Interview with Joe Campanale

Joe Campanale is a renowned sommelier, restaurateur and wine expert. After co-founding several wine-focused concepts with the West Village-based Epicurean Group (dell'anima, L’Artusi and natural wine bar, Anfora), Joe branched out on his own in 2017 to open Fausto in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Following Fausto’s immediate success, Campanale opened LaLou, a neighborhood wine bar in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn with a focus on natural wines from Italy, France, Eastern Europe, Spain and Austria. Joe has been named a Food & Wine Magazine “Sommelier of the Year.” Anyone who is passionate about food and wine will love our discussion. In the last ten minutes of the interview, Joe has some sobering comments about the future of the New York restaurant scene. He speculates that perhaps half of the restaurants in New York might close if policy is unchanged.