The greatest challenge, he reports, has been finding ingredients that are on par with those available in every Tuscan food market. Italians stop at the market every day and compose their menus based on what looks best. Italian recipes, on the other hand, could not be simpler. We like our food honest and direct. Casella has invested a lifetime of study, observation, repetition and experimentation to create his so-called simple cuisine.
Italian cooking celebrates the true essence of ingredients.
In search of these extraordinary products, Cesare scours the Green Market in New York City's Union Square, holds local purveyors to the highest standards, and travels to Upstate New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to commission special products, such as unusually portly pigs. If the quest for these special ingredients never ends, Cesare will have no regrets. To suggest the bucolic Tuscan ambiance that has captured the American imagination, Cesare has bathed the interior of Beppe in shades of pumpkin, gold and pomegranate. Restaurant decor in Italy is often terrible. It's too noisy, and they never have the right light.