"Your word is your bond. And family is everything."

Deirdre Marie Capone was the last person born with the Capone surname. Her family was so misunderstood, the more research Deirdre did, the more she discovered how sullied her family name was. Yes, Al Capone had money. But he shared it. Her father was a lawyer, but the Chicago Bar Association wouldn't allow him to practice due to his family connections. He ultimately took his own life. Deirdre's grandfather took her under his wing, and she promised him her book, Uncle Al Capone, would not be written until all the original family members had passed away. This kind of respect was known as omerta.

Prohibition started in 1920. Women were bobbing their hair and shortening their skirts. Jazz was coming into being. Everything revolved around the consumption of alcohol. Now all of a sudden, the government banned the transportation and consumption of it. People in rural areas could build their own stills and make their own alcohol, but other people in the cities could not. They relied on somebody to provide it. Deirdre's family called it a business, priding themselves on providing top quality alcohol. "Nobody ever went blind. Their livers never burst open." They thought they were providing a service, and they were. But they made too much money, and they were Italian. Businesspeople didn't like them.

We drank Templeton Rye cocktails one afternoon at Newport Beach's A Restaurant just before her appearance at Hi-Time Wine Cellars. Deirdre discussed how Prohibition was not evil, but the abuse of it was.

Tell us about a side of Uncle Al that only you, his niece, knew.
There's one story that's not in my book that would describe Uncle Al well. I was with my father at Al's home in Miami, and they had a huge saltwater pool. They didn't filter or add chlorine to it. I jumped in, and when he picked me up out of the water, I can still see his face. He kept laughing and laughing. He laughed so hard he started choking. I must've made the most unbelievable face, because I've never been in saltwater before. It startled and stung me.

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House of Blues menu revamping. Bud Light spokesman. Chopped judge. Aaron Sanchez keeps a hectic schedule, but that didn't stop him from sitting down with us at Downtown Disney's House of Blues patio to chat about guacamole, his TV obsession and rock 'n roll.

So what brought you to House of Blues?
The food here, I thought, was a little dated, to be honest. When you have a venue that has a reputation for one thing, it's very easy to chalk up the food and do something marginal. It really happened with the new CEO. He knew my business and business partners. They told him, "I've got this guy. He's a chef. He's tattooed. He loves music. I think it'd be a good fit." I met with Ron, and that is the genesis of why I'm here.

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Anne Marie Panoringan

Dirty rice & shrimp

We had six minutes to converse with visiting chef Marcus Samuelsson before he went downstairs to commence his cooking demonstration inside Macy's South Coast Plaza. Instead of discussing his memoir or line of cookware, we kept digging. Were we able to learn more about him than his Facebook, website and Twitter feed? Yes. We also included pics of two of the finished dishes Samuelsson created for his hungry audience.

Tell us more about the Ambessa tea line.
I thought about all the great meals that you have. When you go into another person's culture, you try the food. But then, very often, you sit afterward and drink tea. It's almost like breaking bread with friends -- we're now going to talk about something. That's done all over the world with tea. Specifically in Africa, tea has a very powerful, important meaning. I wanted to share the African ideas about teas with the world. Ambessa also means "lion" in Amharic, the language in Ethiopia.

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Anne Marie Panoringan

Snacking on beer battered, chicken fried bacon.

Our weekly On the Line chef interviews are typically relaxed. There's small talk, sometimes we share a meal, but we can always count on them to be full of anecdotes and candor for the hour or so we spend with them. Celebrity chef interviews are more tricky. Our time is cut to less than 10 minutes, leaving little to work with. We shave down our list of questions and hope that our professionalism is rewarded. Having the opportunity to hand him a plate of fair food to his liking really helped, too.

Shortly before his cooking demonstration at OC Fair, Top Chef fan favorite Fabio Viviani allows us time to ask whatever we want. We served up a mix of questionnaire standards with a few our friends were dying to know. For someone who is both adored and teased for his accent, Fabio's responses were direct and (thankfully) easy to understand.

Has your fame from appearing on Top Chef and Storage Wars influenced your cooking? Have you remained true to your cooking beliefs, or have you changed based on your audience?


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"You can ask me any question you want, but be ready for the answer."

Already wrapped with Season Five and on a media blitz, Robert Irvine was allowed one interview after performing at the OC Fair, and we were lucky enough to grab the brass ring. Some of our questions were answered as he worked his way through the audience, but he inspired a few more. Not the persona you generally see on Food Network, Robert was sincere and candid in his responses.

How many of your 330 days working do you spend entertaining the troops?
Eighty to 100. I try to fit my charities--armed forces, veterans and kids--between my shows. My life is on the road. My life is dedicated to other people, which sounds like I'm a masochist, but I enjoy doing it. I get such a feeling of giving back from it. This is like a big high for me. Like putting food on a plate and people loving it--it is just a cool thing to do.

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Photo courtesy of Anaheim Ducks/Debora Robinson

Our chef and Duck are in the front row (look for the tattoos)

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We had the opportunity to attend the 12th annual Dux In Tux, a fund-raiser benefiting the Anaheim Ducks Foundation, which funds wellness seminars, hockey tutorials and in-school visits to OC's kiddies and beyond. Chefs are paired with a member of the team to assist in executing a custom menu for hungry fans (some players were more adept than others).

Diners were up close and personal with more than 20 of the county's culinary favorites, including Bruno Serato of Anaheim White House, Sea Kyeong Kim of Charlie Palmer, and John Cuevas of the Crow Bar + Kitchen. Our table was helmed by Pinot Provence's Jason Petrie, who delivered an indulgent meal worthy of a future On the Line interview. Fortunately, we didn't spot duck on any menu.
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Javier Cabral

Jose "Chuy" Tovar at The Real De Mexico Distillery

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I met Jose "Chuy" Tovar through a Facebook inquiry he put in to me about places to find the best menudo (yes, he saw me on TV). It turned out he was the chief operating pinche-officer of Real De Mexico Tequila, a 2-year-old tequila company based in Echo Park that distributes quite possibly the best tequila you will ever taste in your life.
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John Gilhooley/OC Weekly

Orly Taitz was the subject of a Weekly cover story in June 2009.

​"Forking Around With . . ." is our occasional feature meant to spotlight the food likes and dislikes of people of prominence in Orange County.

Dr. Orly Taitz, the Rancho Santa Margarita attorney and dentist who is best known for her challenges of Barack Obama's eligibility for the presidency, is certainly prominent here in our red county.

She graciously took time from her busy caseload to share her thoughts on OC's food scene.

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Courtesy of Lalo Alcaraz

​Lalo Alcaraz, the mad genius behind the La Cucaracha comic strip, the genius Obama-as-Zapata political cartoon, and too many other to mention, will grace this fair county this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Fullerton Public Library...wait, that's the exact intro to this post. We care about food 'round here, preferably spiked with politics, and Alcaraz has always been a genius at mixing the two. The strip above is but one example; Alcaraz's strips have also dealt with luxe-loncheras, taco empires, and far too much other funniness to mention--just go and find out.
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Alex Knost

Nolan Hall chowin' down.

​Welcome to Stick A Fork In It's newest weekly feature, "Forking Around With...," where we quiz local notables on what they're currently eating, what they're currently obsessed with and what they can't get enough of.

Since the dissolution of his Costa Mesa-based rock band Japanese Motors, 25-year-old guitarist Nolan Hall has been keeping busy: He now travels the globe as the Vans surf team manager. "But it's nice to be home right now," he adds.

Hall is also working on a book of his photography. After the jump: Check out a bit of his work--and his picks for great eats in Orange County.

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