegrino will use a combination of Bastianich\u2019s recipes (there are more than 400 in this book alone) and his own dishes. It\u2019s a formula he employed four years ago for NPT\u2019s previous event with Bastianich. \u201cHer recipes, because they\u2019re so family-oriented, they\u2019re very conducive to what we do. It\u2019s not like a normal restaurant where you\u2019re preparing one dish and sending it out, we\u2019re sending out platters of food,\u201d Pellegrino said, referring to the multi-course Italian feasts he hosts each weekend at his Berry Hill restaurant.<\/p>\n

Those began five years ago as pop-ups in Franklin and include, as will NPT\u2019s Lidia Bastianich evening, singing and dancing to Italian-American classics by Sinatra, Frankie Valli, The Rascals and others. \u201cEverybody works off about 1,000 calories, then you sit down and you eat some more,\u201d Pellegrino said.<\/p>\n

In addition to food and dancing, the Lidia Bastianich at Mangia Nashville<\/strong> evening will offer guests the opportunity to meet and mingle with Bastianich and other diners in a casual environment. Again, this meshes well with the atmosphere in Pellegrino\u2019s restaurant. The space has a d\u00e9cor that is both stylish and relaxed with a large bar, open kitchen and dark rustic tables that Pellegrino built himself. Pellegrino, who opened this location in the spring of this year, also designed the 100-plus foot long banquette that wraps around one side of the restaurant.<\/p>\n

The apple green leather banquette makes it easier to reconfigure tables when accommodating large groups, Pellegrino said. That should come in handy during Lidia Bastianich at Mangia Nashville.<\/strong> As Bastianich writes in the introduction to her latest cookbook: \u201cItalian food is all about authentic ingredients, intense flavors, and the enjoyment that comes when family and friends get together.\u201d<\/p>\n