My Honeymoon in Italy 16 years ago. Wow!

Today is my 16th anniversary of marriage to my wonderful wife Meg. We honeymooned in Tuscany, Italy for a couple of weeks back then enjoying the beautiful landscape while dining on exquisite food. So I thought it only appropriate to post this article from Greg Cerretani, the culinary student who received the 2011 Reluctant Gourmet culinary grant in association with Chef4Students.org.

Greg and his wife also spent time in Italy on their honeymoon (many years after Meg and me) and he wrote about his dining experience at the butcher shop of Dario Cecchini in Panzano. Greg is a wonderful writer as you will soon see and I’m hoping to get him to contribute more in the future. He is back in the States and last I heard was happily working in Boston at Barbara Lynch’s restaurant, Sportello.

So sit back and enjoy his story.

Lunch at Dario’s

In the small town of Panzano in Chianti, Italy there is a red and white striped building with a statue of a cow painted with a floral landscape across the street.  This building is the butcher shop of Dario Cecchini and the site of two of the best meals I have ever had.

The first time I visited Italy was on my honeymoon with my wife.  My wife had made arrangements for us to go on a wine tour of the Chianti Classico Region with Tuscan Wine Tours.  After spending the morning through early afternoon sipping wine and sampling treats, like chocolate olive oil and wine-filled dark chocolates, we were feeling as though the day couldn’t get any better.

I am very pleased to say that we were both very, very wrong.  Our tour guide, Rebecca, picked up her cell phone and after a brief conversation  told us that we were in for a special lunch but we needed to leave right away as the restaurant was staying open late just for us.

When we walked into the red and white striped building I was awestruck.  There was a table laid out with various crostini, a mound of “Chianti Butter,” which is herb infused lard, and a display case with the most beautiful cuts of meat I have ever seen in my life.

Behind the counter was a man who seemed larger than life.  He picked up six small wine glasses in one enormous hand and with the other he poured us each a glass of his house Chianti.  At the time I didn’t speak any Italian, short of a few choice words that I would never use in front of my grandparents, but Rebecca explained that as he handed out the wine he was quoting cantos from Dante’s Inferno in Old Italian.  Our group listened intently and quickly put down the eighth glass of wine of the day.

The man behind the display case was Dario Cecchini, and he is indeed larger than life.  He is probably the most famous butcher in Italy, which I would assume puts him in the running for the most famous butcher in the entire world. Our tour group was transfixed by this man who clearly had a passion for what he does for a living.

We finished another round of his Chianti as he passed out samples of crostini to our group.  He explained, through our tour guide, what everything was but to me it was a blur of tastes and aromas that I will spend a lifetime trying to fully comprehend.  As he poured another glass of wine for everyone in the group he proclaimed, in Italian, “All an animal needs is a good life, a good death and a good butcher, time to eat!”

He turned quickly on his heel and walked towards the back wall of his butcher shop.  With about one step left before he smashed face first into the wall I started to wonder if maybe this man had had as much wine as me that day, but as that thought breezed through my mind the pristine white tile wall slid open to reveal a narrow staircase.  Confused, we all followed him up the stairs which opened into a dining room over the butcher shop with three large tables.

Our meal started with carrots, red onion, fennel and celery.  Dario’s assistant Dante popped up at the tableside in a pair of welder’s glasses and proceeded to throw seasoned salt into a small container in front of each of us with a spoon.  He then walked around to each seat and poured a mixture of red wine vinegar and olive oil over our piles of salt.

The wine may have tainted my memory but I am sure I have never had something as simple as vegetables taste so good.  The menu at Dario has two options, The Dario+ and The Welcome, and my wife decided we should get one of each and split them.

The Dario+

The Dario+ is “the way a burger should be”; no bun, just a little bit of seasoned bread crumb on the outside.  It’s crisp and crunchy on the outside and warm and very, very pink in the middle.  This dish is served with potatoes roasted with garlic and sage and Dario’s homemade sauces, which include house ketchup and honey mustard.

