The Italian food warehouse every cook should know about? It’s Gustiamo! Laurie Ochoa, the GM at LA Times Food, wrote a glowing profile of our gritty Bronx warehouse. Grazie Laurie, we can’t tell you what this great feature means for us + our producers in Italia.
We first met Laurie back in March 2023, when she attended one of the special dinners we organized in Los Angeles with Corrado Assenza. When she came to New York, she ventured to the Bronx to visit our wonderful warehouse and see Gusti team in action.
“Walking down an aisle of stacked cans and bottles, she [Beatrice] points out San Marzano tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil, coffee from Verona, beautiful jars of preserved broccoli rabe and trimmed artichokes, more tomatoes. Honey bottled in an ecological mudbrick space. Every item has a story.”
Of course, a trip to the warehouse isn’t complete without a full-blown Gusti Lunch:
“At every spot is a plate of pasta cooked with Salsa Pianogrillo— the best ready-to-use tomato sauce we’ve ever tried, says Gustiamo’s website copy. A green salad has been set at each end of the table and in the middle is a board with chunks of red cow cheese.”
To make sure we bring to the US the highest quality ingredients Italy has to offer, we’re constantly tasting, testing, and checking in with our producers. It’s a tough job, but someone’ got to do it!
“Ughi and her team do spend a lot of time tasting and testing the foods they sell and traveling to Italy to meet the farmers and producers.”
Corrado Assenza’s Caffe’ Sicilia Granita in a Jar
Everyone finds a Gustiamo product that really speaks to their heart, and Laurie is particularly smitten with Corrado Assenza’s Noto Romana almonds. She first tried them in Corrado’s famous almond granita, which we prepared for dessert during his US visit last March.
“But the Gustiamo product I think about most is the Noto Romana variety of almond that Sicily chef Corrado Assenza helped save from extinction — a story detailed in the pastry season of Chef’s Table. […] The variety’s stronger almond flavor is essential to the classic granita Assenza sells at his Caffè Sicilia in Noto.”
You’re right Laurie, those Noto Romana almonds are unlike any other on the planet. And recreating his classic almond granita is now easier than ever. All you need is a jar of his Noto Romana almond cream.
Grazie ancora Laurie for fully capturing the Gustiamo spirit and telling the stories of our incredible farmers and food makers, you’re helping us fight the good food fight!