Food has always been an important element of Sebastian Maniscalco’s work as an actor and comedian. From his 2018 book Stay Hungry to his role as Joe Gallo in last year’s Netflix original The Irishman where his meal at Umberto’s Clam House in New York turns out to be his last, Maniscalco has always peppered his stories with details about his favorite foods and culinary moments.
Now you can dine with the 2018 Billboard Live Comedian of the Year for a virtual dinner party Sunday night with hundreds of friends, family members and fans. Chef Dominick DiBartolomeo from Domenico’s Foods in Los Angeles has prepared a special meal and is mailing the ingredients plus a bottle of wine and a selection of cheeses, stuffed peppers, baguettes to dinner guests who will cook and break bread with the Maniscalcos via streaming video app Zoom.
“During the pandemic, due to the fact that I can’t perform live shows, I wanted to marry some of my passions together, which is comedy and food,” Maniscalco says. We’ve done it a few times for people that live within a 20 mile radius of Dom’s store, but this time we’ve opened it up nationally, so everybody could participate.”
Maniscalco has known DiBartolomeo for four years and said the chef, who operates a store in L.A. and sells fresh pasta and cheeses at various farmers markets and at the L.A. cheese store, has shipped meals to dinner guests that are easy to prepare.
“All you have to do is pop it in the oven and boil some water,” Maniscalco says. “We’re not mincing. We’re not dicing. We’re not doing aerial shots of a food preparation. We’re bringing people together with some food and providing them with entertainment.”
The main entree will be homemade eggplant parmesan, a recipe created by DiBartolomeo’s mom, “which is what we’ve really become known for, especially in the farmer’s markets here in Los Angeles.”
Like music and comedy, the food business has also been hit hard by COVID-19 with the many of the farmer’s markets and restaurants closed or operating at a significantly reduced capacity.
“We’ve had to pivot and do more of a delivery model,” DiBartolomeo says. “We started doing produce boxes and sourcing proteins and helping people that didn’t want to go to a grocery store to source ingredients. People can’t go to their favorite restaurants but they still want great food.”
DiBartolomeo has joined Maniscalco and family for several initial invite only events with special guests like Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt and comedian Jerry Seinfeld.
“We’ve been really blessed and fortunate to be handed this incredible opportunity from Sebastian,” says DiBartolomeo, who met Maniscalco at a comedy show in Pasadena and has become the family’s go-to cheese and pasta purveyor. “We’ve been having so much fun doing these dinners with Sebastian and his Lana and while the pandemic hasnt been easy, we’re going to come out better than we were before.”
The virtual “Sunday Supper” experience will be held Sunday at 4:30 p.m. PST and will be available coast-to-coast. Each ticket is $200 and includes access to a live stream of the evening via Zoom and a prefix dinner for two with proceeds going to the Good+Foundation and the Comedy Store Benefit, which raises money to help pay the club’s employees while the West Hollywood club is out of commission.
Learn more at sebastianssundaysupper.com.
