Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
🍝 Get the Goodfellas Bundle — 3 wines + my full Mob Movie Cookbook: franzesewine.com/goodfellas
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked about the cooking scene in Goodfellas. “Michael, did you really eat like that in prison?” People — I knew all those guys. All of them. And today I’m finally recreating that iconic prison dinner — the gravy (NOT sauce, and I’ll tell you why we called it gravy), the pasta, the whole scene. I’ll tell you what we REALLY ate on the inside, how close the movie got it, and the one thing they got completely wrong. While I’m cooking, I’m sipping my wine and answering your questions about the life. I did the time so you don’t have to — all you gotta do is watch. Salud!
0:00 — Did I Really Eat Like That in Good Fellas?
1:04 — Gravy or Sauce? What My Family Called It
1:51 — Paulie Vario's Razor Blade Was Real
3:30 — Starting the Meat — Veal, Pork, and Beef
5:13 — Al Dente — What Italy Taught Me About Pasta
6:52 — Three Years in Solitary Living on Cup of Soup
9:22 — The Garlic Scene From Good Fellas
10:23 — The Time I Took My Wife to See Good Fellas
13:04 — The Godfather "Went to the Mattresses" Scene
17:22 — The Only Tomatoes I Use
18:21 — I Started Drinking Wine at 10 in My Grandpa's Basement
19:26 — What I Really Ate Behind Bars
22:14 — Jeffrey MacDonald — What I Saw in His Eyes
26:25 — The Year I Spent With the Menendez Brothers
32:27 — The Most Authentic Mob Movie I've Ever Seen
33:51 — Epstein Didn't Hang Himself — I Was in That Cell
35:42 — Why the World Is So Intrigued With the Mob
37:47 — The Gift Jimmy Burke Sent Me at Lewisburg
40:53 — Diesel Therapy — The Worst Part of My Time Inside
42:34 — Why My Wine Comes From Armenia
47:07 — Digging In — In Prison, This Would Be Your Whole Day
Ex-Mob Boss Recreates Goodfellas Prison Dinner While Telling Wild Prison Stories
🍝 Get the Goodfellas Bundle — 3 wines + my full Mob Movie Cookbook: franzesewine.com/goodfellas
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked about the cooking scene in Goodfellas. “Michael, did you really eat like that in prison?” People — I knew all those guys. All of them. And today I’m finally recreating that iconic prison dinner — the gravy (NOT sauce, and I’ll tell you why we called it gravy), the pasta, the whole scene. I’ll tell you what we REALLY ate on the inside, how close the movie got it, and the one thing they got completely wrong. While I’m cooking, I’m sipping my wine and answering your questions about the life. I did the time so you don’t have to — all you gotta do is watch. Salud!
0:00 — Did I Really Eat Like That in Good Fellas?
1:04 — Gravy or Sauce? What My Family Called It
1:51 — Paulie Vario's Razor Blade Was Real
3:30 — Starting the Meat — Veal, Pork, and Beef
5:13 — Al Dente — What Italy Taught Me About Pasta
6:52 — Three Years in Solitary Living on Cup of Soup
9:22 — The Garlic Scene From Good Fellas
10:23 — The Time I Took My Wife to See Good Fellas
13:04 — The Godfather "Went to the Mattresses" Scene
17:22 — The Only Tomatoes I Use
18:21 — I Started Drinking Wine at 10 in My Grandpa's Basement
19:26 — What I Really Ate Behind Bars
22:14 — Jeffrey MacDonald — What I Saw in His Eyes
26:25 — The Year I Spent With the Menendez Brothers
32:27 — The Most Authentic Mob Movie I've Ever Seen
33:51 — Epstein Didn't Hang Himself — I Was in That Cell
35:42 — Why the World Is So Intrigued With the Mob
37:47 — The Gift Jimmy Burke Sent Me at Lewisburg
40:53 — Diesel Therapy — The Worst Part of My Time Inside
42:34 — Why My Wine Comes From Armenia
47:07 — Digging In — In Prison, This Would Be Your Whole Day
Ex-Mob Boss Recreates Goodfellas Prison Dinner While Telling Wild Prison Stories
