The Paige DeSorbo Guide to Being an Italian-American Princess

WEDNESDAY 6:50 PM SEPTEMBER 11, 2024 DOWNTOWN

Welcome to OFF MENU, a column where we gossip and gorge with our favorite NYC tastemakers. In the last installment, we flicked the bean in Times Square with Blizzy McGuire, professional Twitter troll and TikTok jester. This time around, we asked Paige DeSorbo, the resident funny lady of Bravo’s smash-hit series Summer House, to get out of bed and join us at Tucci, the hottest new Italian restaurant downtown, where the meatballs are massive and the bathrooms are wall-papered in Gucci “tiger leaf” print. DeSorbo, of course, is a busy gal: this summer, she filmed her seventh season of Summer House (more on that below) before setting off on tour with her bestie and Giggly Squad co-host Hannah Berner. But she always has time for classic Italian cuisine. Over prosciutto and pomodoro, she dished on the new season of Summer House—featuring a pregnant Lindsay Hubbard—and explained how Victoria Beckham wound up with her favorite piece of jewelry.

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JAKE NEVINS: We’re at Tucci, New York’s hottest new Italian spot. You’re Italian, so what’s the key to a good Italian meal?

PAIGE DESORBO: Oh my god. I can only really think of going home and eating Italian. When I think of eating Italian food, I actually don’t think of restaurants. I think of being at my parents’ house, that smell of it before you eat it. It sets the whole vibe.

NEVINS: What kind of smells are we talking about?

DESORBO: The smell of red sauce. My dad used to say when I was growing up, “If you walked into our house at any point, it smells like red sauce and Clorox.”

NEVINS: That’s beautiful.

DESORBO: It’s quite a mix. My mom was always cleaning, but she was also always cooking. So the smell of sauce just does it for me.

NEVINS: So you guys were a classic Italian-American family?

DESORBO: Yes and no. My mom’s definitely in charge of my household, but she truly does it all. I feel like that’s where I get this mindset of you can have it all, because my mom did it all.

NEVINS: I see. Well, thanks for getting out of bed for us today.

DESORBO: Only for Interview. 

NEVINS: Did you have a fun fashion week?

DESORBO: I was so tired, especially coming off the Giggly Squad tour, but I made it work. Like, we landed, glammed, and went to Michael Kors, but it was fun and it was Hannah’s first fashion show, so I couldn’t not go. It was actually Italian-inspired.

NEVINS: How so?

DESORBO: I think he just said, “This is inspired by Italy and you’re going to accept it.” It’s funny though, when I first started going to Italy with my family, we were sitting at breakfast and my mom was like, “I think that’s Michael Kors next to us.” And my dad was like, “Oh my god, go up to him.” And I was like, “We’re going up to Michael Kors at breakfast and just bombarding him?” And then we never saw him again. So then when I met him last night, I told him the story and he was like, “Oh my god, I just got back from that hotel last week.”

SERVER: May I please get you guys anything to drink to start? Are you having any wines? Cocktails?

DESORBO: I don’t think we have a drink menu. I’m going to have a Coke, though.

NEVINS: I’ll have a glass of red wine.

SERVER: We have a Chianti.

DESORBO: I’ll do a glass of that also. I like a lot of beverages.

NEVINS: Okay, so what trends are you feeling for Fall?

DESORBO: I love Capris. I’m so into it. I love suede. I’m currently looking for a really good suede jacket. And I never thought I’d love kitten heels, but I love them.

NEVINS: On the record, Paige endorses the kitten heel this fall.

DESORBO: I do.

NEVINS: Let’s talk about someone in your Bravo TV family. I was supposed to interview Lisa Barlow this week but then I read that she lost a $100,000 ring at a Fashion Week party and—

DESORBO: Wait. Again? The same ring that she had lost?

NEVINS: A different ring. The first one was only $60,000, remember?

DESORBO: And that one never came back, right?

NEVINS: I don’t think so. But I think they found this one. She was dancing at a Fashion Week party and it slipped off, apparently.

DESORBO: A ring she owns or someone was lending her?

NEVINS: That’s a good question. Have you ever lost something you were being loaned?

DESORBO: Oh my god, no. I rarely lose things. I’m very organized and I beat myself up when I lose something because I never do it. So if I lost something like that, I don’t think I’d come back from it. But her wearing $100,000 rings and not to the Met Gala is crazy. Like, that’s insane.

NEVINS: So you filmed Summer House all summer, right? Your seventh season on the show. Give us some tea.

DESORBO: I’ll say as much as I can without giving away storyline stuff, but it was definitely different than any other summer, I would say.

NEVINS: How so?

