The brothers now farm all of them, as well as an additional 30 acres that they rent. Casablanca and Henrietta's Table, in Cambridge, and Flora, in Arlington. Chefs balance the freshness and flavor of fine organic produce against its niggling imperfections, such as occasional holes in the arugula. It's sometimes hard to keep ahead of the insects, Gordon Bemis says with a shrug, if you don't use pesticides. The interior is cavernous, cool, and dim, with just the faintest whiff of blue cheese lingering in the air.
Swallows swoop high in the rafters.
Great Hill Blue, which Formaggio distributes to many Boston restaurants, is made from nonhomogenized milk. In the aging room, the big wheels, about 6 pounds each, are stacked a half-dozen high on shelves to age, at 43 degrees, for eight to 10 months. In all likelihood, you'll remember that it was delicious. They make gnocchi, tubular pasta, and flat pasta in many shades and flavors, using sleek Italian pasta machines and Hobart mixers. Always, says d'Alelio, they start with the raw ingredients, cooking potatoes to mash for the gnocchi, steaming lobsters for the ravioli, chopping spinach for the spinach fettucine.