❖❖❖ IN THIS ISSUE 14 THINGS THAT WILL NEVER GET OLD ABOUT ITALIAN TRATTORIAS By John Mariani NEW YORK CORNER LOVE AND PIZZA: THE WORLD OF NICOLA SANTINI TODAY By John Mariani NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR MORE WOMEN LIKE TERRY
WHEATLEY ARE
By John Mariani GETTING TOP ECHELON JOBS IN WINE INDUSTRY ❖❖❖ 14 THINGS THAT WILL NEVER GET OLD
ABOUT ITALIAN TRATTORIAS
A few weeks ago I wrote about “Ten
Things That Will Never Get Old About French
Bistros,” and was prompted by readers to write
the same about bistros’ Italian cousin—the
trattoria. First of all, a trattoria is not a
ristorante,
which is (generally speaking) somewhat higher
end, larger and refined, with, of course, higher
prices. The word trattoria comes from the French
traiteur as
originally applied to medieval cook shops.
Trattorias are small eateries with small menus
and big flavors. And they don’t go in for
anything trendy.
Here are fourteen things about them to
love.
●
Trattorias are largely family owned and operated,
often generationally, with the sons and daughters,
even grand kids, working. This assures consistency
and a familial attitude towards their guests.
● Trattorias focus on regional
specialties, so in Rome you’ll invariably find the
menu will include Roman dishes like bucatini
all’arrabiata, cacio e pepe (right), alla
carbonara, coda alla
vaccinara, abbacchio (below) and
others. And if the owner comes from outside of
Rome, say Sicily or Abruzzo, he or she will
feature the specialties of those native regions.
● Trattorias cook
seasonally and, except for tomatoes (grown year
round in the South), rarely will they make dishes
with out-of-season ingredients. Hence, this spring
you’ll find fragrant basil, mushrooms, baby lamb
and dishes made “alla
primavera” (“of the springtime”). In autumn
come the white truffles and game dishes.
● Except for seasonality, trattorias
don’t change their basic menu very much beyond
offering one or two specials for an evening
because a good ingredient was found that morning
in the market. So, if you enjoyed that plate of
linguine with clam sauce ten years ago at a
favorite trattoria, it will likely still be on the
menu, and just as you remembered it.
● There will always be bread on the
table, usually already there before you sit down.
There might also be breadsticks called grissini,
or perhaps focaccia.
While it’s okay to dip your bread in olive oil,
Italians do not use butter on their bread, so
don’t ask for it.
●
The most varied part of the menu, often arrayed on
a buffet table, will be the antipasti, which will
contain everything from red peppers and marinated
zucchini to fresh mozzarella and salami. Indeed,
this is the principal way to eat your veggies in a
trattoria, where side dishes of anything but
spinach and potatoes are rare.
● While the antipasti may well be the
savoriest items on the menu, every trattoria
prides itself on its pastas as the glory of
Italian cooking. The simplicity of the pasta
sauces and the perfect al dente cooking of the
pasta itself are paramount and allow the chef to
compete in a big market by personalizing favorite
dishes.
● Main courses are almost always very
simple and unadorned. Fish will be grilled and
graced with olive oil and lemon; meats and poultry
will be grilled and served the same way; stews
will usually be a daily special and be more
complex but never gussied up on the plate. On the
side may be polenta or potatoes, never, as in
old-fashioned Italian-American restaurants, a
portion of overcooked macaroni.
● No matter how casual a trattoria
may be, it is most likely to have tablecloths,
often checkered, even in a pizzeria. It is not an
indication of formality but of hygiene and
graciousness. (And pizza is rarely served in a
trattoria, although that's changing.)
●
While there’s no dearth of tourists eating at
highly recommended trattorias, they are most
frequented by locals who eat there with friends
and family and order dishes they have grown to
love over the years, which means the owners
wouldn’t dare change a successful, popular recipe.
You, therefore, should not ask the chef to “go
easy on the garlic” or ask for your meat to be
cooked well done.
● Service, as noted, is familial.
Staff in trattorias love their guests, and, given
the restricted menus, food can seem rushed out,
but that’s because it’s served when it is ready
and hot. Lukewarm pasta is considered a betrayal
of national pride, so if the pasta plate is set
before you, start eating immediately and do not
wait for the rest of your party of six to get
theirs.
●You do not have
to tip in a trattoria (or a ristorante).
In Italy the service charge is built into the
price of the dish, so tipping on top of that is a
nice but wholly unexpected gesture. If you do,
then a few euros would be appreciated. There may
be a minor coperto
(cover charge) on the bill for bread and
tablecloth.
● Desserts are an afterthought in
trattorias. There might be a lemon tart or
chocolate-hazelnut cake, but the gelato, sorbetto
and biscotti are probably purchased up the street.
