Lidia Bastianich, the warm and familial cooking show host, is also a cookbook author and highly successful restaurateur with three of Manhattan's most notable restaurants, Felidia, Esca, and Becco, and the recently opened Lidia's Kansas City and Lidia's Pittsburgh.
In addition, she has launched a line of prepared pasta sauces and is writing a new cookbook with her daughter Tanya, an art historian, exploring the themes of Italian art and food.