BY JULIA REED
THOUGH REBECCA WILCOMB OPENED GIANNA, the Italian restaurant that is the latest member
of the Link Restaurant Group’s burgeoning New Orleans empire, in April, she says she’s
been “doing research for it my entire life.” Wilcomb grew up mostly in Massachusetts, but
her mother is Italian—her parents met while her father was in the Army and stationed in
Italy. Summers and holidays sometimes meant visits to the southern Veneto in the Po River
delta to see her nonna, the grandmother for whom the restaurant is named. (Gianna is also
Wilcomb’s middle name.)
When the family gathered on Christmas Day, there was always tortellini in brodo, the
traditional first course in northern Italian holiday feasts. “It’s something that we all love,”
Wilcomb says of the pork-, beef-, and chicken-filled pasta parcels floating in a rich, clear
broth, adding that even when the holidays were spent elsewhere, she, her mother, and her
sister joined forces to make it. “It’s never as good as my nonna’s, but she’s got a few years
on us!” So five years ago, when Wilcomb began talking with partners Donald Link and
AT GIANNA IN NEW ORLEANS, CHEF REBECCA WILCOMB
PAYS HOMAGE TO HER GRANDMOTHER’S COOKING WITH
AN ITALIAN-INSPIRED HOLIDAY MENU.
118 DECEMBER 2019