The Welcome is a mixed platter consisting of: Chianti Sushi (steak tartar), Chianti Tuna (pork preserved in oil), pork roasted with herbs and garlic, and meatloaf with sweet bell pepper sauce.  I can tell you right now it is impossible to pick a favorite part of the dish.

A Return Visit to Dario’s For Lunch

When I finalized my plans to complete my externship in Italy and I knew that my wife was going to visit, we decided we needed to make plans to return to Dario+ for lunch.  We got up early and took two buses to make it to Panzano in time for lunch.

When we arrived in the center of Panzano we had no idea where the restaurant was and we spent about an hour walking around town before we caught sight of the landscape painted cow.  The buffet of crostini was lined up on the table, the display case was even more beautiful than I remembered and familiar aromas filled my head as I walked, knowingly this time, towards the back wall.

The Welcome

We walked up the stairs and took a seat on the patio.  Dante came by and threw salt in my little dish and then poured the perfect ratio of vinegar and oil as I looked down at the menu.  My heart skipped a beat when I saw that there were still only two options, The Dario+ and The Welcome.  Why mess with perfection?  Without saying a word my wife and I knew that I would order one and she would order the other and that we would clean both plates between the two of us.

At the end of the meal I decided I needed to walk around a little bit to digest.  The patio at Dario+ overlooks a garden of rosemary bushes with crushed stone paths winding around a parking lot.  As I strolled the paths from one end to the other I breathed in the perfume of the rosemary bushes and looked out towards the rolling hills of Chianti with a full stomach and a happy heart.

When I reached the end of the path I looked down a flight of stairs and saw the bus stop that we had been dropped off at hours earlier.  When we arrived we had been about 50 feet from the kitchen.  I should have just closed my eyes and trusted my nose, but then again some things in life are worth waiting for.  Besides, I might not have been able to eat the whole meal if we hadn’t taken our little stroll.

Related:

Dining Out in Italy
Interview with Greg Cerretani

If the beaches, mountains, deserts and wine country of California attract you, then there is no better place to attend culinary school. Besides being the most populous state in America, California has a thriving culinary community along with culturally diverse cities. A while back you may have noticed I highlighted Texas Culinary Schools; today I would like to focus on the Golden State.

If you’re currently living in California, planning on relocating there in the future or are considering your options, I hope this post will give you some wanted insight into the state’s culinary industry and what’s available for you.

Why You Might Want to go to School in California

The second largest state on the mainland and the most populous state, California contains the second, eighth and tenth largest cities by population in the United States- Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose. Its other two largest cities include San Francisco and Fresno.

California is home to a variety of geological terrains. California contains the highest and lowest points on the contiguous United States: highest- Mount Whitney, lowest- Death Valley. California regions include the Pacific Coast on the West, Sierra Nevada Mountains to the East, the Mojave Desert in the Southeast, the Redwood-Douglas fir forests to the Northwest and Central Valley, an agricultural area.

The 20th century defined what we know of California today. Los Angeles developed as the hub of the American entertainment industry, Silicon Valley became known as the technology and information capital and California blossomed as a leader in the agricultural, aerospace, education and manufacturing industries. Texas and California are tied for having the most Fortune 500 companies, leading in many industries such as agriculture, electronics and aerospace.

Besides the largely Western influence that has been imprinted on California, the state has historically Hispanic cultures. As a bordering state of Mexico, California is greatly influenced by its immigrant populations. This melting pot of culture means that California has a lot to offer. Between Los Angeles’ booming entertainment scene, San Francisco’s art, landmarks and geography and Napa Valley’s culinary influence, there is so much to appreciate in California.

