Mr. Tucci- Just in Time for Valentine's Day

I’m in love.
With Stanley Tucci.
It happened just this morning.

What other man of petite stature could look so good, act so well, and speak to a foodie girl’s heart with such panache?

I’ve never seen the film Big Night (co-written and co-produced by this lovely man), but I am certain that, with a name like Secondo and a big Italian family restaurant at his fingertips, Tucci would’ve gripped me in ’96 as firmly as he did as the adorable Paul Child in the recent foodie film Julie and Julia.

But forget all that. Forget the silver screen. Forget Julia Child (apologies). Tucci is so enamored with the food culture of his Italian upbringing- and the paella and potato croquettes in his parents’ kitchen- he seems to see life through the ties that bind people: the love of food. And this makes me swoon. Who needs a heart-shaped box of chocolate?

Arising from his more recent film work as amorous and accommodating husband to food goddess Julia Child is his relationship to Chef Gianni Scappin and a cookbook celebrating his own mother’s cooking prowess. A man who loves his mom enough to celebrate her through a book collaboration must be a man with a sensitive soul and a soft heart. Lead me, Mr. Tucci, into your butler’s pantry and I will most willingly go!

But there is more. As my eyes fall this morning on the smattering of responses by Mr. Tucci (which rolls off the tongue as a lover’s nickname) in my February issue of Bon Appetit (p 110), I see phrases like “Goat cheese, olives and good white wine.” “I had a pizza oven built last year.” And: “I…stuff the branzino with herbs and put it in a big steel pan I got in Paris….” A moment please, to recover myself.
A man who talks of steel knives, heavy enamel cast-iron pots and Paris in one breath has my immediate attention. Give him warm brown eyes and a sly smile, I’m standing. But hear him say “I think about this mushroom tart at Le Gorille Blane in Paris...” and I’m running into his arms, flinging aside any poor woman who happens to be in the way.

Mr. Tucci, je t’adore. And I’ll be happy to share that midnight snack of peanut butter, banana, and honey on Italian bread any time you like. Share