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'Luca Two Times' is Instagram's 11-Year-Old Food Review Prodigy | New York Post
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February 28, 2019
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February 28, 2019
7,607
136
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4:00Now PlayingThis kid’s food reviews are extra spicy. Luca Two Times, a.k.a. Luca Marconi, is making waves as Brooklyn’s youngest food critic. “He’s literally a 30-year-old stuck in an 11-year-old’s body,” the manager of Anthony & Son Panini Shoppe in Williamsburg told The Post. Watch as this pre-teen foodie chows down on a plate of chicken and waffles at Sweet Chick, a trendy brunch spot on Bedford Avenue. Luca’s energetic videos have earned him more than 17,000 followers on Instagram. Be on the lookout for Luca's appearance on Rachael Ray!
#LucaTwoTimes #food #review #critic #foodie #instagram #brooklyn #italian #prodigy #RachaelRay
From 'This kid knows where to find the best Italian food in NYC'
He has more than 10,000 Instagram followers, hangs out with chefs, photographers and podcasters and gets his tab picked up by local restaurateurs.
And he’s 11 years old.
The kid in question is Luca Marconi, a fifth grader who, under his Instagram handle @LucaTwoTimes, is also a big-talking food reviewer. For the last year, the cuddly Williamsburg, Brooklyn, boy has been a tireless chronicler of all things edible.
“This burrata bounces the flavor out, makes it much better,” he declares in one video. Later, he says, “This chicken tenderloin is fire!”
Whether he’s reviewing grilled squid or ice cream, Luca’s enthusiasm is all encompassing.
“He eats everything,” says his 47-year-old mom, Lucia Marconi. She says Luca comes by his appetite honestly: Not only does she, a native New Yorker with Italian roots, cook at home, but his dad, Michele, is a 54-year-old pastry chef from Teggiano, Italy, which the family visits each summer.
Luca first came into the spotlight while dancing on an Instagram video shot by family friend Sabino Curcio, 28, who runs Anthony & Son Panini Shoppe, a Brooklyn deli. That video caught the eye of Curcio’s friend, Nicolas Heller, the self-described “unofficial talent scout of New York City,” whose @NewYorkNico Instagram account has 134,000 followers.
“[Heller] texted me saying, ‘I want to meet him. This kid is special,’ ” Curcio tells The Post.
‘People like him so much because he’s so natural and funny about it.’
The three got together last June at the panini shop, where Heller suggested Luca review a sandwich while the seasoned Instagrammer prompted him to talk about it. “He really got all the talent out of me,” Luca says of Heller.
In a medium known for being carefully curated, Luca’s boyish excitement stands out.
“People like him so much because he’s so natural and funny about it,” Lucia says of her third and youngest child. “He’s a cute, little Italian boy who loves food.”
Luca reviews whatever restaurant catches his eye; often it’s a restaurant owned by Curcio’s friends, who sometimes provide free chow. Unlike his Instagram handle — that “twotimes” comes from “Goodfellas,” a flick he’s never seen — Luca does one take only. Curcio coaches him through it, focusing the easily distracted performer by asking guiding questions.
Luca’s weekly posts often feature friends twice his age. Then again, his brothers are 10 and 15 years his senior. Luca believes that’s made him “more mature and more intelligent.”
His mom agrees. “He has a good mind for an 11-year-old,” says Lucia, who works for the city’s Department of Education. “And he knows that school comes first.”
He’s also humble. At last week’s barbecue celebrating Luca’s reaching his 10,000th Instagram follower, “the first thing he did,” Curcio says, “was thank me and his mom.”
Going forward, Luca has big plans. For his 11th birthday in June, he received his own iPhone X, so he doesn’t have to post from his mom or Curcio’s phone anymore. “The hard work paid off,” says Luca, who makes no money from his reviews.
He also has academic aspirations. “I want to be a lawyer, because I want to help my community and make sure they’re safe,” he says.
Till then, there’s middle school, which Luca enters in the fall. Like all things in his life, he’s excited to jump in and take a bite. Or, as he says, “Come on, guys, let’s eat!”
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