The mean annual salary for all occupations in the state of California in 2009 was $49,550, with the mean annual salary for food preparation and serving occupations being $21,920.*

The state of California is home to many colleges and universities, most notably Stanford University in Stanford, University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and the Claremont Colleges. California’s unique post secondary education system includes their three-tiered system: The University of California (UC) system, The California State University (CSU) system and The California Community Colleges system.

The public University of California system includes ten main UC campuses as well as other specialized campuses. The California State University system, with its 23 schools is the largest university system in the United States. The California Community College System has over 100 campuses and nearly 3 million students.** In addition to these fine institutions, California has many top culinary, restaurant management and hospitality management schools.

Restaurant Industry in California

As of 2008, there were approximately 61,810 eating and drinking places, employing 1,410,400 people in California. Restaurant and food service jobs represent 10 percent of the state’s employment. The largest areas of employment in this field are located in the San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego areas. There is a projected 9.6% job growth expected by 2020 for the restaurant and food service industry.***

Culinary Arts & Hospitality Management Schools in California

Institute of Technology - This high quality culinary school has three locations in California: Clovis, Modesto and Roseville. These campuses offer a Culinary Arts Specialist Program as well as a Baking & Pastry Specialist program.

Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts - Le Cordon Bleu, a leader in culinary education has two locations in the Los Angeles Area, Hollywood and Pasadena. The schools offer programs ranging from a Culinary Arts Diploma or Associates, Hospitality and Restaurant Management, Patisserie & Baking and a Diploma or Associate of Occupational Studies.

International Culinary School at the Art Institute - Los Angeles - Opened in 1997, this creative culinary school offers an Associate’s in Baking & Pastry, Associate’s in Culinary Arts, Bachelor’s in Culinary Management, Diploma in Professional Baking & Pastry and a Diploma in the Art of Cooking.

International Culinary School at the Art Institute - Orange County - This well known culinary school offers a Diploma in The Art of Cooking, an Associate Degree in Culinary Arts, Diploma in Baking & Pastry, Associate Degree in Baking & Pastry and a Bachelor’s Degree in Culinary Management.

International Culinary School at the Art Institute - Sacramento - Located in the state capital, this innovative culinary school offers an Associate’s in Baking & Pastry, an Associate’s in Culinary Arts, Bachelor’s in Culinary Management, Diploma in Professional Baking & Pastry and Diploma in the Art of Cooking.

Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts - Sacramento - This well known culinary school in the capital of California offers a Certificate in Culinary Arts and a Certificate in Patisserie & Baking.

International Culinary School at the Art Institute - San Diego - This progressive culinary school offers an Associate’s in Baking & Pastry, Associate’s in Culinary Arts, Bachelor’s in Culinary Management, Bachelor’s in Hospitality Food & Beverage Management, Diploma in Professional Baking & Pastry and a Diploma in the Art of Cooking.

International Culinary School at the Art Institute - San Bernardino - This leading culinary arts school offers an Associate’s in Baking & Pastry, an Associate’s in Culinary Arts, a Bachelor’s in Culinary Management and a Diploma in Professional Baking & Pastry.

Le Cordon Bleu Program - San Francisco - One of the first teaching culinary institutions in the West, this school offers an Associate of Occupational Studies in Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts in either a 60-weeks or 84-weeks. This school also offers a Certificate in Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts and a Certificate in Le Cordon Bleu Patisserie & Baking.

International Culinary School at the Art Institute - San Francisco - This well known culinary school in a famously artistic city offers an Associate’s in Wine, Spirits & Beverage Management, Associate’s in Baking & Pastry, Associate’s in Culinary Arts, Bachelor’s in Culinary Management and Diploma in Professional Baking & Pastry.

International Culinary School at the Art Institute - Sunnyvale - This well-rounded culinary school offers an Associate’s in Culinary Arts and a Bachelor’s in Culinary Management.

DeVry University - The well known Keller Graduate School of Management offers an MBA (Master’s of Business Administration) Program of Hospitality Management in 8 locations throughout California: San Francisco, Sacramento, Fremont, Irvine, Long Beach, Pomona, San Diego and Sherman Oaks.