DESORBO: Well, for one, we had a pregnant person. We’ve never had a pregnant person before, so that was a different dynamic and I think everyone tried to be as respectful as they could. We wouldn’t let Lindsay [Hubbard] play any of the games because we were like, “What if you get hurt?” But she did play kickball one time. And I think Kyle [Cooke] was maybe a little more conscientious of how loud the music was when Lindsay was napping.

NEVINS: Is Lindsay’s pregnant personality different?

DESORBO: I’ve never seen her this chill in my entire life. It felt like someone new walked into the house. I want her to be pregnant for the rest of my life. She was a very chill pregnant person. I think my favorite moment was how excited Carl [Radke] was for her gender reveal. And actually, I would say for being ex-fiancés, they got along fine. They had a few little tiffs, but none that lasted more than 20 minutes.

NEVINS: And there are some new cast mates, right?

DESORBO: A new girl and a new guy, yeah. People haven’t picked up on the fact that there’s a new guy. He wasn’t there every single weekend, but he’s pretty predominant in the main cast. She’s very nice. She’s Canadian. I guess they’re only really nice. What else? There’s definitely a little in-house romance.

NEVINS: Hot.

DESORBO: It’s fun. There’s very much a beginning, middle, and end to it. I was confused for a lot of it because I didn’t really know what was happening.

NEVINS: Did Craig [Conover, DeSorbo’s boyfriend] visit?

DESORBO: Craig visited. He came to one of our parties.

NEVINS: We have a funny Craig connection.

DESORBO: Oh, really?

NEVINS: We’re from Baltimore. I think we’ve tailgated a Ravens game with him before.

DESORBO: Oh my god. I’ve gone to that tailgate before. Craig’s dad’s is from Baltimore and his mom’s from Virginia.

SERVER: Are we ready to order?

DESORBO: I’m going to do the Spaghetti Pomodoro. Should we do the burrata and then some focaccia bread, too?

NEVINS: Yes. And I’ll get the bucatini, please.

SERVER: The meatballs are really good, if you guys want to share.

NEVINS: Oh, amazing. Let’s do it.

SERVER: Any allergies?

DESORBO: None for me!

NEVINS: What would be your death row meal?

DESORBO: Oh, great question. My mom’s veal and peppers. I actually never see veal and peppers on an Italian menu, but she makes it and it’s so good. Like, with a side of pasta. Anything with a side of pasta, I’m down. Still to this day, since I moved to New York, my mom will make a big pot of sauce, individually bag it, freeze it, bring it down to me, and then put it in my freezer. And then I just have it for like, a whole month.

NEVINS: How do you feel about eating when the cameras are rolling? Are you going to town or do you try to be demure and cutesy about it?

DESORBO: I don’t think about it in a demure, cutesy way. I think about it like, “We haven’t eaten in five hours and we have to have this conversation for the show, but I have to eat.” But no, I never think about eating on camera. I think more about waking up and I’m like, “Oh, I have last night’s  makeup on and now we’re filming in the morning and I’m going to look like a trash bag that I didn’t shower or brush my teeth.”

NEVINS: That makes me think of Kimberly Noel Kardashian and—

DESORBO: My lord and savior.

NEVINS: Of course. And how she was just always crying in early seasons of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.

DESORBO: I love Kim’s crying face though. One of my friends recently made fun of me for loving Kim Kardashian as much as I do. But I think she became famous at such a pivotal time for my age group and I’m so proud to be a fan.

NEVINS: Which Kardashian do you identify with most?

DESORBO: Kim, for sure. There was a time when I felt like I was a little bit Kourtney in the earlier seasons, but now I’m full-blown Kim.

NEVINS: Could you see yourself punching your own sibling in the face?

DESORBO: 100%.

NEVINS: Kourtney did that, right?

DESORBO: I feel like that’s what sisters do, they beat the shit out of each other.

NEVINS: Do you have sisters? Brothers?

DESORBO: I have an older brother. He’s five years older than me, so we weren’t in high school or college together, but we’ve always been close. We never went through a phase where we fought or anything like that.

NEVINS: Does he watch you on TV?

DESORBO: No, I don’t think so. I always used to be Gary’s little sister and now he’s Paige’s brother and he hates that. He’s like, “I’m not her brother. That’s my sister.” He works with a lot of women in his office, so I ‘m always sending merch and tickets for Giggly Squad and stuff like that.

NEVINS: Speaking of, you and Hannah are on tour. You’ve got a book coming out. Tell me about life on the road. Mainly, what do you guys eat?

