GUSTI Blog

Puglia Trip - courtesy of the CIA of Taranto

Daniela Guida, of Agriplan, an Italian marketing and consulting company, invited us to go to Puglia at the end of June for a three day trip to visit farmers and taste local pugliesi products. I would have loved to go: I've never been in Puglia for a serious gourmet trip and we have very few products from Puglia in our inventory. We would finally find that one exceptional olive oil we have been looking for a long time. Unfortunately, the trip to Puglia did not have good timing; it interfered with the dates of our Fancy Food Show in New York. Somehow, we just couldn't do both.

So we sent our friend, Greg Bolen, as Gustiamo's representative. Greg is a young man who knows a lot about food and is the buyer at Cheese Plus, the great cheese shop in San Francisco. Who better than a customer to go on a shopping spree for Gustiamo?

Greg (left) went and learned how to do an oil tasting with the "strippo" (more on this technique later); heard about the history and significance of the olive culture in the mediterrenean regions; gave a speech about selling and marketing food products in America. When I spoke to Nicola Spagnuolo, the head of the Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori (CIA) in Taranto, who organized the event, and his press office manager, Gabriella, they told me that Greg did a great job at representing Gustiamo and everybody liked him and what he had to say. No, Greg didn't come back with that extraordinary olive oil form Puglia. Again, he is like us: difficult to please. It is Nicola, now, who promised to send our way the number one oil from Puglia. Our quest continues... 

Queen Restaurant

Anne, Martina and I went to Queen restaurant last monday night, in Brooklyn. I had been hearing a lot about this restaurant lately. In addition to rave reviews from friends, it was voted AOL City's Best Restaurant a couple of years ago. Most importantly, Martina, who does not have an AOL account, swears by the quality of its food, too. In fact, she likes it so much, she goes there very often, considering that Martina, like me, cooks at home most of the time.

Queen opened in 1958 by Anthony Vitello. Now, Pasquino and Vincent, his sons, run this old fashioned - old school Italian American restaurant. I loved Pasquino's grace, his attention to better ingredients and his desire to become more "real" Italian: in fact, he asked us for corrections of the Italian language in his menu. Pasquino, any time! Here are some pictures of the food we were served. I had heard that the restaurant is usually very crowded. But we were lucky: on our Monday evening, we had all the attention from Pasquino, who was on duty, and his staff. This is Pasquino's description of the desserts they served us. It's a video, click here. We ate everything, had a lovely time and were sent home with fresh mozzarella, various breads and pizza - all home made and delicious. Thank you, Pasquino.

Castello di Cafaggio EV Olive Oil

Congratulations to our Cafaggio Extra Virgin Olive Oil! It won the Gold Medal - Best of Class at the Los Angeles County Fair 2009.

The gold (now, in all senses) nectar is made by Enrico Benci, who lives in a castle, Castello di Cafaggio, near Florence. I went to visit Enrico a few years ago and the property is magnificent; the castle is surrounded by olive groves, vineyards and a natural forest where, Enrico says, the composer Giacomo Puccini, who was a friend of Enrico's ancestors, used to go to hunt.

Cafaggio EV Olive Oil is made with Frantoio, Moraiolo and Leccino olives which are picked by hand; it has a fruity green-olive bouquet reminiscent of artichokes, and a pleasant bitter flavor typical of Tuscan extra-virgin olive oils. Bravo Enrico!

You must try this Gold Olive Oil. Here is the promotion: Inlcude Cafaggio EV Olive Oil in your order with Gustiamo. The Cafaggio Olive Oil will be discounted by 20%. (remember, we have a stupid shopping cart and the discount is not reflected in your automatic order confirmation. Do not worry!: it will be reflected on your bill and credit card charge. Offer valid until August 15th or until supplies last. Magic word to write in the "special instruction box" of the shopping cart is "Los Angeles". No magic word, no discount.

Help Wanted

Gustiamo needs help in the warehouse for picking and packing our orders, and managing our inventory. We just posted this ad on Craiglist. In a matter of a few hours, Anne's email was flooded with hundreds of replies. A reminder the recession is still here and quite severe.

Anne has the tedious job of reviewing all replies and  trying to make some sense out of them. Some make us smile. One says: "Hi there, I saw your ad and I wanted to post my resume to see if I could qualify for position. I do also have a valid driver’s license and a love for Italian food.  Chicken alfredo happens to be my favorite dish, what about yourself?"

If you (or somebody you know) don't like chicken alfredo but are interested in the position, please give Anne a call (718 860 2949) or email her. We would love to talk to you.

