When Frank Falcinelli told his grandmother about the Brooklyn restaurant he planned to open with childhood friend Frank Castronovo, she instructed them to call it a spuntino - the Italian word for both a snack and a place to have snacks. Today, their tin-ceilinged, brick-walled restaurant (along with its newer Manhattan cousin) has a line out the door. This smart and entertaining cookbook may have an old-fashioned look, but the recipes are precisely what we want to eat now: Meatballs with Pine Nuts & Raisins, Fennel, Celery Root & Parsley Salad with Sliced Red Onion, Lemon & Pecorino, Red Wine Prunes with Mascarpone. With easy tutorials on making fresh pasta or tying braciola, and an amusing discussion on Brooklyn-style Sunday 'sauce' (ragu), The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Kitchen Manual shows why The New York Times' former restaurant critic Frank Bruni called the Franks' food 'completely satisfying'.
