INTRODUCING.....
Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli (aka the Franks) of Prime Meats in Carroll Gardens.
I desperatly want to meet these handsome lads and eat their fine pretzels with mustard.


Age
Castronovo: 41; 1967 — summer of love.
Falcinelli: Just turned 44.

Occupation
C: Chef-restaurateur/designer
F: Thoroughly invigorating [also, see above]


Favorite Haunts
C: Sunny’s in Red Hook. It’s one of the most authentic longshoreman bars — one of the top 10 in the country — family owner-operated for over 100 years. Prospect Park: I love to go there with my kids to ride bikes, and the whole place is like a giant dog run; we have a hound dog.
F: Le Cepa in San Sebastian, Spain, is where I get my jamon and spicy peppers.


Momentary Style Obsessions
F: I’ve been dying to purchase some suits. I got a bunch last year, and the only one I’ve worn was a Ralph Lauren — please, Black Label — blue seersucker, and I got tons of compliments. I’m obsessed with a certain type of suit that Lincoln wore. I hired Donna Zakowska, who did the costumes for “John Adams,” because she’s doing all of our uniforms for Prime Meats (they’re going to be so period-perfect). It’s a four-piece suit — the Prince Albert, I think it’s called.

Kicks
C: Vans for skateboarding, still; must have been doing that my whole life.
F: I’ve got a pair of original Nike Jordan Dunks. I love the original Pro Keds with the two stripes. And, of course, Converse All Stars.

Groomer
C: I don’t normally do grooming: I have a long beard. Alix comes to me; she’s a professional hair cutter to the stars. I don’t even know her last name.
F: Alix just left my house five minutes ago. She prefers to be called Alix Hair.


Music
C: The Birds, Jefferson Airplane, Vetiver.
F: Judee Sill, Pentangle, Sandy Denny, Pearls Before Swine, Charlie Rich, New Riders of Purple Sage, Vetiver (of course); also the new Neil Young box set and Grateful Dead’s 1970 Winterland recording.

Repeat Destination
C: Australia (the Five Apostles), Indonesia (Lumbak and Bali), Nepal (the Tatopani, a small village in the Himalayas).
F: I was just in San Sebastian, and I’d probably want to go back there. And I gotta go back to Japan — I want to tour around



Provisions
C: Ice cream from Blue Marble or Laboratorio del Gelato. For a pantry, you don’t need a lot: beans, lentils, olive oil, some vinegar, can of tomatoes (a couple), salt and pepper, flour, dry pasta. Keep it simple and fresh. You can do a lot of damage with those few things.
F: I like to have some thick honeys around, and dried sausages — Italian or French; sick teas — Chinese or African — from In Pursuit of Tea, which we stock because it’s the best.

Ingredients
C: I’m not going to say heirloom tomatoes. That’s what everyone says. What have I been cooking the hell out of? Fennel; I’ve been braising it in olive oil.
F: It was heirloom tomatoes, and then there’s the blight right now, so instead, caviar? No. Pork belly. We’re making sick pork belly: we’re braising it.

BYO
C: I always bring olive oil.
F: Usually the laughing juice, which is the Lambrusco. These days it’s Lini 910 Lambrusco Scuro.

Cookbook
C: I’m kind of digging this River Cottage meat book; it’s like a bible.
F: I love Rose Levy Beranbaum’s “Cake Bible”; the first River Café Cookbook.

Cut
C: I like the cheeks, man: pork, beef, any kind of cheeks. I like to squeeze the cheeks. I also love to braise them. I’ve been called the king of braise.
F: Dry-aged rib-eye.

Noodle
C: I like spaetzle.
F: Fazzoletti. I’ve had about 50 bowls lately.

Restaurant
C: My favorite restaurant, high end: Paul Bocuse in France; I’d like to go just to get schooled by the classics again. For everyday kind of stuff, I like Hasaki: it’s just solid sushi. It’s full of Japanese people, because they know. And across the street, I like Soba-ya.
F: Other than Le Bernardin? Wait, are you talking international? Then it’s a large palate. … If it’s everyday, I go to Hasaki a lot on Ninth Street.

Birthday Dinner
C: I like to stay home. I’d probably just cook what my kids want to eat. I just make other people happy and it makes me happy
F: That’s hard to describe. I’d have dinner at Ardignia in Sicily. It means, “where eagles dare.” It’s on the top of a hill, surrounded by a farm. It’s sick. I’d have as much of the menu as I could: fresh ricotta (they make on the farm), sickest wild game, sickest pasta … sickest everything.

Last Call
C: Prime Meats
F: [ditto]