triCityNewsGrid-60.qxd (Page 22)

22 > 02.16.12 > triCityNews
Could Victor Rallo, Jr. make it?
Exiled”
llo, Jr.
oleon Wasn’t
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Left - Victor Ra
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Red Bank and Rumson
Restaurateur looks to break
out into mass media
RED BANK – Could Victor Rallo, Jr. be the next media
star out of the triCity region of eastern Monmouth
County?
Rallo, 48, is the widely known owner of Basil Ts in
Red Bank and co-owner of Undici in Rumson. He’s firmly established them both as leaders in Italian food and
wine.
And now the relentless Rallo is looking to break out
into the mass media with his extreme passion for the
food, wine and culture of Italy.
Victor just published his first book – “Napoleon
Wasn’t Exiled” – a travelogue of a two-week trip to
Tuscany with his family this past August.
Rallo is a frequent visitor to Italy, as he travels there
in connection with sourcing the wines he serves and to
further his knowledge of the wine, cuisine and culture.
What a great gig. “Napoleon Wasn’t Exiled” draws on all
of it.
And there’s more. Victor has also filmed a pilot for a
television show in which he traverses Italy in pursuit of
the best food and wine experiences. A producer is currently shopping it to PBS stations. The critical mass to
attract national sponsorship is to get it on 70 stations,
and Rallo says they have commitments for 35.
It’s obvious why we jumped on this story. Because
we always want to spot the next big thing. Particularly
when it’s rooted in one of the triCities, in this case the
greater Red Bank area where Rallo has made his name.
Sure, to break out in the mass media – like we want
to see Victor achieve – is not easy. The odds are against
anyone.
But Victor Rallo, Jr. is an unusual guy. The gazillions
of people around here who know him will tell you that.
Victor is relentless, outspoken, articulate and oftentimes outrageous. His early radio commercials for Basils
-- which he wrote and starred in himself – were brilliant,
and were a major part of the growth of his restaurant.
Rallo has a tremendously creative side in media and
communications. (Fun fact: Victor went to law school
with another local media genius, triCityNews Publisher
Dan Jacobson.)
Victor certainly gets people talking about him – just
by being himself. With his driven personality always on
overdrive, we have no doubt Rallo has the potential to
rise in the mass media. We’re hoping he gets a lucky
break somewhere and makes it. And brings us back
some big time attention for the triCity region.
So his first shot out of the gate is his recentlyreleased “Napoleon Wasn’t Exiled”, which he’ll now roll
out in five local book signings through early March.
(Those events are listed at the end of this article.)
“Napoleon Wasn’t Exiled” is a beautifully illustrated
book – Rallo took all the pictures – and Victor smoothly
weaves together musings on life, Italian wine and food,
travel and lots of humor. Pick it up, and you’ll immediately want to book a flight to Tuscany. The writing is crisp
continued on page 56 >
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> Victor Rallo… continued from page 22
There are lots of gems in the book,
but here’s our favorite from Victor – a
self-proclaimed Italian wine snob – as
he opens his chapter on Day 7 of the
trip:
“A lot of things change when you’re
on a boat. I drink French wine, I go to the
bathroom overboard, I rarely shower,
and I rave about a French Rose…”
So why is Victor doing all this stuff?
“You know what I’m like,” he said. “If
I run out of things to do, I move on to the
next thing. In Italy there are 3000 varieties of grapes, with 20 regions, 20 different types of people, 20 different
styles of food, 20 different landscapes.
It’s endless. I can never conquer it.
There’s always a story to tell.”
“I thought if I put together a travelogue with my personality and voice,
both the people who know me and the
people who don’t will get a great idea of
my passion and love for Italian wines,
food, culture and history,” he said.
“Some have said ‘Isn’t this kind of
personal?’ regarding the book,” said
Rallo. “My life is an open book. I work
every day of the week in a public forum.
Is it personal? Yes, it’s personal. That’s
part of the passion of the book. It’s
about my wife and kids, where I eat, how
I go to the bathroom overboard.”
“People ask me a lot where should I
go in Italy? What should I do in Italy?
When I explain to them the trips that you
can take, they say that’s awesome. They
say can I come? Can we be in your luggage? Can we pay you? Can you do a
tour? I’ll say I’m not ready to do a tour,
and you don’t know me well enough!”
As for the television pilot, it was shot
in Piemonte in northern Italy. It’s called
“Vic and Verdoni, La Materia Prima”,
which translates into “The prime ingredient.” (Anthony Verdoni is Victor’s partner
in the seminars on Italian wine they regularly give at Undici Restaurant. The
seminars routinely sell out.)
Rallo is also going to work the local
cable channels. He’s developing two different ideas for shows on New Jersey
and New York cable. Rallo said he’s tying
up sponsorships and shooting that pilot
in early March. Meanwhile, for the past
couple years he’s been gearing up with
YouTube videos, of which he’s put
together 150 that have received about
60,000 hits.
Rallo has been working in-depth with
Italian wine for the past thirteen years.
And with the opening of his second
restaurant Undici, his involvement has
become daily and much more intensive.
So while continuing to run his restaurants, Victor remains focused on the
goal of a mass media breakout. “The
dream is a PBS show or the Cooking
Channel,” he said.
And he’s going to relentlessly push
for that through writing more books and
producing more pilots.
Whatever it takes.
“I self-published this book because I
was shopping it around, and I couldn’t
get it done as quickly as I wanted. So I
did it myself,” he said. “I’m already working on my second book. If it doesn’t get
a publisher, I’ll do it again on my own.”
“Hell, with the state of the
Republican Party, I may shrink wrap a
bus with the book and run for
President.”
(Book signings with Victor Rallo for
“Napoleon Wasn’t Exiled” are scheduled
as follows: Saturday Feb 18 at Sickles
Market, Little Silver from noon-2 pm.
Thursday Feb 23 at River Road Books,
Fair Haven from 7-9 pm. Wednesday Feb
29 at Undici, Rumson from 6-8 pm.
Thursday, March 1 at Basil Ts, Red Bank
from 5-7 pm. Thursday, March 8 at
Dearborn Market, Holmdel from 7-9
pm.)
“The dream is a
PBS show or the
Cooking Channel.”
- Victor Rallo
{
and clean, just as we like it here at the
triCityNews. (Victor’s friend Tom Shebell,
a local attorney, worked closely with him
on the editing.)