The theme of the tour was showing how Bertolli serves Italy. Each of the stops along the tour exemplified Bertolli's passion for food and fresh ingredients.
Caffe Vittoria
We started at Caffe Vittoria, where we gathered for cappuccino, cannoli, and biscotti. Caffe Vittoria is the oldest Italian cafe in Boston.
The chocolate-dipped cannoli were my favorite of all the treats we sampled at Caffe Vittoria.
We each ordered a coffee drink to enjoy with our sweets. I went for an iced macchiato with caramel syrup. Caffe Vittoria uses Lavazza coffee, a traditional Italian brand, and it makes some strong, full-flavored drinks. We all got to take home a bag of freshly ground coffee, courtesy of Bertolli.
Even though we already had a gelato stop planned for later on the tour, owner Armando offered to send us out some samples after declaring that Caffe Vittoria is known for its gelato. And after one bite, we could all see why. The gelato was so creamy.
Once we could tear ourselves away from all the sweet treats at the cafe, we gathered outside for a group picture and then made our way over to Salumeria Italiana.
Salumeria Italiana
Salumeria Italiana is a little shop that carries some of the finest foods from Italy and all of the Mediterranean. It originally opened more than 40 years ago because an Italian mother wanted to be able to feed her baby foods from her homeland.
Here we got to try an array of Italian meats, cheeses, olive oils, and what quickly became my favorite balsamic vinegar. Chef Raymond Gillespie, former executive chef of Mamma Maria's, led us through the tastings.
First we sampled the meats: prosciutto de Parma, speck, and porchetta. The prosciutto is produced and aged in Emilia-Romagna (which is one of the regions we'll be visiting on our honeymoon to Italy!), and Salumeria Italiana offers a 14-month and a 24-month version. Speck is a smoked prosciutto produced in the northern part of Italy. And porchetta is an herb-laced meat often used in panini in Rome. I loved the prosciutto and speck.
Then we tried the cheeses: moliterno al tartufo, carozzi capriziola, piave vecchio. The moliterno al tartufo is a sheep's milk cheese infused with black truffles, and if you like black truffles, I highly recommend it. It was incredible. The carozzi capriziola is a flavorful blue-veined cheese. And the piave is one of my favorite cheeses, so I was excited to see it on the sampling platter.
From there we moved on to olive oils. It's amazing how different the oils can taste. Salumeria Italiana has 25 different kinds! After the olive oils, we each got to try a little of the Rubio aged balsamic vinegar. It is made for Salumeria Italiana by a producer in Modena, Italy. The balsamic was so rich and sweet. Chef Gillespie recommended that we drizzle it on fish or steak after grilling or cooking them. And luckily for all us, our take-home gift from Bertolli at this stop was a bottle of the Rubio balsamic vinegar (and a wedge of cheese).
We had our sweet and then our salty, so clearly it was time for sweet again. The next stop on the trip was Gigi Gelateria, one of Frank DePasquale's many restaurants in the North End.
The gelateria actually started as a deli about 20 years ago but changed to a gelateria 5 years ago. Gelato moves faster than deli meats, so it ended up being a much better business. Gigi Gelateria features more than 30 flavors. I somehow restrained myself and only tried two: tiramisu and gianduja torrino (chocolate hazelnut vanilla). I thought the flavors were interesting, but I actually preferred the texture of Caffe Vittoria's gelato.
DePasquale Pasta Shoppe
Moving right along, we headed to another of Frank DePasquale's North End spots: DePasquale Pasta Shoppe. It seemed like the right time for another group photo.
When we got inside, we found ourselves in a small shop with a case running the length of it holding assorted freshly made pastas. The varieties seemed endless! And in addition to pasta were all sorts of accompaniments like sauces, cheese, and freshly baked Italian breads.
And behind the pastas sat Zoya, who makes all of the pastas, not only for the shop but also for Frank DePasquale's restaurants. It was amazing to watch her work. I run for the bottle of Advil after making just one batch of fresh pasta. I can't believe she does this all day long!
Here we each got to pick out a pasta to bring home, and I chose a container of red bell pepper gnocchi.
And though you probably wouldn't think we'd be able to eat more after snacking all day, we left the pasta shoppe and headed to Lucca for dinner.
Lucca
Lucca was an appropriate choice for a last stop because it was back in 1865 that Francesco Bertolli opened a small store in Lucca, Italy, where he sold regional foods such as wine, cheeses, olives, and olive oil. Bertolli (the brand) has since expanded to include a range of pasta sauces and frozen meals that pay homage to authentic Italian cuisine. Bertolli uses real Italian ingredients and recipes inspired by different regions in Italy. Throughout the tour, we learned how pairing fresh Italian ingredients with Bertolli prepared sauces and frozen meals can create a well-rounded Italian dining experience.
