On New Yorkers: New Yorkers are provocative. New Yorkers make other New Yorkers think, and analyze, and become aware, and hopefully become objective and open so that you can learn. I found with the incredible clientele that I have -- that they have given me an education. They have forced me to look at life and at any particular topic, any subject in many different ways. They've all given me another perspective. They show me things that I've never thought of before. On The Promise Of New York: The promise is success; it's yours if you are willing to pay the dues. It depends on how hard you want to work. In New York it's here for you. There isn't anything in New York you can't see or have or attain. It's up to you . . . On His Uncle Vincent And Aunt Anna: Rao's is 100 years old. It's still in the same family and the credit for its success goes to my Uncle Vincent and my Aunt Anna. My Uncle Vincent passed away a couple of years ago, he was 87 years old, but he was born right next door to the restaurant, and lived there his entire life. He never lived in another house in his entire life. Every day of his life was spent at Rao's. He lived to be at Rao's, to walk in here every day. This was his life, and although the neighborhood had gone through some changes so on and so forth, this was his neighborhood, this was where he was born, this was where he was going to die, and this was what he was going to do. This is what he lived for. So he refused to leave this neighborhood. He was with my aunt for 50 years, my Aunt Anna. My Aunt Anna became the head chef, and she was incredible. She was elegant, meticulous. My Aunt Anna would go in the kitchen and cook with cashmere sweaters on or silk blouses, and come out of the kitchen at the end of the night, immaculate. Her hair coiffed always to perfection. On The Restaurant's Fame: There are people from all over the country who will write a letter and say that they've heard about the place, and they're dying to come to the place. They'll even call me up and they'll tell me that if I give them a reservation here, they will have their yearly vacation, they will come to New York for their vacation as opposed to going to Hawaii or somewhere else simply because I'm going to give them a reservation to eat here. They'll structure their vacation around New York, and that's kind of fascinating. It's shocking, surprising. It's hard for me to believe that people would go to that extent just to eat here. I mean, I'm flattered by all of that but I find it incredible. In fact, a few years ago, a lady by the name of Debbie Banner from North Carolina calls up, I get on the phone, and she says,"Hello, my name is Debbie Banner and I'm calling you from North Carolina. My husband and I want to eat at your restaurant, and we would plan our vacation in New York around your restaurant." I didn't really believe that. I said, "Are you serious?" She says, "I'm serious." So I looked in the book and about four or five months down the road I had a place for her. And I said, "Okay I tell you what, I'm going to give you a date . . ." And she said, "We'll be there." I said, "Okay" and hung up. And I was like, "I don't believe that." Half an hour later the phone rings again, it's Debbie Banner. "Hi, this is Debbie Banner, you just gave me a reservation, but my husband doesn't believe me. Would you tell my husband?" So he gets on the phone and I tell him, "Yes, it's Rao's restaurant in New York and we'll give you the reservation. And you're going to plan your vacation around coming to New York?" And he says "Absolutely." On Being Catholic In New York: Well as I said before, the major influx of the immigration was in the 1880s. From 1880 until about 1910, the hierarchy of the church in New York was Irish. And they didn't particularly care for these Southern Italian immigrants, they thought that we were pagans in the way we worshipped and they didn't like street festivals, things of that nature. So they frowned upon us and they didn't give us very much leeway. When [the Italians] brought the Madonna, they wanted to put the Madonna on the altar, if I'm not mistaken, but they couldn't. They had to keep the Madonna down in the basement. What finally happened in the 1890s was that Pope Leo the 13th caught wind of what was going on and he was unhappy about it because he considered the Southern Italian immigrants his flock. He had a personal attachment to them. So he ultimately consecrated this church on 115th Street, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which was the first Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church consecrated in North America. It was a message to the hierarchy that "I am the boss, me -- the Pope -- and I will always be the boss, and you will treat these people with respect. They are Catholics and they are good Catholics and they will be treated as such, and they will be respected as such." So that was a big moment in the history of the Southern Italian, especially in this neighborhood called East Harlem.		Born in East Harlem, Pellegrino is co-owner of Rao's Restaurant. The restaurant, infamous for being hard to get in to, opened in 1896 and has been managed by several generations of Pellegrino's family. Pellegrino began working there with his Uncle Vincent and Aunt Anna in 1973. An actor and singer, Pellegrino has appeared in Martin Scorsese's GOODFELLAS, Woody Allen's MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY, and has had parts in the television series NEW YORK UNDERCOVER, and the SOPRANOS. He has also written RAO'S COOKBOOK, OVER 100 YEARS OF ITALIAN HOME COOKING (1998, Random House), and has produced a CD containing music from the restaurant's jukebox, evoking the spirit of Rao's and the old neighborhood.