watch this space...

my friend Nelson has decided to take his work into a very different direction and is considering going into the food industry. last night he had a group of his friends and family over to his place for a taste testing, which is the first in a series he and his chef partner, Francisco, will be conducting to survey public opinion of some dishes they are considering. when Nelson was first speculating about this Francisco, who is from italy, suggested a sort of "fast-food pasta" style of place which he mentioned are popular where he is from and which they both agreed might be a niche which they could market here. Francisco is a pretty amazing guy who worked in commodities in italy and also when he first came to the united states; but then decided to satisfy his personal drive to be an artist and has been making his living partly from art and partly from house painting for a while now. somewhere along the way he also became a really good cook. anyway last nite it was the vegetarian pasta dishes which were featured and we sampled and critiqued five; a penne with asparagus, ham and calamata olives; a rigatoni with zucchini and a rigatoni with roasted peppers; a thin spaghetti with a puttanesca sauce and a spaghetti with gorgonzola and walnuts. Nelson and Francisco are still working out many of the basics but decided to start on the menu a little at a time. i told him i would be more than happy to lend my palate to his cause, and i will be following their progress and documenting it via this blog so watch this space for new developments and wish them alot of luck.

SOME OF THE TASTE TESTERS, JOHN AND MARITA


THE PENNE WITH ASPARAGUS, HAM AND CALAMATA OLIVES


THE RIGATONI WITH ROASTED PEPPERS


THE TEST KITCHEN