Marco Canora Talks Turkey and Twitter: Interview Part 2

Food Network

Does Marco Canora use this knife to cut turkey sandwiches?

You left Insieme last year. Do you think fine dining is dead?

I don't know what to think about this whole surge. I'd like to believe it's not gone forever. I hope that people are going to start getting tired of the burgers, pizzas, and fried chicken. There's way too much talent in this town not to support high-quality food. I certainly hope it will come back.

What are the next big trends in dining?

Smaller restaurants. I think people want a more personal experience. I think we'll see a resurgence of mom-and-pop-style shops where there's a small team of people who are there a lot, and it's a soulful, intimate experience. Leave the big-bucks restaurants for Vegas.

The folks over at Terroir are some of the most prolific users on Twitter. Why use social media?

I think there's so much information out there, and it's really hard to find your way through it. With Twitter you can follow the few people you want and they can follow you. What's great isn't the number of followers but the level of interest your followers have. I'd rather have 2,000 followers who are interested in me than 60,000 who aren't. If you get real followers, it's great to keep people up to date on what's happening. Email blasts are a thing of the past. Twitter is the new email blast.

What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

We're open at Hearth for the first time ever, and we're doing traditional food. There will be turkey, stuffing, a big mixed roasted vegetable plate with chestnut honey, rapini with garlicky bread crumbs, roasted fennel soup, autumn vegetables, and lettuce salad. It'll be 75 bucks for three courses.

Will diners see any of the dishes you made on The Next Iron Chef?

The turkey plate is pretty close but that's about it.

What dish should we make using turkey leftovers?

You gotta make a sandwich. It's a no-brainer: Hellmann's mayonnaise and crappy white bread and turkey and maybe some stuffing or cranberry sauce.

A traditionalist right to the end ...

Indeed.

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