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Monica Yant Kinney: Former Merlino associate cooks up a new line of work

In a corner storefront in Collingswood, next to a high-end "green" salon and a chic jewelry shop, Angelo Lutz plots one of the more entertaining second acts in mob history. The self-dubbed "degenerate gambler" has rechristened himself "The Kitchen Consigliere," a jolly, jokey, semi-celebrity restaurateur.

Angelo Lutz, onetime Philadelphia mob debt collector and federal inmate, is getting the Kitchen Consigliere cafe ready to open in Collingswood. (Ed Hille / Staff Photographer)
Angelo Lutz, onetime Philadelphia mob debt collector and federal inmate, is getting the Kitchen Consigliere cafe ready to open in Collingswood. (Ed Hille / Staff Photographer)Read more

In a corner storefront in Collingswood, next to a high-end "green" salon and a chic jewelry shop, Angelo Lutz plots one of the more entertaining second acts in mob history. The self-dubbed "degenerate gambler" has rechristened himself "The Kitchen Consigliere," a jolly, jokey, semi-celebrity restaurateur.

Before, Lutz cooked pork chops for mob boss Joey Merlino and helped made men collect debts.

Now, the 46-year-old ex-con presides over an expanding legitimate empire of Internet cooking shows, recipe collections, and an eponymous Italian comfort-food eatery. The Kitchen Consigliere has yet to serve a single order of "Big Paulie's cauliflower and pancetta," but Lutz predicts he'll secure a franchise deal given America's insatiable appetite for organized crime.

"They say to do what you love, and I love to cook and tell stories," Lutz says when I drop by the half-finished restaurant on Powell Lane. "I'm taking the biggest gamble of my life on me!"

Lutz wears mod glasses and a sports coat, looking more like a suburban businessman than a guy from Shunk Street. So I guess he's digging the new zip code?

"If you're going to reinvent yourself, reinvent yourself totally," offers the entrepreneur. "Plus, in Philly, there's no parking."

Golden Buddha's big dance

My colleague George Anastasia once described Lutz as a "5-foot, 5-inch, 400-pound South Philadelphia bon vivant." Known affectionately as "Fat Ange," Lutz kept score at mob softball games, made macaroni for family meetings, played Santa at Merlino's Christmas parties, and bared his belly as the Golden Buddha in the Mummers Parade.

Lutz became a media darling during his 2001 racketeering trial. The cameras loved the lug as much as he adored the attention.

"I'm a cook," Lutz declared infamously, "not a crook."

A jury saw differently, sentencing him to nine years. He served seven, feeding inmates classics concocted in a prison microwave.

Lutz left prison weighing 470 pounds and suffering from so many maladies he applied for disability.

After shedding 200 pounds - "bariatric surgery saved my life!" - Lutz gained the confidence to launch "Cooking With the Kitchen Consigliere" last year on Philly.com.

A star, a brand, was born.

Going legit is costly

Before he could invest in the restaurant, Lutz had to settle a $13,000 government fine. He borrowed against his house, paying double-digit interest on a private loan because of his sketchy work history. Going legit, he's learned, is expensive.

"We've got a great accounting firm," he boasts. "We do everything by the books." That includes calling his probation officer for permission to cross the bridge to get to work.

Collingswood is full of Italian joints, but Lutz says the Kitchen Consigliere will feature "peasant" or "Depression" cooking: stuffed peppers, lentil soup, frittatas, polenta with sausage, and giambotta, a hearty vegetable stew.

"I can give you a glass of wine or limoncello, but I can't sell it," he says with a shrug. "This is a dry town."

The concept requires Lutz to play up his past, but not too much. His logo uses the font employed for The Godfather, but the goal is to attract customers, not scare them. (Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley says locals "are mindful" of Lutz's record, but "we've assured them there's nothing to worry about.")

When not inspecting glassware or arranging tables for the mid-November opening, Lutz works the phone, talking to "my people."

He has a "social-media guru" who runs www.kitchenconsigliere.com, hawking catering services and $22.99 aprons. He has a New York agent and a marketing team mulling a cookbook about the last meals of murdered mafiosi and a line of food products.

John Parsons Peditto, cocreator of the former tabloid news TV show Hard Copy, now finds himself pitching Lutz's "dinner with a wiseguy" shtick to cable networks.

"He got jammed up, did his time, wants to go straight, and has a chance to score," says the producer. "That's a great American story."