LUIGI: I'm going to make a signature dish, lobster risotto, which for 28 years that we've been open, never was in the menu and yet it's the most popular dish and everybody order.

SETH: So it sounds like this is a not-so-secret, secret menu item?

LUIGI: Correct, yes.

SETH: At least for me, risotto, the thought of making it, it's a little bit intimidating.

LUIGI: Yes, it is.

At the end, it's a really simple dish that takes a little bit of time, but when you've done it well, the result is fantastic.

It's like someone hug you when you have a great risotto.

Before you arrived, I took to the lobster, we're not brutal.

We talk with them, mostly in Italian, and then I blanch it for four minutes and then I clean it.

And now I'm going to sauté the lobster for one or two minutes.

We need a little bit of olive oil over here.

SETH: Of course.

LUIGI: A little bit of garlic.

We allow it to get gold a little bit.

SETH: Smelling great.

LUIGI: Yes.

Then we add a little bit of a cherry tomato, now the lobster.

Hello, fire.

SETH: You didn't want to cook it all the way at first because you certainly not want to overcook lobster.

LUIGI: Absolutely not.

We do a little bit of tomato, so a little bit of parsley, salt and now we all mix.

And this one we can put on the side.

SETH: Chef, if you told me the dish was done right now, I'd be ready to eat it.

LUIGI: Oh, no.

We have to make the risotto.

SETH: Of course.

LUIGI: So we need a little bit of olive oil over here again.

Now we have a little bit of onions.

We're going to wait for this one to golden a little bit.

And then we have the rice.

So arborio rice, you can see that they're all perfect.

They're all the same.

That's how you see when it's a good quality of rice.

SETH: And so why does arborio rice work so well for risotto?

LUIGI: The arborio rice, it will cook, but it's not going to boil it.

It's going to keep its form as it is.

SETH: It's not going to break.

LUIGI: Exactly.

Look at this right now, it's going to double, but it's still intact.

We put our rice and then we toast just a little bit and we put the wine.

But usually I do quality control.

That's good.

We want to see that all the wine is evaporated.

So at this point we add the broth, of course, fish broth that we do with the remain of the lobster.

So you have to boil it and absorb, but not too much broth.

So that's why you had to make sure to feed all the time.

You need to stir it or you need to feed it.

What we need to do right now is add some of this because to give it the flavor, also for the color.

See?

Now time to feed again because he absorbed already this.

So at this point I'm going to be feeding approximately once every minute.

♪ ♪ So we are at a turning point, eh?

And you can see also the volume of the rice is almost double right now.

SETH: Oh, yeah.

Those grains are getting nice and plump down there.

LUIGI: Oh, yeah.

I can see.

Yes.

SETH: You're starting to feel good here?

LUIGI: See?

I can feel good, yes.

(bubbling) If you get it closer, it actually sounds different.

SETH: I don't want to make a peep.

LUIGI: I think we are there.

See?

Before it was like every grain will go on a different direction.

So now there're more united.

SETH: There's a lot of happiness in that pot.

LUIGI: Yes, we reduce a little bit the fire.

I'm going to add just a little bit of butter.

And so now we stir a little bit, mantecato.

That's what we say in Italian.

So you're stirring fast and you see it's going to be creamy.

The starch is coming up.

SETH: And the starchiness is what's really going to give you that creamy texture?

LUIGI: Correct, yes.

The butter is just to get things together.

SETH: What a show.

LUIGI: I love it.

See?

One last try.

No, I'm not going to put any.

It's perfect.

You see?

Now they're all together.

SETH: I was intimidated to make risotto before and watching you, I'm still just as intimidated.

LUIGI: No, no, no.

Okay, now we are ready to plate.

First, I'm going to lay the risotto on the plate.

Then I put the meat on top, the claw right in the front.

And then I will add the tail and the head.

And that's the lobster risotto, the Al Tiramisu signature dish.

SETH: All right, chef, can't wait to dig in.

LUIGI: Please, by all means.

SETH: All right, get some of that lobster meat right on top.

Here we go.

LUIGI: The moment of the truth over here, yeah?

SETH: Molto bene.

LUIGI: Buonissimo.

SETH: I just had that rice.

I haven't even had a bite of the lobster meat yet, but it is so creamy.

I mean, you would think that there's a pint of cream or... LUIGI: And we didn't put any.

SETH: Or a pound of butter.

LUIGI: We just like sauté at the end, stirring fast that all the starch came up.

SETH: Oh, and having a bite of the lobster meat, so perfectly cooked.

LUIGI: Thank you.

SETH: And the grains of rice, every time you take a bite, you just get that little burst of lobster flavor just exploding into your mouth.

LUIGI: And that happened because you feed a little bit, a little bit rather than boil the rice.

And that's the technique for risotto to have this kind of result.

SETH: Time well spent.

LUIGI: Thank you.