Uncommon Economic Indicators

How are people in the specialty food business dealing with the economic crisis? From what I heard from friends at the Fancy Food Show: some are laying off employees, some are switching to more industrial products, some are reducing their range of offerings, some decided to not pay their producers until further notice, i.e. until the euro calms down. No good news, in particular for the poor vendors.

We, on the contrary, are hiring (more on this later); we are increasing our quality standards (our producers call us the food Taliban); we are working hard with Stefano in Italy (more on him later too) to find new exciting products to import; and we pay our producers IMMEDIATELY.  Sometimes, they are so small, we even pay them when we place our order, months before we receive it. We paid the producers of our last container today. I was tempted not to, but I did, at an exchange rate of 1.46 per Euro. Not good.

From Pasta Factory to Brooklyn Table

Our customers and friends, Karen and Robert just returned from their trip to Tuscany with great memories and even greater pictures. Highlight of the trip was a visit to the Martelli pasta factory, in Lari, a village perked on a a hill, near Pisa, since 1926. Left is Karen with Laura Martelli, the new generation of Pastai. Karen and Robert are very lucky: the day they went to visit the Martellis was the day they were making spaghetti. When I went, a couple of years ago, I arrived in Lari after a three hour drive on a very hot summer day - did not make me popular with my husband and my friends -  to learn that it was the Martellis production day off. Therefore, I was even happier to hear that Robert is a professional photographer. He sent us some of the pictures he took at the Martelli factory. Look at them! (click here). They are so vivid, it's like you were there, too.

Why is artisanal pasta so much more expensive and so much tastier than industrial pasta? Many reasons, but mainly it is the drying phase: industrial pasta is dried in big electric ovens for 30 minutes; artisanal pasta is air dried for up to 50 hours, depending on the shape.

When Karen and Robert returned to their home in Brooklyn, they didn't unpack right away. They had an urge to create dinner with their beloved pasta and they invented the Spaghetti Martelli and Clams alla Discalfani. Picture on the left and Recipe from the very creator, here.

Brooklyn Larder

Brooklyn Larder is finally open! We have been hearing about this project from our good friends Francine, Andrew and Sergio for more than a year. When Antonio delivered some orders to Brooklyn, the other day, I went along. I really wanted to see this store everybody is raving about. The painful delays and higher costs were all worth suffering. The place is so elegant and functional, you want just to sit there and marvel at the cheese room, the salumi, the prepared food (I tasted a tasty lentil salad and a wonderful shredded porchetta). The selection of packaged food is superb. BRAVI TUTTI! Sergio and all the staff are very knowledgeable about their food; when Sergio packed my cheese, it looked like he was wrapping a diamond. Yes, I did some shopping: prosciutto, two kinds of cheeses, a bread loaf baked in Brooklyn and 2 jars of White Figs Jams by Maida (we are out of them and I am addicted - if we sold them to you in the past, tell me, I'll buy all your inventory!).

Asked by The Strong Buzz about his favorite foods in stock, Sergio replies: One of my favorite items are some beautiful beans from Umbria (a region of central Italy). The biggest advantage is these beans are fresh. Everybody comments that when they soak them and cook them that they cook evenly. You don’t get that with canned beans. We have these beautiful organic tomatoes produced in Vesuvius that grow in volcanic soil. They’re just gorgeous. They’re the next best thing when tomatoes aren’t in season here.

Sergio, I love YOUUUU!

Click the arrow below and watch Sergio introducing this great new store. It will become the new cool and fair food destination. If you are in Brooklyn, go to Brooklyn Larder and do your shopping. Just ask: you'll know where everything comes from. It's great food, and a lot of fun.

Maida Farm in Cilento, Campania Region

Click on the arrow below and watch the video. It is Francesco Vastola, a very passionate farmer in Cilento, near Paestum. I took the video last year, at the Salone del Gusto in Torino. Although Francesco speaks in Italian, you don't need to be fluent to appreciate his honesty and kindness. In the video, Francesco introduces himself and proudly shows us some of his products: small artichokes, antipasto, yellow tomatoes puree (his favorite, he says; he makes pasta sauce, with it), concord grapes, pear and walnuts, DOP white figs (my favorite, I say) fruit preserves. The fruits and vegetables are all grown in his farm and the sottolii are conserved with his own EV Olive Oil. 

The Fancy Food Show 2009 - It's Already History

The Summer Fancy Food Show 2009 has successfully finished; in other words, we survived. Thanks to all the friends who stopped by, said hello and were patient with this photographer. Here is a selection of the pictures we took during the three days of the show. Read the captions, too.

No, the SOFI silver finalist, the Organic Vicopisano EV Olive Oil, did not make it to the gold. As Nicola says in this video before he walked the red carpet in the award cerimony, it was just great to be considered among the best. Nice thought, Nicola, but we really wanted to win. Oh well... next year, then.