Chef Gabriele Corcos, also known as The Tuscan Gun, has shared his family life in Extra Virgin, a James Beard award-winning TV show for Cooking Channel. The series follows Corcos and his wife, actress Debi Mazar (who he affectionately calls Deborah), as they raise their two young daughters one Tuscan meal at the time, first in Los Angeles, then Brooklyn followed by Tuscany and the family’s frequent trips to their estate in Fiesole on the outskirts of Florence.
After publishing a New York Times best-selling book, creating a successful restaurant and podcast, the passionate chef, devoted husband and father reflects on the different lifestyles in Los Angeles and New York, and on what he misses the most about Tuscany, where he hopes to return very soon for an exciting hospitality project.
When did you move to the United States?
“After I met Deborah in Florence, I first joined her on a trip to Los Angeles in 2001, where we got married, had the girls and built our family. Moving first to LA helped me to adapt better, as it would have been hard to go from the Tuscan countryside straight to the cement of New York.”
Do you miss your life in Los Angeles?
"L.A. has nice weather, there is more space and you can find pretty good ingredients in that area by the Pacific. However, Los Angeles is a bit dispersive and when you have kids, you are constantly in the car, going from one place to the other. It is a comfortable city, when you have a home with a pool, the car and the motorcycle in your garage, and you are more drawn to stay home, especially for my type of work creating content for television.”
Gabriele Corcos and Debi Mazar, couple goal (ph via IG)
Why did you decide to move to New York? What was the biggest change in your lifestyle?
“I moved to Brooklyn eight years ago. My wife is from here, born and raised in Queens, and she wanted to give the girls a more realistic life, for example, putting them in a public school. A nice thing about this city is that it pushes you to get out and meet people. Here, I discovered my more aggressive and ambitious side. It is a very fast-paced life, not everyone can handle it. In Italy, time passes by at a slower pace, which I really enjoy when I just get there, but then my New Yorker side kicks in and I start feeling impatient. Often Italian friends ask me about coming to New York to start a business and I tell them to get ready to work twenty hours a day, seven days a week. It takes complete devotion and has an impact on your personal and family life. They realize that they can’t give up their lifestyle. They want to stay home at night, rest on Saturdays and go to the soccer match on Sundays.”
Cooking with his daughters
Do you entertain a lot in New York?
“Not as much as we did in Los Angeles where we had more space. We do have spontaneous moments like yesterday, when I decided to make a big lasagna I had in the freezer for dinner, and three guests just joined us last minute. While I made some friendships through Deborah, I have to admit that while living in New York, I concentrated more on my career and my family. Living in the States, I know that my girls will leave home pretty soon; this is not Italy where your kids stick around after high school. So I prefer spending my evenings with my family rather than socializing.”
How do you manage with the girls when Debi is on set?
“Generally well, but last year it was particularly hard. I really felt like a single dad when she moved to Spain for three months to film Arde Madrid. It is a beautiful movie, filmed in black and white, telling the story of the period when actress Ava Gardner was in Madrid during the Franco regime. It should be available for streaming soon in the US.”
Tuscany
What are your suggestions for someone visiting Tuscany?
“I highly recommend driving throughout Tuscany without a destination, and letting it surprise you. Florence is important, of course; it is like a beautiful postcard, an open-air museum. It represents Tuscany but not all the realities of the region. I am in love with the Alpi Appuane. I go every year to Colonnata where they make the famous lardo (lard) and visit the marble caves. You can go to small medieval towns such as well-known Montalcino or Monteriggioni, where you are not allowed to enter [the city] in the car, and they only have two restaurants, one better than the other. Other wonderful places to discover are Bolgheri, the Maremma region, and San Gimignano and its famous towers. Every town has its own food, family-owned restaurants where you are welcomed with a smile, and the house wine is always good and affordable. It is an multi-sensorial experience that can’t be beaten.”
What are your favorite things to do when you are there?
“I mostly enjoy hunting for truffles on Monte Amiata, the wine harvest in September, the olive picking in November and all that goes with it – such as large dinners with friends bringing out new bottles of wine and olive oil. That is the poetry of our country that I miss the most.”
Florence