*According to the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) May 2009
**According to wikipedia.org/wiki/California
*** According to the National Restaurant Association

A few weeks ago, I told you about this year’s Reluctant Gourmet in association with Chef4Students.org culinary grant winner, Gregory Cerretani. Currently enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Boston and completing his studies in an externship in Italy, Greg is a great student, hard worker and has a bright future ahead of him. I had the pleasure to interview Greg about his culinary experiences and what he’s learning over in Italy.

If you’re thinking about attending culinary school, want to know more about culinary externships or just want to get excited about cooking, Greg’s interview is one not to miss. He has some great insight for those interested in attending culinary school as well as some advice on how to survive those first few days at school, how to prepare yourself for culinary school and much more.

After reading Greg’s interview I wanted to run down to my kitchen and start preparing an Italian meal for dinner. So if you are having trouble motivating yourself to cook tonight, check out Greg’s interview and I think that will change. To view the entire interview with Greg Cerretani, click here.

Eating and Cooking In Italy

I so thoroughly enjoyed Greg’s interview responses, I asked him to consider becoming a contributing writer and suggested he write a couple of posts about his time in Italy where he is working to finish his externship for Le Cordon Bleu in Boston. Because the summer is here and many Americans will be traveling to Italy on vacation, I asked him to talk about dining out in Italy. I wanted him to share with us his thoughts on finding great restaurants in small towns that may not be in your travel guide. Here’s what Greg had to say. If you know anyone traveling to Italy anytime soon, please let them know about this post. It is full of useful information and tips .

An American in the Heart of Tuscany
by Gregory Cerretani

I am lucky enough to be completing the externship portion of my Le Cordon Bleu education in Italy.  I work in a restaurant called Officina della Cucina Popolare which is located in a city called Colle di Val d’Elsa.  This city is located in Tuscany between Florence and Siena.  I have learned quite a bit in my time and would like to share my experiences as both a fan of food and someone who works in the culinary arts.

What I Learned by Eating in Italy

The first thing I have to recommend to anyone who is planning on visiting Italy is learn some Italian.  Even if you only learn how to say “Hello” (Ciao), “Bye” (Ciao), and “I’m sorry I only speak a little Italian” (Mi dispiace solo parlo un po’ italiano), you will gain a lot of respect by just trying to communicate in the native tongue.

The major cities and any tourist areas will have English speaking guides or at least some literature available in English, but if you plan on visiting smaller towns a little bit of Italian goes a long way.  Most restaurants, especially those near tourist attractions, have English translations on the menu or menus available in English.  Many of these restaurants have “Tourist Menus” that offer easily recognizable dishes like lasagna and spaghetti but for the more adventurous eaters a whole new world of culinary delights is available down just about any side street.

To find out how real Tuscans eat your best bet is to find a Tuscan chef and follow them around until it is their day off and see where they go to eat.  If the idea of stalking someone who spends all day with a knife in their hand doesn’t sound appetizing to you (pun entirely intended), the next best thing is to find the nearest bar and join the locals for an aperitivo.

Food and drink is an excuse for Italians to socialize and often before dinner you will find people crowding into bars for a drink and a lively debate over where to go for dinner.  If you find a friendly local, just walk up and ask what their favorite restaurant is (Qual è il tuo ristorante preferito?).

I am willing to bet they will gladly share this information and probably tell you what they believe is the best dish.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they walked you right to the restaurant and asked you to join them for dinner either.

When eating in a Tuscan restaurant there are a few subtle differences that may take some getting used to.  First of all, you will not be getting your salad at the beginning of the meal.  Italians enjoy their salad at the end of the meal or with the main course.

Secondly, the main course, or second plate comes by itself, and if you want potatoes or any other side dish, you need to take a look at the “contorni” or side dishes section of the menu.

