Who

Marchetto is the proprietor of Da Silvano, the Tuscan eatery on Sixth Avenue that attracts self-important media moguls, art dealers and fashion designers. His wife is Marisa Acocella Marchetto.

Backstory

Marchetto originally planned to attend engineering school in his native Italy. Fortunately for the expense account crowd, he went to culinary school instead. In 1975, he opened Da Silvano in a pre-trendy patch of the Village, bringing classy Tuscan cuisine to a neighborhood better known for cheap late-night pizza joints. By the 1980s, the restaurant had earned a reputation as one of the city's more exciting see-and-be-seen spots, regularly attracting a downtown media/art/fashion crowd. In 1990, Marchetto decided to capitalize on the buzz and along with a former Da Silvano waiter, Giovanni Tognozzi, he opened Bar Pitti next door. He no longer has a stake in Bar Pitti but he continues to greet his well-heeled customers at Da Silvano most nights.

Of note

The food at Da Silvano is good (nothing exceptional) and overpriced, but it isn't the cuisine that draws crowds to the 108-seat eatery. Over the years, it's become a hot spot for media/fashion kingpins like Calvin Klein, Graydon Carter, Patrick Demarchelier, Fran Lebowitz, Larry Gagosian, Robert De Niro, and Anna Wintour, who's said to be especially fond of the paillard d'agnello (although the ice queen insists that it's prepared "black and blue," or almost raw). However, with many power players now to be found at Graydon Carter's Waverly Inn and other nearby boites, Da Silvano doesn't quite pack the heat it once did. Today the clientele is comprised of a mixture of tourists and behind-the-times scene-mongers, with a few bona fide boldfacers sprinkled in for good measure.

Drama

Marchetto's relationship with his Bar Pitti partner Tognozzi unraveled a decade after they went into business together. In 2002, Tognozzi sued Marchetto, claiming he had swiped his family recipes and failed to split profits. The suit was eventually dropped, but Marchetto sold off his half of Bar Pitti in September 2006.

In print

In 2001, he published the Da Silvano Cookbook. Now aspiring cooks can replicate the experience of eating at the restaurant, minus the hour-long wait for a table and the deafening roar of Sixth Avenue traffic.

Personal

Marchetto has a daughter, Leyla, with his former wife Vivian, who continued to work as a bookkeeper at Da Silvano for nearly two decades after their divorce. He married New Yorker cartoonist-cum-graphic novelist Marisa Acocella in 2004—the wedding took place just three weeks after she was diagnosed with cancer. (Her story of recovery is recounted in her 2006 memoir, Cancer Vixen.) Conveniently, the couple lives across the street from Da Silvano.