Our amazing tour guides from Bertolli worked with Lucca to plan an extra special dinner for us. We started off with warm, fresh bread and whipped butter and a basil-flavored spread, which we all thought might be some sort of pea puree. At any rate, it was a delicious alternative to butter.
Then we were presented with gorgeous individual antipasto plates. I enjoyed the calamari and cured meats, and I really wanted to like the pickled veggies, but they had a little too much kick for me. With the antipasto, I had a glass of the Michele Chiarlo (Piedmont) 2008 Barbera D'Asti.
For our entree, we did a side-by-side tasting of two pasta dishes. The first was a black pepper tagliatelle with shucked Maine lobster, North Country smoked bacon, chanterelle mushrooms, sweet corn, and scallions. The second a house-made caramelized onion and goat cheese ravioli with fava beans, escarole, blistered cherry tomatoes, and basil, and finished with aged goat cheese. Both dishes were tasty, and it's hard to say which I liked better because they were so different. With the entrees, I tried another red wine: the Marchese di Gresy (Piedmont) 2009 Dolcetto D'Alba.
For dessert, we decided to order a bunch and share. The warm, flourless chocolate cake was my favorite!
I also enjoyed the vanilla bean panna cotta in a blood orange compote.
I was too full to try the tiramisu, but it looked good.
And I snagged a tiny bite of the almond cake.
This was such a fun tour and a great reason to get myself down to the North End. There are so many places on the tour I want to visit again and again.
Thank you so much to Lauren and Carly for taking us on this amazing tour and teaching us about Bertolli, Italy, and Italian foods.
Have you ever been to Italy? If so, where? (I'm in honeymoon planning mode!)
15 comments:
I was bummed to miss this event but happy to live through your recap and photos! Your blog post has inspired me to make an Italian dish for dinner tonight!
I went to the north end a few times when I lived in boston but it was always so hard to tell which places were actually worth the money! This basically sums it up. Next time, I'm hitting ALL of these.
I was thinking as I read through this, many of these spots are places i visit but never write about (directly!) perhaps that needs to change. Although, I have never purchased anything from the pasta shop, which also needs to change!!
PS I also told Elizabeth - the real caffes definitely have creamier / better gelato than gelateria. But I love gelateria for more flavors (like fruity flavors.)
ok done with my novel of a comment, so glad you had fun in my hood!!
What a culinary day...that cannoli pic made me want to jump through the screen.
Great recap! You got all the great group shots - love them! I'll have to give you Florence/Tuscany honeymoon tips too.
Wow! What a great day!
I'm stuffed looking at these photos - but what a fun day. Wish I was around to join!
I saw people tweeting about this both in Boston and LA. SOOO want them to come and do the same tour in DC: can you pull some strings? :)
Wow. What a great little tour. I never make it to the North end either - with my kids I'd probably have to go by car and I don't even want to think about parking.
As for Italy; I've been the big names: Rome, Florence + thereabouts, Venice, and Naples. Loved them all, but they are all very different. Venice is magical, Florence is stately and picturesque within the Tuscan landscape, Naples is chaotic and colorful, and Rome, well, what can I say about Rome, which is one of the most amazing cities there is? You will have a great time no matter where you go! Maybe you can consider a cooking class while you are there? We did one in Tuscany where were cooked in the back with the chef in the afternoon and then had a meal in the restaurant--it was GREAT. I can recommend a few places to eat in Rome and Florence, if you go there, drop me a line.
This looks like such an amazing day - fantastic tour of some local spots!
I loved the tour! I moved to the Boston area a few months ago.... and haven't had a chance to explore many places in the North End but this helps so much!!!
Is it just me or has Lechmere been closed pretty much 80% of the time for the past 7 years?
YUM! These are some of my favorite spots...esp the Salumeria!
My mom and I went all around Italy about 10 years ago, and then on my honeymoon we stopped in Rome (after being in Greece)... With my mom we did Rome, Florence, Venice, Sorrento, Milan, and day trips to Pompeii and Verona. If you're thinking just Italy for your honeymoon I'd highly recommend something like that...you just take the train everywhere. Our longest stop was Rome (4 days) you really do need that long to just be able to see all the famous spots! I LOVED Venice, and had one the most memorable meals in Sorrento. We were planning to do a day trip to Capri from Sorrento but it was crappy weather, so we did Pompeii instead which was really cool.
Looking back I regret not going more into Tuscany but I was a highschool senior and not as much into the food as I am now...so now I'd do more time in Tuscany, and skip Milan (the cathedral was gorgeous there but that was about it).
We'll have to chat! I'm definitely planning on doing something like you did with your mom... Rome, Naples, Amalfi Coast (Sorrento, Positano), Pompeii, Florence/Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna (Parma, Bologna), and Venice (then we would probably fly out of Milan, but we're not planning to spend any time there). Really overambitious, but who knows when we would ever get to Italy again!
What a fun tour!! Now I'm craving gelato :)
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