DESORBO: A lot of quesadillas. I try to take all my vitamins. I bring my Stanley Cup, I do Vitamin C, Vitamin E. Honestly, who knows what’s happening? Everyone always asks us what our favorite city is and I’m like, “We see the airport, the inside of a hotel room for glam, the venue, and then we’re out the door.” So there’s not a lot of extracurricular time, but it’s so much fun. I love that podcasting live has become a thing. But I think specifically for us, because we started during COVID and we were never trying to start a podcast, we were just going live on Instagram because we were genuinely so fucking bored. And then when things opened up, that’s when Hannah was like, “I guess should we make it into a podcast?” So to meet our listeners knowing we all met on Instagram, it feels bigger for us.

NEVINS: Okay, Paige. What are these meatballs giving?

DESORBO: I never order meatballs out because I literally only eat my mom’s meatballs, but these are really good.

NEVINS: Your mom is getting nervous.

DESORBO: If I came home from a friend’s house and said something I ate at that friend’s house was really good, my mom would make it until she perfected it and I said it was better than the other mom’s.

NEVINS: She’s competitive. I’m curious, you haven’t been single in a minute, but what’s your perfect NYC date night?

DESORBO: I used to say this to all my single guy friends when they would be like, “Oh, where should I go out on a date?” Going to a comedy club and then just doing drinks is the ultimate first date. You’re already guaranteed to be laughing with that person because you’re at a comedy show. You don’t really have to talk in the very beginning, and you’re getting comfortable with each other because you’re like, “Oh, you think that’s funny too? We have a similar sense of humor.” And then you go for drinks or dinner after, not anything super fancy.

NEVINS: Speaking of laughter, did you watch the debate?

DESORBO: I didn’t, which is probably for the best because I had my best friend from high school in town for wedding dress shopping and we were catching up on Tell Me Lies. That seemed really important.

NEVINS: That’s fair.

DESORBO: But the moderator, why is no one talking about how snatched her blazer was? Like the shoulder pads, I was—

NEVINS: Oh, the gays are talking about it.

DESORBO: The gays are always on it. If I had Twitter, I would go on just to see what they’re saying about her outfit.

NEVINS: I’m surprised you don’t. After each episode, Summer House Twitter is very active.

DESORBO: That’s exactly why I don’t have it.

NEVINS: Do you have haters?

DESORBO: I definitely do, and I’m actually a lot more sensitive than I come off or would ever be willing to admit to anyone. But as long as I don’t personally see it, I can deal with it. But if I’m seeing it, then it gets in my head. Especially for women: society doesn’t let a woman be loved too much ever. If she’s ever getting too much praise, they will knock her down a peg, you know?

NEVINS: Who are the famous women whose careers you want to emulate, or whose persona or vibe or attitude you admire?

DESORBO: I think Victoria Beckham is an icon, and I think she’s the pinnacle of keeping your career going and it still being very organic to what’s going on in your life.

NEVINS: Is there a clothing brand in your future?

DESORBO: There is a brand in my future. That’s what I’ve been working for my whole life, and people ask me why I haven’t started it already. And truly, it’s just because I’ve been nervous. I’ve just been a normal human. I’m like, “What if it fails?” So I think I have to build up my own confidence and it really wasn’t until I turned 30 that I was like, “No, I’m going to start something.”

NEVINS: It’s going to be a huge gag when you drop a line of kitten heels.

DESORBO: People will be like, “Oh, we didn’t know this was what it was…”

SERVER: How’s the burrata?

DESORBO: The buratta’s so good. Anything with prosciutto, I’m in. Buratta needs to be like, very chilly for me, and it needs to have a bite to it. I need to be able to bite down on a hard piece.

NEVINS: Have you shot the Summer House reunion yet?

DESORBO: Not until May, usually, once we’re like five episodes before the final. But all summer I kept being like, obviously Love Island can crank out episodes every single day. And I think Summer House should be a new episode every Wednesday of that past weekend. Like, Summer House should be live in the summer. If Love Island can do it, why can’t Summer House? 

NEVINS: Tell us the moments you’re most and least proud of from your seven seasons on the show.

DESORBO: I think I’m most proud of sticking up for my friends in different situations. I feel like I’ve stuck up for Amanda in different situations, I’ve stuck up for Hannah, I’ve stuck up for Ciara. In my real life, being a good friend is really important to me because being in entertainment, it’s hard to know who your real friends are. So I’m most proud of those moments when they couldn’t speak up for themselves and I did it for them. And I would do it again. What I’m least proud of is… I guess sometimes I can hit below the belt. I can be so snarky that I’m like, “Okay, I probably shouldn’t have said that. I probably took it too far.”

NEVINS: Give me an example. Like, in a confessional?

