PRosé with special guest Caroline Ridgway

Caroline Ridgway is the editor of Kitchen Privileges: A Hands-On Account of Life, Food and How to Cook. This part-cookbook and part-memoir is authored by her father, the renowned Tony Ridgway, about to celebrate his 50th year owning restaurants in Naples, Florida.

Caroline talked with Cyndee Woolley and Vikki Locke about the massive cookbook (500 pages and weighs about 6lbs) and the Ridgway’s contributions to the Naples restaurant scene for the PRosé podcast.

Tony Ridgway’s restaurants today are Ridgway Bar & Grill, Tony’s off Third, Bayside Seafood Grill & Bar, and Sukie’s Wine Shop. But few people enjoying the fine dining in these upscale restaurants realize Tony started in 1971 by buying “The Wurst Place” which – you might have guessed – featured a ‘70s favorite, bratwurst. 50 years later lunch guests can find an homage to where it all began on the Ridgway Bar & Grill menu, explained Caroline, with a sandwich with bratwurst sourced from the same provider in WI Tony used back then.

Editing her family’s trove of recipes and stories was no easy task for Caroline. “It took 18 months to two years of heavy-duty lifting to finally get it finished,” she said. “It was a project based in love and family.”

Foodies and traditionalists alike love to eat in the variety of high-caliber restaurants in Naples today. But, says Caroline, that was not always the case. “When he got into the business, Naples was a very sleepy town; there wasn’t fine dining here. And he is credited with really revolutionizing the dining scene in Naples and now there is fine dining everywhere. Now it’s a very chef-driven, innovative culinary town. But he really did start that revolution.”

Listen to the podcast to hear more about Tony’s background before he came to Naples and Caroline’s childhood in her family’s Naples restaurants, where some employees still work today who have known her for her entire life, and how she hung out in the kitchens and “learned very salty language from a very young age.” And find out why their restaurants are often busier on Monday nights.

You can find Kitchen Privileges for sale at the Ridgway’s restaurants.