Trattorias do not hire pastry chefs.
● Wine lists at trattorias were once
banalities and the house wines (vini della
casa) poor. These days any decent trattoria
is likely to have a more interesting list, often
with local wines featured, and, since the overall
quality of bulk wines in Italy has improved so
much, the house wine is going to go quite well
with the cook’s food.
❖❖❖ NEW YORK
CORNER
By
John Mariani LOVE AND PIZZA Cover Art By Galina Dargery
THE WORLD OF NICOLA
SANTINI TODAY
Some readers may find it interesting to
visit the places, sites, and restaurants that are
part of Nicola Santini’s story in Love and
Pizza.
The good news is that almost all of them
are still open and easy to visit. Indeed,
in most cases, as with the Milan museums, the
condition of the artwork and the ease of
visitation have been increased exponentially from
Nicola’s time, and the improvement of sites like
Yankee Stadium, Grand Central Terminal and the
Bronx Zoo has been equally admirable. Even
Nicola’s neighborhood of Belmont is now far more
appealing and vibrant than it was in 1985. THE BRONX
Christopher
Postlewaite
As described in the novel,
the Bronx in the mid-1980s was quite divided
between deterioration and reclamation. The more
affluent sections like Riverdale, the
solidly middleclass Country Club and Pelham Bay
regions and other neighborhoods in the north Bronx
held steady, but crime and drugs took their ravaging
toll on the South. The crack wars of the 1980s
turned neighborhoods into war zones that festered
until the mid-1990s, when many of those involved in
those gang wars had been killed off. But by the turn
of the 21st century most parts of the Bronx were
well on their way to a renaissance of multi-ethnic
neighborhoods, culture, and family stability.
MANHATTAN
Columbia
University has grown greatly in size since
Nicola’s time there, with many modern new buildings
and a continuing expansion into four large blocks of
Harlem. Hamilton Hall, where Nicola meets
Prof. Saint John Smith, was named after Alexander
Hamilton, and it has been refurbished in recent
years to restore its McKim, Mead, and White
neo-classical grandeur. The campus is easily
accessible during the day, and the surrounding area
of Morningside Heights—once extremely dangerous—is
now well patrolled.
MILAN
While the historic
center of Milan would be as familiar to Nicola and
her friends today as it was when they went to school
there, the city’s outskirts have been blighted, as
in every Italian city, with ugly apartment and
industrial buildings.
But the inner core of the city has never
looked better, been cleaner or richer than it is
today. CAPRI and
NAPLES
Capri in season
remains the overrun destination it has been for
decades, with ferries arriving by the hour from
Naples and Sorrento, disgorging tourists who spend
the day then get back on the same ferries, laden
with shopping bags and bottles of limoncello. The
well-heeled still stay at the well-renovated La
Grand Hotel Quisisana (left). The little
trattoria where Nicola meets Marco is fictitious, as
is the pizzeria in Naples’ Spaccanapoli.
© John Mariani, 2020
❖❖❖
NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
MORE WOMEN LIKE
TERRY WHEATLEY ARE
GETTING TOP ECHELON JOBS IN WINE INDUSTRY By John Mariani
A
recent Silicon Valley Bank poll indicated out of
the 10,000 wineries in the U.S., a little over
half have interest in selling. Some may be owners
who are ready to retire and don’t have a next
generation to take over; others may be smaller
wineries impacted by the pandemic ready to move
on. Queries come in daily. Pat Roney, as the CEO
and official “acquisitor” of VWE, has over a dozen
proposals on his desk right now. We are looking
for wineries and brands that fit into our
portfolio—primarily in the premium sweet spot of
$10-20, although we do produce, market and sell
wine from $10 to $150.
One
of the most significant shifts in consumer
behavior due to the pandemic is the increased
confidence and trust buying wine online and in
other non-brick-and-mortar channels, such as
tele-sales and television such as QVC—all channels
that WVE has diversified into. Windsor Vineyards
was the foundation acquisition for VWE in 2007
along with Girard Vineyards, which CEO and Founder
Pat Roney has owned since 2000. So, we were poised
to pivot quickly, helped by the acquisition of
Cameron Hughes in 2018 and the management and best
practices that came with it. That being said, we
see traditional sales channels both in the U.S.
and abroad coming back strongly as we move into
pandemic recovery.
Our
export business is a smaller piece of the sales
pie, but is vibrant and growing. The LCBO [Liquor
Control Board of Ontario], one of the largest
purchasers of wine, is our #1 for volume and value
and we continue to develop that relationship.
Number two is Caribbean and Cruise, which is
strongly rebounding from the impact of the
pandemic. China is #3 for volume and value. Our
infrastructure is well-established in China, with
strong partners who help us manage the
complexities. Girard Napa Valley has very strong
prestige in the first-tier market.
❖❖❖
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