Abhiroop Das
Co-developed by Ed Whitmore and Tracey Malone, Fox’s ‘Memory of a Killer’ follows Angelo Doyle, seemingly an ordinary copier salesman on the surface, who also secretly leads a double life as an assassin. However, things come crashing down when he begins exhibiting signs of early-onset Alzheimer’s, and before long, details from the darker edges of his life come bleeding to the surface. As Angelo tries to recover the memories he has lost and desperately holds on to the ones he still has, he risks losing his cherished family in the process. Cucina Forlanni, an Italian restaurant owned by his friend, Dutch, serves as an interstice between these two worlds, and with every episode of this crime drama series, a new dimension of this place is fleshed out.
Cucina Forlanni is a Fictional Restaurant and the Beating Heart of Hudson Springs
Cucina Forlanni is the name of a fictional Italian restaurant within ‘Memory of a Killer,’ created by writers Tracey Malone, Ed Whitmore, and Glenise Mullins. In the show, it is depicted as both Dutch’s passion project and a cover for his real business, which concerns high-level mob dealings and assassinations. To that end, it appears that Cucina Forlanni draws inspiration from the broader archive of mob archetypes in fiction, which features Italian restaurants and pizzerias being used as cover and hideout locations. However, no such mafia restaurant seems to have served as the direct inspiration for the on-screen restaurant, making it a wholly fictional construct meant to enhance the worldbuilding.
Notably, a real-life restaurant in Ontario doubles up as Cucina Forlanni in the show, allowing the cast and crew to film on-site. Specifically, Capri Ristorante, located at 25 John Street North in downtown Hamilton, serves as the restaurant’s filming location. While Capri Ristorante is indeed an Italian restaurant of renown, its connection to Cucina Forlanni ends with the visual overlap, as the story surrounding Dutch’s place is entirely rooted in the larger context of ‘Memory of a Killer.’ While it is possible that the show draws partial references from its filming location to assess how a real-life restaurant operates, it is likely that these overlaps end on the superficial level. Still, Capri Ristorante’s exteriors and interiors are both the key to pouring life into Cucina Forlanni.
Cucina Forlanni Isn’t Connected to Memory of a Killer’s Source Material
Given that the show is based on a Belgian movie called ‘De zaak Alzheimer,’ or ‘The Alzheimer Case,’ which in turn is based on the eponymous novel by Belgian writer Jef Geeraerts, there is a good chance that the restaurant has its roots in these stories. Still, while there may be vague antecedents to Cucina Forlanni, it is likely that all of these are inventions specific to their respective works. As such, Dutch’s restaurant, which often features as a backdrop to high-level discussions between him, Angelo, and others, is an embodiment of Dutch as a character, extrinsically representing the disciplinarian value he brings to the table as a deuteragonist.
While Cucina Forlanni may be a fictional creation, it is possible that the writers conducted extensive research to craft it as close to reality as possible. This might have included scouting real Italian restaurants in New York and drawing loose inspirations from their designs and aesthetics. Although the creators have not pointed towards any direct correlations, some popular Italian restaurants and eating joints in Cooperstown, which is the closest equivalent to Hudson Springs, are Nicoletta’s Italian Cafe, situated at 96 Main Street, and Toscana Cucina Italiana, located at 64 Main Street. The latter even shares a vague similarity of names with its fictional counterpart, but given that the word cucina means “kitchen” in Italian, such overlaps are natural. Overall, it is still unlikely that a real-life location serves as the direct basis for Dutch’s fictional restaurant in the show.
Read More: Is Hulu’s Memory of a Killer Based on a True Story?
