Douglaston Restaurant Il Toscano Featured On Cooking Channel

DOUGLASTON, QUEENS — Douglaston restaurant Il Toscano hit the small screen.

Cooking Channel's show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate!" featured the Italian restaurant's signature lobster dish in an episode that aired last Monday.

Chef Michael Psilakis, who owns the Greek restaurants MP Taverna and Kefi, called the dish "mind-blowing" on the show.

"They just took the lobster and ruined every other lobster for me, because it's just this good," Psilakis said.

Il Toscano's namesake lobster dish consists of two-plus pounds of lobster cracked in its shell, then coated in corn starch and sauteéd in olive oil with garlic, lemon, white wine, butter, parsley and a pinch of hot pepper, according to co-owner Alessandro Privilegi.

"This is a very labor intensive way to make the lobster," Privilegi told Patch in April. "Most restaurants aren't willing to pay the expense."

The family-owned Italian restaurant opened in 1985 at 42-05 235th St. in Douglaston, where Privilegi grew up. He runs the restaurant with his dad, Mauro, and his two sisters.

"The Best Thing I Ever Ate!", a spinoff of the Food Network version, highlights dishes from across the United States nominated by chefs and other culinary stars.