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Geno McWilliams

Geno McWilliams

Self-taught chef and owner of Lucia's Italian Kitchen in Effingham, Illinois, a 39-seat open kitchen Italian restaurant, and founder of Kitchens Unlimited.

Jul 17, 2026

26:32
Mm-hmm.
26:32
And they walk in and they say, "Carbonara, amatriciana, bucatini," [laughs] you know, all this stuff.
26:39
And they, you know, so that was a little different.
26:41
But once they got into the dishes, you know, they, we were, we took off from there.
26:45
But so Italian-American is, I think the immigrants came over, they had what they did in Italy, but then they were picking up what was here in the States, and that cuisine developed New York, Chicago, right? Uh, St.
26:58
Louis and the Hill had their own, in, in its own style.
27:01
So the, I think the difference is pure ingredients and simple ingredients from Italy.

27 MINS LATER

54:23
Yeah.

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