Both reverent and irreverent, it is authentically Kennedy.
But it is authentically observed, down to the most minuscule technical details.
It is authentically Forgionean, except that in the home it should not be served as an appetizer.
The oven averages 800 degrees, so in an astonishing 90 seconds a pizza emerges fully baked — as delicious as it is authentically Neapolitan.
"Some days, it's torture," she said, adding, "But just that business of writing a good sentence — it's authentically joyful".
It's authentically decorated (tiled walls, hams, religious artwork, framed cartoons and photos of deceased clientele), popular with locals, and the menu hasn't changed in 30 years according to Adolfo, one of the five fast, wise-cracking bartenders.
Predicting the Oscar nominations (which will be announced this Thursday) may be nonsense, but it's authentically pleasurable nonsense precisely because of the peculiar impersonality of the awards, in contrast to my own — and to each viewer's — wishes and preferences.
"I hoped," he says, "that it would feel like one of those films, The Witchfinder General, Blood on Satan's Claw," – Shearsmith is a horror film buff – "where it's authentically muddy and of that period, as if you've somehow filmed it in that era".
Il Fornaio (the baker) goes to great lengths, too, to persuade people that it is authentically Italian.
"It is authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese," he said.
