Cake Boss adds Italian to the mix

Buddy Valastro will be stretching his legs and cooking talents beyond his famous family-owned Carlo's City Hall Bake Shop in Hoboken, NJ for new Italian cooking show 'Kitchen Boss.'

Buddy Valastro's television empire is growing again, with the addition of a daily cooking show set to launch Jan. 24 on TLC.

The host of "Cake Boss" and "The Next Great Baker" will be behind the stove of "Kitchen Boss," a half-hour show in which he'll cook Italian meals.

"The main focus is accessibility," Valastro says. "I want food that takes people back to remembering what their grandmother made, or their mother made."

"Kitchen Boss" will premiere after the finale of "Next Great Baker" on Jan. 24 at 10:30 p.m. On Jan. 25, it will move to 5:30 p.m., where it will continue Monday through Friday.

"Sometimes I watch cooking shows and they say, 'I got this pepper from a canyon in Mexico,'" Valastro says. "Who the hell is going to get that pepper? I want people to go to the supermarket and get what they need."

As with everything Valastro does, "Kitchen Boss" will be well steeped in his family's history and stories. He'll prepare entrees and simple deserts, he says, and along the way will talk about memories of similar dishes while growing up.

"I went to TLC and said, 'I love to cook. All the cooking shows are great, but I don't want to go in like a chef,'" he says. "People don't have that culinary training. I want them to feel like a cook."

The series was shot in a New York studio, not his famed Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken.

The new show is the latest in Valastro's rapidly growing "Cake Boss" world. Season four of the baking show begin Jan. 31 at 9 p.m.

Valastro is also talking about a restaurant venture built around his family-flavored food stylings.

"I've always got more tricks, more things, more ideas," Valastro says. "I love cooking."

rhuff@nydailynews.com