Ever since he rapped about “feasting dolo down at Eataly,” we knew Action Bronson was a fan of Mari Batali and Joe Bastianich’s Italian mega-store next to Madison Square Park. But in today’s special edition of Vice’s “Fuck, That’s Delicious”—which marks the release of Bam Bam’s first studio album, Mr. Wonderful—he doesn’t dine alone. Instead, he gets the chance to sample the best of Eataly with the “god” himself, Batali—all while Molto Mario checks out “Easy Rider” on an old-school Discman.
The purported mission is to cook some dishes inspired by the album, but mostly Bronsolino and Batali just go to town on some of Eataly’s finest offerings—a grand tasting of cheeses and prosciutto di Parma, wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas, and deep-fried quail stuffed with mozzarella.
You can tell that hanging out with his idol is a special moment for Bronson, who contextualizes it in no uncertain terms: “He is the reason I started cooking. He is the reason I went to culinary school. He is the reason I related to any chefs whatsoever.”
Bam Bam also points out the irony that it was rap, not cooking, that finally got him in the room with Batali: “This is the culmination of everything that I always wanted in my life. Culinarily I always wanted to be up there with the greats, and somehow it happened through music—that opened up a whole new chapter in life for me.”
[via Munchies]