DESORBO: No, I’m hilarious in confessionals. But I guess during the COVID season, I was in the midst of breaking up with my boyfriend and I still feel bad that I probably said more on TV than I said to him. Watching it back I was like, “Oh, I confided so much more in Anna than I even said to that person who was in the relationship with me.” So I do feel a little guilty about that, not that the man in question would care. He’s married and living his life.

NEVINS: On a scale of one to 10, what’s your parmesan cheese intake?

DESORBO: Oh, 10. Just dump it on.

NEVINS: What’s the hardest reservation in New York?

DESORBO: I never leave my apartment, so I would have no idea.

NEVINS: Well, if I were to hack into your UberEats and go through your order history, what would I find?

DESORBO: Oh my god. It would probably be a lot of Chipotle. I used to exclusively order burritos, and then one day I think I got a bowl by accident and I was like, “Wait, I love dipping chips. Why would I not just have a bowl and dip the chips?”

NEVINS: Who’s your dream guest on In Bed With Paige DeSorbo?

DESORBO: Victoria Beckham. And Jessica Chastain. I love her.

NEVINS: You in bed with Jessica. That’s Zero Dark Flirty.

DESORBO: I have a thing for redheads. I think she’s the most gorgeous woman in Hollywood. I don’t think she gets enough credit for how stunning she always is on a red carpet. I also die hard for Anne Hathaway and I proudly say I never went through the phase where people were hating on her.

NEVINS: If you could live in any period of human history, what would you choose?

DESORBO: Okay, for like a day, I’d love to live in the 1600s, just to see. But if there was a time period I think I could have been born in and thrived, I think I would’ve crushed the 1950s. I could have been wearing capris and a headband leading a march. We’d be getting arrested.

NEVINS: Very Mad Men.

DESORBO: Jon Hamm has been at the top of my list for a long time.

NEVINS: I saw him walking his dog in the West Village the other day. I was like, “Wow, that is a man.” He’s my number one. And everyone knows that. Have you ever met a celebrity that left you truly starstruck?

DESORBO: Lindsay Lohan, but I didn’t get to talk to her. And honestly, I met Victoria Beckham at an event. I walked in and I was wearing a literal gown, like this Jacquemus navy blue silk dress with a sheer bottom. I go up to her and the first thing she says to me is, “I love your bracelet.” I had this arm cuff on. So what else do you do? I immediately took it off and I go, “Try it on.” She’s like, “I love it.” So I go, “And now it’s yours. You own it.” And she was like, “Oh, my god. I can’t take this from you.” And I’m like, “Truly, you can have it.” So some say me and Victoria have friendship bracelets.

NEVINS: Have you seen her wear it since?

DESORBO: No, but just knowing that she has it is good enough for me.

NEVINS: You have a serious girl crush.

DESORBO: I’ve loved her since I was little. I’ve loved her since Spice Girls.

NEVINS: I watched Spice World on a loop when I was little.

DESORBO: Okay, so growing up my family owned a pizzeria. It was an Italian restaurant called Pizzamare. And next door was a movie rental place, like an off-brand Blockbuster. And every Friday when we would go there for dinner and then I would rent Spice World and watch it until the next Friday, and then I would go back in and return it and rent it again.

NEVINS:  You were like, “I think I missed something last weekend…”

DESORBO: I knew I identified with her style the moment I saw her in the little black dress. What seven-year-old is like, “I love that black dress”? And then when I had a bob I was like, “Oh, I didn’t even realize I did this because of Victoria.” She can do it all. I mean, singer, designer, wife of David Beckham. It’s a full-time job to be married to a man that’s that good-looking. He’s probably annoying most of the time.

NEVINS: Oh, I’m sure. Did you know you’re the third Summer House cast member we’ve featured this year?

DESORBO: Oh my god, right. You guys did West [Wilson] with the hot dogs.

NEVINS: And then I interviewed your bestie Hannah. It was supposed to be about her Netflix special but we just talked about tennis the entire time.

DESORBO: Well, she loves talking about tennis.

NEVINS: She was like, “I just love watching videos of Roger Federer falling to the ground after he’s won a match point.”

DESORBO: She loves him. We just went to the US Open and I will only go with her. It’s so much more fun to go with her.

SERVER: Excuse me guys. Are we all done here? Do you want to take it to go?

DESORBO: Oh, thank you. Two to-go bags.

NEVINS: Paige loves Tucci.

DESORBO: I really like it here. I’m going to bring my parents. I love a green wall, I’ve never met a velvet couch I didn’t love. I am so very into the vibe and can’t wait to tell my mom about these meatballs.