Charlie Gasparino — who moved to the Fox Business Network from CNBC in February — is fitting right in at his new home. “I don’t break every story,” he said of his journalistic philosophy. “I get beat like everybody else. But I have a pretty good record of not getting beat, because I want to win. When you work at established places they get complacent, but here at Fox we want to win, and I want to help them win.” He takes an equally scrappy position on Italian food, for which he credits his Italian-born grandmother (not to mention a teenage stint as a dishwasher) with igniting his abiding love. He knows his way around Arthur Avenue and the Upper East Side’s red-sauce haunts, “but I put ketchup on my steak, so I’m not exactly a connoisseur,” he admits. Find out if the ketchup makes an appearance in this week’s edition of the New York Diet.
Friday, April 2
For breakfast had a low-fat blueberry muffin from Starbucks. I’m addicted to these things; I’m eating one right now. I eat one every day. Once in a while I’ll mix it up with one of those “energy bagels.” I don’t believe it gives you energy, but I’ll have one of them anyway. Nothing on it.
For lunch, lately I’ve been so busy I’ve just been eating at my desk. There’s a sandwich shop downstairs from [Fox Business Network], Fresh and Company. I had turkey, avocado, and melted cheese. I had some chicken soup, too — I’ve got this fucking ridiculous hay fever which I get every year, only this year it’s fifteen times worse for some reason.
I went to Elio’s and had a beet salad and the veal francese. Four vodka martinis — Ketel One with a twist. I used to drink Grey Goose, but my barber — he’s Russian, he cuts at Astor Place — he told me no respectable Russian will drink Grey Goose, they all drink Ketel One. He goes, “because you want to taste the vodka.” It’s true, Ketel One is a harsher vodka; it’s got a bite to it. Now I can’t go back to Grey Goose, which is really super smooth, you can’t taste the vodka. If you’re gonna drink it, you gotta make it real.
Saturday, April 3
I had to buy stuff for Easter dinner, so I skipped breakfast, went to Arthur Avenue, and bought all the stuff that I needed. There’s a great pizza place, Zero Otto Nove. It’s the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life. It’s a wood-burning oven; it’s amazing. In between going to the pastry shop, going to the bread store, runs to my car — you can’t carry it all — I hit the pizza place and got a margherita pizza.
I went home and my wife and I went to Rowayton Seafood — I have a house up there in Connecticut. I live in the city, but it’s our weekend place. I had two martinis and fish and chips.
Sunday, April 4
I made Easter dinner. We had a pretty big Easter thing: my brother, his girlfriend, my mother-in-law, my wife. I made an antipasto — a little salad, you put soppresata, roasted peppers, olives, provolone cheese, mozzarella cheese. I fried up some eggplant with breadcrumbs, there were stuffed mushrooms, and I did some stuffed peppers. I got the bread from Addeo Bakers. I bought that mostly at Mike’s Deli, all Arthur Avenue. Then for the main course I made pork roasted in gravy, which I sliced and served over ziti. I bought dry, imported ziti from Borgatti’s. I make my gravy from scratch: good Italian canned tomatoes, two cans of the whole tomatoes and one of crushed. I let it cook for about an hour and fifteen minutes, maybe an hour and a half. For dessert, I bought pastries from a place called Arthur Avenue Pastries, some of the best I’ve ever had. I got some cannolis and some St. Joseph’s. We had wine.
It was a big meal. Later on that night I had leftovers.
Monday, April 5
I had an uneventful breakfast. I had one of those bagels.
I went to San Pietro for lunch, and I had a minestrone soup and a seafood salad.
That night I went to a dinner at Brasserie 8 1/2; it was a private dinner with Tom Donahue, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, speaking. They had a very light tuna, which I ordered, and I had a martini with that. It was me and about 30 other people.
Tuesday, April 6
Same bagel for breakfast. Lunch at that same sandwich place — same turkey sandwich.
For dinner I met a friend and went to the Columbus Citizen’s Foundation, the Italian-American club. I had a couple of glasses of wine, a shrimp salad which was really good, and the steak pizzaiola. It’s steak with sauce on it and some red peppers. I had it cooked medium. Then I had a cup of espresso. I only eat desserts on the weekends.
Wednesday, April 7
It was a screwed-up day. I’ve got bad hay fever, so I went to the doctor, and then I had to get a root canal during the day. I had a bran muffin for breakfast and that was it.
I did go out that night — I went to the Blackstone dinner. They put on a dinner for journalists at the Waldorf. I hate the food at the Waldorf; I never like eating there, so I just had a fruit salad. Afterward, a friend of mine owns Arturo’s, and I went there. This is me speaking, and I know what I already said about the place on Arthur Avenue, but it may be the best pizza I’ve ever had. The stuff on Arthur Avenue is different — Arturo’s to me is just so good. Listen to me, if you’re into pizza, you want the pizza to stand straight, you don’t want the crust to fall if you hold it up. Arturo’s crust stands up. But believe it or not, I didn’t have pizza. I had the chicken-parm platter, with a side of broccoli rabe.