Finding Italy in NYC: Specialty Sourcing
Texts and photos by Kimberlee Preish
Whenever an event management team works in a different state, region or country, there will always be challenges finding the same quality and types of ingredients that the chefs request. Especially considering Italian menus, which always feature regionality for recipes and ingredients. Because our TuttoToscana team had to travel across the ocean for these events, judging the quality of the items we ordered was an extremely important factor. Our chefs could not obviously inspect several items beforehand, and the team based decisions on past experiences and research while seeking vendors/suppliers who were honest about their quality. A definite plus for the team has been the assistance of Chef Brad Hindsley, owner of Spire restaurant in Indiana, whose concept requires the purchasing of high quality and fresh local ingredients.
Furthermore, many authentic Italian ingredients are hard to find in the U.S.; fortunately for us, NYC is a hub of diversity and thus a wide range of food cultures. Not only can one find the typical New York bagel and lox, but walk a block away and stumble upon a Taiwanese restaurant and an authentic Mexican market right next door. The Buon Italia store at the Chelsea Market was helpful for a few of our Italian items to source in the USA such as hard to find cheese. Sheep’s milk ricotta, unlike cow’s or goat’s which is common in the U.S., was an essential ingredient that our chefs chose to utilize rather than a substitute. Another place that we relied upon was Salumeria Rosi, an Italian salumi shop and restaurant. It is owned by the Parmacotto group with roots in Parma, the food-famous city in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. With the help of Chef Cesare Casella, the salumeria accommodated our needs and sourced our specialty requests for finocchiona, a Tuscan salumi made with fennel seeds, soppressata, and cotechino for our JBF menus.
Although it takes time, effort, and a lot of research, it is possible to find a window into the Italian food culture right here in NYC.