Six months into the gig in Charm City, Frigerio resigned.

Did he jump, or was he pushed? :-)

i think the article states his expectation/preference @ cinghiale was to cook authentic italian village cuisine, reminiscent of his upbringing in italy. at mio, he is cooking rustic meditterenean (sp?) food (authentic local village), incorporating spanish & italian influences. he also has the proper training/qualifications to produce a more upscale fine dining food in the style of his master, fabio.

That's a pretty damning indictment of Chin-Jolly.

why is everyone always hatin' on S&M?

Just out of curiosity - because I haven't been there yet - how IS Cinghiale these days?

I'm really only asking because my sister-in-law was there for V-Day and had a semi-bad experience with the food. Apparently the service and some of the food was fantastic, but the entrees just weren't executed very well. She chalked it up to a busy night...which I hope is the case?

What's S&M?

We ate there in December. The food was very good, but we found the noise level to be quite obtrusive. We probably won't be going back because of that.

Four of us had dinner in the bar area back in Jan. We loved it. We did lots of small plates, so we could taste and share a number of things. Yes, it was a bit noisy. I chalked that up to being in a bar on a Friday night. Our waitress was wonderful.

We'll be back; but only now and then. Its an expensive place.

As for the spaghetti and meatballs comment: I don't have the food background to compare the cusines they talk about, but I have seen a huge variety of people in that bar, icluding families. So a few less complex dishes probably isn't a bad idea.

That said, if what you want is solid italian basics, you'll save yourself a pile of $$ by going to Amicci's instead.

see, I find this "all they want it spaghetti..." thing a bit hard to believe. B-more is full of niche restaurants (Black Olive anyone?). Chef could have opened in Fells or Federal Hill, which in is DIRE need of anItalian restaurant. But no, the big $$ are at Harbor East, and so are the tourists.

In all the years we've eaten out in Italian restaurants, I have NEVER ordered spaghetti and meatballs, and I'll wager that is true for most of the good people on this blog.

But it does give a new meaning to "S&M."

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, S&M=spag & mballs, duh. I'll bet you're wrong Dahlink, people love balls of meat. I can't figure out why. It probably has something to do with their childhood. Friends from Italy say it's totally American. But then again, the Governor of the US Virgin Islands told me that macaroni and cheese was invented there. Cibo Matto.

And only Dahlink and OMG had the nerve to address S&M? Spaghetti and meatballs indeed! "Pasta with a side of tomato sauce and rolled beef please - hold the leather."

Whip some up.

The safety word is "foie gras".

For those not in on the joke, Cibo Matto was a band popular in the late 90s. So? Their name, they said, means "food madness" in Italian. Sort of: Cibo is food in Italian and Matto is madness in Japanese. The band was composed of various downtown (NYC) scenesters and two Japanese girls who LOVED food. Not just a novelty act, the music was prety cool too. Their songs included: Apple, Beef Jerky, Sugar Water, White Pepper Ice Cream, Birthday Cake, Know Your Chicken, Le Pain Perdu, Artichoke and Sci-Fi Wasabi.

I am also starting a new tradition (Doesn't he sleep?) of making a tiny turkey, yogurt with cinnamon and nutmeg, and lightly steamed cabbage with homemade fermented julienned beets dressed with white pepper and seasoned rice wine vinegar for Kosova Independence Day, February 17! Now let's sing the new national anthem of Kosova: M' kambë Djelmni, Për Ty Sod Dita

Good one rFCK!

Can we at least lowercase the f? (Is there an emoticon for rolling eyes? I'm really getting sick of making smiley faces.)

I'm guessing they couldn't have hired Rocco DiSpirito and his granny to make Americano Hospitaliano chow. Which, given the location, would have made more sense for the touristas who will gladly pay $25 for a plate of pasta, flavourless red sauce, and meatballs.

OMGG- FWIW, Cibo Matto are on the soundtrack to 'Brain Candy', one of the finest cult films of the 90's.

EL, will dial down the f. K.I.T.H., so good. Why is everybody slamming ChinJolly? I haven't been there, but their menu is NOT S&M fare. If anything it's pretentious, not pedestrian. and not a meatball in sight.

8-| rolling eyes emoticon

Thank you! I can tell I'm going to be using it a lot.

How about making it "Robert of Cross Keys"? ROCK for short.

Before the blog police descend on us. But, of course, it's his nom de plume.

Ok, before we have an incident like they had on the Today Show last week - not that I watch - I will change the name and hence the acronym.

Thank you! I can tell I'm going to be using it a lot.

Why? Is the sand box getting out of control? Us?

8-I

While I hate to bring this back on point (and almost totally out of character), I don't think I believe anything that's been said by either side. Chef seems to have enormous talent (from the Post review), but it doesn't sound like the physical plant that is Cinghiale was designed to be a S-M place. I'm guessing the various parties just hate each other.

I think Singular Robert has nailed it. I can't imagine that the owners would have invested all that money in an S&M palace with obscene mounds of grated cheese.

Reading the Chowhound discussion in comparing Baltimore Italian vs. DC Italian (the former still felt like eating back in the motherland), I think I would rather be charming than trendy.

Eric, you said you were looking for a nom de plume. You should be Charming Eric, since you don't want to be Trendy Eric.