- [Narrator] Felidia Restaurante is a stellar Italian jewel in a city that boasts more good ethnic restaurants than you can shake a stick at.

- Felidia was the big leap where there was really no Italian-American food on the menu.

Now you have quail on the menu and you have risotto.

It was definitely a risk, which clearly paid off well.

People were ready to try something different from Italian-American cuisine.

- What Lidia did with Felidia is make a restaurant that was timeless.

Then the food was just this luxurious version of Italian cooking without any pretense whatsoever.

Everything was the best possible version of itself.

- [Speaker] This breast of veal is filled with a mosaic-like vegetable stuffing.

You can enjoy this dinner, and learn to prepare it step-by-step from Lidia Bastianich.

- I first met Lidia when we were doing a TV series called "New York's Master Chefs."

(jaunty music) Early 80s before the whole food wave.

- [Announcer] Presenting "New York's Master Chefs."

- And Lidia was one of the few women.

- [Announcer] Featuring some of New York's most exciting restaurants and menus, prepared by the master chefs who created them.

- Fine dining was more like the brigade kitchen, the French-style kitchen.

You know, mostly men.

- [Lidia] Leave the head on, because the head is what gives it an excellent taste.

- And then you have somebody like Lidia come along and does basically what they do in Italy.

It's like the mother's in charge, is a really good cook.

Basically cooking recipes she was taught and just handing down that tradition.

- I started at six.

Of course, my grandmother was the teacher.

And she used to put a little stool.

And she used to put me on the stool, and I used to put all my weight on it and press down on it.

And sometimes I pressed so hard that the stool went out from within me, and I ended up on the floor.

Up in the mountain, you would have hard polenta, which means... - Lidia's history is so deeply ingrained in her cooking.

And it's not necessarily what's in the pan in front of her.

It's what was in the pan when she was standing next to her grandmother, cooking in Pola, in Istria.

- Take it away from the sun and age it for about.. - That's what Lidia brought.

That was Lidia's magic.

(bright music) - [Lidia] Felidia had been open for about eight months when Julia Child made a reservation.

She was coming with a guest, who turned out to be none other than James Beard.

Imagine, the mother and father of the American food renaissance coming to my restaurant!

- we were developing the series, "Cooking with Master Chefs," with Julia.

- Born in northern Italy, Lidia Bastianich, and her husband, Felice, they're owners of Felidia, one of New York's best and most popular Italian restaurants.

- I was in the kitchen.

I was peeking out to seeing the entrance of these two towering figures.

They were seated, and of course, I was nervous.

Julia Child was very curious, just like me.

She asked me everything on the menu.

She wanted to learn how to make the risotto.

- I've always loved real Italian pastas and risotto.

So I was just delighted when Lidia Bastianich invited us into her own home kitchen for a family meal and a lesson.

- [Lidia] Today, we're gonna do a risotto.

And risotto with wild mushrooms.

- Lidia really connected with Julia in the totality.

I talk about nourishment being our social, emotional, and even spiritual relationship with food.

Lidia is all of those combined.

- Pasta as a main course or risotto as a main course, with a wonderful beginning, and maybe some cheese and fruits at the end could be just wonderful.

- [Julia] Lidia's kitchen was filled with the aromas of all this great food.

A real Italian family meal right here in the US of A.

- The dinner at Lidia's house with Julia was really festive.

It became a very joyful occasion.

And as we added music to it, and I say "we added."

Lidia and Felice added the music.

(accordion music) - [Lidia] My husband pulled out the accordion and started singing Italian favorite songs.

Don't you think Julia started singing with us, not knowing the words or anything.

- When Julia locked arms with Lidia and Felice, and sang back and forth, I knew that we had a very, very special TV moment.

(all singing) After we did the episode with Lidia, I said to my partner and my colleagues, "Lidia has to have a TV show."