If you walk into Glorioso's Italian Market, 1011 E. Brady St., on Friday, Aug. 10 and see a familiar face that looks a little out of place, don't be surprised.
The long-lived East Side Italian grocery is hosting a visit by Mario Rizzotti, one of the judges on The Food Network's "Iron Chef" program.
"We are very excited to be hosting Mario and we are hoping for a great turn out," says Glorioso's purchasing manager Amanda Dentici. "He will be spending the entire day engaging with customers, sampling them on various different olive oils, balsamic vinegars as well as various other Italian condiments."
Then, at 5:30 p.m., the Glorioso's cafe will close to the public for a private class with Rizzotti.
"Mario (is) covering a range of topics including the education on how to taste olive oil the correct way and how to tell if a product that claims to be from Italy is truly Italian made," says Dentici.
The class is $10 but you get a $10 coupon that you can use toward the purchase of any of the products Rizzotti samples.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