The next thing that may come as a surprise is that the dessert or the “dolce” course will not be as sweet as it is at home.  For instance, the whipped cream in Italy is just that - whipped cream here has no sugar added.

Lastly, tipping is not customary in Italy.  If you look at the bottom of the menu there will be a section that says “coperto” or “servizio.”  A coperto is a cover charge which pays for your bread and oil and is usually a fixed per-person charge.  A servizio is a service charge which is generally a percentage of the bill.  If you found the service and/or the food exceptional, it’s nice but not expected to leave a few Euros on the table.

What I Learned by Cooking in Italy

I learned several lessons by working in the kitchen of my restaurant and by talking to the staff, other restaurant workers, and suppliers.  Food and wine is a way of life in Italy and there are some unspoken rules that set Italians apart from the tourists.  If you want to blend in and really live the Tuscan lifestyle, here a few pointers to keep you from sticking out like a sore thumb.

First of all there is the subject of breakfast.  Breakfast is generally a small meal consisting of a coffee drink and a cornetto or croissant which is eaten standing up at a counter.   If you take your breakfast outside to sit down be prepared to pay a coperto fee, which is probably going to be more than your breakfast costs.

Cappuccino is a breakfast drink and no Italian would be caught dead drinking a cappuccino after ten in the morning.   A cappuccino at lunch is a dead giveaway that you don’t live around here.  Another red flag is ordering espresso; in these parts they call it “caffé.”

When enjoying lunch or dinner in Tuscany, you will usually only find ingredients that grow in the area.  If you are in a small mountain town and see fish on the menu, be afraid…be very afraid.

Many Tuscan establishments have rotating seasonal menus that utilize whatever is in season at the time, as fresh ingredients are preferred over their canned counterparts.   This means the restaurant you went to last summer will probably not have that delicious gazpacho on the menu if you return in the Fall.  There are some staple items that will be found year round, like dried meats and pasta, but half of the fun of eating in Tuscany is enjoying what the changing of seasons brings.

Speaking of pasta, here are some tips on what not to order.  If you see spaghetti and meatballs on the menu, you are in a restaurant for tourists.  The closest a true Tuscan will ever get to having meat and pasta on the same plate is when ordering pasta with ragu sauce.

Another pasta no-no is fettuccini Alfredo.  First of all, Alfredo sauce is an American creation and is another indicator that you are in a tourist restaurant.  Furthermore, no Tuscan chef is going to put cream in a pasta sauce, so even if you tell him the recipe and ask really nicely he still isn’t going to whip you up a batch of Alfredo, tomato-basil-cream, or vodka sauce.

One more thing that may insult the kitchen is to order your meat cooked anything beyond medium.  Not only does a Tuscan chef have a close personal relationship with his butcher but there is a very good chance they have actually seen the animal that the sausage or steak came from.  If you aren’t asked how you would like a dish prepared, it will be a little pink in the middle - this is normal.

It’s a cardinal sin to order the Bistecca Fiorentina, a large bone-in steak similar to a T-bone steak, well done.  I have actually seen my chef go out to a table and explain that he will cook it to medium at the most and if you will not settle for anything less than well done, you will not be eating Bistecca in his restaurant.

In closing, to truly eat like a Tuscan there are only a few things you need to keep in mind.

• First off, the season dictates the menu so whatever is fresh is what you are going to see.
• Secondly, pasta and meat are separate courses and therefore do not belong on the same plate.
• Thirdly, don’t be afraid of a little blood with your meat.  Most of the animals here are not treated with hormones or raised on synthetic feed and conditions are a lot cleaner here as opposed to the “bigger is better” theory upon which many American farms are based on.
• Lastly, and by far the most important thing to remember is: if it isn’t on the menu, don’t order it.  You should be open to trying new things and respecting the traditions of the Tuscan people and their cuisine.  Fettuccini Alfredo and spaghetti with meatballs will still be in America when you get back home.